A gas station doesn’t have to just be somewhere you fill up your tank during a road trip. Some can be destinations in themselves, with unique architecture, built-in restaurants and museums, or even their own merch. Think of your typical “destination” gas station, and you might picture somewhere like Buc-ee’s, the famous Texas-based chain that is set to expand across the U.S. soon. However, plenty of quirkier gas stations exist around the country.

While many historic gas stations no longer actually sell gas, some particularly old and notable stations have been converted into businesses of other kinds or preserved as historic monuments. The next time you head out on a road trip, it’s worth checking if you’ll be driving past any of these old-school gas stations and glimpsing into American roadside history.

It might not be quite as old as some of the other gas stations here, but the Hollow Mountain gas station in Hanksville, Utah, is still just as unusual. The pumps look conventional, but the attached convenience store certainly isn’t, since it’s housed in a rock cavern. A spokesperson for the Hanksville town clerk told Newsweek that the original owner of the site had worked in mining and came up with the idea of using explosives to blast out a cavern big enough for the store from the mountainside.

By first using dynamite to create the original cavern then carefully digging out the remaining rocks, the owner was able to create a large enough hole to build a full convenience store. Some walls within the store were left as exposed rock as a reminder of its unconventional construction. Unlike many other unique, historic gas stations, the Hollow Mountain gas station remains in business today, having opened in the ’80s.

Situated on a small, triangular plot of land between two roads, the Sinclair station in Snyder, Texas, was always going to be diminutive. Rather than attempt to build a traditional rectangular store in the limited space they had, the station’s original builder decided to lean into the unique layout of its location and make the store triangular to match its forecourt. It was built in 1935, and after several decades of operation, it eventually fell into disrepair. Thankfully, it was saved by its current owner, Lynn Fuller, more than three decades after it shuttered.

In an interview, Fuller told The Texas Bucket List that he planned to “buy it and paint it so the city wouldn’t tear it down,” but in the end, “one thing led to another” and he decided to fully restore the site. It wasn’t easy, with Fuller joking that “everything we touched, something else fell out.” However, after years of work, the restoration was completed. Today, the station is a proper time capsule, complete with authentic Sinclair memorabilia in the station store.

Shell has the largest number of gas stations of any chain in the U.S., with over 12,000 locations at the time of writing. Current locations feature the chain’s distinctive shell-shaped logo, but back in the 1930s, a small network of gas stations in North Carolina took their dedication to Shell branding a step further. Local distributor Quality Oil Company built eight locations in and around the city of Winston-Salem, and they featured Shell-shaped stores alongside color-coordinated gas pumps. 

Seven of those stations were demolished, but in the ’70s, one station was bought by JD Watson, a local businessman. He based a lawn mower repair business there, keeping the unique Shell building intact. Once added to the National Register of Historic Places, local preservation campaigns helped keep the building in good condition, with a restoration carried out in the ’90s. While the station hasn’t sold gas for decades and no longer houses Watson’s business, it’s maintained as a local landmark for residents and tourists to enjoy.

Another gas station that’s on the National Register of Historic Places is Provine Service Station in Hydro, Oklahoma. It was built on Route 66 in 1929, when cross-country travel boomed. In the early ’40s, it was bought by the Hamons family, with Lucille Hamons taking charge of its everyday operation. She kept the station open until her passing in 2000. Over her six decades of stewardship, the station evolved from a gas station to a makeshift bar, serving locals who couldn’t buy beer from nearby towns.

Although it has officially been called Provine Service Station since 1934, many locals and Route 66 regulars know the station by its nickname “Lucille’s Place.” Since her passing, the station has remained closed, but it has been preserved as a tourist attraction. The station is one of the few surviving examples of early mom and pop stations, with the owners’ living space built on a second storey directly above the forecourt.

Although it now serves as the Kansas Route 66 Visitor Center, Baxter Springs Gas Station was originally designed to cater to residents rather than long-distance road trippers. Its cottage-like appearance was chosen by its original owners to make the station look more inviting to customers. It wasn’t a unique idea at the time, although it’s rare to find a surviving example of this gas station design today.

The station was built in 1930 by Independent Oil and Gas, with many of the chain’s branches sporting a similar cottage-like design at the time. It remained in operation until it was bought by new owners and transformed into a gift shop, then subsequently converted into various other businesses. In the early 2000s, the building was bought by the Baxter Springs Heritage Society, which restored it to its original glory before opening it as a visitor center in 2007.

