Fallout Shelter Sign Boston – Fallout Five Zero

Not a bus terminal, but close enough

Posted on November 28, 2020March 2, 2021 by Fallout Five Zero

In typical Hollywood fashion, one location can easily double for another, and a Fallout Shelter sign in the background does not care where it’s actually supposed to be.

This screenshot from Spenser: For Hire, Season 2, Episode 15 shows an exterior Fallout Shelter sign on the outside of 150 Causeway Street, which when this was filmed was the former Boston Garden. This arena was connected in some fashion with North Station, but neither had a bus terminal, so some artistic license was used in the shot.

This building was closed in 1995 and demolished in 1998, but it’s memory lives on in Boston sports legend and modern day streaming services.

Shelter: No More

Posted on August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 by Fallout Five Zero

This screenshot from the TV series Spenser: For Hire shows an exterior Fallout Shelter sign on the outside of a residential building at 96 Beacon Street in Boston. This shot came from Season 1, Episode 22 (“Hell Hath No Fury”) and was taken as Spenser (played by Robert Urich) turns from Beacon Street on to Arlington Street.

The building is still there today, but the sign is long gone.

The sign marks are still very prominent to the left of the entrance door. It is unknown when the sign was removed but it was well before the mid 1990s.

Spenser ran three seasons from 1985 to 1988 and was filmed almost entirely on location in Boston.

Footage from Spenser: For Hire owned by Warner Brothers Television

Exterior photos taken and owned by Fallout Five Zero

A man, a sign, and no train

Posted on August 16, 2020March 2, 2021 by Fallout Five Zero

An unidentified man is seen sitting under a Fallout Shelter sign at Boylston Street Station in this undated photo by contributor Richard Sullivan.

Boylston Street was one downtown subway station that had Civil Defense items, including water barrels, which are now dumped at the end of an abandoned tunnel.

Boylston Street was also connected by a passageway to the Little Building, located at Boylston and Tremont Streets, which was also marked as a shelter. The passageway no longer exists.

Photo taken and owned by Richard Sullivan. Special thanks to him for sending this and giving us permission to use it.

Love is in the air, refuge is underground

Posted on August 9, 2020March 2, 2021 by Fallout Five Zero

This photo in the Boston Globe, taken by Boston Globe staff photographer Ellis Herwig on March 18, 1970 shows a couple walking by (or perhaps parting ways) outside the entrance to Arlington Station on Arlington Street. While the majority of downtown stations were marked (and some stocked) as shelters, this is the first photo I’ve seen of signage on Arlington Station.

This entrance still exists today at the southwest corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets. The former tony jeweler Shreve, Crump, and Low was once across the street but moved to Newbury Street in 2012.

No caption was with the photo, but one wonders if they had different ideas of where to go.

© 2020 Fallout Five Zero

Image taken by Ellis Herwig on March 18, 1970 and owned by Boston Globe.

The Celtics In 7, The Shelter in 62 or 63

Posted on August 6, 2020August 9, 2020 by Fallout Five Zero

The above photo, submitted by our lead correspondent Tim, is an screenshot from the CBS Sports coverage of Game 5 of the Celtics-Lakers series of the 1984 NBA Finals. The game took place at the Boston Garden on June 7, 1984 and an interior Fallout Shelter sign can be seen on the upper wall behind the people entering the turnstiles.

The Boston Garden opened in 1928 and closed for good on September 28, 1995. It housed not only the Boston Celtics, but the Boston Bruins and was host to a variety of concerts and shows. I distinctly remember an exterior Fallout Shelter sign on the building facing Causeway Street, but could never find a picture to verify it. This picture shows it was in fact a shelter, although I’m not sure where the shelter area in the arena was.

If anyone has any information on the shelter inside the arena, or photos showing shelter signs, please send them along.

©️2020 Fallout Five Zero

Image from CBS Sports Coverage, June 7, 1984 and owned by Columbia Broadcasting System.

Special thanks to Lead Correspondent Tim for finding and submitting this screenshot.

