Service Stations and Convenience Stores

• Service stations once competed for customers with free gifts, but today a full service gas station is a rarity. The service bay has been replaced by a convenience store.
• Photo c. 1960 - 1961 [2] (Don Sturkey) - Article: unknown. 
• Photo: 4/2/86 [3] - Article: 4/6/86 

Vanishing Professions

• Photo (Bill McAllister) -6/5/75 - Article: 6/13/75. Biltmore Dairy Farm Delivery Truck [4]. By 1975, home milk delivery had become more expensive than retail and fewer people were home during the day to receive the products.
• Photo: 7/19/60 - Article: unknown. Along with house calls by a doctor, this prescription delivery service [5] has disappeared as well.
• Photo: 4/2/67 - Article: 4/7/67 (Charlotte News).  When the Charlotte News ceased publication November 1, 1985, opportunities for traditional paperboys [6] all but disappeared.        

Beautiful People

• Photo: 11/3/59 (Jim Dumbell) - Article: 11/8/59. Like a scene from The Bride of Frankenstein, this bizarre contraption, a croquinole curler [7], was used for giving permanents. Salon owners such as Jeanette Harney in Myers Park had many customers who preferred the machine waves. The cost was $15.00.
• Photo (Steve Perille) - 1/3/74 - Article: 1/8/74. Four shops in Charlotte regularly offered permanents for men, including the Metrolina Hair Design [8]. The professions of hairdresser and barber were beginning to merge.              
• Photo (John D. Simmons) - 5/27/93 - Article: 6/9/93. Downhome beauty parlors [9] with resident “steel magnolias” have generally been replaced by upscale, high tech salons. Ms. Grace Maxwell is shown still fixing hair, her way, at 80 years of age.

Other Businesses

• Photo: 11/17/76 (Jeep Hunter) - Advertisement: 11/19/76. “There’s nothing new under the sun.” The trend for 24-hour service at local grocery stores was tried much earlier at four local A&P stores [10]. So was working on Sundays, although hours were limited to 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. None of the stores advertised in 1976 exist today.
• Photo c. 1960 - 1961 - Article: unknown. Three Toddle Houses [11] once served Charlotte, but all were gone by 1978. The diner waitress was a classic occupation, but now she and the short order cook are usually found at the Waffle House.
• Plagued by a shortage of skilled workers, The Radiator Specialty Co. [12] advertised opportunities “to learn a trade.” Established in 1924 by the Blumenthals, it originally was located at 1400 W. Independence Boulevard but later moved to Wilkinson Boulevard.