Humble Station Open House – Sept. 16, 1964

I've probably asked this question before on this blog: are you picky about where you buy your gas? How about when you were younger?

Many of us remember when all the major brands of gasoline were represented in our area: Sohio, Sunoco, Gulf, Shell, Texaco, Sinclair, Pure, Cities Service, Clark, etc. We all had our favorites for various reasons.

Some of these brands, such as Sunoco and Shell, are still around. There are even some ersatz Pure stations that don't seem to have any connection to the classic brand. And there are a lot of weird ones too, such as RaceWay.

Anyway, I was surprised to see in the ad below that Lorain had two Humble stations: one at 2221 E. 42nd Street and one at 1313 Broadway. The ad ran in the Journal on September 16, 1964.

The ad is great in that it presents the idealized gas station in all its retro glory. There are helpful, uniformed attendants, an attractive station exterior, a couple looking at what is probably a free map, and happy moppets running about. And of course, best of all, is the inclusion in the ad of the great Humble tiger, one of the most appealing advertising mascots of all time.