Curt, thanks for posting the great old pictures of the Rio Grande gas station.
A couple of very interesting aspects of the site in Ellwood, California (now part of Goleta)were describe by Dave Cole in his "Check the Oil" article. I liked learning that Ellwood Cooper, who established the ranch in 1870 on which the oil field was found and the station sits, was a horticulturist who introduced eucalyptus trees to Southern California. So the abundant trees around the Rio Grande station and along Hollister Avenue (formerly US 101) are direct descendants of those initial imported trees. Also of interest is the shelling of the Ellwood oil field by a Japanese submarine in 1942 behind this station.
