Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana A Lost Service Town by Curt Cragg

Hey Rex, are you typing with your thumbs or hitch hiking south? I'm assuming that thumbs down was a "thumble" which I've done myself a time or two.

Good eye on the Gargoyle sign. You may notice that that is a Shell station that it's hanging on.

More story on its way so check back...

Las Cruces Town
The town of Las Cruces, if you can call it that, was first established as a stagecoach stop. As the coaches traveled up or down the coast from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo, this gap at Gaviota was an important way station for the weary travelers. The tavern and inn on the west side of the highway were there well before the motorized carriages came cruising up the coast.

This location was important for another reason too. It was the mouth of a funnel that fed from the Santa Ynez and Lompoc Valleys to the Gaviota wharf, where livestock were shipped to points north and south. The ranchers to the north would drive their cattle, pigs, sheep or goats down into and through Las Cruces and across the bridge to the wharf, usually staying at Las Cruces for some fun and frolic after the work was done.



Pity the early motorist that arrived at the Gaviota bridge on the day that a herd was being driven into the gap. It could be a long wait before they could continue on their journey north when stalled by this unanticipated traffic delay. Even today this narrow section of highway becomes a liability for travelers when a truck turns over and blocks the lanes. With nowhere to go (and we mean that literally) the motorists are stuck running for the bushes and into the ghosts of the gas stations of Las Cruces for relief.

(Just a note: This happened twice in the month of November of this year. A produce truck tipped spilling its load of salad all over the highway and closing the southbound lanes for several hours. On Monday a fuel truck fell over in the morning and snarled the commute from northern Santa Barbara County to the south for most of the day.)


Here is what the tavern looked like inside. Note the saddle seat barstools. After a long week of driving cattle the cowboys could literally be drunk in the saddle.



This group was having a day of leisure at the Gaviota wharf, although it was a working pier too.

SORRY ABOUT THAT PM THUMBS UP 4-SURE.......
I CAN ALMOST SMELL THAT BAR
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REX LIKES SMELLS

Hope the guy sitting in the photo didn't get any splinters in his a**!!!!! Ouch!!!

talk about "sadlin" up to the bar !!!.. yeah man....

Super!! Thanks for doing this!! I love the photos and the history!! Thanks much.....

Curt, great pictures of Las Cruces.. remember them well... now all that's left is the oak tree and the garbage cans..

Robby Pea Soup Andersen

Fishing at Gaviota was about the only thing to do.. I spent a lot of time there with a 'drop line'... the beach didn't have sand it was more like crushed shells and if you did take a walk.. the next few days were spent getting the tar off your feet... THARE'S oil in that there water... and that was long before the drilling started..

Robby Pea Soup Andersen
'who can remember 50 years ago, but can't remember what he had for breakfast'

Curt, great to have you back and the story is very interesting. Even us, up here in the rainy northwest, can smell the saltwater and taste some dust. The skill you have in letting us see and become part of the story is refreshing and enlightening. Thanks!

Thanks for the kudos everyone.

Welcome to Robby Andersen, grandson of the founders of the now world famous Andersen's Pea Soup! If anyone knows this area, Robby does as he grew up here. We will have to tell them more about your involvement with the Pea Soup Special Dragster Robby.

More on Las Cruces

As if there were not enough service stations in the tiny town of Las Cruces, there was still another one. Valdemar Nielsen decided to try and capture the traffic from the north, so he built another station on the southbound lane of the coast highway just a mile or so before the turnoff to Lompoc. He sold Shell gasoline and offered towing service, which was often needed due to accidents and overheating on the winding roads. It was called the “Las Cruces Garage”, which undoubtedly caused some confusion for the “El Camino Garage” at the other end of town on the northbound side of the highway.

Randy Chester, a former Buellton resident, recently sent me some pictures of the Las Cruces Garage that I had never seen before. Either his dad or his uncles worked there and may have operated the station at one time or another. The Chester brothers operated numerous stations in the Buellton area, including at one time, competing stations all clustered at one end of Buellton.

Here is a glimpse of a day at the Las Cruces Garage







The town of Las Cruces and the Chevron service station on the other side of the highway would last at least into the early sixties until hihgway widening and reconfiguration finally forced them out of business. I still have more pictures of the modern Chevron station and store that came about in place of the first row of stations in the first picture that I posted so come back and visit this post again soon.

[This message has been edited by the poor mans museum (edited 12-04-2005).]

Great Writing Curt, I think the pics are awesome.

FANTASTIC stuff, keep it up!!!!

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Jim Rohn
Scottsdale, AZ

Okay you asked for it....

Las Cruces is Lost

As World War two came to a close in the mid forties the State of California embarked on an ambitious expansion of its freeway system. This included straightening out and speeding up the coast highway for faster moving and mechanically more efficient vehicles. Travelers were impatient with slowdowns through Podunk service towns. They wanted to get to their destinations with a vigor and speed unseen before the world war. Cars were designed to reflect developments in aerospace and aviation that were unfolding after the war, creating a craving for sleek and speed.

War developments were also being incorporated into civilian vehicles offering unseen amenities that soon became necessities. While this was good for the motorist, it did not bode well for the small service towns. Many two pump stations found themselves without a highway or clientelle to support them.

Las Cruces was a casualty of just such development as the necessary range between stations was extended from 15 miles to 30 miles and more. Being on the in between and no longer at an important cross roads, the service stations and garages started to dry up, leaving one station to manage the light load.

J.R. Loustalot’s Chevron service station and store was the only survivor by the late 1950’s. It helped that the Loustalot’s owned the property and could hang on without having to “pay the rent”. Throughout the war Cessarina Loustalot had served sandwiches and soda to the thirsty servicemen traveling up and down the coast and earned a reputation as a gracious and beautiful host. A society lady originally from Santa Barbara, she found herself in the unlikely position of service station and store owner, but adjusted to the job well and made the stop memorable for many.

Perhaps it was Cessarina that brought them back after the war, as the servicemen now became tourists instead of soldiers traveling the coast of California in the 1950’s.

This is what was left of Las Cruces after World War II



The station lasted at least into the 60's as this license shows.



It certainly lasted long enough for the development of color postcards. And who wouldn't want to send a postcard of a service station to their family back home?



By the seventies, Las Cruces was completely lost. A casualty of an oil embargo, more efficient vehicles and the passing of the highway. At least the ghosts still remain to remind us of this small service town tucked into a niche where California's coast highway turned inland through the coastal valleys on its way to San Francisco.

At some time Las Cruces was also known for it sulpher springs.. not sure of the time line but I believe there may have been a resort or cabins... as a kid it was a great place to go swiming...

Robby

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Robby Pea Soup Andersen
'who can remember 50 years ago, but can't remember what he had for breakfast'

Great job Curt, you are the man. Glad to have you back posting and telling your stories.

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Scott Shipers
WANTED: Jayhawk Oil
Kansas City, Missouri