Citgo - The Boston Citgo Sign

The Boston Citgo Sign

Citgo refers to its logo as the "trimark". A large, double-faced sign featuring this logo overlooks Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts and has become a landmark, partly because of its uncanny resemblance to the Eye of Providence and its appearance in the background in televised baseball games. The current sixty-foot-square sign, unveiled in March 2005 after a six-month restoration project, is illuminated by thousands of light-emitting diodes (LEDs); this means of illumination was chosen for its durability, energy efficiency, intensity, and ease of maintenance. (Earlier versions of the sign were illuminated by neon lighting; the previous sign contained some 5,878 glass tubes with a total length of over five miles.) The sign sits atop the campus bookstore of Boston University.

The first sign featuring the Cities Service green-and-white trefoil logo was built in 1940, and was replaced with the trimark in 1965. In 1979 Governor Edward J. King ordered the sign turned off as an example of energy conservation. Four years later, Citgo attempted to disassemble the weatherbeaten sign, and was surprised to be met with widespread public affection for the sign and protest at its threatened removal. The Boston Landmarks Commission ordered its disassembly postponed while the issue was debated. While never formally declared a landmark, it was refurbished and relit by Citgo in 1983 and has remained in operation ever since. Rising next to Boston's Fenway Park, the sign has been nicknamed "See It Go"—especially when a home run is hit during a Red Sox game.

The shutoff and refurbishing was marked by a loss of functionality. The earlier sign had a seemingly endless set of variations in appearance, while the current one runs through a much shorter routine.

The sign was highlighted in the short film Go, Go Citgo and the movie Field of Dreams. It was also featured in a 1983 Life magazine photograph feature, as well as a 1987 animated film as Kenmore Square's "neon god". The association with Fenway and the Red Sox is so strong that some local Little League fields often are decorated with replicas of the Citgo sign, as is Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, home of the Boston Red Sox' AA affiliate Portland Sea Dogs. Citgo installed a similar (albeit smaller) sign high on the glass wall above left field in Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros. In 2007, the Astros' AA affiliate, the Corpus Christi Hooks, installed a 50-foot replica of the Boston sign in their ballpark, Whataburger Field.

Some in the United States have become uncomfortable with the prominence of this symbol given that the company is closely associated with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

On October 15, 2008 the Citgo Sign caught fire, causing about $5,000 in damage.

On July 22, 2010, it was announced that the sign was to be turned off the next day to allow for repairs and replacement of its LED lights as the style of bulb used on the sign since 2005 is no longer made. The sign was shut off until September 17, 2010, when it was turned on during the seventh inning stretch of the Boston Red Sox game against the Toronto Blue Jays. The refurbishment was timed to celebrate Citgo's 100-year anniversary.