This photograph, originally printed in the Syracuse Herald-Journal on Aug. 26, 1957, nostalgically recalls a time of cheap gas and service station attendants who routinely pumped your gas, checked your oil and washed your windows. Some were auto mechanics who might offer an expert opinion on that "ping" in your engine. While fuel prices may or may not eventually fall, it seems certain the days of service station attendants who would stay up all night to personally fill your tank are long gone. The article that accompanied the above tongue-in-check picture of gas station attendant Ray McArdell explored the more serious issue of local competition between independent and company-owned (chain) gas stations and the resulting rapidly falling prices. Fifty-seven years later, we know the outcome of that particular gas war, but we're still preoccupied with gas prices - just like the "good old days!"