Remembering the B&L Art LaFave

A note from Art on the interview:

In our interview I left out a very important detail and
that is:  I would never have been as successful in my business
without the hard work and devotion from my wife Jean and our children
James and Rosemary.   Jean worked very hard behind the scenes and
sometimes out front as she helped me in so many ways and to mention
just  a few :  she did a lot of bookwork, running after parts, helped
me in decision making, cleaning around station, planting flowers, and
of course doing things around the house so i could be at The Station
and the children for putting up with my long hours away from the
house. I could never have accomplished any where as much as i did with
out their 365/7 help.
I would be remiss if I didn't say I need to give a lot of
credit to the people of Williamstown, Williams College and their
friends and guests for being such nice people as it made it so much
easier to serve them in my business and feel good about it and only
can hope they got as much from our association as I did as it was such
a pleasure to serve them in all their needs as it was such a nice
journey for me and my family.     Arthur

Please see below for the transcription of some interesting clips and stories.

"And that’s why we had a problem picking out a name because I didn’t want to be called the Spring Street Station, I didn’t want to be called the College Station, I didn’t want to be called the Town Station and have the name relate to the town, because sometimes there is a little division once in a while, for different reasons, between the college and the town. There isn’t now but there has been. I wanted to be able to take care of all parts of the town and have them come to my station. So it was hard to pick a name. So we picked B&L because B&L sounds better than L&B… And the most important part was we wanted to give good service. So in our name it wasn’t just B&L Gulf, it was B&L Gulf Service Station. Service was important to us."

"I would find out who was going to be in town if I could. Special people I will not mention would come into town on certain weekends of the year and their friends from New York would call me and ask me if Joe Blow was going to be here that weekend. Arthur was expected to know this stuff."
"I only hope that I’ve helped them as much as they’ve helped me."

"I remember one customer, she was the wife of a professor at the college and she came in and said to me, “If I had a dead battery when could you go and start it?” And I said, “Would right now be quick enough?” and she said “I’ve been going to this other place for 35 years and I called them up and asked them to come and start my car when I had a dead battery and he said it would be two days.” That’s one of the reasons I found it very hard to close the station because everyone knew that when they had a flat tire or a dead battery they could call Art and I couldn’t always go right away, but they knew that I would break my neck to get there as soon as I could. And that was important to them."

"Well it’s funny I went to… I was kind of embarrassed actually… did you go to any of the talks at the ’62 center where they had famous alumni come back and talk about how they became successful? Well Herb Allen was one of those and he tried to explain the good and bad points of his life, the mistakes he made, and what Williams did for him. And at one point they asked him, “who do you look up to?” And one of the five people he mentioned was me. I couldn’t believe it, me! What’d I ever do for him? I pumped gas in his car and changed his tires, ya know? I was shocked. And everyone was talking on the way out and I was really embarrassed, I wanted to sink down on the floor and get out of there."

"Carl Vogt when I closed the station was the interim president, and Carl said that people were asking what was going to happen to Arthur now and he would joke by saying he was going to put a booth down at the end of Spring Street so that I could give them directions."

Remembering the B&L: Jean Lafave

Below are a few audio clips that we wanted to share from the interview we did with Jean Lafave on the B&L.

On Anecdotes from the Station:


On Art's Commitment to Business and Family:


On Everyone's Role in the family business:


On the Closing of the Station:

Williamstown Residents Remember the B&L: Short Audio Clips

Here is a selection of some audio clips of interviews we conducted with various Williamstown residents about the B&L.

David Rempell:


Jane Allen:


Jo Procter:


John Chandler:


John Hyde:


Richard DeMayo:


Roger St Pierre:


Charles Dew:


Sam Humes:

A Short History of the B and L

The first gas station built on the lot was constructed in the 1920’s and first appeared on the Williamstown Fire Map in 1922.

However, the brick station that was home to the B&L was not built until 1952. Over the years, the station had passed through a number of different owners. Red Danaher was the original owner of the station and he also ran a taxi service in town. Gordon Bullet, who later became a reporter for the North Adams Transcript once worked as a manager. Williamstown native Franics “Whip” Perry was also a well known long-time employee of the station.

In 1967, Art Lafave, along with his father in law Alvin Brassard, took over the station from previous owner Lenny Nichols, renaming it the B&L.

The real estate was leased from Gulf Oil Corporation for five years, after which Lafave and Brassard bought the land. The Gulf station quickly became a focal point for the community. Gulf Oil was a difficult company to deal with and in 1989, the B&L became a Mobil Station. Mobil recognized and honored the service station in 1996 as achieving the “highest level of professionalism.”

In 1992, Lafave bought out Brassard and became the sole proprietor. In 2000, after 33 years of working 80 hour weeks, Lafave decided to shut down the station. The land was bought by Herb Allen and subsequently donated to the college.

Special thanks to Art Lafave, Amy Lovett, and the House of Local History for images and articles.

Click on an image to view a larger version.

A Note on the Title

Many of the people we've interviewed and spoken to have referred to Art as "The Real Mayor of Spring Street." Many have also told us, however, that this is a debated topic and that some might argue that other Spring Street "Greats" would be considered the Mayor. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Please comment below.

Remembering the B and L in images

An ad for the B&L from the 1976 Gulielmensian.

A property map showing the B&L station.

B&L was always a family run business. Above from top to bottom: Art pumping gas, his son James pumping gas, James's son Brandon helps clean.

A sign at the station celebrating Art's birthday.

The above images are thanks to Art and Jean LaFave.

B&L Tire Mart Sign, October, 1974.

The Gulf Station, October, 1969.

View looking up Spring Street, January 1961.

The above images are thanks to Kathy Thompson.


The Demolition of the B&L, September 15, 2003.

Art watches the demolition alongside family and friends, September 15, 2003.

The above photos are thanks to Heather Clemow.

A sign announcing the closing of the B&L, 2000.

Art (center) with wife Jean (left) and daughter Rosemary (right).

A group of Williams College Students leaving a football game c. 1980.

The Gulf Station before B&L.

The above photos and the title photo are thanks to the Williamstown House of Local History.
A very special thanks to Mike Miller for his extensive help in locating and identifying photographs.