Located in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood is a tiny park, Oxbow, with a really big attraction. This is one of those attractions on Roadside Maps.
This is Hat N' Boots.
It's a big deal. Seriously, we don't want to downplay this, it's a giant cowboy hat and cowboy boots, and it's a really big deal to our city. To be a true Seattleite you must go and bathe in the looming shadow of the Hat N' Boots, similar to Mecca... but sorta different.
It's a truly life transforming experience.
Why does Seattle, a city that was born of the lumber industry, have giant cowboy structures? Wouldn't this be better suited for Texas or Calgary? Well... we don't have that answer, sorry we can't know everything. Educated guess? It was exotic. It's like going to a Tiki Bar or listening to Shakira music.
What do we know? It was built for a destination gas station in the 1950s. The boots were a bathroom, the larger being the men's and smaller, women's. Unfortunately, a bright shiny new interstate, I-5, took traffic away from the small highway it was situated on, and the gas station closed. Hat N' Boots were abandoned and fell into a state of disrepair.
If you are currently asking yourself if this story is inspiration for a Pixar film, yes, it is. We are thinking a Cars meets Toy Story hybrid.
Don't worry this story has a happy ending though. Hat N' Boots got a new beginning when Georgetown residents decided to fundraise to restore this glorious attraction to its original grandeur. After some time, money, and paint, Hat N' Boots was looking less like Britney "2007 Meltdown" and a lot more like Britney "2011 VMAs Comeback." In addition to the Hat N' Boots masterpiece, the park also has a jungle gym for kids and a P Patch maintained by residents.
So please, go visit. Take a can of Budweiser and some deer jerky, wear a bolo tie, and salute this masterpiece.
At this point we have done all we can to convince you this is a place to visit, but you might be on the fence, just not sure about whether or not it's going to be worth it. Well, you're a fool, of course it will be worth it, but if you need additional reasons to go, here are four places in the area to up the ante: Katsu Burger, 9lb Hammer, Two Beers Brewing and Via Tribunali.
