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Chickens, Cheers and More: the Hub's 16 Most Iconic Signs

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The weather has been gorgeous of late, no? To (further) motivate you to get out and meander, we've updated our map of the region's most iconic signs. These include internationally recognizable ones such as the Cheers shingle and the markers for Boston Common as well as more cultish local signs such as the Live Poultry Fresh Killed one outside the Mayflower Poultry Co. in Cambridge or the Somerville mural marking the first-ever raising of the American flag. Get out there and look up. You can't miss these.


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It's perhaps the region's most iconic sign: the Citgo one in Kenmore Square in Boston. It dates from 1965, when it replaced the old Cities Service (that company created Citgo then for its marketing division). In July 2010, the 3,600-square-foot sign's LED lights replaced with more technologically advanced and environmentally-friendly ones.

Paramount Theatre

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Emerson College led a major renovation of the theater during the latter half of the last decade. It grandly reopened in March 2010, signage lighted up and all.

Immortalized in the opening credits of the sitcom of the same name from 1982 to 1983, the sign hangs outside the real-life Cheers Beacon Hill (formerly the Bull & Finch).

Boston Common

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There are various signs denoting America's oldest public park, but our favorite is the worn one outside of the Park Street Church. We like the prominence of the date (1634) and the subservience of all the fine print about the city.

Colonial Mile Markers

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They dot the region, but we picked this one in Jamaica Plain. Both William Dawes and Paul Revere likely road past it on that fateful April 1775 night, the then-40-year-old block telling them Boston was four miles that-a way.

Prudential Center Tower

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Say what you will about the aggressive blandness of the skyscraper itself, its "Prudential" looms higher over the region than any other sign we can think of.

Cambridge Savings Bank

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The can't-miss cap to Harvard Square comes with a digital clock more than five stories above the street.

Dewey Cheetham & Howe

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Say it fast. It's there in the window above the intersection of Brattle and JFK streets in Harvard Square; and it marks the offices of the business operation behind the old NPR show "Car Talk."

Fenway Park

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The 102-year-old park has this iconic sign above all the pennant and Series banners. (Honorable mention: the "Welcome to Fenway Park" one.)

First Flag Mural

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You can't miss it going into Union Square (or out of): the mural depicting the first-ever raising of what we now know as the American flag, on July 1, 1776.

North End Italian Arrows

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Like signage flame to tourist moths, these faux directions to various Italian areas and regions are a major draw in the North End.

Boston Wharf Industrial Real Estate

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The three-level neon sign looms over the intersection of the Congress Street Bridge and Forth Point Channel, and marks a kind of unofficial welcome to that ever-trendier area.

Mayflower Poultry Co.

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The Mayflower Poultry Co.'s "Live Poultry Fresh Killed" sign has found its way onto T-shirts and hats, even underwear; and, strangely enough, into the hearts of generations of Cantabrigians.

Magazine Shell Gas Station

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The bright, um, shell-shaped sign is kind of Cambridge's answer to the Citgo sign in Kenmore.

Sheraton Commander Hotel

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The two-tiered sign for the hotel of the same name looks down on a corner of Cambridge Common.

Coolidge Corner Theatre

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The incandescently neon sign marks the Boston area's only nonprofit independent movie theater.

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Citgo

It's perhaps the region's most iconic sign: the Citgo one in Kenmore Square in Boston. It dates from 1965, when it replaced the old Cities Service (that company created Citgo then for its marketing division). In July 2010, the 3,600-square-foot sign's LED lights replaced with more technologically advanced and environmentally-friendly ones.

Paramount Theatre

Emerson College led a major renovation of the theater during the latter half of the last decade. It grandly reopened in March 2010, signage lighted up and all.

Cheers

Immortalized in the opening credits of the sitcom of the same name from 1982 to 1983, the sign hangs outside the real-life Cheers Beacon Hill (formerly the Bull & Finch).

Boston Common

There are various signs denoting America's oldest public park, but our favorite is the worn one outside of the Park Street Church. We like the prominence of the date (1634) and the subservience of all the fine print about the city.

Colonial Mile Markers

They dot the region, but we picked this one in Jamaica Plain. Both William Dawes and Paul Revere likely road past it on that fateful April 1775 night, the then-40-year-old block telling them Boston was four miles that-a way.

Prudential Center Tower

Say what you will about the aggressive blandness of the skyscraper itself, its "Prudential" looms higher over the region than any other sign we can think of.

Cambridge Savings Bank

The can't-miss cap to Harvard Square comes with a digital clock more than five stories above the street.

Dewey Cheetham & Howe

Say it fast. It's there in the window above the intersection of Brattle and JFK streets in Harvard Square; and it marks the offices of the business operation behind the old NPR show "Car Talk."

Fenway Park

The 102-year-old park has this iconic sign above all the pennant and Series banners. (Honorable mention: the "Welcome to Fenway Park" one.)

First Flag Mural

You can't miss it going into Union Square (or out of): the mural depicting the first-ever raising of what we now know as the American flag, on July 1, 1776.

North End Italian Arrows

Like signage flame to tourist moths, these faux directions to various Italian areas and regions are a major draw in the North End.

Boston Wharf Industrial Real Estate

The three-level neon sign looms over the intersection of the Congress Street Bridge and Forth Point Channel, and marks a kind of unofficial welcome to that ever-trendier area.

Mayflower Poultry Co.

The Mayflower Poultry Co.'s "Live Poultry Fresh Killed" sign has found its way onto T-shirts and hats, even underwear; and, strangely enough, into the hearts of generations of Cantabrigians.

Magazine Shell Gas Station

The bright, um, shell-shaped sign is kind of Cambridge's answer to the Citgo sign in Kenmore.

Sheraton Commander Hotel

The two-tiered sign for the hotel of the same name looks down on a corner of Cambridge Common.

Coolidge Corner Theatre

The incandescently neon sign marks the Boston area's only nonprofit independent movie theater.