Not on theme and not on Independence Day either, instead sharing some photos of unknown men, from Uncle Carl's collections of photos. I can guess that he had a new camera and was out on the town taking photos. These are all tiny originals two by three inches. All were taken in New Kensington, PA, our hometown, about 1939-1940 and apparently men Carl knew. I have no idea where in the town this was but back then there was the town itself was concentrated along the river and the family lived on Second Avenue. Wealthier folks, business owners and professional types lived up above the railroad tracks on the hills. At first glance, I thought these were local firemen colleagues and they may be but after scanning and enlarging I discovered they employees of what was a Gulf Gasoline Station. Here they hold cans of Gulf Pride!
![]() |
| Gulf Gas Station Men New Kensington, PA |
Back then I understand it was common for people to buy one or two gallons of gasoline; these photos document its price range from 18 1/2 cents to 22 cents per gallon! I wonder what coin they used for the half cent? Check out the thin man in the middle above with coin holder to make change. so I don't know that I have ever seen one of those before. Comical and yet sad to consider that back then change was useful as items were so cheap and people treasured each coin. This first photo has the gas at 18 1/2 cents, but watch that sign....
![]() |
| Gulf Station men at play |
Above the men are clowning around and enjoying themselves, but dressed warmer, longer sleeves and a sweater. There is that coin changer again and the thin man smoking a cigarette. Gas is 22 cents by the sign here.
![]() |
| In front of the old Coca Cola machine |
I am amazed at the hats and full uniform worn by the men. This man may be the same one on the right in the first photo and is possibly a young Ed Saliba, SR. He was slightly younger than my Uncle Carl, longtime fire chief and friend and still living in New Kensington. He and the firemen came to Carl's funeral. Gas above is 20 cents per gallon.
![]() |
| Gulf Station Gasoline 20cents per gallon |
Above you can see the sign showing the breakdown on the price of gasoline, 15 cents for the gas, 4 cents for Pennsylvania state tax and 1 penny for federal tax. The taxes remain the same in all these photos. It sure was a different world back then! The sign above the window on the storefront, reads Association, but in none of the photos does it show Association of what....
![]() |
Coca Cola machine for bottles
Gulfpride oil stand to the right |
This photo is darker but the one where you can clearly read the sign, "That good gulf gas..." The bell telephone sign to the far left corner reminiscent of the time when folks went to the store to use the pay telephones.
I will tie this post to my Facebook page and perhaps some from the home town can tell more about the men and the place. And they will likely be interested in the photos. As always, visit the Sepia Site where others share in our international community. I am posting later today because we had one hellacious storm with winds at 60 miles per hour and more, last night and power was off until an hour ago. But all is well around our homesite and we hope around town.
