Hats N Boots

The Hat ‘n’ Boots Premium Tex’s opening first week matched Washington’s most successful gas station of the time, and was the state’s leader in gasoline sales for the next three years. Legend has it that Elvis pumped gas for his Cadillac at the Hat ‘n’ Boots while filming It Happened at the World’s Fair in Seattle in 1963.

Construction of Interstate 5 relegated Highway 99 to secondary status, and the Hat ‘n’ Boots lost a major portion of its gas sales. The gas station closed in 1988, when its rent exceeded its revenue. It sat derelict -- the paint fading and chipping over time. Graffiti marred its exterior and grass sprouted up through the concrete. Brave skateboarders even climbed the hat to ride its brim.