Text Box: Well, it’s finally over!! The marker is in! What a day! Buzz told us his truck looked good, but he never said it looked THAT good!! Having survived the trip from Kansas, he unloaded his gem and parked it next to the new marker. Yea, it was a day for the marker, but it’s like a steak, with out a baked potato, it just ain’t the same!! The truck made the day!! KDKA TV, the local CBS affiliate came and did a real nice spot about the whole deal, which aired on the 5PM news that day. The Pittsburgh PG newspaper did a great article, which, along with a photo of the original station, was picked up by the wire service. Who knows how many cities around the world ran the story!! When I first went to the site several years ago, I dreamed of buying it. When I realized that could not happen, I wanted some type of durable remembrance to the station. This marker will do for now, but I think this was far to important a site, to let stand remembered by a simple marker. We’ll play it by ear. Lots of other things in the wind, but the site of the WORLD’S FIRST SERVICE STATION will never be forgotten in our hearts, and we will work hard to see that it is not forgotten by the motoring public either. Complete photo coverage of Dedication Day, as well as a list of all the fine folks who donated to the program will be in the Summer Gulfpride. Hey, look, Diane’s smiling and Gary’s not!! Denny's Discontinued Breakfast BurritosText Box: and it’s a REAL good thing they did!! The “bus” I ordered turned into a van. Now they say these things are 15 passenger vans. Yea, right. I guess they used Meg Ryan’s cute little butt to figure that out!! Our butts were a smidge larger!! Well, mine at least!! I guess the ride from the motel to the site was not bad, but after the festivities there, Buzz, Charlotte and myself piled in, and went along for the rest of the ride. We arrived at the front door of the Gulf Tower, and were greeted by a homecoming of sorts. Seems there are a few ex Gulf guys still working there, and when they heard we were coming, they were there to greet us! They were old buddies of Lee Herbermann and Jim Hellmann. It didn’t take long for the stories to start to surface. So much for life long secrets!! Anyway, we were treated to a very rare visit to the Promenade, which is under private lease. Visitors are rare. The view was fantastic now, as it was years ago. The next stop was the I.G. Davis Board Room, which, for some reason, remains untouched. It was great to sit in the same chairs as the great Gulf leaders, like Jimmy Lee, who managed to give nearly all of Gulf’s people at least a fighting chance at dignity. Had that board room not been staffed as it was in 1984, the Mesa “Fire Sale” would have left everyone in the gutter!! I feel privileged to have just visited the empty room. The old Gulf theater room, or auditorium, is also as it was, with rows of orange seats. The tour ended in the basement, with a pass through the marble rooms, where they stock tons of marble pieces for repair and remodeling as needed. Gary had to drag Diane out of there, she’s cute, five foot two, and she’s trying to get a 400lb marble slab in her purse!!! I spotted an old logo sample bottle, the old cork top style, sitting on a shelf. Gulf Precision Instrument Oil. Remember that, we’ll talk about it in the next Gulfpride. No, I didn’t steal it. Yes, I wanted too!!! Everyone then piled into the sardine can, and off we went. Next stop was the Research Center in Harmarville. Bill Renshaw had it arranged for us to take a driving tour around the complex. Was little to see, other than the outside of buildings which once housed the most advanced petroleum research facility in the world. The dyno’s are still there, except there are “front wheel drive” cars on them, parked backwards of course. I’ll bet those old engineers are looking down from heaven and laughing at those “kids” , “heck, they don’t even know which way to put the cars on the rollers!!” The old incinerator stack has about the only Gulf marking left, nice white ceramic brick GULF, pointing to the sky! There are lots of those blue and white porcelain No Smoking signs hanging around, but none with the little Gulf Refining Co at the bottom!! We then retired to the motel, and sent the gang on their way. Buzz and I returned to the site and retrieved the tanker. I never did tell Buzz we left it parked in the roughest part of Pittsburgh!! That’s right, the World’s First Service Station is in a tough part of town. It was once a very exclusive area, and that’s why Gulf built there. That’s were the money, and the cars were!! Now, it’s a little bit challenged. How’s that for being political!! A good time was had by all, or, if not, they didn’t complain out loud!! We had about 15 members, plus a half a dozen guests. Nice turn out, nice day.