Only four posts so far and already two of them are about elephants... awkward.
Seattle Times' sketch artist Gabriel Campanario posted a sketch of the "kitschy but cool" pink elephant of the Elephant Car Wash a day after sketching a stretch of Aurora. Basically, he says, Aurora is ugly; the pink elephant sign is not. But isn't the pink elephant exactly Aurora? It's like a remnant of Aurora Ave. It's as if Seattle attempts to bury the amazing Avenue under itself in the Battery St. Tunnel, but it will not go down quietly! And so, just at the moment Aurora disappears beneath the city, it gets its last laugh in the form of the bright, pink, and tacky elephant sign.
This is Aurora Avenue, minus the pinkness. Bright and tacky. "Kitschy but cool." The motel signs. The older elephant. The arrows and lights. A gun shop, pawn shops, a burger stop. I agree that Aurora does have its ugly side, but as this community moves forward can we give it a makeover without eliminating the characteristics that make this place so unique?
