Gulf Station / Auto Sound Lab, 700 Harden Street: January 1984 1 comment
Commenter Rick sent this picture of his former business some months ago but I was holding onto it until I could dig up some current-ish pictures of the spot for comparison. I actually did take some, but as so often is the case, I can't lay hands on them right now. The ones I did find are from 2011.
Though I must have driven, or been driven, by this spot hundreds of times through the years, I can honestly say I have no recollection whatsoever of this building. I also have no recollection of Harper's being built despite always thinking of it as a "new" place.
Commenter Rick has recently mentioned that X Records was also located on this corner and also knocked down to build Harper's.
(Hat tip to commenter Rick)
UPDATE 1 June 2015: Changed Gas Station in the post title to Gulf Station based on the comments.
One Response to 'Gulf Station / Auto Sound Lab, 700 Harden Street: January 1984'
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ted
28 May 15 at 5:13 am
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 05:13:10 +0000
Author: Homer
Comment:
@Rick - congrats on getting your old biz posted on here! Question - Did you ever walk across the street to Rockafella's and end up sleeping it off in your store?
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 12:21:24 +0000
Author: Midnight Rambler
Comment:
Was this a Rax restaurant prior to Harper's?
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 12:59:58 +0000
Author: Robert
Comment:
Many years ago, in the 60's/early 70's, there was a Gulf station here, then DeLites (spelling?), a far-ahead-of-its-time healthy fast food place.
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 13:30:42 +0000
Author: Rick
Comment:
@Homer - No, never had to sleep one off there. I did have a great parking spot anytime I did go into five points at night though.
If you look at the old photo,
Out-Spokin Bicycle Shop was in the brick building just behind the Stereo Store, that building was also knocked down to build Harpers. And to the right of the old photo and across the street was of course Rockafella's. Just to the left and out of picture was X-Records, next to them the old Chinese Restaurant and then The Parthenon Restaurant.
When I took the photo of the stereo store, I was standing across the street where the old Sharpe's Formal Wear business was. It appears Ted was standing at the corner where Yesterdays is in his first photo of Harpers.
Yesterdays WAS in business at the time the old photo was taken.
This was an old Gulf station years before and when I leased the building one could still see the ghost of the old Gulf signs in places. The interior still showed the old gulf orange color paint. This station had three restrooms located on the left side and if you look closely you can see my old 1976 Corvette in the middle bay. Well I wasn't going to leave it out in the sun.
I'm certain it was never a Rax before Harpers.
And you know, I've NEVER been to Harpers. No particular reason why, unless it's psychological or something.
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 13:53:12 +0000
Author: Midnight Rambler
Comment:
D'Lites, yes, great call. Rax was where Bank of America is now by Trenholm Plaza.
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 17:48:50 +0000
Author: Sidney
Comment:
@Rick, that's pretty cool. Is that you in the pic? What year was the pic taken?
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 22:26:13 +0000
Author: Rick
Comment:
@Sidney - No, that is not me in the photo. I was standing behind the camera that captured the picture.
The person in the picture was one of my "Installers" as I called them, named Jim Mercer.
Jim was from Ohio as was his Father, his Mother was from Japan.
In the picture Jim was washing out his shirt which got
goo-bage on it while he was lying in a customers nasty car trunk installing rear deck speakers.
We worked on a lot of nasty cars. One time a guy came in with a container in his trunk of cow semen stored in liquid nitrogen. My installers refused to remove the container and I had to get the customer to remove it.
I wore a white lab coat with the name Auto Sound Lab embroidered on it and my installers wore hospital scrub shirts with our name embroidered on them. This correlated with the "Lab" in our name Auto Sound Lab.
Jim liked his shirts very much. He wore them to clubs and said he picked up many women because the shirt was "Cool".
I had already changed the logo of our name by this time. Different from what you see on the front of the building, font, etc. but I did not change it on the front of my store because I knew my lease was going to expire six months in advance.
