Filling stations, and shop signs, dotted the city's downtown area
Gas stations are an endangered species in downtown Vancouver these days. But in 1928, they were all over the place — the Wrigley's B.C. Directory lists 20 “gasoline and oil service stations” downtown.
On Nov. 28, 1928, the Mutch Tire Co. joined the fray with a “Super Service Station” at Howe at Davie.
“Well Known Vancouver Firm makes Steady Progress and Finds it Necessary to Take This Step to Meet the Growing Demands of its Customers,” said a headline in The Vancouver Sun.
The opening was touted in a full page in The Sun, which sold 10 ads to companies that did business with Mutch Tire.
One was Home Gas, a “100 percent Canadian” company that was a Vancouver fixture for decades.
Another was Goodrich Silvertown tires, which Mutch Tire distributed.
The Goodrich Silvertown name was featured above Mutch Super Service Station on a giant sign atop the business. A big Home Gas sign loomed over the gas pumps.
The anonymous Sun writer ingeniously worked everybody who advertised into a small story.
“Another interesting piece of machinery to be seen there is the Wagstaff hydraulic hoist, manufactured in Vancouver by Wagstaff Hoist Ltd. of 916 Kingsway,” it read.
“The function of this hoist is to raise the car up from the ground to the height of about five feet. In this position it affords the greatest degree of accessibility to the man engaged in oiling and greasing a car.”
To lure customers to the new location, Mutch Tire was giving away a 50-by-120-foot lot in Deep Cove to the customer who guessed the number of customers visiting the new station in December 1928.
Mutch Tire was founded by George Mutch, a Scot who had come to Vancouver in 1911 and in 1912 started managing the Pacific Rubber Tire Company at 1259 Granville.
In 1921, he teamed up with J.W. Holmes to start Mutch Tire at 1295 Granville. Holmes boasted he was the originator of a “Tires on Credit” plan that was popular with motorists.
Unfortunately, the Great Depression quickly put an end to the Mutch super service station — another company had moved into the space by 1932. But Mutch Tire remained in business on Granville until 1954.
Alas, I couldn't find the 1928 photo of the Mutch service station to use with this story. But I stumbled onto a gold mine of old service station photos on the Vancouver Archives website.
Imperial Oil had the first gas station in Canada in 1907 at Cambie and Smithe, and made very beautiful stations. A couple of 1917 photos of the Imperial station at Broadway and Granville show a handsome structure that looks more like the Peace Arch than a gas station.
One of the photos shows six female gas attendants, dressed to the nines in stylish coats, Jodhpur slacks and high boots. It looks like they've dressed to go out horse riding, not to pump gas.
Many early stations were done in a Mission style. The architects of Vancouver's art deco city hall, Townley and Matheson, designed a lovely Mission-style Imperial station at Seymour and Pacific that is featured in a beautiful night shot in 1925.
My favourites, though, are a couple of dazzling 1928 photos of Blackburn's Service Station and Used Cars at 822 Seymour.
The sign painter must have made a fortune at Blackburn's, because there seems to be a sign everywhere you look, advertising Washing, Simonizing, Auto Grease Service, Free Crankcase Service, Lubrication Specialists, Cost Little — Save Much, Used Cars Bought and Sold, Imperial Ethyl Gasoline, Parking 10 Cents Hour, Fender Repair, Used Cars, Washing Greasing, Storage, Accessories, Gasoline — Oils, Tire & Battery Service, Vulcanizing, Auto Laundry and Alemite Greasing.
Another sign may read “Brake Depot,” but it's obscured by a roof over the gas pumps. There's also a Blackburn Ltd. “Super Service” truck in front that's covered in signage, as well as a tiny grocery store on the corner decorated with signs advertising Coca-cola, Chocolates, Soft Drinks & Candy, and Cigarettes & Cigars.
Don't know who took the photos, but Fred Herzog and Walker Evans would have loved them. I've attached the photos to the online version of this story. Alternatively you could do an online search for “Vancouver Archives service stations” and be transported to another era.