Driving down I-5, a sign illuminated with red lights comes into view: Tacoma Self Storage. But every year on Black Friday, it becomes Tacoma Elf Storage.
The tradition of turning the sign from "Self Storage" to "Elf Storage" began one fateful day in 2007, at least according to lore.
“A pigeon actually flew on top of the sign,” said assistant store manager Ozzy Gonzalez. “It must have been a pretty heavy pigeon, so he flipped the switch, and lucky enough, it was on the ‘S.’”
The facility turns off the “S” in “Self” every year now, marking the fateful landing of that ostensibly big bird.
The storage facility has really leaned into the mystery over the years, and the sign has sparked the curiosity of other local news outlets. According to a 2017 article in the Tacoma News Tribune, the sign inspired musicians from Chicago to release a holiday CD that "included the 'Elfin Labor Workforce Song' and 'Elfin Love Song'" (KNKX has not independently verified this).
Tacoma Self Storage isn’t the only place to dabble in holiday wordplay. For instance, one self storage facility in Arkansas is called Elf Storage year round. Closer to home, a sign paying homage to a former self defense program in Bellingham reads “Karate Bellingham Academy of Elf Defense.”
In Tacoma, people don’t take this annual tradition lightly. Gonzalez said the facility gets calls around this time of year asking, '"When are you guys going to turn off the light?’” and “'You guys still doing the elf storage?’”
They got an especially strong reaction when people found out that there would be new ownership of the business, which was sold in June.
Gonzalez said people asked whether they would keep the ritual alive; some provided gentle encouragement by saying things along the lines of, "'I see that every year, so you better not stop now.’”
One pressing question was the meaning behind Tacoma Elf Storage. Is this a place where elves store things? Is this where the elves live? Are elves being held hostage?
“Do you have any insight into the semantics of Tacoma Elf Storage?" I asked. "Like, is the idea that the elves are using the storage, or are they being stored themselves?”
Gonzalez was unfazed.
“Some people like to think that the elves live here as well,” he said. “And then around this time they come out and they start doing some kind of mischief — lights being one of them.”
In an email, store manager Derek Wisher said that a previous management contract between the original owners and West Coast Self Storage stipulated they keep the tradition going.
That’s not the case anymore, Wisher said. Now, “It is being continued purely out of the holiday spirit and the cheer it brings to so many people.”
Tacoma Elf Storage will shine upon I-5 until the new year.
