The other day I was driving along the freeway, observing the passing phalanx of big, blocky buildings behind the trees and sound walls that flank the freeway. These buildings all seem to have been conceived by a kindergartener for whom the words “office building” and “box” are synonymous, and then value-engineered to the apotheosis of vapidity–nondescript, slab-sided edifices with bands of tinted windows and, at a top corner, a single word in an unembellished font: “Kaiser,” “Allstate,” “Lennar.” We live in an age of soulless and tedious architecture.
And then, a little later, I spotted this in Sacramento:
Now this building has style and soul! I realize that’s not a great photo; it was difficult finding the right angle. But it’s an old Orbit gas station, now repurposed as a hamburger joint called Suzie Burger.
That this was once a gas station is obvious. Note the islands where the gas pumps once stood, and the enormous mullioned windows that used to be roll-up doors in front of the service bays.
Orbit gas stations used to be all around the Sacramento area, first showing up around 1963. They represented the future, or at least what people during the age of black-and-white TV and AM radio thought the future would look like. It’s got a very Jetsons vibe, all upswept and angular and exaggerated.
According to this website, Orbit’s distinctive four-point architecture was the brainchild of some guy named Ed Ward. There were about a dozen of them at their peak. Now, it seems that most have been torn down in the intervening 60-odd years. And yet the good people at Suzie Burger recognized that Orbit’s retro look would be a great calling card for their old-school burger joint.
I remembered that when I lived in Sacramento (pop: 525K) in the 1980s, there was still a handful of Orbit gas stations in operation. In fact, I regularly gassed up the Studebaker at an Orbit station near my apartment in Carmichael. What had happened to it? Had it been torn down? Or had it been converted to some other use? I decided to take a drive out there to find out. And what to my wond’ring eyes should appear but this:
Not only had it not been torn down, but it was still operating as a gas station. It even still bears the Orbit name!
So take that, you big, ugly, featureless office buildings! Even at age 62, this Orbit is still going strong. Next time you find yourself in Sacramento make sure you gas up at 4716 Auburn Blvd and support the preservation of Googie architecture!
Chasing Phantoms 
Thanks, Steve. I really enjoyed this one. It’s out of this world! Keith Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks! I should have worked in the “out of this world” reference. Next time I’ll check in with you first!
Hoping you’re well.
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Love it, Steve! You taught me a new architectural style today. I hope Suzie Burger and the old Orbit gas station have historical designations. Then, it would be challenging to demolish them. I agree about the boxy, nondescript buildings going up. They’re all over the place here in San Diego, too. But please don’t underestimate kindergartners. They would create better buildings!
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Good point about the Kindergarteners!
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Steve, Loved that! Chris
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Great post! Classic gas stations are simply cool, and discovering them or ones that have been converted to something else can be a hobby unto itself. There is a restaurant in Chattanooga called the “Universal Joint” which is an older gas station with a classic 50’s style that has been converted to a hip restaurant. A great environment, and the food is pretty good as well. One to check out!
https://www.visitchattanooga.com/listing/universal-joint/2780/
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I think I’ve been there before, but it didn’t register for me that I was eating in an old gas station!
Thanks for sharing. Great pic, and yes–there’s a whole subgenre/cult to converted, old gas stations.
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