It is a peculiar, beloved symbol. It’s an old friend for anyone who follows baseball. It’s a landmark to everyone who lives in or around Boston.
You can see it from miles away and follow it to the park.
Visitors recognize it no matter where they come from. Yet it’s nothing more than a giant neon advertisement for a gasoline product you can’t actually find in the area anymore.
The product may have left town, but no one is moving the giant Citgo sign over Fenway Park.It has been an important — dare I say iconic and bizarrely beloved — part of the Boston skyline since 1940.
It is held in particularly high regard by Boston sports fans. Red Sox sluggers are enticed by the so-called “C-IT-GO” sign as they blast home runs over the left-field wall. Runners in the Boston Marathon welcome its sight as the 20th mile marker. Its pulsing flash in the night sky has been used by mothers-to-be at nearby Beth Israel to time contractions.
It is an important piece of navigating the twisting roads of Boston. When you see the Citgo sign, you know you’ve found Kenmore Square. And Fenway Park. As soon as it comes into view, you are no longer lost. If you are on any of the high points of land looking towards midtown, you can see it, that bright red triangle.
Kenmore is a particularly Byzantine area of the city, so while you may see Fenway Park, actually getting to it can be surprisingly tricky. But no problem, really … if you just follow the giant red and white sign.
They tried to take it down some years back. Bostonians and baseball fans erupted in protest. What in any other city might be an eyesore is a beloved symbol in Boston. Maybe you just have to live here to get it.
If, perchance, you’re on your way to see the Red Sox, you’re home.
GIANT CITGO SIGN LOOMS OVER FENWAY PARK | THE DAILY POST
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Categories: #Photography, Sports
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Great post, very relatable. Every time I would go to a game with my dad he would always point out the Citgo sign. I think most red sox fans think about the Red Sox first rather than a gas station when they see it now-a-days
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For my first few years in Boston, it was the ONLY way I could find my way to that part of town. It is the MOST complicated part of Boston roads!
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Haha yeah, I have a blog about Boston Sports and I definitely have a picture of the citgo sign
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Unless you come from there, the middle of Boston is totally weird.
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Haha exactly, I have been going to games since i was a kid and it’s still confusing
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We all need our landmarks – ours are put in the shadow by the mountains and no-one would find our football stadium on their own if you were new in town.
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Fenway is the U.S.’s oldest stadium. All the other old ones are now gone, replaced by modern buildings. Bigger, shinier, with parking garages and lots more toilets. Just Fenway in Boston and Wrigley Field, in Chicago (Wrigley is about 10 years newer than Fenway, which was built in 1912). Fenway Park opened the day the Titanic sank. One of those weird little factoids.
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The middle of Boston is like a mess of wet spaghetti. You just have to KNOW to make this half left and that twirly right and finally, suddenly, you find Fenway. If it weren’t for that big sign, it’s possible NO ONE would ever find it … and even with it, it isn’t easy.
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We had beloved ballpark signs before the outfield renovation and the introductions of sign and scoreboards in left and right field of Wrigley Field. Now I can not tell from the game broadcasts if the signs are still there.
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I’m surprised no one rioted when they renovated. They wanted to build a new park. Nope. They wanted to remove the sign. Nope. So they put more seats over the Green Monster and reinforced the park. So Fenway and Wrigley are the only two old parks left. That’s it. The rest are gone.
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They did a similar thing here. They added outfield bleachers and scoreboards and left everything else mostly the same.
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I’ve always thought Wrigley with it’s ivy covered wall is the prettiest ball park. I’m glad they didn’t replace it.
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It looks good, but not so nice if you run into it at full speed.
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Yes, I guess the ivy doesn’t provide much padding.
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I must say your comment was a surprise as I thought you were going to object to that sign. Pays to read the commentary!!!
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Nah. I’ve been here long enough to understand some of the peculiarities of the region. Boston LOVES that sign. I mean really really LOVES it. Weird, I know.
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Citgo sign is part of the Fenway Park Cathedral, a beacon for beisbol pilgrims.
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