Although the origins of the 76 name are less clear than you might expect, the West Coast-based chain’s success is far from ambiguous. It wasn’t always that way, though, with its famous antenna balls being introduced in the ’60s as a way to boost brand visibility. At the same time, 76 was building eye-catching gas stations in prominent locations to further stand out from the crowd.

One of the best examples of this unique design is the brand’s location at 427 N. Crescent Dr in Beverly Hills, which features a dramatic curving canopy that’s accented with strips of white lighting. The design is characteristic of Googie architecture, which blended mid-century style with space-age futuristic design. According to the Smithsonian, part of the reason that Googie design became popular was that building designers needed a way to grab the attention of passing drivers.

The Crescent Drive location wasn’t originally supposed to receive the design. Instead, architect Gin Wong imagined it for the Los Angeles Airport. When that idea was dropped after the airport’s layout was changed, 76 decided to build the futuristic-looking gas station in Beverly Hills instead. It’s still open today, and visitors should go in the evening when the lights in its canopy are illuminated.

Many gas stations sell pizza, but few pizza restaurants operate out of vintage restored gas stations. Signal Station Pizza in Portland, Oregon, is among those few restaurants, since the business is run from the former St. Johns Signal Tower Gas Station, which opened in 1939. It was unusual from the start, with a large tower above the octagonal station office that featured Signal branding in neon letters. Its designers created it in the Art Moderne style, and it’s one of the few small gas stations that survive in this style.

It remained a Signal gas station until 1954, when its new operators renamed it Hellman’s Service Station. It was renamed Hellman’s Golden Eagle, then became a Chevron location in 1965. By that point, its unique Signal neon branding had been removed in favor of vertical “Hellmans” lettering. The gas station would eventually close in 1977 and was restored to its original 1939 condition in the early 2000s.

Texas is home to plenty of cool old-school gas stations. Some are small, locally beloved stations like Snyder’s triangular Sinclair station, while others are Route 66 icons. In the latter camp is the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café in Shamrock, which was constructed in 1936. The main building features elements of Art Deco design, but the most instantly recognizable feature is the tower that rises above the station with its bold Conoco branding.

Adjoining the gas station is the U-Drop Inn Café, which features a smaller tower. It’s said that the design of the main Conoco tower was inspired by a nail that its creator used to sketch out the station’s early design. Like many notable classic gas stations, the Tower Station no longer sells gas but has instead been converted into a visitor center and houses the City of Shamrock’s chamber of commerce office.

Pioneering architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings ranging from magnificent celebrity-owned homes to New York’s Guggenheim Museum, but he also designed a gas station as part of his Broadacre City project. While his wider vision for Broadacre City was never built, the gas station was constructed in Cloquet, Minnesota, in 1958 and remains operational today.

Unlike many older gas stations, Lloyd Wright’s design was created with evolution in mind. The architect thought that it might eventually function as a restaurant or neighborhood community center, and so it was designed as a landmark rather than simply for utility. The roof is made from copper and hangs above the forecourt, while a tower points towards the sky. On the second story of the station’s main building, a glass-walled viewing area looks down to the forecourt below. The station was built for Ray Lindholm, and it remains owned by his descendants today.

The strange shape of the Teapot Dome Service Station in Zillah, Washington, isn’t simply the result of an eccentric designer looking to create the most eye-catching building possible. It’s actually a reference to the Teapot Dome Scandal of the early 1920s, which saw a government official hand exclusive drilling rights to the Teapot Dome oil reserve in Wyoming to the Mammoth Oil Company in exchange for a large bribe. The government official in question was Albert Bacon Fall, who was eventually imprisoned once the illicit deal was uncovered.

The gas station in Zillah opened in 1922, the same year that the scandal unfolded. Local owner Jack Ainsworth hand-built the teapot-shaped office as a political statement, and its unique design made it one of the state’s most instantly recognisable filling locations. In the decades since its construction, the teapot building has been moved from its original site, and today, it’s located at 117 First Ave in Zillah. It no longer sells gas, but visitors can still stop by and admire its design.

Many St. Louis locals are fond of the giant Amoco sign that towers above a gas station on S Skinker Blvd. So many, in fact, that when the station became a BP location in 1998, locals successfully convinced its new owners to keep it standing. After the British oil giant bought Amoco, the giant sign sat above a BP-branded station for around two decades. Then, in 2019, BP decided to revert the station to Amoco branding. Today, it’s officially known as Stevenson’s Hi-Pointe Amoco.

