I don’t know how many times visitors to the Portsmouth area have asked IndepthNH.org’s Roger Wood, “Hey, where’s Yoken’s? The Thar She Blows sign is there, but the restaurant’s gone.”
I explain to them that the owners sold the property in 2004 when it was demolished. A supermarket chain planned to locate a store there, but that deal fell through.
Today, there’s a Rite Aid, A Newburyport Bank branch and a Five Guys Hamburger restaurant at the Route 1 location.
It’s the Yoken’s sign that continues to confuse people. And still they ask, eight months after the sign was locally restored and put back up as a piece of Portsmouth history.
Yes, Thar She Blows, the iconic sign that flashes neon at night, was returned in May to its old location. It was saved, in its deteriorating condition, and restored at Portsmouth Sign Company and put back up in May.
Roger spoke to Chip Lawry at the company headquarters in nearby Newington during the restoration work.