There hasn’t always been a 9,500-pound bejeweled elephant looking down on Aurora Avenue. When the elephant’s creator, Giovanni Braida, first migrated to the United States in 1888, Aurora hadn’t yet been platted by city leaders, much less become a major thoroughfare, or state highway.
Today the elephant, which stands on a pedestal on Aurora and North 88th Street, has become a fixture in the Seattle landscape. The story of Braida and his creation is representative of how cities are made. What may seem like roadside kitsch is in fact a window into Seattle’s history. Our icons all come from somewhere.
According to immigration documents, Braida
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