Old time 20's Gas Station still intact.

[Dandy Dave]

Out in Lynn Wood, Washington area. This old place is called Keeler's Korner. Just had to get some photos to share here. This place is just too cool not to. It a survivor in the middle of an ever growing area full of shopping parks and much newer buildings. Auto sales. Ect.

 

  

Edited May 2, 2022 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

A few more photos.

[Dandy Dave]

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/keelers-korner-catered-to-early-motorists/

[Buffalowed Bill]

It's amazing what I don't know. I've lived in the area all my life. I know the station, been by it hundreds of times. I've commented on it but I  knew little of it's history. It's funny how it took a thread from across the continent to educate this car guy, about something this interesting in his own backyard. Thanks for sharing!
 

[Dandy Dave]

On 5/2/2022 at 3:04 PM, Buffalowed Bill said:

It's amazing what I don't know. I've lived in the area all my life. I know the station, been by it hundreds of times. I've commented on it but I  knew little of it's history. It's funny how it took a thread from across the continent to educate this car guy, about something this interesting in his own backyard. Thanks for sharing!
 

If you have been past it then you know how dangerous it is to get photos of. I parked on a side street to get the close photos and then drove across Rt.99 and parked on the other side to get the other photos. No way I was walking across the crazy traffic on Rt. 99.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

Then-and-now comparisons are especially interesting.

Thanks for sharing this piece of history.  For our record

on the forum, here is the picture copied from the internet

article.  It's said to date to 1930.

 

The article says the highway was 20 feet wide then.

Today, it looks like a big highway with multiple lanes.

One can see that there used to be much more ground

in front of the building than there is now:

 

 

Edited May 2, 2022 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[keiser31]

Cool '37 Dodge Brothers sedan and those HORSES!!!!

[Bloo]

5 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

The article says the highway was 20 feet wide then.

Today, it looks like a big highway with multiple lanes.

One can see that there used to be much more ground

in front of the building than there is now:

Highway 99 was the main North-South route in Western Washington before Interstate 5. It is just a street with stoplights, but it is huge. Without looking it up, I'm thinking it might be 6 lanes plus turn lanes, etc. @Dandy Dave's comments are spot on. It is not pedestrian friendly at all. This street is known as Evergreen Way in Everett, and Aurora Avenue by the time it reaches Seattle. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there were still a lot of trees out here. Businesses lined "Old 99", Including some wrecking yards, but there was definitely space between Everett and Lynnwood. Now you can't really tell where one stops and the other starts.

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Guest]

I grew up there too Bloo.   I remember all the auto wreckers along Aurora.  I remember one in particular on the east side of the street that had an old ambulance parked out front for quite a while, with a for sale sign on it.  It was a white Cadillac approximately 1955.   I thought at was very cool at the time and hounded my father to stop and get the asking price.  He finally relented and found they were asking $300.   A fortune to a kid mowing lawns for fifty cents to a dollar, so it may as well have been 3 million dollars!

 

 

[jukejunkie1015]

"With few exceptions, the route of the Pacific Highway follows county roads already established, and may be considered a fairly good road with the exception of about 90 miles, which is in need of reconstruction. All of the nine counties are doing Permanent Highway work on this road. From Blaine the Pacific Highway connects with the main trunk roads of British Columbia, and from Vancouver the highway extends on under the same name to Portland, and thence south through the States of Oregon and California to the Mexican boundary."

 

The Pacific Highway was completed in 1924, and in 1927, became US Highway 99.

[keiser31]

3 hours ago, Bloo said:

Highway 99 was the main North-South route in Western Washington before Interstate 5. It is just a street with stoplights, but it is huge. Without looking it up, I'm thinking it might be 6 lanes plus turn lanes, etc. @Dandy Dave's comments are spot on. It is not pedestrian friendly at all. This street is known as Evergreen Way in Everett, and Aurora Avenue buy the time it reaches Seattle. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there were still a lot of trees out here. Businesses lined "Old 99", Including some wrecking yards, but there was definitely space between Everett and Lynnwood. Now you can't really tell where one stops and the other starts.

