The Gas Station in America - Rilegato

Jakle, John A.; Sculle, Keith A.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0801847230 ISBN 13: 9780801847233

Casa editrice: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr, 1994

Riassunto

Why were early gas stations built to resemble English cottages and Greek temples? How does Teddy Roosevelt's busting of the Standard Oil Trust in 1911 relate to the lack of Exxon and Chevron stations in the Midwest today? What corporate decisions and economic pressures lay behind the Bauhaus-inspired stations of the 1930s? Is there a link between feminism and the rise of the Gas'n'Go-style convenience store? What have gas stations symbolized in the American experience?
Geographer John Jakle and historian Keith Sculle have teamed up to write a unique and comprehensive history of the American gas station - its architecture, its place in the landscape and in popular culture, and its economic role as the most visible manifestation of one of the country's largest industries. Here is the definitive book on the subject, from the first curbside filling stations - with their juryrigged water tanks and garden hoses - to the nationwide chains of look-alike stations whose design pioneered the "place-product-packaging" concept copied by motels and fast-food restaurants.
Jakle and Sculle begin with a look at how the gas station evolved in response to America's growing mobility. They describe the oil company marketing strategies that led to the familiar brand names, logos, uniforms, and station designs that came to dominate the nation's highways. They explain why certain companies and their stations thrived in certain regions while others failed. And they document the reasons for the gas station's abrupt decline in recent decades.
Illustrated with more than 150 photos and drawings - of gas stations, vintage advertisements, maps, and memorabilia - the book offers a wealth of information and colorful details.
The first architect-designed gas station - a Pittsburgh Gulf station in 1913 - was also the first to offer free road maps; the familiar Shell name and logo date from 1907, when a British mother-of-pearl importer expanded its line to include the newly discovered oil of the Dutch East Indies; the first enclosed gas stations were built only after the first enclosed cars made motoring a year-round activity - and operating a service station was no longer a "seasonal" job; the system of "octane" rating was introduced by Sun Oil as a marketing gimmick (74 for premium in 1931).
As the number of "true" gas stations continues its steady decline - from 239,000 in 1969 to fewer than 100,000 today - the words and images of this book bear witness to an economic and cultural phenomenon that was perhaps more uniquely American than any other of this century.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

"Provides important information and insights for those who will explain more fully the American landscape of consumption." -- Thomas Hine, New York Times Book Review

"An exemplary exercise in scholarship... The authors' thorough account offers an interesting and wide-ranging history of the development of the forms of the gas station, the reason for their development, and the significance of these structures in the developed landscape." -- Bruce E. Seely, Design Book Review

"A valuable edition to landscape studies, and a fine book." -- Paul Shepheard, Times Higher Education Supplement

"Fascinating data and documentation... Gas stations have been around as long as automobiles, of course, but they've undergone almost as many transformations as the cars themselves... There are plenty of charts, tables, and maps, but also 150 nostalgic photographs of those old filling stations in all their individual glory." -- Parade Magazine

"Fans of Route 66 will be fascinated... Though this intriguing book is amply illustrated with photos and figures, it's a cultural and business study more than a picture book. What marketing strategies were behind the Bauhaus-inspired stations of the 1930s, the English-Cottage style stations of the 1940s? What's an octane rating, how did stations differ from one region to another? It's all here." -- Chicago Books in Review

"The whole history of the industry, the art of marketing and pumping down to today when, as we pump our own fuel, we must do so under a roof and frequently from the pump of a small 'supermarket,' is outlined in this sensible and informative book. Many a forgotten sight and smell is evoked. Lavishly illustrated." -- Ray Browne, Journal of Popular Culture

L'autore:

John A. Jakle is professor of geography and landscape architecture at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0801847230
• ISBN 13: 9780801847233
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 272