Like the Domino Sugars sign, the Old Bay logo or the Oriole Bird, Mr. Boh has carved a spot in the pantheon of Baltimore icons.
The dapper, one-eyed mascot of National Bohemian beer smiles at the city from beer cans, T-shirts, tattoos — and a 27-foot-tall by 30-foot-wide sign atop the former National Brewing Co. complex in Brewers Hill. For 18 years, he winked at Baltimore, too.
When the Mr. Boh sign was installed in 2004 , the mascot’s eye was outlined in red neon and timed to wink every few seconds. The steady gesture became a soothing fixture on the Southeast Baltimore skyline.
So when the neon burned out and Boh stopped winking in 2022, Baltimoreans took note.
“I was getting messages about it all the time,” said Nitasha Chopra, who took over as brand manager for National Bohemian shortly after the sign burned out.
Next week, Mr. Boh will finally wink again. The eye-conic sign is set to be relit — this time by LED lights instead of neon — on Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
The return of the wink is the result of collaboration between the beer brand and Obrecht Commercial Real Estate, the building’s landlord. The complex, where National Bohemian was brewed until 1978, has since been converted to office space.