Vintage diners

Is that a pump jack in that parking lot? If they drilled for oil, then built around a live well, they're in for a big surprise!

 

It sure does look like one, I had a friend in HS that had one not 500 feet from their house, and they were in a suburban street. Things were different back then. I remember his father saying it was only allowed to pump a few hours a week.

 

Was this friend in Michigan? Not that anyone can't have out of state friends

 

I noticed that as well. I believe there was a time when this was fairly common. I seem to recall seeing a photo of a town in California that had a working oil pump jack like this in front of the city hall. It was a symbol of community pride at the time.

 

Yes actually in Saginaw. I will look on Google maps and see if it is still there

 

Now I get the reference from the other thread!

I grew up in west Texas and it wasn't uncommon to have someone with a house that used to have a bit of property that the city had grown up around with live wells on them. I can remember 2 or 3 in my town growing up, mostly in the older sections of town.

 

Funny thing is, all the pump jacks i had ever seen in SoCal were four times or more bigger than that bitty one, and they were usually on a chunk of land that was devoid of any structures. A gal I once knew, who grew up in SoCal, told me they were kept from buildings for fire safety.

 

Jackson Mississippi