Sometimes, you just have to do things hafway - like at the Brewery in JP

A crane today lifted a metal frame with HAF on it to the top of what had been the FENREFFER smokestack at the Brewery complex for decades.

Local artist Robert Maloney had long been bothered by the missing three letters of the former brewery's owner, taken down - along with the portion of the smokestack they were on - 30 years ago as a safety measure.

Maloney eventually went to the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. with his idea for the frame with the missing letters so that JP would once again have the full HAFFENREFFER. And how could they say no to such a JP project - especially since they bought the old brewery and redeveloped it into the restaurant, performance and gym space it is today - along with being the headquarters of the Boston Beer Co.?

With funding from the George B. Henderson Foundation, Maloney's dream came true today. A formal dedication is set for February. In a statement, Maloney says:

Living 200 yards from the historic brewery for nearly 20 years, I wanted to create a solution to repair the signage as a way to honor the history of the building, while also transforming the structure, in a simple way, into the 21st century. A recurring theme in my work has been finding ways to represent the passage of time as it leaves its marks on the urban landscape. This project speaks to that intent, in my own neighborhood, just steps from my home.