 

I can see old highway 99 from my chair.

[DrumBob]

That's very cool. We have an old service station here in Sussex County on Route 206 that's probably as old as Keeler's, but everything has been updated. They still pump gas. 

[bill pritchett]

Where on 206 is it located?

[Guest]

What is the function of this property today?   Is there any type of active business there or is it just being used for storage?

[jukejunkie1015]

2 hours ago, bill pritchett said:

Where on 206 is it located?

206 is the  Metro Seattle, King County and surrounding suburbia.

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by jukejunkie1015
add photo (see edit history)

[Crusty Trucker]

Boy, did this nostalgic/historic building bring back some memories. Not about Keeler's Korner, but about Clyde's Corner. Clyde's Corner was/is located on E. 14th St. in San Leandro, CA. Established by my fraternal uncle. It served primarily as a gas station but sold candy, soda pop and trinkets from the late '30's  through WWII. With a longstanding interest in short-wave radio, he also established a good business in ham (amateur) equipment, installation, and service, and a network of friends worldwide.

Clyde (given name Clarence) was never one to pass up an opportunity. Having an interest and ability in electronics, he was a pioneer in East Bay television sales and repair and, by the late '40's, Clyde's Corner was a successful TV store. Clyde maintained gas sales along with the retail TV and ham business, his older son delivered and maintained customer's sets (Remember the TV repair man?).

The little, nondescript building, pictured below, amazingly has survived a hundred years of local and area growth, freeways, shopping centers, strip malls, rapid transit, and parking lots to be transformed back into the humble private home it once was before Clyde came along. No trace remains of the Union 76 pumps or sinage, Sylvania, Majestic, or Videodyne TV sets, or the "mile high" ham antenna in the back yard.  His Willys wagon and the later Studebaker are history, too

 

Clyde was a character. Born in 1900 to a teamster (horse and wagon type), he was reportedly in trouble more than out. Stories include the confiscation of his radio equipment by the government during WW I, (they feared a 17 year old was communicating with the enemy), running off with a carnival, changing his name, various brushes with the law in the '20's, and a general lack of responsibility until he found a woman who was able to straighten him out. 

I hope there might be a few others out there who remember Clyde's Corner, if not the man, himself.

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Crusty Trucker (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Who remembers the guy that posted the pictures of the prewar metal assembled gas station sitting in the back of a junkyard somewhere in Colorado?   Would have made a great backyard shop for a single car.   Every time a gas station thread pops up I think of that station.

[JACK M]

13 hours ago, GregLaR said:

What is the function of this property today?   Is there any type of active business there or is it just being used for storage?

Almost looks to be lived in.

[GARY F]

Rt. 206 is in N.J.  

[wayne sheldon]

I have a bit of a problem connecting this highway 99 with the highway 99 that runs through most of California's Central Valley? However, I know that at some point in the middle of the last past century, they probably were all connected. When Interstate 5 was being built in the 1960s, it was run basically parallel to Highway 99 from deep in Southern California clear on up into Canada!

Although some of it got moved around a bit, most of old Highway 99 in California still exists. Although it vanishes a considerable distance short of the Oregon border near Red Bluff California. At one time or another, I have driven almost every mile of California's current Highway 99. Nearly half of it in a model T. Again at one time or another, I have driven every mile of Highway 101 from the Southern terminus in Los Angeles into Portland Oregon. The parts from just outside Salinas California to beyond Eureka California I have driven hundreds of times!

Also, at one time or another, I have driven every mile of Interstate 5 from San Diego up to where we turned off for Mount Rainier.

Just thirty miles East down the foothills slope from me, Hwy 99 passes by Marysville CA. Ironically, I see it may have used to go through Marysville WA. 

Google Maps doesn't make it easy. I tried to see how much of it still exists as Hwy 99 through Oregon and Washington. I found several pieces here and there, but huge gaps where there was nothing showing "99".

I imagine there are a lot of bits and pieces of what used to be Hwy 99 scattered through all three states! I wonder how much of it is marked as such? Thirty miles South of me, what was once known as the Lincoln Highway went through Auburn California. Parts of it later became known as Highway 40. Although somewhat unofficial, some of it is still marked as such.

