by Brookline resident Conan O. Briens’ very poetic depiction of the historic infrastructure was immortalized when a guerilla street sign appeared lately near Boston’s Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge.
According to the sign on the Bill Russell Bridge, this bridge resembles a ***** supported by wire, alluding to a particular area of the male anatomy.
A representative for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation stated that MassDOT was not responsible for the marker, thus it is unclear exactly who put it up and when.
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The spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday that the disputed sign was not installed as part of the North Washington Street renovation and is not a part of any DOT projects. The sign was taken down yesterday after MassDOT sent resources to the site to remove it.
The representative forwarded inquiries concerning the sign’s origins to local law enforcement and was unable to provide any additional information regarding its post-removal destiny. For more details, Boston.com has been in touch with the Boston Police Department.
The Boston Globe was the first to report on the sign’s appearance. Earlier this week, the rather official-looking symbol attracted attention on Reddit’s r/boston site, leading one user to comment, “Stay classy, Boston.”
Another Redditor said, “We already have the Bunker Hill Monument, so we don’t need any more Phallic Obelisks.” Last week, a picture of the placard was posted to a subreddit with a Conan theme.
In May 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, O Brien was recording remotely when he created his artistic depiction of the Zakim Bridge. A request for comment on Thursday was not immediately answered by O Brien’s Team Coco.
O Brien can be seen in the 2020 video sporting a graphic T-shirt with the Zakim Bridge silhouette from the local clothing brand Sully’s Brand. He continues, nevertheless, by saying that the bridge, which was finished in 2003, is very different from his early years in Greater Boston.
Before providing the shrewd criticism found on the unapproved sign, O Brien noted that this is a new bridge. He used the term “very phallic” to emphasize his argument about the bridge’s architectural features.
Do you wish to bring back memories of my early years? Create a shirt that depicts my dad removing a hot dog from my grasp after Jim Rice knocked down a fly ball, he added.
Sully rose to the occasion and hired Michael Horvath, a caricaturist, to illustrate O Brien’s (clearly fictitious) hot dog accident. The Zakim Bridge T-shirt that started it all is still available at Sully’s, even though the illegal sign on the Bill Russell Bridge has since been removed.
Abby Patkin covers a wide range of topics as a general assignment news reporter, including crime, public transportation, health, and everything in between. She has been reporting on the murder case of Karen Read.
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