Now that cars are omnipresent, we don’t pay that much attention to petrol stations (or gas pumps, whichever you prefer) because they look more or less the same.
But if you stop for a minute and remember photos of the gas pump along Route 66, you’ll notice that they tend to evoke nostalgia and definitely have a unique retro vibe.
Zagreb’s petrol stations are no exception. Below you can find a short paragraph about petrol stations in Zagreb and enjoy some amazing photos from the Zagreb – kakav je bio nekada Facebook group.
Having in mind that 861 automobiles were registered in Zagreb in 1928; it’s safe to assume that the first gas stations appeared in Zagreb when the number of cars reached 1,000, in 1932.
Before that, people bought petrol, kerosene, and oil from individual sellers who got their goods in barrels from Rijeka. Gas was poured into smaller canisters and then into gas containers, but an increase in number of cars made this process difficult, so gas stations were unavoidable. The first station opened in 1931 in 12 Šoštarićeva Street and it was operated by “Autozov”, a privately owned car selling cooperative.
(Milan Vasić, Zagreb – kakav je bio nekada)
Kralja Petra (present-day Trg žrtava fašizma), late 1920s or early 1930s
Vlaška, 1939
Podsused, 1940
Martićeva, 1950s
Trnsko, 1960s
Miramarska, 1965
Trnsko, 1978
Zagrebačka avenija, 1980s
