Gas stations are embedded in our urban and rural landscape, pervasive symbols of the automobile's domination of twentieth-century society. Like the fast-food restaurant, the motel, and the shopping mall, gas stations are buildings whose very existence was generated by the automobile. The standardization of the 1910s gave way to the eclecticism of the 1920s. Oil companies' drive to make their product identifiable led to the creation of exotic eye-catching buildings designed to look like Greek temples, Chinese pagodas, and Swiss chalets. The station pictured mirrors the Spanish heritage of many grand building of the period in the downtown area.