Abandoned BBQ Gas - BP and Dickey’s - Cambridge, MN

Tuesday, June 8, 2021.

“Look over there! It’s a big abandoned gas station! We have to stop…”

Laura and I are driving down Highway 65, on our way home from Duluth, when I spotted it on our right. After passing through Cambridge, we waited at a red light and I saw it. Naked canopies, missing road sign, pumps removed, weeds in the parking lot… More importantly, no security fence blocking off the property. This was a good one, and a must see for me!

One of the first pieces of information I found about the Cambridge BP, came from Hometown Source. They published a story on their site, about a new BP gas station opening up, at the location of one that had been vacant since April 2011. 

I learned that Scott Frayn purchased the abandoned gas station in July, 2015. He was renovating it, and planned on opening his new station in late 2015. The story kind of bummed me out. Covering his plans for the store, his background in finance and real estate, and how he bet everything he had on his dream of opening and running this gas station. Yet here I am, not even six years later, taking pictures of his dream. Which is now an abandoned shell of a convenience store and restaurant, slated for demolition. 

So I’m documenting someone’s broken dream. Which I guess is always a thing with taking pictures of abandoned properties, locations that were once somebody’s dream. But it’s different this time, because now I know his name and story…

 

Scott Frayn’s temporarily revived gas station, located at 4000 S. Main St. Cambridge, MN, was originally built in the year 2000. Initially a Conoco truck stop, combined with an Embers restaurant, known as Westrom’s Corner (named after owner, Jerry Westrom). Westrom owned it until 2008, and then he didn’t. Embers left the location and the store switched to a Holiday identity, until it closed in April 2011. 

There’s something else about Jerry Westrom, that I found while practicing my patented Half-Assed Research. Which doesn’t have much to do with the story I’m telling here, so you’ll have to wait for it. There is a hint in this screen capture of Westrom’s Conoco sign, unless you already know…

We’ll get to all that a bit later.

A shot of Scott Frayn’s BP, from an October 2016 Googlesmobile Main Street drive by. Dickey’s hadn’t yet taken over the former Embers space, so I’m assuming it was left vacant until they did. Maybe used for storage or restaurant-less seating.

Yelp only had one review for the BP, during its 2015-2020 open period. And it wasn’t currently recommended… From May 28, 2017: “Clean convenience store with fresh food, live bait, Herman's Donuts and gas station with gas and diesel!” I don’t know why Yelp would hide that review. Seems informative enough to me.

During the October 2018 Googlesmobile drive by, it ventured onto BP’s property. Pulling onto the lot, then circling back out to Main Street. Dickey’s was open at this point, even though you can’t see it, because it’s on the other side of the building.

My photo from June 8, 2021, from roughly the same location. Though from a much lower perspective. Since my camera was in my hand, not on a pole sticking 5 feet out of the roof of Laura’s car. The BPness has been stripped away from the canopy, giving it an almost skeletal look. West side of store sits beyond the canopy skeleton. Pumps and underground tanks had all been removed a while back. 

We drove over to the Dickey’s side to park. Laura waited in the car and did whatever on her phone, while I walked around the building. Done in under 10 minutes. I don’t like to linger in unfamiliar places. 

The door handle leading inside Dickey’s, had some tags from Hanson Auction Group attached. I took this picture specifically to remember that name, for whenever I got around to writing this story. Could be a possible source of BP/Dickey’s background information!

And it was!

Hanson Auction Group ran an online auction to liquidate anything left of value, from the BP/Dickey’s property. Bidding ran from the last few days of December, 2020, ending on January 11, 2021. Their website still had the full auction results posted, along with hundreds of inventory photos. Combined with my photos, I was able to come up with a pretty clear picture of what the place looked like, six months before I wandered around it.

Removed from the ground, and removed of their BPness, the former gas pumps were moved to north side of the property, awaiting sale. I was surprised they all sold for between $21-$28 each. Seems ridiculously low to me. If these models weren’t so ugly, I wouldn’t mind having a gas pump of my own someday.

No idea what I’d do with it. 

Miscellaneous gas station items for sale. There used to be a few picnic tables sitting outside Dickey’s door. They went for $200 each. So picnic tables are worth roughly 8 gas pumps. 

