Vast amounts of money have gone into the resuscitation of the city’s downtown, including the restoration of many of the surviving historic buildings and neighborhoods, and the construction of a beautiful River Walk. Despite all the improvements, San Antonio’s central city has a Disneyland, tourist-oriented feel that lacks the buzz of a downtown where people live, party, shop and do business twenty-four-seven.

What seems to have survived this wave of destruction and reconstruction are hundreds of tiny pre-World-War II gas stations. A few are virtually intact, the same as they were when the owners walked away perhaps during the tough economic times of the 1930s. Fewer still have been converted to modern uses that respect original architectural details. Dozens have been turned into taco or ice-cream stands by Mexican owners with electric color palettes in mind. Many are empty and tottering, looking as if the next strong wind might knock them down.

Regardless of their condition or aesthetic significance, these ubiquitous relics appear to survive under an impregnable bubble. I asked some locals and no one knew exactly what kept the stations from being demolished. One mentioned the work of a “a bunch of gray-hair preservationist ladies in tennis shoes.” But there also seems to be an unwritten commandment against messing with these small, vulnerable structures.

You quickly learn to pick them out by their basic bone structure hidden under a myriad architectural disguises—Art Deco, Mediterranean, Tudor or utilitarian 1950s modern. Spotting them along some of the main thoroughfares—Fredericksburg Road, San Pedro, Broadway, St. Mary’s Road—became a game for Stew and me. Stew had the far better eye.

Below are some samples from our gas station tour of San Antonio.

(1) 1021 Laredo Street. This station, built around 1938, has a  ghostly aura. Except for the missing gas pumps and the boarded-up  windows and doors, it looks pretty much as it did when the owner  shut it down. Nowadays it sits, looking rather helpless but  untouched, tucked between an arterial expressway, a huge  billboard above and a noisy dog kennel behind. Across the street  is a modern Candlewood Suites hotel. If that billboard ever  blows down, it’s all over for this tiny gem.   (2) 1021 Laredo St. This was the main door.  The blue tiles at the foot of the walls are typical  of this style of gas station. The ceiling under the  canopy, maybe pressed tin tiles once, is now gone.  The molding around the door looks Art Deco to me.  Humble Oils, founded in Humble, Texas in 1911 eventually became Exxon.   (3) 1021 Laredo Street. The gas pumps are long gone,  but the post for the air hoses, neatly painted red, remains. (4) 1021 Laredo Street. The peaked tin roof and the ziggurat tile  pattern can be found in other gas stations in San Antonio. (5) King William District. Located at one of the entrances of the  King William Historic District, this former Texaco station’s cabin  style reminded me of something one would find in the backwoods  of Wisconsin. Not much was done to it when it was converted  into a drive-through beer and snacks store with a small outdoor sitting  area. Many of the homes in the nearby King William District have been so fastidiously and fussily restored that looking at them  for too long makes your teeth hurt. (6) 1502 No. McCollough Ave. This store’s basic design,  the peaked tin roof and the detail over the door, reminded us of the  Art Deco look of station (1). But the Aztec Sun Blast paint job is  definitely not Art Deco. The object under the right pillar is a badly beat-up public telephone. (7) 1502 No McCollough. The posts holding up the front canopy  don’t look original, and probably there were some ceramic  tiles at the top and bottom of the exterior walls. (8) 3502 St. Mary’s Street. This is now Pugel’s Hot Dogs. A  thoughtful preservation. The owner kept the two entrances to the  service bays, now covered with glass doors, and otherwise  did little to change the exterior of the building.  (9) 3502 St. Mary’s. Other than installing a new window between  the two front doors, the owners left everything intact, including  the ribbon of ceramic tiles. (10) 2324 No. St. Mary’s Street. The signage on this restaurant  must have been done by a tattoo artist on drugs. The front posts  don’t look original, but the rest of the Mediterranean flair is all there. (11) 1726 St. Mary’s Street. Crouching timidly between an  expressway on one side, a monster-size billboard above and  a construction site on the left side, this specimen has the look of  an endangered species. But its trim above survives as do the two service entrance doors. And judging by the hundreds of other old gas stations  still standing in San Antonio, I bet no one is going to bring any harm this one, no matter how battered it may look. (12) 2222 N. San Pedro Ave. This is a curvaceous beauty,  all its corners seductively rounded, along with the full-length bay  windows, and the round porthole windows. There’s a service  bay on one side and a second one on the other side. A sign suggested someone had bought the property and might be readying to bring it back to life. (13) Bliss Restaurant, 926 S. Presa St. A no-expense-spared  conversion of an old Humble station into a $$$$ restaurant. The  original station had the same lines, tin roof and tilework as  the one on Laredo St. (pictures 1-4). The original building was expanded to such an extent that the finished building almost eclipses the original structure. (14) Bliss Restaurant. The main room at Bliss,  which were once the service bays of the original  gas station. The brick walls and the roof  beams were left exposed. Very cool space. (15) Purple vision: one of our favorites, though I forgot to put down  the address. Yes, purists might quibble about the  color scheme or the placing of large pots of cacti on the roof  of the canopy. But whoever owns this former station did respect the basic Mediterranean design, including the two rounded  service bay doors. (16) Period-appropriate artwork. The owner  must have commissioned the 1930s-style artwork. (17) A bit of purple humor at the purple gas station.   (18) A touch of Tudor. During the 1940s a so-called Tudor Revival style became the rage in residential building. It was completely made-up, having little or nothing to do with Henry VIII or the  other Tudors. This gas station seems to have been built of brick and then sheathed with wood and plywood.  (19) A coin operated air pump victim of a collision. (20) I can’t imagine these chimneys ever worked, wood fires being not a good idea at a gasoline station.   (21) Grand prize winner (no cash involved). This former Mobil station is located at one of San Antonio’s primo locations—the intersection of Broadway and Austin Highway. It’s been through a few reincarnations according to a friend, before turning into an upscale women’s clothing store. The luxe exterior of the gas station has remained pretty much intact, with the area under the canopy closed in to provide additional retail space. (22) Details, details. Though the restrooms were moved, the architect kept the original  doors and lighted signs.  (23) Night vision. The rotating neon Pegasus on the cupola of  the building was restored to full working condition. In Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse that carried thunderbolts for Zeus. Pegasus was first trademarked by the Vacuum Oil Company, and through later iterations became Mobil Oil, which ultimately merged with Exxon.  **** Comments? Stew and I admittedly didn’t do much original research, other than asking friends and then driving all over San Antonio looking for gas stations. So, if anyone has additions, corrections or amplifications please feel free to leave them in the “Comments” section below this post, and I will publish them.