The Aurora Burgermaster’s western-font signage, topped by a huge glowing bull skull, was morbidly fascinating to me as a child who became vegetarian for the same reason I imagine anyone does at 7: I realized on a ranch that beef cattle are cute, like big dogs.
I grew up a few blocks from Burgermaster, and as far as I can recall, the place has never changed. Like the nearby cement elephant and Twin Teepees diner (RIP), the eye-catching sign is quite at home on a strip where business is dependent on inspiring enough curiosity to make people pull off the highway. I didn’t fully understand until a trip to the Dancing Bare strip club in grad school that what fascinates me about Aurora is its multitude of advertisements for sex, booze, and every other mysterious and alluring pleasure of adulthood. Ocean Greens, one of the first recreational pot stores to open in Seattle, couldn’t have picked a better location than being close to the Aurora Burgermaster…
