FA-3 51 Gasoline Stations: The people and places of my "26 Gas Stations" and Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations

“26 Gas Stations” is the title of the second movement of my forthcoming work for symphony orchestra, the Route 66 Suite. The music was inspired by the people I met at various current and former gas stations along Route 66. I whittled it down to a list of 26 stations as an homage to artist Ed Ruscha and his 1963 photography book Twentysix Gasoline Stations. My original intent was to find inspiration in the locations of the stations in Ruscha’s book, but through my research and travels, I learned that nearly all of them have been demolished, which I find rather un-inspiring. This paper serves to share the locations of those stations, the 26 places in my list, and to explain how all 51 locations inspired the music in my “26 Gas Stations.” In October 1962, Ruscha drove from his home in Los Angeles, CA to his hometown of Oklahoma City, OK. He took photographs of gas stations along the way, self-publishing the series as a book, one of the first photography books. There were no descriptions of the stations or any text other than the name of the station and the city in which is stood (e.g. “CONOCO, SAYRE, OKLAHOMA”). The exact locations were never published, and they have remained somewhat of a treasure hunt for interested parties. Swiss photographer Martin Möll (1972–2019) may have discovered most of the locations, but he never published them nor did he include them in his series of photographs titled Twentysix Gasoline Stations Revisited (2009). In 2013, a group of students and faculty from the University of Oklahoma attempted to locate Ruscha’s 26 stations using Möll’s research and other sources. Results (such as site locations) from this project titled “Road to Ruscha” were never published. However, I was able to find some of the students’ photographs online. Using aerial and satellite photography, road and topographic maps, phone books, Möll’s/Road to Ruscha’s locations, and other sources, I have been able to confirm the locations of 23 of Ruscha’s 26. I also discovered that four of Möll’s/Road to Ruscha’s locations were incorrect. None of the 26 stations in Ruscha’s book are still in operation. Only four of the buildings that once housed these 26 stations are still standing, of which one is still in business as a gift shop. After meeting the owners, it became one of the stations in my list of 26.