Gas Station Turns Back the Clock : Fill-er Up? 29 Cents a Gallon

When the gas lines start forming this morning at one Anaheim service station, white-shirted attendants with six-pointed caps and spit-polished shoes promise to pump the gas, check the oil and air, clean the windows--all with a smile, for only 29 cents a gallon.

“People shouldn’t have to give their money to a guy in a bullet-proof cage,” said the proprietor of Billy’s Service Station, 35-year-old Bill Taormina of Anaheim. “You should be able to deal with a hometown, friendly service provider.”

Spiffed up like his starch-shirted attendants, Taormina said his refurbished gas station is a throwback to the days when service with a smile was more than a motto and “the golden days of American motoring (when) taking your family for a ride was like going to Disneyland.”

In the bargain, Taormina said he hopes the renovation of the once dilapidated eyesore and the cheap prices--at least temporarily--will spur other downtown Anaheim business owners to restore their property to its condition in those halcyon days before blight and crime took their toll.

“All the history of Anaheim is gone and has been replaced with these modern structures,” Taormina said, pointing to the distant glittering edifices of redeveloped Anaheim. “I want to bring back commerce to downtown Anaheim, the old downtown.”

Taormina, who also operates an Anaheim refuse hauling firm, invested $225,000 to buy the property at 300 N. North

Anaheim Blvd. and restore the original 1935-era building in the hope of just breaking even financially.

Although the 29-cent-a-gallon gas prices will last only “two days or until we sell 10,000 gallons,” Taormina said the 1950s-style decor and the pump jockeys in period dress will remain. Future prices will be pegged to the lowest self-serve prices in the area, he promised.

A spot check of area service stations Monday showed self-service prices ranging from 71 cents a gallon for regular to $1.02 per gallon for super octane ratings. But full-service prices were considerably higher, ranging from $1.20 for regular to $1.39 for super.

Despite the atmosphere harkening back to another era, Taormina admits that he had to make some concessions to the 1980s:

Old-time gas pumps were modified to meet metering and air-quality standards. Employees will be paid “at what office workers in the ‘50s were making” rather than authentic 1950 gas pump attendant wages. And what with the proliferation of computerized, fuel-injected motors, he said, only “very light repairs, maybe a fan belt, a light bulb” will be provided. Oh yes, and unleaded gasoline will be sold.

Still, the emphasis will be on service and cleanliness.

“I want this place to be like a hospital,” Taormina said. “The first two pages of the job description for these employees is clean, clean, clean and courtesy, courtesy, courtesy.

“Whenever they are not pumping gas, they will be cleaning,” said Taormina, as one employee mopped a painted concrete driveway for the umpteenth time.

Open 6 Days a Week

“The neighborhood is already improving,” said Don Mendenhall, an off-duty Orange County sheriff’s deputy who dropped off a 1950-style telephone. He had already donated an old-time typewriter for the station’s office.

Billy’s Service Station’s hours will be 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week. And, “if there is a demand for Sunday (service), we’ll open Sunday,” Taormina said. “I expect because of the low price, in terms of full service, that there will always be a couple of people in line.”

He already is anticipating that Anaheim Boulevard will be widened in front of his station. But he is prepared. Taormina said that he will simply “grab this baby with a crane and move it back 12 feet, and set it down again.”

Why is he doing it? For Taormina, there are rewards other than money.

There are 350 senior citizens living in a complex one block to the south, many of whom, according to Taormina, have difficulty pumping their own gas or otherwise attending to their motoring needs.

“People say we’re not going to make money, but that’s fine,” said the lifetime resident of Anaheim who was born just two blocks to the north of the station and now lives two blocks to the northwest.

“It’ll be break-even at best. Sometimes you do business to make a profit. Sometimes you do to make a change. I want to make a statement. To bring something back to downtown,” Taormina said.

“It may be a little idealistic, but this was a dream of mine.”