Seattle's best neon

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Blue Moon Tavern: Perhaps the oldest piece of neon still hanging in Seattle, the Blue Moon sign once graced the outside of the Blue Moon Café, until entrepreneurs Henry J. Reverman and Monty Fairchild purchased it for their new post-Prohibition watering hole. The tavern, located just outside the one-mile "dry zone" surrounding the University of Washington campus, opened in April 1934 and became an immediate hit with students and faculty alike. Over the years, the Blue Moon's popularity seldom waned, attracting a steady stream of counterculture clientele: artists, beatniks, hippies, political radicals and, yes, journalists and writers, most famously poets Theodore Roethke and Richard Hugo. 712 N.E. 45th St.

Elephant Car Wash: Erected in 1956, the pink elephant along Denny Way is undoubtedly Seattle's most flamboyant — and photogenic — piece of neon. The large sign (a smaller version sits a hundred yards back) features 380 blinking bulbs as well as 70 separate pieces of neon. Founded by three brothers (Archie, Dean and Eldon Anderson), the first Elephant Car Wash opened for business in 1951 at Fourth and Lander; seven locations followed. It was brother Archie who reportedly came up with the name (elephants representing the consummate "automatic" wash system); the company's sign maker suggested the striking pink motif. Original sign: 616 Battery St.

P-I globe: Perched atop that other newspaper in town, the 18.5-ton, 30-foot neon-resplendent P-I globe was built in 1948 by Pacific Car and Foundry and Electrical Products Consolidated for nearly $26,000. Primary-colored glass tubing gives the sign its rich colors, said Western Neon's Jay Blazek, who added that originally, some of that tubing was made of uranium glass which, along with a lovely green glow, gave off low levels of radiation. 101 Elliott Ave. W.

Bardahl: This towering neon sign promoting Bardahl automotive treatments went up in the mid-1950s and has been a popular Ballard landmark ever since. Featuring the outline of a car (complete with beaming headlights) and the alternating flashing messages "Add it to Your Oil/Add it To Your Gas," the Bardahl sign is a blazing memorial to Ole Bardahl, a Norwegian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1922 with $32 in his pocket and a love of chemistry in his soul. Within 25 years, he had founded a highly successful oil-additive empire, although his accomplishments were hardly limited to manufacturing; Bardahl-sponsored unlimited hydroplanes won five Gold Cups and six National Championships. Just north of the Ballard Bridge and east of 15th Avenue Northwest.

— Diane Mapes

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