 

I also have trouble thinking of Hwy 99 as any sort of "coastal highway"? Most of it is roughly a hundred miles from the coast as the crow flies. By car? Most of Hwy 99 is nearly three hours from the ocean! (There just ain't no short way across that direction!) Most of Hwy 101 is around twenty to thirty miles inland from the ocean, and in places even it can take over an hour to reach the salty water! Although in some places it would be a five minute walk from your car. Hwy 1 is the real coastal highway. Parts of it are one and the same as parts of 101, and in areas where they split, Hwy 1 is closer to the ocean. Most of Hwy 1 is within a few miles. Actually, most of it? One can see the ocean from the highway if it isn't foggy.

 

While today, it is Hwy 5 that most people really know and use? For decades, it was 99 and 101 that were the main North/South travel and transportation on this end of the continent. And Hwy 1 was the real "coastal route".

 

So much history on those highways.

[ply33]

1 hour ago, wayne sheldon said:

I have a bit of a problem connecting this highway 99 with the highway 99 that runs through most of California's Central Valley? However, I know that at some point in the middle of the last past century, they probably were all connected. When Interstate 5 was being built in the 1960s, it was run basically parallel to Highway 99 from deep in Southern California clear on up into Canada!

Although some of it got moved around a bit, most of old Highway 99 in California still exists. Although it vanishes a considerable distance short of the Oregon border near Red Bluff California. At one time or another, I have driven almost every mile of California's current Highway 99. Nearly half of it in a model T. Again at one time or another, I have driven every mile of Highway 101 from the Southern terminus in Los Angeles into Portland Oregon. The parts from just outside Salinas California to beyond Eureka California I have driven hundreds of times!

Also, at one time or another, I have driven every mile of Interstate 5 from San Diego up to where we turned off for Mount Rainier.

Just thirty miles East down the foothills slope from me, Hwy 99 passes by Marysville CA. Ironically, I see it may have used to go through Marysville WA. 

Google Maps doesn't make it easy. I tried to see how much of it still exists as Hwy 99 through Oregon and Washington. I found several pieces here and there, but huge gaps where there was nothing showing "99".

I imagine there are a lot of bits and pieces of what used to be Hwy 99 scattered through all three states! I wonder how much of it is marked as such? Thirty miles South of me, what was once known as the Lincoln Highway went through Auburn California. Parts of it later became known as Highway 40. Although somewhat unofficial, some of it is still marked as such.

 

I also have trouble thinking of Hwy 99 as any sort of "coastal highway"? Most of it is roughly a hundred miles from the coast as the crow flies. By car? Most of Hwy 99 is nearly three hours from the ocean! (There just ain't no short way across that direction!) Most of Hwy 101 is around twenty to thirty miles inland from the ocean, and in places even it can take over an hour to reach the salty water! Although in some places it would be a five minute walk from your car. Hwy 1 is the real coastal highway. Parts of it are one and the same as parts of 101, and in areas where they split, Hwy 1 is closer to the ocean. Most of Hwy 1 is within a few miles. Actually, most of it? One can see the ocean from the highway if it isn't foggy.

 

While today, it is Hwy 5 that most people really know and use? For decades, it was 99 and 101 that were the main North/South travel and transportation on this end of the continent. And Hwy 1 was the real "coastal route".

 

So much history on those highways.

Looking at a mid-1920s Rand McNally road atlas (just when they were introducing the US highway system), US-99 is basically buried under I-5 from Los Angeles to the I-5/CA-99 split just north of the Grapevine (south of Bakersfield). Hard to tell from the old atlas but US-99 might have followed the current route of the Hollywood Freeway through the San Fernando Valley. North of the SFV, it followed San Fernando Road to what is now labeled “The Old Road” to the Calgrove Exit of I-5. From Castaic the northbound lanes of I-5 are the old US-99 until Templin Highway. From Templin Highway you can see the old US-99 go west and down from the freeway into Piru Creek where is it buried under Pyramid Lake but re-emerges into the boat ramp at the north end of the lake to rejoin I-5 at Smokey Bear Exit. (The even older “Ridge Route” was the first US-99, replaced by the above route in the early to mid-1930s, and it is now a fire road between Templin Highway and the Gorman Post Road.) From Gorman to Fort Tejon you can take Ralphs Ranch Road (formerly Peace Valley Road and before that US-99) to Lebec and then, as Fort Tejon Road, to Fort Tejon following one of the old US-99 alignments. On the Grapevine itself, the south bound lanes of I-5 re-use the old US-99 alignment. Last I went through there there was still a billboard built using 1930s style construction near the base of the grade.