There will be a quiz later…

Some random Stainless Steel kitchen tables… 

Some random kitchen stuff… 

More random kitchen stuff… 

Highly doubt you’re as fascinated by this as I am…

Just a sample of all the different types of shelving/displays available after BP/Dickey’s closed. Not going to trying even ballpark those sale prices, but one surprised me… That black floor display cooler on the bottom left, sold for $4,150. I guess that model has a lot of demand for convenience stores?

Also gives you a glimpse at the store, before the fixtures were removed. Just to see how it was laid out.

My photo of the store from the southwest.

I’m going to start my tour on the far left, first window after the car wash exit door.

Coolers removed after the auction, left this mess behind.

Good thing they’re tearing the building down.

Various coolers up for auction…

That traditional “ice” labeled freezer went for $370, that display cooler sold for $340, and the ice cream freezer for only $350. These certainly ended up at another convenience store. Now if you wanted to make your own ice, the large commercial ice maker went for $625. The largest of the walk-in coolers (not the one in the top right), sold for $1,025. That particular auction didn’t state whether the buyer was responsible for removing the cooler from the walls, but I can’t begin to imagine how much work would be involved in that. From disassembling to carrying out to hauling away, then re-installing at a new location. Though I bet the winning bidder saved a considerable chunk of change against buying a brand new one.

That’s a whole lotta gas pumps!

Refrigeration equipment netted some of the highest prices in the auction.

Likely reflecting how expensive this equipment is to buy new.

Looking across the sales floor, into Dickey’s. Where great barbecue starts apparently. If it started there, it certainly didn’t last very long. So it probably wasn’t that great after all… Looking at the size of Dickey’s, and the size of the convenience store, I wondered how different it looked when Embers ran out of Dickey’s space. Embers was a sit-down family style restaurant, where Dickey’s was more a fast food style. So Embers couldn’t have been very large. Not that it would need to be as grand as the franchises around Minneapolis/St. Paul used to be. The Cambridge market is decidedly smaller.

Empty shelf wearing some Red Bull bling, sitting outside Dickey’s entrance. Where the floor tile becomes fake wood panels. I just wanted to show this split in the retail floor. Kind of a light vs dark theme...

Little further down the sales floor this time.

Cashier desk would be to your immediate right.

This window provides a nice side view of the cashier desk.

Guess no one wanted to bid on that lumpy stool, since it’s still here, six months after the auction.

Hanson Auction Group’s photo of the cashier desk, from an angle I couldn’t take. This is what you saw while you stood waiting to pay for your cigarettes, chicken and donuts, waiting for some dumpy middle-aged woman to pick out $100 worth of scratch off lottery tickets, then redeem her meager winnings from the previous round. For more tickets… Which she absolutely should not be buying…

Can you tell what annoyed me a few hours ago?

The cashiers desk was the only thing that didn’t sell in the auction. Opening bid was $1. No one bid on it. Granted, you had to disassemble it and take it out yourself, which would suck. And what would you do with it anyway? That’s a large and fairly custom piece. If you didn’t already have your own unfurnished convenience store, you couldn’t use it for much else. 

Someone did buy the clock hanging on the wall behind it.

Packaged with some other items, it sold for about a quarter of a gas pump.

Rounding the outside corner to the south side, looking in behind that same cashier desk. All of the random stuff sitting on top, was part of the cashier desk auction. From my Phillips years, I recognize much of that as what would have been stored in those open compartments under the countertop. You always had to have those loose condiment packaged items on hand for quick restocking, so that would be kept under there. The coffee station demands Sweet n’ Low!

That large change safe wasn’t listed as part of the auction, nor was it included with the cashier desk auction. It’s similar to the change safe that we used at the Cherry Knolls 99, in Littleton, Colorado, for the ten months I worked there (1996-1997). Given the weight of those safes, it would be a real bitch to move. I wonder what happened to it when the building finally came down… 

The reason I can look through this window now, is because the cigarette display that was blocking it, has been removed. That entire cigarette display shelving unit sold for a whopping $1. Something could definitely be done with that to give it another life, for the single dollar investment. No idea what or how, but I could see myself finding a good use for that. I’m sure there is some collection of mine that could find a happy home stored on it. After heavy modifications I likely couldn’t do on my own, of course…

Looking north across the sales floor, into the coolers that are no longer there.

