Yesterday, I was out stimulating the economy and stopped in at my favorite Kirkland art gallery.  As art galleries go, it is exceptionally well disguised since it is hidden inside a Texaco gas station and car wash.

But if you go into the station, you will find a wonderful collection of apple box art, a collection of the labels once put on apple boxes to entice customers into buying the apples.  Since your average apple grower was not a marketing genius, they tried many approaches with the labels, including some that look counterproductive.  It is hard, for instance, to see why a picture of a wolf would persuade someone to buy apples.  For some reason, the labels almost never used hard sells.  But almost all of them are interesting art.

(You can see what some of the labels look like in this video.)

The manager of the car wash, Mark Dinwiddie, tells me that the labels are his personal collection and that he bought most of them some time ago, mostly in the Chelan area.

Definitely worth a stop, especially if you are new to Washington state, and would like to know something about our state's history.  And unlike most art galleries, you can get some gas and a car wash while you visit.

Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.

(Incidentally, the Rose Hill car wash does a charity event every year, giving washes in return for donations.  Last time they worked with talk show host John Carlson to raise money for the Fred Hutchinson center.)