Saying Goodbye To The ‘Good Old Days’

Santa Fe’s last full-service gas station has pumped its last drop of petrol. The Old Trail Garage, at 600 Old Santa Fe Trail, is closing today after 60 years of operation.

The station has already used up all its gas, but will offer maintenance services — and maybe a shoulder to cry on — to its customers in its final hours.

Santa Fe periodontist Bill Parker said he bought the property 25 years ago and decided it would remain a small-service, independent gas station.

“I always enjoyed going in and having special attention and I wanted to keep that feel,” he said. “There’s a good-old-days feel to the place.”

With Santa Fe tourism figures swan-diving and an abundance of cheaper gas alternatives available to drivers, Parker said it wasn’t feasible for Old Trail Garage to continue operations.

The station had to pay more for its gas than the others in town wearing big, corporate logos (think Allsup’s, Giant, Chevron, etc.).

That translated into higher prices at the pumps. In its last week of operations, a gallon of gas from a full-service pump cost $3.49, compared with as low as $1.82 at other Santa Fe stations.

But with that extra money came some old-school TLC.

“Our customers pull up for gas and they get their tires checked and their windows cleaned,” said Ranger Lujan, who has worked at the station for 27 years. “We’d check your oil and fluid and look at the engine. It was old-school.”

Lujan said many longtime customers have been stopping by the station to express their dismay. Old Trail Garage was the preferred gas stop for several elderly Santa Feans who can’t fill their tanks themselves.

“A lot of our customers are sad,” Lujan said. “They’re heartbroken that we’re leaving, and they don’t know what to do. Some older ladies have come up to me crying. A lot of people depend on us.”

It wasn’t uncommon for Lujan to get presents like cakes or cookies or baskets of muffins. He said the relationship with Old Trail customers was unique.

“There’s no personal connection anymore,” he said. “People at Allsup’s or Giant, at those places, they just work there, you know? We become friends with the customer here.”

Mike Civelli began leasing the land and operating the garage and gas station 25 years ago. Back at the beginning, he said, Santa Fe was a much different place.

“It was nuts,” he said. “The town was busy; it was hopping. There was all sorts of things going on. Over the years, downtown got more and more popular and we did pretty well. But the last couple of years, tourism’s been dropping off. A lot of the older people we took care of passed away or went into retirement homes, that sort of thing.”

The higher price of gas didn’t used to scare business away, he said. On the contrary.

“For a couple extra bucks, you got first-class mechan ics to check everything out,” he said. “People liked being taken care of, and you became a part of a person’s life, versus just selling them gas. Every day had a different tone and you could take advantage of making a lot of people’s lives more positive.”

Parker said he’s found a buyer and that the land is under contract. He has no idea what the new owner plans to do with the spot. He does know it won’t be a gas station; the old-time vintage gas pumps are coming out of the ground.

“It’s sad,” Parker said. “I would love to keep it open and keep it going. ... Everybody’s going to miss it. I’ve heard from all sorts of people who are going to miss it.”

Said Civelli: “These momand-pop places stand no chance anymore.”