The Black Rose pub in Boston has brand new black rose for first time in nearly 50 years
BOSTON - The Black Rose pub in Boston has a brand new black rose. The new wood sculpture was installed outside the beloved Irish bar on State Street Wednesday.
Why was the black rose missing?
The rose has hung on that corner since 1976, but it's been missing for the last seven months and people started to notice.
"We didn't realize how much of a landmark it was. People are coming in (saying), 'We need to get our picture taken with the black rose," the pub's manager, Paul Wilson, told WBZ-TV.
He said the original rose was in such bad shape it essentially disintegrated and started to come off the building.
"If that thing could talk, I'm sure the stories it could tell would be something else. It was rotten, it fell apart," Wilson said.
He knew just the person to call - woodcarver Paul Kukstis.
"He used to work in the city, and he remembered seeing it when he worked here. He grabbed the opportunity to be able to replicate it and put a part of history back on State Street," Wilson said.
The new black rose
Kukstis had been carving the new 200-pound rose by hand in his Scituate Harbor workshop since March. He documented his progress on social media.
Kukstis recreated the new rose by observing bits of the original and some old pictures. The woodcarver added his own twist, with a pop of gold and dark green glitter.
"It's great to see a craftsman like Paul Kukstis be able to go and replicate something that was there, and I think it looks bigger and better than the one that was there for the previous 50 years," Wilson said.
The Black Rose pub gets its name from an old Irish poem called Róisín Dubh. Both English and Gaelic versions of the poem are displayed on the pub's walls and place mats.
"A lot of the staff is from Cork, Dublin. People are coming straight from Logan looking for a little Irish hospitality. They want to take that picture and send it back to their friends. We made it to the rose. It's one of those Boston traditions," Wilson said.
