TAKING A TRIP BACK IN TIME CASTAIC COLLECTOR HOPES TO EVOKE MEMORIES OF EARLIER MOTORING ERA WITH 1930S GAS STATION.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

CASTAIC -- Its wood came from big old timbers, the glass was a quarter-inch thick, and in its day the station surely offered service with a smile.

For now, the disassembled gasoline station owned by collector James Perry just sits in piles in a gravel yard in Castaic.

But when it's rebuilt, the 1930s station from Oakland may evoke rosy memories of Model A and Model T Fords, as well as an American motoring era that has gone the way of low gas prices.

``It's the forgotten past of a simpler, less stressful, more wholesome time,'' said Perry, 51.

Perry, a Castaic resident, found pictures of the station online, where each of its three buildings was selling for $1.

The real expenses flow from disassembling the defunct station in Oakland, trucking it to Castaic and rebuilding it in the big back lot of a house Perry owns.

When he's finished in several weeks, Perry will invite friends over to see the station.

``(We'll) relax like on `The Andy Griffith Show,''' he said.

Perry is a collector, but even he is bemused about how he ended up taking on this online for parts for an old gas pump he owns, and one thing lead to another.

Wearing a John Deere cap and sporting a walrus mustache, Perry showed off the finer aspects of his gas station. Rings on the wood show it came from old-growth trees. The windows are thicker than any Perry has seen on modern buildings.

And the station had something you don't see in any gas station now: a metal pole with an arm attached to it -- a counterbalanced device for a hose that allowed a car owner to pour water into the tank. That way, the motorist wouldn't get too grimy when the car overheated.

There also were metal lampposts -- now antiques in their own right -- and a flagpole. And the whole thing was eventually covered with coat after coat of paint. The paint was so thick that Perry suspects it held together the station's loosened nuts and bolts.

Living in Castaic, Perry is close to the old Ridge Route, a winding road that motorists used to get over the San Gabriel and Tehachapi mountains.

Harrison Scott, author of ``Ridge Route: The Road that United California,'' noted that, just as cars were different back then, service stations needed to be.

Model T Fords used to overheat a lot, so drivers carried extra water. They also carried tire patches because the rubber used on tires wore away fast.

``So an all-day trip was really a challenge, particularly over such a serious mountain grade, which the Ridge Route was,'' Scott said.

A service station was a welcome sight. For Perry, his 1930s station will be a welcome sight when he finally gets it rebuilt.

But if he wants to pump any gasoline, he'll need to hook up a pump. That's one thing that didn't come with the old station.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

James Perry started out looking for parts for an old gas pump and wound up buying an entire 1930s-vintage station.

David Crane/Staff Photographer