Who Knew They Put Up Two in the Same Day

Posted on January 19, 2020January 19, 2020 by Fallout Five Zero

Up until recently, I only knew of one photo of Governor Volpe hanging a Fallout Shelter sign (the first in Massachusetts) at the Massachusetts State House on November 5, 1962.

However, the photo above, found on the National Archives catalog, shows Governor Volpe hanging a second sign on the front of the State House on the same date.

At it’s peak, the Massachusetts State House had at least 6 exterior signs and an unknown amount of interior signs. All exterior and interior signs, including the two the then Governor hung, have since been removed.

For more photo-op (as well as Average Joe) sign hanging photos, visit Bill Geerhart’s Conelrad Adjacent page.

-FFZ

Above photo owned by the National Archives and retrieved on January 19, 2020 at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75747687

In 1962, a bunch of signs were put up brand new

Posted on November 20, 2019December 3, 2019 by Fallout Five Zero

A recently discovered photo from the National Archive shows a Fallout Shelter sign being hung at the former Christopher Columbus High School in the North End (now residences) on December 3, 1962.

The photo description says this sign was being hung on the North Bennett Street side of the school, and it has since been removed. However, one sign remains facing Tileston Street

The two photos below, also from the National Archives, show interior signs hung at the same school and both photos were also dated December 3, 1962.

The first photo appears to go into a boiler room or storage area, while the second is in the cafeteria and lists a capacity of 200. All the interior signs are believed to be gone.

These signs were posted almost a month after the first sign was posted in Massachusetts at the State House.

First Interior photo retrieved from Archive.org on November 20, 2019

Second interior photo retrieved from Archive.org on December 3, 2019

Modern photos of former Columbus High School taken in November 2019 and property of Fallout Five Zero

When the Fallout Shelter sign becomes art

Posted on May 30, 2019June 4, 2019 by Fallout Five Zero

Since it’s introduction in 1961, the Fallout Shelter sign has appeared (sometimes purposely, many times inadvertently) in the background of movies and TV shows and many photographs.

This photograph, taken by photographer Peter Simon (petersimon.com) on February 26, 1968, is titled “Verandah Porche: portrait standing between stone columns, with fallout shelter sign” and was taken in Allston.

The capacity on the sign reads 60, and it is unknown where the picture was taken or if the sign still exists. However, this is one beautiful example of how the sign can be art, and not just an eyesore or inconvenient backdrop.

Photograph citation: Simon, Peter, 1947-. Verandah Porche: portrait standing between stone columns, with fallout shelter sign, February 26, 1968. Peter Simon Collection (PH 009). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

Special thanks to Ronni Simon for allowing use of this photograph. Peter Simon passed away in 2018, and may he Rest in Peace.

Special thanks also to Danielle of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Special Collections department for her assistance.

A sign in limbo

Posted on May 14, 2019December 15, 2019 by Fallout Five Zero

Boston’s Faneuil Hall, a gift from Peter Faneuil completed in 1742, has served as Boston’s meeting hall and is now a popular tourist attraction with shops on the first floor, and the large rotunda upstairs still used for events. As seen above, it is currently undergoing renovations, which started in 2018.

In the early 1960’s it was marked as a Fallout Shelter for 100 people.

One exterior sign facing Quincy Market was removed a few years ago, and this exterior sign facing the Congress Street side of the building is the only remaining one. Interior signs were also removed by the early 1990’s.

Due to the building being a popular tourist attraction, this is one the most photographed remaining Fallout Shelter signs in the city (based on Google and Flickr entries).

However, with the exterior work going on, it is unknown if the sign will remain up or be removed for good. Fallout Five Zero has reached out to the City of Boston’s Property Management division, who manages the building, to try to learn the fate of the sign but currently there has been no reply.

Stay tuned, as this sign might soon meet the fate of so many others in recent times…

© 2019 Fallout Five Zero

Photos taken on May 12, 2019 and property of Fallout Five Zero

UPDATE: The exterior work was completed in November 2019, and when the scaffolding was removed, the sign remained.