Despite affection for the giant Amoco sign, it hadn’t actually been in place for that long before BP bought the American chain. The current Amoco sign was erected in 1985, although various older oversized signs had been in place since the station first opened in the early 1920s. Thousands of neon bulbs lit the gas station’s giant signs, visible to pilots flying into the city’s airport, according to St Louis magazine. The longest-standing giant sign was built in the early 1930s and featured 5,800 bulbs. The modern sign might not quite be as flashy as its predecessors, but it’s still a beloved landmark.

Drinking in the car as a driver is never acceptable, and in many states, it’s also illegal to drink if you’re a passenger. Drinking in a gas station is usually also a surefire way to get yourself stopped by law enforcement — that is, unless you’re drinking in the Tank Garage Winery in California’s Napa Valley. The winery is located inside a restored 1930s gas station and offers a range of local wines served in a space housing vintage automobile memorabilia.

It has been open since 2014 and features a period gas pump outside its front door, albeit non-functional. Inside the venue sits an Indian motorcycle that was once owned by the garage’s former keeper, local racer Eddie Bratton. As well as being a cool stop for fans of old gas stations, fans of weird and wonderful wine will find plenty to like too. Previously, the winery even offered a wine that had been fermented with spiritually-charged crystals.

Before his passing in 2023, Jack Dunkle had run Dunkle’s Gulf Service in Bedford for decades, succeeding his father, who had operated the site since its construction in 1933. As well as being highly unusual in remaining family-run for such a long period, it was also architecturally unique, being the last terracotta Gulf gas station in America.

The station was built along the Lincoln Highway to serve drivers travelling between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but in its later years, it became a tourist destination in its own right. It has remained closed since Dunkle’s passing, but travellers can still stop to admire its one-of-a-kind design even if they can no longer top up their tanks there. A small informational sign near the restrooms still stands to inform visitors about the history of the Lincoln Highway.

Although it started life as a gas station, Beam’s Shell Service Station in Cherryville, North Carolina later became associated with an entirely different industry: trucking. It served as the original office where C. Grier Beam operated Carolina Freight Carriers Corporation, with Beam first borrowing a room there in 1934. At the time, the gas station had been operational for around four years, and was being run by his brother Guy Beam.

From there, C. Grier Beam built his small business into a huge corporation, with Carolina Freight eventually becoming one of the largest trucking companies in America by the ’90s. The original station buildings and gas pumps were preserved after the station stopped selling gas and now form part of the Beam Truck Museum. As well as seeing the original gas station, visitors can also browse through exhibits at the neighboring museum building that tell the story of the trucking business, as well as appreciating the museum’s collection of restored Carolina Freight trucks.

The crude oil that’s extracted from the ground to make gasoline is made up of dead organisms that are millions of years old. Despite the common myth, gasoline isn’t actually made of dinosaur remains, although in Florida, drivers used to be able to get their gas from a dinosaur. Harold’s Auto Center in Spring Hill, Florida features a garage that’s built in the shape of a giant concrete dino, with the arches between its legs housing auto repair bays.

The dinosaur sculpture is 110 feet long and stretches almost 50 feet upwards, and it first opened in 1964. Rather than being any kind of reference to the supposed origins of crude oil, it was instead inspired by the classic Sinclair gas dinosaur logo. Originally, it was built as a Sinclair-branded gas station, but its gas pumps were later removed. However, the dinosaur still houses the Harold’s Auto Center repair shop, which has been at the site for around 50 years.

While Spring Hill’s former gas station takes inspiration from a creature that’s millions of years old, the Petrified Wood Gas Station is actually built of materials that are just as ancient. It’s one of many old, notable gas stations that no longer sells gas, but it’s still open as a tourist attraction for visitors to stop by.

As its name suggests, the gas station is covered in petrified wood, which was sourced from excavations in nearby towns. The station was originally built in 1927, then was decked out in its current form in 1935 by its original owner’s son. Although it was originally successful as a traveller’s stop, its fortunes declined through the mid-20th Century. By 1989, the gas station had closed entirely. Thankfully it was saved by a local historian who oversaw a restoration in the ’90s, and today it’s once again one of the most unique tourist attractions in North Texas.