Recently, the iconic life-sized elephant that has been perched above the longstanding Aurora Flower Shop at 8800 Aurora Avenue North was refurbished and reinstalled by the new property owner, Aurora Rents. Larry Steele, the owner of Aurora Rents, spent over $10,000 to refurbish the well-known pachyderm. Within the last couple of years Steele has seen improvements in the sometimes rough Aurora neighborhood, and perhaps the updated elephant will be the harbinger of a bright future for the area.
By way of disclosure, the author of this piece is the grand-nephew of Denny Grindall, the original owner of the Aurora Flower Shop. In 1946, Grindall purchased the now famous concrete elephant that has for over 60 years taken up residence on, next to, and above his family-owned flower shop.
Obviously a steward of grand sculpture and curious Seattle landmarks, the owner of Aurora Rents, Larry Steele, has had the well-known Seattle statue refurbished at great cost. This past Monday it was hoisted back to its longtime perch.
Paul Grindall, son of Denny Grindall and the last owner of the flower shop, remembers it fondly. "It’s a warm fuzzy feeling to see it there," he said. "It's one of those strange things. It serves no real purpose, but people seem to enjoy seeing it there." Paul Grindall went on to commend Steele for doing a wonderful job restoring the piece.
How the elephant was created and eventually placed at 88th and Aurora is an interesting tale. It was constructed at the direction of John Braida, a tile contractor[1] with a business in Fremont that manufactured, displayed, and sold garden paraphernalia, including paving stones and lawn figures. He specialized in creating figures using steel frames and concrete.
In the early 1930s, Braida's business was trying to survive the harsh economic reality of the Great Depression. Many of his employees were skilled Italian immigrant craftsmen who were known to seek work wherever a paying job could be found. During a lull between jobs, Braida, not wanting to let his skilled workers go for fear of losing them permanently, decided to build a life-sized elephant to keep them working and to create a lawn figure showpiece that would display the skill of his workers.
Gil Braida, John Braida's grandson, has several old photographs of the elephant during its construction and remembers it fondly. According to Gil Braida, it was constructed in several stages from the early 1930s until it was finally completed in 1935. At first, the life-sized elephant had a more natural look, but by completion in 1935 an elaborate and impressive howdah had been placed on its back.
The elephant stood just north of John Braida's business at 3408 Woodland Park Avenue North (where the still Braida-owned 1929 building exists today). The elephant was positioned as the centerpiece in Braida's ornamental garden, surrounded by several smaller hand-crafted lawn figures.
At the time, the Seattle Streetcar passed by the business providing many repeat viewings of the elaborate elephant. It didn't take long for the life-sized, howdah-backed elephant to quickly become a well-known neighborhood fixture.
John Braida passed away in 1943 and the elephant was eventually sold in 1946 to the owner of the Aurora Flower Shop, Denny Grindall, who transplanted the elephant to his business at 88th and Aurora.
Gil Braida, John's grandson, who was in grade school at the time, remembers being disappointed that he wasn't consulted prior to the sale. Gil and his neighborhood friends had fun playing on the elephant, including riding in the howdah, which was accessible at the time through an entrance in the elephant's back.
After the sale to Grindall and move to Aurora, the elephant sat on the ground outside the flower shop. Denny Grindall's son, Paul Grindall, also remembers fondly playing on the elephant as a young child in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was later transplanted to the roof of the flower shop, then to the rear of the lot, and then to a display platform next to the shop. In the mid 1970s a sturdier platform was built for the elephant and that is where it remained for over 30 years until it was taken down for the recent renovations.
When contacted for this story, Larry Steele said that after the elephant was taken down for renovation several people asked him where it had gone. "They were relieved to hear that it was being refurbished and would be coming back," Steel said. Though Steele hasn't calculated the exact costs of the renovation, he estimates a cost in excess of $10,000.
Even though it was an expensive renovation, Steel says the process has been nothing but a positive experience. "People really seem to enjoy having it there. Especially in the summer months, lots of people drive up and stop their cars to take a photo before jumping back in to drive away," he said.
This part of Aurora has had its share of social problems, but hopefully this could be a sign of changing times. Steele commented that when he first moved his business to the Aurora location, the neighborhood had some disagreeable elements, but he has already seen the neighborhood improving.
All of us at Northwest Hub take our hats off to Steele for investing his own money during these tough economic times in something that is so oddly beloved by the greater community. During the short time it took for our Northwest Hub photographer to snap a photo of the renovated elephant, he was approached by a pedestrian who thanked him for keeping up the newly refurbished pachyderm. The photographer refused to take credit, but it is another testament to the inexplicable appeal of this life-sized elephant.
When recounting the history of the elephant, Gil Braida had mixed feelings about the fate of his grandfather's elephant. "I miss the days when the elephant sat in its more natural grassy habitat outside our family business, but I'm happy to see that a piece of our family history continues to be enjoyed by people in Seattle," Braida said.
During our interview, Paul Grindall recalled the public outcry that occurred when the Twin-Teepees Restaurant near Greenlake on Aurora was bulldozed over a July weekend in 2001. "It was there on a Friday and gone on a Monday. There was quite a howl about that. People really appreciated those teepees," he said bemusedly. Grindall then again complimented Steele's restoration efforts and said, "Here's a similar thing that doesn't have to go away."
Editor's Note: Randall Olsen is an attorney at the Buck Law Group, a Seattle-based land use, environmental, dispute resolution and civil litigation firm that is a Northwest Hub sponsor. You can reach him by sending an email to rolsen@bucklawgroup.com.
[1] One of Braida's more famous tile mosaics of the California State seal is located on the second floor of the San Francisco Ferry Terminal. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/digiyesica/1721779928/