 

Interesting, I just noticed for the first time that about where Gorman is now the old map does not show Gorman but instead shows the town of Chandler. I wonder what the story is behind that name change.

 

Through the Central Valley up to Sacramento, CA-99 is basically the old US-99 except it has been reconstructed into a freeway and has undoubtedly been re-aligned here and there.

 

Old US-99 is again buried under I-5 from Sacramento through at least Grants Pass in Oregon. There are probably little bits and pieces of old highway not covered by I-5 and being used as local surface roads just as there are between LA and the Grapevine, but the scale and resolution of the old atlas is not enough to tell or compare against a modern map.

 

With respect to US-101, today the southern end is in downtown LA but it originally started either in San Diego or maybe even the Mexican border, hard to tell from the old atlas. From San Juan Capistrano south remnants of the old US-101 still exist with various names (Pacific Coast Highway, El Camino Real, and even the “Old Pacific Highway” campground service road down through San Onofre State Beach Park. For what it is worth, prior to I-5 I remember that CA-1 (PCH/South Coast Highway) from Dana Point north through at least Newport Beach was signed as “US-101 Alt.”

Edited May 4, 2022 by ply33 (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

Thank you for all that ply33! Comparing old road atlases, maps, and guide books can be fun! And frustrating. Highways changed a lot back in the day, guide books were updated, sometimes annually. Main roads got traded around for a variety of reasons, sometimes for better routes. Sometimes for local political reasons. Major realignments occurred during the various "works projects" building better roads during the depression. And even more during the great highways projects of the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1970s, budgets got cut back, and many highways were left unfinished. One little town on Hwy 101 in Northern California that was one of the worst bottlenecks and most hated towns in the state (by the trucking industry!) wasn't bypassed until about ten years ago. I had driven through that little town literally hundreds of times myself! I actually cheered when I first drove by it on the new freeway section! And I love driving through (most) small towns.

[Bloo]

7 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

Just thirty miles East down the foothills slope from me, Hwy 99 passes by Marysville CA. Ironically, I see it may have used to go through Marysville WA. 

Technically, I think it still does!

 

7 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

I also have trouble thinking of Hwy 99 as any sort of "coastal highway"? Most of it is roughly a hundred miles from the coast as the crow flies. By car? Most of Hwy 99 is nearly three hours from the ocean! (There just ain't no short way across that direction!) Most of Hwy 101 is around twenty to thirty miles inland from the ocean, and in places even it can take over an hour to reach the salty water! Although in some places it would be a five minute walk from your car. Hwy 1 is the real coastal highway. Parts of it are one and the same as parts of 101, and in areas where they split, Hwy 1 is closer to the ocean. Most of Hwy 1 is within a few miles. Actually, most of it? One can see the ocean from the highway if it isn't foggy.

What a wonderful drive Highway 1 is, I've done it twice, as well as the parts of 101 that aren't bypassed  by Highway 1. Isn't highway 1 a fairly recent thing though? In a thread I have lost track of, someone posted a driving guide for the old "Coast Highway" through California. I gathered it's route was more like current 101 than 1, although it is not easy to cross reference these things.

 

Speaking of driving along the coast, worth mentioning is the "Lost Coast" from Ferndale out to the coast then back through Honeydew and Ettersburg(?) or something like that, getting back to 101 somewhere around Redway or Garberville. It is a lot of driving for not much coast, but when you are along the water there will be nobody out there except you and maybe a cow or two. The roads resemble prewar mountain passes if you are into that sort of thing, about a lane and a half wide winding through the mountains and there might be a one lane bridge here and there. Most of it is paved. You might be on dirt or gravel here and there, but I doubt it amounts to a mile overall. Honorable mention to Shelter Cove, though there is only one way in and out of there.

