Once upon a time, there were many more gasoline stations than today. Even one in Bumblebee in a back-country Arizona desert.
Yes, the old fashioned, independent stop remains down in Skull Valley and, Catalyst reports, has been upgraded some time in the past nine months since I took this picture. However, new styles of ownership have decimated the ranks of the independents, forcing the owners to find new uses for old buildings.
Periodically, a piece of property becomes so valuable that it can pay to tear down the structure, followed by years of "mitigation" of underground oil and gas leaks. Surely it was at least five or six years that the corner of Goodwin & Montezuma Streets housed a mysterious,
keep-out-posted little building engaged in purifying soils from maybe 75 years worth of service stations.
Apparently if the original building is left intact, there's no call for mitigation. In Prescott, it's easy to find locations that are obviously recycled, for example this auto detailing & car wash on Sheldon Street.
Many more, such as the UPS Store, on Gurley Street which was, after all, old US-89 through the center of town.
There's also a used vehicle dealer...
...a specialist in European car maintenance (fittingly right next door to a recycled fast food operation -- IHOP, in this case)...
...and, at the corner of Gurley and Grove, Allison's, which did try offering pumps in the 90s, then gave up in the face of competition from C-stores and Fry's down the street.
A little further on is the Arizona Wildfire Academy, housed in yet another former gas station.
Thus far, recycling this location on Miller Valley next to the True Value has not proved out. Maybe it needs to be turned into something a bit more exotic -- an antiquery, for example.
I've noticed configurations which suggest a previous life serving up petrol. For instance, the obvious drive-through at Yavapai Machine & Auto Parts, above, and the launderette on Gurley, below.
The ultimate in gas station recycling, though, is certainly the nostalgia market. I have a neighbor whose old car collectibles include a gas pump. Not to mention this pair of pumps on display at the Goodwin Street Pharmacy.
You may recall Allison's, the gas station turned auto parts store, at the corner of Grove and Gurley. For the past couple of months, workmen have been busy remaking this example of nondescript architecture into...
...the very model of a respectable financial institution. It's been absolutely fascinating to watch how a simple new facade is transforming what is basically the same old box for a totally new use.
A touch of parking lot landscaping adds to the illusion. And what will occupy the made-over premises? Just mosey down Grove Street one block...
...to the Credit Union West, which is moving out of its strange quarters and into the newly refurbished building. The future of this structure, which is the last non-Prescott College premise on the block? PC is adding it to the collection of recycled buildings that comprise its campus; latest word is that it will serve as the school's visitors center.
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