Paris has the Eiffel Tower, New York City has the Statue of Liberty and Boston &- specifically Kenmore Square &- has the CITGO Sign.
On July 23, the lights emanating from the beacon of Kenmore Square went dark to make way for renovations that will make the 45-year-old sign more environmentally friendly and better able to stand up to Boston's notoriously bad weather.
The sign, first put up in 1940, has long been one of the most prominent features of Boston University's campus as well as Kenmore Square and Fenway Park, and students cherish the sign as one of the most significant landmarks on campus.
From these sentiments came the Facebook group "The CITGO Sign is my North Star," where Boston University students and others express their love for the sign that has led many an undergraduate home on long, drunken nights.
The group, which has 456 members, was created by College of Fine Arts sophomore Michelle Reiss.
Reiss explained that she created the group because of the sign's symbolism.
"I knew that other BU students considered it a landmark too, so I decided to make the group as a big BU inside joke," Reiss said.
For Reiss, and many other BU students, the CITGO sign acts as a sort of compass, directing them back toward campus when navigating through Allston or any of BU's other nearby neighborhoods.
"My friends and I see it as a landmark for BU's campus," Reiss said.
"Whenever we went out at night. . . we always walked back because the T stopped running. When we saw the CITGO sign after walking forever, we knew we were almost back to our dorms. It then became a funny "north star' type thing because we used it to find our way back home."
Walt Holohan, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, agreed.
"I feel bad for the new freshmen, because I probably wouldn't have found my way home without it in the beginning," Holohan said.
Like a star, students see its light as comforting, even beautiful &- despite the fact that it's essentially just an ad for an oil company.
"At first when I started living in Warren [Towers] I couldn't sleep because it would blink in my window at night," Holohan said.
"But the first time I went home I didn't want to fall asleep without it," he said. "It's a lovely nightlight."
Jonathan Greenbaum, a CAS sophomore, felt that the BU campus was lacking without its guiding light.
"It won't look the same around here until the sign goes back on," Greenbaum said.
Boston residents and others across the country have long felt this way about the sign. When CITGO planned to tear down the sign in the 1980s, fierce opposition rose up and led to its renovation. Because of the passion the sign has inspired, it was named an "Objet d'Heart" by Time Magazine.
While the lights may be down for now, it is expected to be bright later this fall &- just in time for the MLB playoffs.
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