 

Hint: Pick up a "Lost Coast" tourist map when you get close. Google maps makes an incomprehensible mess of this area, and you probably won't have phone service anyway.

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

Bloo, Believe it or not, I lived in Ferndale for about four years. We moved there to be closer to family (BIG mistake!). Then moved to Grass Valley to get away from that same family.

Except for the family issues, I loved living in Ferndale! Hundreds of miles of the best antique automobile roads in the world within thirty miles of my door! Beautiful Victorian village. A few areas best to know to stay out of? Including parts of the "Lost Coast". Most of the people were fine, and an amazing amount of them rarely if ever drove faster than 50 mph! So driving slow even on the highways was considered normal. I often passed modern cars with my antiques, even on the freeway!

 

Coastal Highway 1 actually turns inland and ends at Leggett several miles South of Benbow. North of Arcata and especially North of Crescent City, It is the 101 that runs alongside the ocean. Much of that is still two lane as I recall.

The last past time I drove up that way, there was still no cell service for about half the distance from Ukiah into Scotia (just South of Fortuna)

One time, my son and I had to take Bell Springs Road from about ten miles North of Laytonville clear into Garberville in the dead of night during a torrential downpour because a mud slide had closed the 101! Fortunately, I had my DeLorme book with me. But no cell service for most of it.

[JACK M]

From Junction City Oregon just north of Eugene on north to North Portland (guessing about a hundred miles) there are two hwy 99s.

99W and 99E.

Basically splits the Willamette Valley to a east hwy and a west hwy. Both are hwy 99.

They will vary from what looks like freeways to what are country roads.

I-5 is quicker, but either 99 can be pleasurable. 

I live a stones throw from 99W.

[jukejunkie1015]

c. 1927, US Government Printing Office

[Dandy Dave]

I drove US Highway 1 From Jenner, which is just east of Santa Rosa, all the way to the end going north were it met 101. That is where the Chandler Tree is also. I would like to do it going south from Jenner someday. I wish I had the 1915 Buick for the photo instead of a rental car. Dandy Dave!  

[ply33]

From 2005.

[JACK M]

14 hours ago, Dandy Dave said:

I drove US Highway 1 From Jenner, which is just east of Santa Rosa, all the way to the end going north were it met 101. That is where the Chandler Tree is also. I would like to do it going south from Jenner someday. I wish I had the 1915 Buick for the photo instead of a rental car. Dandy Dave!  

I recall that being a very winding road with huge tree trunks right at what should be the fog line.

Made me nervous as I was towing a trailer.

That drive thru tree requires a relatively small car.

Fun stuff for sure.

Edited May 5, 2022 by JACK M (see edit history)

[TerryB]

On old Rt 30 near Bedford PA

 

[Steve9]

On 5/2/2022 at 11:48 AM, Dandy Dave said:

A few more photos.

You can see from the setback here if the state orders another widening of hwy 99, this place is gonna be history.

[MikeC5]

That Gulf station is way cool!

[Mark Shaw]

On 5/4/2022 at 12:21 AM, wayne sheldon said:

I loved living in Ferndale! Hundreds of miles of the best antique automobile roads in the world within thirty miles of my door! Beautiful Victorian village.

Wayne,

    I lived just north of Arcata while attending Humboldt State University and worked summers at Prairie Cr. State Park.  I loved the drive to work during the summer, unless I had to follow a slow log truck.  I agree that area is great touring for old cars.  I now live just north of Portland OR and still have lots of great touring roads to explore. 

[wayne sheldon]

Mark S,

Arcata is a nice old town also. It has been a few years now since I have been there.  But their town square looked like something out of a movie. The old road out to Samoa was always a pleasant drive. And the Samoa Cookhouse used to be wonderful for those that like rustic beyond casual dining! Prairie Creek Park was one of the family's favorite places to visit for decades. Been there many times.