The Real-Life ‘Cheers’ Bar Created a Boozy Memorial for George Wendt

It’s certainly not uncommon for fans to turn real-life landmarks into memorials for dead celebrities. Recently a shrine to David Lynch sprang up at his favorite Bob’s Big Boy location. Before that, Matthew Perry fans laid flowers outside of the Friends building. And when Robin Williams passed away in 2014, fans gathered at the Mrs. Doubtfire house, much to the annoyance of the 79-year-old man who lived there. 

As we mentioned yesterday, George Wendt, the man behind Cheers’ beloved barfly Norm Peterson, passed away at the age of 76. To honor his legacy, the actual Cheers bar turned Norm’s presumptive favorite stool into a makeshift memorial.

The Bull & Finch Pub in Boston famously “inspired” the creation of Cheers, and was used for the show’s exterior shots, hence why it was eventually rebranded as “Cheers Beacon Hill” in 2002. Although, this wasn’t because the bar was especially awesome, so much as it was because the show’s creators randomly picked it out of a phone book and secured the filming rights for just one dollar. 

While the interior of the bar doesn’t look exactly like the Cheers we know from TV, the closest approximation to where Norm would sit at the end of the bar was roped off following the news of Wendt’s passing. The Cheers owners also erected a photo of the late actor, set up a vase of flowers, lit a candle and poured one last pint of beer for pop-culture’s favorite functional alcoholic.

Fans in Boston flocked to the bar to pay their respects by toasting Wendt’s memory. “As soon as we heard the news, we had to be here,” one tourist from Fort Worth, Texas told The Boston Globe. “It was almost beautiful, because I’m in Boston and I have a chance to actually have a memorial for him — which you don’t usually get with your favorite stars,” one visitor from California told the paper. 

While most of Cheers was obviously filmed in Los Angeles, it should be said that Wendt did pound back a few beers at the Bull & Finch at least once, appearing alongside the rest of the cast during Jay Leno’s famously chaotic Cheers-themed Tonight Show episode, which was taped inside the bar and aired after the series finale. 

So Cheers Beacon Hill was really the only place where fans of the long-running sitcom could gather to remember George Wendt. At least since Wendt, John Ratzenberger and the Supreme Court put a stop to the Cheers-branded bars containing two nightmare fuel dead-eyed Norm and Cliff robots.