Did gas stations in the 30's-40's sell beer?
...yes, some places that sold gas also sold beer...
I imagine that some Country Stores, that sold gasoline might sell beer... But, many places in the U.S. during the 30s-50s were "Dry"...
I know of no Oil Company that allowed beer to be sold on the premises of their Company Owned/Leased Gas Stations... But, one should never "say never" when they are talking about thousands of Stations and hundreds of Oil Companies that were around during the 30s-50s....
Tidewater Oil and Chevron (the two Oil Company's I worked for at their Stations) had in our employment packets that they would fire an employee for having alcohol in the Office and/or Service Area's... (which included the pump islands)
I bet some workers where outback having a nip!
The Shamrock station across the Colorado, Wyoming stateline in CO sold 3.2 beer to all the WY kids because they could buy it at age 18. This happened during the 60's and 70's. I know several guys that wrecked their cars on the way home. Mitch
I worked at a Texaco station when I was in high school and the owner sold beer in the back of the station. We live in a dry county. I think they called that "bootlegging". LOL....