Cucamonga Service Station reopens as a museum

The century-old Cucamonga Service Station along Route 66 in Rancho Cucamonga, California, opened a new chapter in its existence as a museum during a grand reopening Wednesday, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

The Route 66 IECA gathered about $100,000 from fundraisers to help restore the station. And the group keeps making improvements to the once-neglected property:

The Cucamonga Service Station, one of the few historic sites left on the Inland Empire’s stretch of Route 66, was given a new color scheme: the lower half of the building is a bright blue, with a red stripe in the middle, and topped with yellow, akin to the past.

Then there’s the iconic Richfield sign atop the station. On Wednesday, the organization also unveiled two bright blue and yellow Richfield gas pump replicas from the early 1900s. […]

The moment was special for Albert Gutierrez, who in 2000 attempted to purchase the site. The deal fell through and Gutierrez, a self-professed Route 66 enthusiast, ended up building a replica of the gas station inside his business.

Through the years, Gutierrez has collected dozens of items that were once found in gas stations like the one in Rancho Cucamonga, everything from vintage oil cans to gum from that era. He is among the dozens of collectors who have helped fill the display cases with memorabilia.

Gutierrez also eventually will put a restored 1931 Ford in the station’s garage.

Next on the group’s to-do list: Rebuilding a garage that once stood on the rear of the property. It collapsed during a severe rainstorm a few years ago.

The gas station opened in 1915 and closed during the 1970s. A billboard company used the property for storage until Route 66 IECA came along with a buyout offer in 2013. The Rancho Cucamonga City Council gave historic landmark status to Cucamonga Service Station in 2009.