History Roads: classic cars Roads
by Hugh
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San Antonio Car Clubs
Automobile fanaticism runs deep in San Antonio. There are at least thirty different car clubs in the city, from the Ford Model A to the Nissan Z and all points in between. There are enough car shows for at least one every weekend of the year. Some are specific to one manufacturer or even model type, others are general invite. In the cause of full disclosure I should admit I am heavily involved in organizing two of them, one in the spring and the other in the fall. Each focuses on entirely different parts of the spectrum, Ford Model Ts and military vehicles, and yet even here there is overlap, in the form of World War One ambulances.
 By and large it is a masculine preoccupation. There are most welcome exceptions, with skills to put the best to shame, but when all is said and done, it’s a guy thing. Male enthusiasms are invariably inexplicable, mainly because they are essentially illogical. Why do some get so involved in stamp collecting? What’s the big deal about football? Can’t it be said with some certainty who won the Civil War and what happened at the Alamo? And why are you still playing with trains at your age? What’s wrong with you? Nothing, actually. We each seem to have some activity that floats our boat, or perhaps more appropriately in this context, a key that starts our engines.
History: gas stations Humble Oil
by Brian
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Humble Oil station wins contest
The old Humble Oil station south of downtown San Antonio, discussed here earlier this week, has won the national “The Place Matters” contest! The abandoned station, which I stumbled upon several years ago and found so impressive that I created a special sidebar page about it on my own site, was the winner among 12 finalists in the first-ever contest sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. According to Saturday’s Express-News article, the property’s current owner has no plans to tear-it down and, in fact, would like to see it restored. Given its historical designation with the City, it is eligible for local and federal tax credits for restoration work. Here’s hoping that someone will find a good use for it soon and restore it back to its former glory.
Bicycles Commuting History Oil and gas prices Safety Transit: Bicycles Commuting gas prices Safety Transit
by Hugh
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Dude, where’s my bike rebate?
I recently acquired, at surprising expense, a bicycle, a seven speed commuter bike with full mudguards and a wire basket that can hold two single gallons of milk. It is even more “green” inasmuch as it has a dynamo for its lights, with a neat little capacitor to keep them lit when stopped at traffic lights, not a good place to be unilluminated. My main goal, at the time of purchase, was to avoid yet another piece of garage art, well intentioned but ignored after the initial enthusiasm wore off.
Bicycles History Oil and gas prices Roads Travel: classic cars Travel Welcome
by Hugh
Comments Off on Hello from Hugh Hemphill
Hello from Hugh Hemphill
Right off the bat, I’m not from these parts. I hail, let’s get this out of the way right now so we can forget about it, from Scotland. And yet I sound like an Englishman. Go figure. I’ve been here since 1991, eighteen years, almost two-thirds of my adult life. I came here at thirty and as I stare fifty right in the face let me tell you that coming to Texas remains one of my better decisions. I like it here. A lot.
History: gas stations Humble Oil
by Brian
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More on the Humble service station
As Patrick noted in an earlier post, the Express-News did a story recently about the old Humble Oil gas station south of downtown. Several years ago, yours truly stumbled across it while photographing the adjacent section of I-10/35. At the time, I speculated that it might have been built in the early ’50s when the expressway ended at that location and went out of business in the early ’60s. However, the E-N article says city staffers believe it to be from the ’30s and was abandoned in 1977. Either way, it’s obviously a relic that time has forgotten. Here is the page I put up after I discovered the place, which includes a lot more pictures of it:
“What matters may not be beautiful”
An old San Antonio gas station, faded and flaking in the sun, weeds licking its foundation, has risen to the top out of almost 2,000 historical sites entered in a national online photo contest.
After months of submissions to the “This Place Matters” contest, the National Trust for Historic Preservation picked 12 finalists and last week put them up for a public vote. Voting ends this Friday, so anything can happen, but by today the San Antonio photo of a Humble Oil station led with 14 percent.