Landmark Seattle car wash shuts down after 64 years, iconic sign donated to MOHAI

SEATTLE — Since 1956, the bright pink, neon, swirling Elephant Super Car Wash sign has been a welcoming fixture in Seattle’s Denny Triangle.

“I think it’s just about everybody’s favorite sign,” said Leonard Garfield, the executive director at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI).

But after more than six decades, the iconic car wash is closing its doors and filed a plan with the city to demolish the property.

Even though the car wash will close for good, the beloved rotating sign will live on at MOHAI.

“We will repair it. And we will restore it and it will actually look new,” Garfield added.

Garfield said the car wash reached out to them as soon as they knew they were leaving.

It’s yet another sign of how Seattle is changing.

“I think also it reminds us of Seattle from an earlier period, when we found pleasure in simple people things, when the city was growing and it wasn’t overwhelming,” Garfield explained.

Garfield said restoration will take months. The museum is still closed so there’s no timeline as to when you can visit the elephant at its new home. But he promised it will be in good company.

“We have the iconic R from Rainier Brewery, we have the sign from the old Dog House restaurant, and we have the very first neon sign in Seattle, which was from the Post-Intelligencer newspaper,” Garfield said.

The owners of Elephant Super Car Wash declined to comment but shared this statement: “It is with deep sadness that we announce this closure as we have tried to keep this location open, even as it continued to lose money over the last few years. The increasing crime, drug activity, and homelessness in and around the car wash has made it extremely difficult to retain staff and attract customers to our business. When coupled with the ever-increasing cost of doing business in Seattle and the city’s ever-increasing, burdensome regulatory demands, we have determined that it is impossible for a small, minimum wage-based business such as ours to successfully operate within Seattle, even one that’s been established since 1956.”

Cox Media Group