The window behind the ATM, is the one I was just looking into. So it would have been to your right, if you were standing where I was. The ATM itself was sold in the auction, without the code to the cash box. Someone paid $220 to take it out of the building. And now we all wonder what they found inside, after they brought it home and cracked it open. And how much work was involved in doing all that? Probably provided a good return on investment, as the odds would be pretty good there’s more than $220 in 20 dollar bills left inside. 

On the opposite side of the ATM, was an entrance for Dickey’s. Thier sign frame above the door baffled me. It looks like it was somehow bent. Maybe by the wind? I don’t know. Then I zoomed in on the Googles, and discovered this sign never was a perfect rectangle. More a trapezoid, with no right angles. 

Looking into Dickey’s door. 12 pack of Mountain Dew on the floor. Nothing else left in the store. 

Not gonna rhyme no more. 

Blickablickablickablicka Four!

Dickey’s used to have four of these “chandeliers” hanging above their dining area.

They’re kind of cool looking, and went for $500 each! So someone else thought they were cool.

Liked Dickey’s artwork surrounding the restroom doors. The black painted walls are a nice contrast to the bright and cheery convenience store side. Some serious effort was put into building up this Dickey’s restaurant, and it’s pretty sad that it only lasted a year, at most.

Restroom wall sign, removed from said wall, later propped up against a back room wall. It was packaged with a small Caribou Coffee sign, and sold for $6. Rather strange this auction saw six bids…

BP’s toilets and urinals were not offered for sale in the auction, so they likely went down with the ship. (The restroom sinks were sold in the auction.) However, the steel doors and dividers netted $70. Oddly, there wasn’t an auction for the steel doors and dividers from the women’s room, only the men’s.

Sexist!

Just thought I’d document this window sticker.

First Yelp review for Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, was in May 2018. With the last review coming in January 2019. If that’s reflective of Dickey’s entire Cambridge run, it rivals that of the Ham Lake Burger Time…

Part of Dickey’s dining area, which would have had some tables placed on the dirty floor. 

Notice the blank rectangle on the wall, between the “We cater!” and “Enjoy Texas”…

There used to be an orange light-up D, hanging on the wall. Someone took the D off the wall, and put the D someplace else, for the low, low price of $117. 

That’s not even five gas pumps for a D!

Just as the D-less wall said.

Assortment of Dickey’s dining tables… Four seat tables went for around $125, with the two seaters for about $60. The long bar tables sold for $535 each. Those would be really cool, if you had a use for them. And a reasonable sized space to set them up.

I wonder if there’s another nearby town that bought all of this stuff to build their own BP/Dickey’s combo. But the auctions they didn’t win, prevented them from ever opening… Should have snapped up that cashier’s desk!

Dickeys door on the Southeast corner. I didn’t see the No Trespassing sign until I was already trespassing. But I wasn’t there to vandalize or steal, so I’m okay with doing it. This door is the one that had the auction tags hanging off the handle, that I mentioned earlier.

Looking inside it, towards what once was Dickey’s order counter.

Now it’s just some broken machine, a garbage can, leftover retail shelving and a lonely catering sign, sitting on a dirty floor.

Southeast corner, fronting the previous house of Dickey’s. The picnic tables I mentioned earlier, used to side on that concrete plateau, next to the handicapped parking space.  This is also a better view of that strange Dickey’s trapezoidal sign frame. 

The east side of the building used to have Dickey’s Drive thru window. Complete with intact menu board, next to the concrete picnic table plateau. Which is pretty cracked from 20 years of Minnesota weather. 

Better tear the whole building down!

Hoped to get a decent picture of the drive thru menu board, but 6 of the 9 panels were too faded for a decent picture. I’ll let you figure out which ones they were. Here’s a hint… 1 MEAT PLATE.

Looks like the entire drive thru window section was sold in the auction.

Though I didn’t see a listing.

