Gas stations agreed to close on Sundays

Forty-five years ago this week, most of Portland’s gas stations were planning closures to conserve gasoline.

The owners of 13 of the city’s gas stations agreed to close on Sunday, Nov. 25, 1973, and each Sunday in the foreseeable future. It was an effort to alleviate a nationwide fuel shortage caused by an oil embargo enacted by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in October 1973.

The gas stations would be closed from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday. Participating stations were South Side Texaco, Clarks Super 100 Service, Jack’s Sunoco, Jay 66 South Side Service, Kirby Texaco, Northside Gas and Wash, Main Street Service, Sandy’s South Side Service, Pete’s Standard Service, Kistler’s Service, Gulf Pride Service, The Tire Center and Northside Texaco.

The closings were prompted by President Richard Nixon’s declaration of an “energy crisis” in the United States, as well as a shortage of gasoline available from suppliers. Nixon asked the nation’s gas station owners to stop selling fuel on Sundays. 

“There is a gasoline shortage and we hope this will help,” Joe Arnold, owner of Gulf Pride Service at 325 N. Meridian St., told The Commercial Review. “We hope this way we’ll have gas part of the time.” 

There had not yet been a decision on how long the local Sunday closures would continue, Arnold said. 

According to a report by The Commercial Review, area gas stations were busy on Saturday, Nov. 24, 1973, as people rushed to fill up their tanks before the stations closed the next day.