Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has had a rough couple of weeks.

First, he had to fly to Cuba for cancer surgery. (You mean 11 years in power and countless billions in oil revenue, he hasn’t built a decent cancer hospital in Caracas? ¡Qué lástima!). Then, he lost his country’s retail foothold in the tiny yanqui paraíso we call Decatur.

All of which is an unnecessarily confusing way of saying that the Citgo on West Howard Avenue at Atlanta Avenue is changing its retail affiliation. Yesterday, a small construction crew began removing the station’s Citgo markings and replacing them with Valero decor.

Citgoing, going gone.

A better blogger might have walked across the street to ask the station’s owners why they’re leaving Citgo to become a Valero, but why risk getting hit by a car when I can settle for a stupid Hugo Chávez reference?

Owlish writes in…

Hi Tech service station [Gas 'n' Gulp zombie film location], corner of E Ponce & N Candler is closed with entrances roped off. Looks like everything has been moved out. Amusing note on the pumps.

Now does that mean it’s permanently closed?  Well, you’ll just have to determine that for yourself as I’m not going to assume anything about business closings anymore!

I’ll say that when I drove by the other day, I recall thinking, “It looks like they’re still stripping the place”, but there was still action going on in the garage bays, so I just chalked it up to modifications or something.

Hi-Tech Gas Pump Sign

Fisher sends in this rather amusing sign from the “old school” Hi-Tech/Texaco gas station at the corner of Ponce/Candler.

What IS the deal with this place? If it wasn’t for the $4 gas prices on its sign, I wouldn’t even be able to tell that it was even still open!