Looking west, across Dickey’s dining area. There’s a relocated Smoker’s Pole, between the two convenience store doors. That wasn’t up for auction either. I’ve ranted about the inherent flawed design of the Smoker’s Pole in the past, and don’t feel like doing it again. Whomever didn’t buy it, saved themselves from a fire hazard.

I showed the various Dickey’s dining tables earlier, but that leaves something out…

You can’t have a sit-down restaurant without chairs! The Dickey’s Barbecue Pit chairs were auctioned off in sets of four, which ranged in sale price from $62-$75 per set. Interesting look to them. Appear reasonably comfortable, for fast food dining chairs.

Window closest to Dickey’s order counter. Kind of redundant, but a slightly different angle.

You would order your barbecue, from a cashier that would have been standing to your right. Your order would have been prepared in the kitchen, which sat behind those walls, behind the counter. The origins of some of your order, would be cooked on this beast… 

Dickey’s old pellet smoker sold for over $4500. (That’s about 180 gas pumps!) Noted in the auction listing: “Buyer is responsible for building back/securing building after disassembling and removal. Very large unit to move out.”

Well, they could have at least cleaned it first…

The pellet smoker auction terms likely explain the plywood covered opening in the wall. In order to get that hulking meat oven outside, may as well cut a hole in the wall and simply drag it out. Similar to when a crew has to be called in to cut a hole in the side of a house, for health services to get a bed-ridden, morbidly obese, body out of bed, on a forklift. Since this building was soon-to-be demolished, who cares if there’s big hole in the east wall. 

Not like it affects the resale value…

On that note, enough about food… Time for a good scrubbing down!

Northeast corner of the building, with the car wash entrance on the right.

Back doors, with “Please keep this area clear” signs taped to them. I couldn’t read the fine print underneath. Likely some legaleese about safety or something. I’d assume these doors were to access the back storage areas of BP/Dickey’s. The door on the right would likely access the car wash chemical storage and other things related to that. The door on the left would have likely been for food delivery…

Some of which was left behind and put up for auction!

Six 6lb jugs of expired Heinz Yellow Mustard (along with a half box of Heinz Ketchup packets) sold for $2. Wonder what the purchaser did with those? I can only picture a really gross revenge prank. Same for the 3 gallons of expired pancake syrup. But they sold for $12! Really hope someone didn’t get 10 gallons of expired pancake syrup, yellow mustard and squeezed out ketchup packets, dumped over their head. That would not only really stink bad, but imagine washing it out of your hair…

No idea what that stuff is, scattered all over the ground by the car wash entrance. My first thought was expired barbecue sauce, that wasn’t wanted after the auction. But it was too powdery… Coffee?

Looking inside the car wash, with all of the car washing innards removed. Replaced by garbage. Hmmmm… Looking inside the car wash brings back all sorts of vivid 99 Spillihp memories. From cleaning it, to peeing in it, to smoking in it… Good times…

Previously, the BP car wash operated a Vector Rapid Car Washing System. Which sold at auction for $587 (only 23 gas pumps!).

The buyer would have to remove all of the car wash equipment from the bay, before January 25, 2021.

Well, it was gone before June…

The dumpster house is empty and surprisingly clean.

Some really lame graffiti on the north wall… Two See Crew? Just stop it…

Though artistically better than what Flar and Dert did to Saxon Motors in Elk River. (First part, and the Sequel.)

Hey Wolfe, good Christians don’t tag abandoned gas stations!

I’m an atheist and even I know that!

If you were running this BP/Dickey’s, you may need to get on the roof for something. Possibly clearing heavy snow off in the winter. In that case, you need access. Well, someone paid two gas pumps for this set of steel stairs. Must already have a specific use for something that custom. Not sure where the roof access was inside the building, and I wasn’t able to really piece the interior together from the auction photos. 

My walk around BP/Dickey’s is now complete.

Time to get back to the car and make sure Laura’s still waiting for me.

Her car would be to my right, as I snap this photo of the south side of the building.

One more shot under the canopy skeleton. Showing the torn up pavement where gas pumping equipment was dug out of the ground. 

Since I couldn’t figure out the best place for this, I’m going to put it here…

This bulletin board wasn’t sold individually in the auction, but as part of several packages of back office equipment and supplies. I was more concerned with trying to read the notes left attached to the bulletin board. Parts of them can be made out, but none of them completely.

