Pump and Circumstance

This is a scrapbook of words and images in which John Margolies traces the history of the American Gas Station from the earliest roadside pumps to the present, with a special focus on the heyday of the streamlined station. He combines rare archival photographs with his own trademark colour photographs - the result of over 20 years traversing America in search of vanishing roadside architecture. Here are classic pillared gas stations alongside fantastic ones shaped like cowboy hats, igloos, teepees and aeroplanes. There are sub-chapters full of gas station trivia and lore from promotional "razzamattazz" to the amenities provided by a modern "comfort station".