Hilltop Steak House neon cactus sign

Saugus, Massachusetts, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A 68-foot cactus sign on Route 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts, the survivor of the Hilltop Steak House, which closed in 2013 and was demolished in 2015. Restored in 2018 with LED lighting, it is part of the Avalon Saugus development.

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Hilltop Steak House neon cactus sign

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Approximate location · 42.465° N, 71.010° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

The Hilltop Steak House on Route 1 in Saugus, Massachusetts, is gone, but its 68-foot green cactus sign still stands. Boston.com wrote in May 2026 that it "still presides over Route 1".

The Hilltop opened in 1961. A 1987 Boston Globe article, quoted by Boston.com, cited a trade-magazine estimate that it did more business in 1986 than any single restaurant in the country, with $26.9 million in sales (Hilltop managers would not confirm the figure) and 1,400 seats. Customers queued around the building, and life-size fiberglass cows grazed the front lawn. The restaurant closed in 2013 and was demolished in 2015, but the sign survived and was kept by AvalonBay Communities, the developer of the mixed-use Avalon Saugus, which includes 24,000 square feet of retail and 280 apartments.

Sources differ on the sign's age. AvalonBay's Michael Roberts told the Boston Globe in 2018 that it was built in 1967; Boston.com that year cited original plans drawn in 1966 by Mack Sign Inc. of Everett; Boston Magazine gave circa 1961. Heights are consistently given as 68 feet, though the sign contractor described it as almost 70 feet.

In 2018 Barlo Signs International of Hudson, New Hampshire, restored the cactus piece by piece. They found it structurally sound, removed about 2,500 feet of neon tubing and 210 feet of fluorescent lamps, and replaced them with 2,925 feet of LED modules, which the company said cut the draw from 21,600 watts to 5,160. The "Hilltop" name was to stay, with the lower panel carrying the Avalon name instead of the founder's.

The cactus stands within a private development, so see it from the public road.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A roadside landmark seen from Route 1 in Saugus. It stands within the private Avalon Saugus mixed-use development with shops and apartments, and was restored with LED lighting in 2018.

ACCESS

Visible from Route 1 in Saugus. The cactus stands within the private Avalon Saugus development, so view it from the public road.

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Orange Dinosaur

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