Boston Landmark’s Glowing Makeover: Citgo Sign
July 27, 2010 – Tyler Kepner reports in The New York Times on the famous Fenway Park Citgo sign. “Federal Heath Sign Company began the process of replacing more than 9,000 feet of lights on the double-sided, 60-by-60-foot Boston landmark, which first said “Cities Service” when it was installed above 660 Beacon Street in 1940. LED lights replaced neon when the sign was last updated in 2004, and the new lights are said to be far more advanced.
“The lights will be a little bit more vibrant, because the technology has changed and it was kind of hard to keep up with it,” Foley said. “The old LEDs weren’t working right anymore, and some of them were discontinued, so they had a problem. That’s why they’re doing it all over. Every LED is going to be changed.”
The sign is usually dark only from midnight to 6 a.m. The lights turn off when it is sunny but sometimes stay on all day in overcast weather. The new sign will use less energy, and Foley said he would now have to manage only 32 circuit-breakers, about a third of the old total.” Read the whole story in The New York Times.
