Georgetown's Hat and Boots have been icon for this south Seattle neighborhood for over half a century. But do you know the story behind this Seattle oddity?
The Hat n' Boots structures were actually part of a gas station called "Premium Tex" which sold Texaco products. The gas station eventually changed its name to Hat N' Boots. The hat n' boots were designed by Lewis H. Nasmyth and was originally located at the corner of Corson Avenue South and East Marginal Way where the Georgetown Campus of South Seattle Community College currently located. The structures were made out of steel beams, chicken wire and and concrete. The filling station was supposed to be part of Buford Seal's Frontier Village, a western frontier-styled shopping center with over 200 retail shops. Unfortunately, the Frontier Village never came to fruition but the Hat n' Boots remained as the anchor for what could have been an interesting shopping center in Georgetown. In its heyday, the Hat n' Boot gas station was the highest grossing gas station in the state. Legend has it that Elvis Presley stopped at the Hat n' Boots to fill up his Caddy while he was in town filming the movie "It Happened At The Worlds Fair" in 1963.
The Hat n' Boots continued pumping fuel until 1988 when it permanently closed. Over the next 15 years, the Hat n' Boots started to deteriorate badly and was destined to be demolished. Several attempts were made to purchase the station. The Georgetown community rallied to rescue the Hat n' Boots by staging protests to try to save the structures. In 2002, the Hat n' Boots was declared a Seattle landmark and thereby saving it from the wrecking ball. In December of 2003, the Georgetown Community Council was able to purchased the Hat n' Boots and had the structures dismantled and moved to its current location in Oxbow Park where it was reassembled and eventually refurbished thereby saving a piece of 1950's Americana and preserving it for future generations.
To claim a found it log for the Hat n' Boots, please do the following:
At the listed coordinates, you will find a sign the city has put up. Message me the answers to the following questions based upon the info indicated on the sign:
What activity is prohibited according to the sign?
At the bottom of the sign, there is a city ordinance code. What are the last three digits of the code.
Finally, to prove that you actually visited the Hat n' Boots, take a picture of yourself with the hat or boots in the background BUT DO NOT GET THE SIGN IN YOUR PICTURE. If you are camera shy, then take a picture of a personal item that you cache with like a GPS unit or caching bag or some other geocaching item you have. Also, PLEASE DO NOT PUT ANY OF THE ANSWERS TO THE AFOREMENTIONED QUESTIONS IN YOUR LOG. These should only be sent to me.
Thanks for visiting the Hat n' Boots.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog