Lynne's Lens
Googie Gas Station
This is one of my very, very favorite structures in OKC. It's an old gas station that has been abandoned for years now, but every time I'm in the area, I have to stop and take a photo or two of it because it's just so fantastic.
I've tried to figure out who designed this and have never had any luck. I believe that it was originally either Stiles Champlin Service Station or Kitchen's Corner (when I pull up addresses for both of these places, googlemaps takes me here). They were both in operation at the same time, so I'm thinking that Stiles Champlin was the gas station and maybe Kitchen's Corner was a convenience store?
At some point, the gas station became a Sunoco -- one of the 70's-era pumps is a Sunoco pump. I have no idea when this place closed, but I've driven by here for the last 10 years, and it has been closed all of that time.
One day last spring I was here taking some photos, and an elderly man came up to me and asked me if I was going to buy the place. I told him that I didn't intend to but that I really loved the building. He said that the original owner designed and built this unusual gas station and that he had just died. He then said that he thought that the land and abandoned gas station was still owned by the man upon his death, which is probably why it has never been torn down. Unfortunately, the guy I talked to didn't remember the owner's name, which means that I am still trying to track down the story behind this great Googie structure!
Googie Gas Station
This is one of my very, very favorite structures in OKC. It's an old gas station that has been abandoned for years now, but every time I'm in the area, I have to stop and take a photo or two of it because it's just so fantastic.
I've tried to figure out who designed this and have never had any luck. I believe that it was originally either Stiles Champlin Service Station or Kitchen's Corner (when I pull up addresses for both of these places, googlemaps takes me here). They were both in operation at the same time, so I'm thinking that Stiles Champlin was the gas station and maybe Kitchen's Corner was a convenience store?
At some point, the gas station became a Sunoco -- one of the 70's-era pumps is a Sunoco pump. I have no idea when this place closed, but I've driven by here for the last 10 years, and it has been closed all of that time.
One day last spring I was here taking some photos, and an elderly man came up to me and asked me if I was going to buy the place. I told him that I didn't intend to but that I really loved the building. He said that the original owner designed and built this unusual gas station and that he had just died. He then said that he thought that the land and abandoned gas station was still owned by the man upon his death, which is probably why it has never been torn down. Unfortunately, the guy I talked to didn't remember the owner's name, which means that I am still trying to track down the story behind this great Googie structure!