The one in the upper left corner appears to describe a problem with the car wash, having a frozen line of some sorts. It should be fine for 90 or so washes, and there is an alarm that will go off if it is not draining properly. The second note features a quick diagram, drawn by the fuel delivery driver. (Mississippi Transport?) It shows the location of where the tanks are, in case they’re covered with snow. Mike’s phone number is under the first note, in case you needed it. There’s also a Dickey’s Barbecue business card, saved for the lucky auction winner.

Hope they made good use of all this important stuff.

Oh, why not one more canopy skeleton shots of the store. I took it, may as well use it! Doesn’t look like much care was taken when the BP colors were ripped away from the canopy. They’re going to need some serious work if someone wanted to use them again…

And that pretty much wraps up everything I feel like saying about this abandoned BP/Dickey’s.

You could tell pretty quickly that it would be demolished instead of renovated for another life. I was really happy we found it while driving through a part of the state we rarely go. Likely wouldn’t come through here again before the property looked entirely different. I was satisfied with the pictures I took of the place. Upon returning home, they were saved to the bank of sorted location pictures that I will eventually get to. 

The reason it popped up now goes back to the recent Ham Lake Burger Time and 2018 Drive With my Dad stories I wrote over the last few months. I found these pictures and they fit the central Minnesota theme I’ve explored this year. Soon as I started putting this story together, I saw this property had indeed changed from what my pictures show. Less than a year after I took them. Which is in no way surprising. 

What was surprising was what I found when I did a little digging into its past…

I mentioned at the beginning of this story, that this station was originally built in 2000, as Westrom’s Corner, by Jerry Westrom (right). Looking up information about Westrom’s Corner, specifically, I found out that Jerry Westrom was arrested in 2019, for a South Minneapolis murder, committed in June, 1993. A prostitute was stabbed at least 65 times, in her apartment, that day. No arrests were made as the only known suspect had verified alibi. Evidence was collected and locked away.

The case that had been cold for 25 years, then was re-evaluated when collected DNA evidence matched with a genealogy site. Which placed Westrom at the scene, close to the time of the murder. A bloody footprint found on the floor was used as the State's most convincing point in their case. Prosecutors claimed the footprint belonged to Westrom. Grand jury indictment followed and Westrom was arrested 26 years after the crime occurred. Westrom was convicted of first degree murder in 2022.

Notable enough of a case that CBS produced an episode of 48 Hours, covering it.

After watching this summary of the case, I’m not convinced that Westrom is 100% guilty. 

There’s a lot of doubt raised in the evidence that doesn’t satisfy Westrom’s guilty verdict. I do believe he was in Jeanie Childs apartment, not long before she was killed. DNA confirmed that from samples (not blood though) collected at the scene. But I’m not positive he was the killer, based on the bloody footprint evidence. 48 Hours raises questions about two other suspects/persons of interest, that seem just as likely as Westrom. He could have committed this murder, but it wouldn’t take a lot more to convince me he wasn't responsible. I have reasonable doubt regarding the bloody footprint, and could not convict because of that. Had I been on the jury, I’d have been the one guy that argued against this evidence. Which seems coincidental and subjective, but I’m no expert. Something just doesn’t seem right with the whole thing.

Jerry Westrom is currently serving a life sentence in prison.

Wish my friend Ryan was still around. He worked for the Anoka County Sheriff’s Forensic Department, before his death in 2024. I’d love to be able to ask him about this case.

Oh well…

As far as Westrom’s Corner goes…

Kwik Trip acquired the property in early 2022.

Westrom’s Corner building was quickly demolished, with a brand new Kwik Trip convenience store built just slightly north of the old one. 

The new Kwik Trip opened in July, 2022.

They don’t have barbecue.

Unless you count flavored potato chips.

However, if you’re in Cambridge, and really want barbecue… 

Just fill your car with gas (at Kwik Trip), drive about 45 miles south and go to Jellybean & Julia’s, in Coon Rapids!

Better than any chain, and the only restaurant with a picture of me on the wall!

Some guy, Cory (the owner) and Trav, at Jellybean & Julia’s previous Anoka location, November, 2017.

You’re on your own for gas.