December 13, 2003 – Hat’n’Boots on the move

Billed as the world’s largest hat and cowboy boots in America, Seattle’s Hat’n’Boots was built in 1954 as part of a larger western themed gas station and roadside attraction in Seattle, Washington. This was during a time in America when many service stations were built as attractions, not just filling places. The design of the gas station received a patent on March 20, 1956 as a “new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.” Legend has it that Elvis even pumped gas for his Cadillac while filming a movie in Seattle in the early 1960s. Once Interstate 5 opened, the old highway 99 where the station lay lost much of its traffic, resulting in it closing in 1988. After appearing in such films as National Lampoon’s Vacation and Hype, the city of Seattle moved the station on this day in 2003 from its Georgetown location in South Seattle to Oxbow Park, which lies in the same neighborhood. Pic: Hat’n’Boots in 2002 prior to restoration By Seattle Municipal Archives from Seattle, WA – Hat and Boots in Georgetown, 2002Uploaded by Jmabel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8537608 Hat’n’Boots in the 1970s