The picture was taken sometime in the second half of 1983.
I closed this location December 31st 1983 when my lease was up, and the buildings started being torn down the first week of January 1984, as Ted nailed the date in his post.
I have a couple of pictures of the Two Notch store when my sign was going up showing the new logo that I will send to Ted.
Ted may like to post the pictures I send him here, or on another post he did called "Carzzz 2941 Two Notch" that took over the location of Auto Sound Lab after I moved out.
Anyway, The 1970's and 80's were a big part of my life.
I want to thank Ted for posting the picture and I also want to thank all of you who made or will make comments.
Rick
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 23:04:23 +0000
Author: Sidney
Comment:
@Rick. My mom is full Japanese. I'm half white and half Japanese, born in Naha City, Okinawa, Japan.
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 23:29:14 +0000
Author: TahoeChic
Comment:
I couldn't ever picture this corner before Harpers until I saw this pic and it jogged my memory. I was only 5 in 84, but my mom and aunt used to take me down to Peaches Records with them and to Tons o Toys. almost every Saturday. After looking at this picture, I remember how Five Points used to look.
Date: Thu, 28 May 2015 23:48:13 +0000
Author: Rick
Comment:
@Sidney - I have spent time in Japan as I work for a Japanese company. I have been several times to Osaka for training.
My brother in law is a retired marine and to this day he lives in Naha City on the island of Okinawa, or Oki as he calls it.
@Tahoebabe - glad we bought back memories.
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2015 11:51:11 +0000
Author: badger
Comment:
It's still a bank, proably BoA, since they are the successor bank to C&S. One or to buildings over is the Baan Sawan Thai restaurant.
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2015 21:02:46 +0000
Author: Andrew
Comment:
The traffic signal fixtures on the original pic predate me but I do remember quite a few intersections having similar traffic signals:
- Blossom Street between Woodrow and Kilbourne (signalized intersections along that stretch of roadway)
- Assembly & Senate
Thse were redone sometime within the last decade
Going back to the 90s, I have recolletions of some of the side streets along St. Andrews, Bush River and Rosewood having similar frames while the main streets had the bigger ones now...
I'm odd that I notice changes in traffic signal frames and which ones are LED and non-LED. In recent months quite a few signals have gone non-LED for reasons I don't understand.
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 03:35:33 +0000
Author: fourlizards
Comment:
I have a photo that I took on St. Patrick's Day 1988 in Five Points where you can see a bit of D'Lites in the background if anyone is interested.
http://i.imgur.com/L8ATIde.jpg
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 07:38:29 +0000
Author: Terry
Comment:
fourlizards, I love that photo. No arm bands required to purchase beer, no strollers to trip over. I do not understand why every event Columbia holds now has to be 'family-oriented'. All those 20 somethings in the photo are now in their 50s. Funny how that happens....
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 21:58:13 +0000
Author: Andrew
Comment:
I understand Terry's frustration on 'family oriented'...I'm turned off by 89.7 (WMHK) saying that they are 'family friendly'...I guess it's just in the phase of life I'm at.
fourlizard's photo was most likely taken on March 19, 1988 (based on the way St. Pat's in Five Points usually falls). I came along that summer...
Not only are the businesses in the background gone now, but also what look like antique traffic signal fixtures to me that have been upgraded I've noticed...makes me wonder if I'm fortunate enough to see my 50s what will be 'still standing' at that point...
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2015 03:00:32 +0000
Author: TahoeChic
Comment:
My mom used to take me to the St. Patrick's Day festival in Five Points every year in the 80s when I was a kid, as well as Mayfest and the other things like that they used to have around town. Granted, my childhood was far from traditional or normal, but I agree that not everything has to be "family friendly" and sterile.
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 07:54:12 +0000
Author: JBL
Comment:
This thread and fourlizard's photo remind me of a goofy friend of my wife and I, who, when told we would meet at DeLites for St Patty's Day, said, " Which one, there are lots of lights in Five Points?"