ARTICLE: Capturing The History Held in the Walls of the Old Barrow Family Gas Station
November 16, 2022 - Michelle Mackey for D Magazine
Gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled into the empty lot of the old gas station: neutral gray and abandoned, the front door padlocked under the awning. When I got out of my car, I could almost hear the sound of a Coke bottle landing at my feet with a coded message from Bonnie and Clyde scrawled inside, launched from their speeding vehicle.
My search for Dallas’ buried history had led me here, the former Barrow gas station in West Dallas, once owned by Clyde’s father. In the 1930s, the exterior would have read Star Service Station, but, as I stood there in October 2012, I saw no signage, no gas pumps, no people. This is the kind of place that inspires my artwork: a structure in between its former and future identities, left abandoned to the elements without plaques or preciousness....
Download Article (PDF)