At first glance, elephants and Seattle seem an unlikely pairing. Why would the world’s largest land mammal, found in Asia and Africa, have so intrigued residents of the Pacific Northwest?

Yet two Seattle companies have used this massive animal for decades to advertise their businesses. The more recognizable was the rotating hot-pink elephant with its display of cascading lights to simulate water spraying from its trunk. Two of these neon signs adorned the Pink Elephant Car Wash starting in the 1950s until the Belltown street corner was redeveloped in 2020.