At the end of an amazing trip to LA in June, the second to last stop before arriving at LAX is the gas station to fill up the rental car before giving it back.  It was just a coincidence that it was a PT Cruiser this time.  I am not familiar with the LA city streets that well but I looked it up and it’s on the corner of Slauson and La Brea Avenues. We were not really familiar with United Gas but since it was a rental car we really didn’t care.

So…

My mom left the car to fill up and then when inside to get drinks.  This gave me an opportunity to take it all in.  Someone was definitely trying to make a statement with this one.  The first thought is the Jetsons.  The glue that tied everything together was the roof plane which beginning at the convenience store, continued to shelter the car wash where it then made a sharp turn and became the canopy sheltering the gas pumps.  Then I noticed that the cars waiting for the car wash (and the line was ridiculously long which is not usually the case at most of the gas stations I’ve seen).  The entry point was at the east side of the convenience store.  From there a ramp guided the cars behind the convenience store (which had plenty of glazing to express this layering) where eventually it came back down at the actual washing area.

Check out LA Curbed’s website which has several photos with explanations.  Here is my stitched photo from cell phone camera shots as well…

Gas Station by Kanner Architects