Lines formed at area gas stations in response to government gas rationing, and some Portland businesses restricted sales even further.
2Closed Due to Gasoline Shortage
Lines formed at area gas stations in response to government gas rationing, and some Portland businesses restricted sales even further.
3No More Gas Today
Hitching a ride to work was harder without Portland’s modern transit system and bike lanes.
4No More Gas Today
Hitching a ride to work was harder without Portland’s modern transit system and bike lanes.
5Gas Stealers Beware
Gas wars? Gun rights? Colors that inspired later-day Instagram filters? The more things change, the more they stay the same.
6Gas Stealers Beware
Gas wars? Gun rights? Colors that inspired later-day Instagram filters? The more things change, the more they stay the same.
7Iregular House Due to Gas Shortage
This window display hints at the struggle local businesses suffered attempting to operate without fuel for workers’ transportation—as well as a potentially unrelated struggle with spelling.
8Iregular House Due to Gas Shortage
This window display hints at the struggle local businesses suffered attempting to operate without fuel for workers’ transportation—as well as a potentially unrelated struggle with spelling.
9Regular Customer Only
A Portland-area gas station restricting sales to regular customers.
10Regular Customer Only
A Portland-area gas station restricting sales to regular customers.
11Power Shortage Has Us in the Dark
Hazel Dell, Washington’s now-51-year-old Steakburger Restaurant was challenged by the oil crisis in its prime.
12Power Shortage Has Us in the Dark
Hazel Dell, Washington’s now-51-year-old Steakburger Restaurant was challenged by the oil crisis in its prime.
13Gas Sales Limited
A Portland-area gas station restricting sales to regular customers.
14Gas Sales Limited
A Portland-area gas station restricting sales to regular customers.
15Our Lights Are Off to Save Energy
Nothing says energy conscientiousness like an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen!
16Our Lights Are Off to Save Energy
Nothing says energy conscientiousness like an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen!
OCTOBER 1973: During the Yom Kippur War, oil-exporting Arab countries proclaimed an embargo against Israeli allies like the US. Nationally, oil prices skyrocketed from $3 per barrel to $12, and gas stations began running short of fuel. In Portland, traffic on local freeways dropped by 20 percent. Gov. Tom McCall soon asked filling stations statewide to implement a rationing system: cars with license plates ending in odd numbers could fill up on certain days; the next day, even-numbered cars got their turn. Though the Arab embargo dominated the geopolitics (and public anger) of the situation, some think the ’73 crisis signaled deeper problems with energy use here and across the country. (Many Oregon shops and cities had already dimmed lights earlier in the year to cope with drought-caused hydropower shortages.) “We were just using too much gas in general,” says Val Ballestrem, a Portland historian. “That’s what really caused the shortages.” Two years earlier, the Environmental Protection Agency began dispatching photographers across the country as part of its Documerica project. David Falconer’s shots of Oregonians coping—or not coping—with the oil shock simultaneously preserve vanished hairstyles and car models and capture an unease about natural resources that has never really gone away.
