In the 20th century, any American driver or passenger would stop at a gas station at least once a week, and not just to get gas. Gas stations were also oases offering food and drink, car repairs, directions, maps, and, most importantly, restrooms. However, beyond their appreciation as roadside novelties, their contributions to American culture, landscape, and history have been little photographed.From 1978 to 1981, David Freund analyzed the culture, architecture, and landscape of gas stations in over 40 states. The photographs show customers and workers in postures and actions appropriate for pumping gas or simply hanging out. Architecture and signage, both corporate and vernacular, attract passing drivers. Regional landscapes support and surround the gas stations, each with its own landscape of designed plantings or rudimentary volunteers. The stations were also outposts for American networks other than oil, seen in telephone booths, mailboxes, and power lines. These and everything surrounding them provoke recognition and remembrance, accumulating as elements of a nonlinear American narrative.
While Freund's primary concern is that his photographs engage and surprise, he acknowledges nostalgia and uses it to imbue his subjects with a compelling sense of place. Of the more than 200,000 gas stations in the United States at the time of this project, they and their roles are mostly gone, existing now in memory and in this work.
 
At the beginning of Gas Stop, I was struck by the variety of subjects presented at gas stations. Driving around, their commonplace location might reveal little inspiration for photographs, but at a busy station, even mid-route, all I had to do was wait to discover an unexpected visual and thematic variety. David Freund