Flying A, Duarte, CA at the Corner of Las Lomas & Huntington

Though this is a Flying-A Mobile station in Anaheim back in 1956, Duarte had its own version of a Flying-A Mobile station at the northeast corner of Las Lomas and Huntington Drive.  I used to have a receipt for a gas purchase there in 1965.  Gas back then was 25 cents a gallon.  My dad drove a light blue Ford Station wagon.  The station was full service.  Attendants would check our oil, wash our windows--all of them, check tire pressure, and ask if we needed anything else.  If a customer purchased a certain dollar amount or a certain number of gallons, he'd earn a gift for the kids or for the family.  It was fun.  Compared to today, gas was expensive back then.  If gas was paid with a quarter per gallon, that quarter was made of a quarter ounce of silver.  The price of silver today hovers right around $16 an ounce.  A quarter ounce of silver today is $4.  In 1965, we paid a quarter ounce of silver.  To match that 1965 price, we should be paying $4 a gallon but we're not.  Though gasoline is taking up more of our budget, we're only paying around $2.60 a gallon; that would be like paying 14 cents a gallon back in 1965.  Though in the second half of 2014, the price of gas did come down, way down, thanks to the shale oil boon here in America.