The Boston pub that inspired the fictional bar in the NBC sitcom, Cheers, is actually a real neighborhood institution that has been serving its Beacon Hill environs for over 45 years.

Established in 1969 by Thomas A. Kershaw, the bar where everybody knows your name was originally the Bull & Finch Pub, named after Boston-born architect Charles Bulfinch, who designed the U.S. Capitol as well as the Massachusetts State House (along with many other buildings).

Cheers is located in the basement of the brick and granite Hampshire House, built in 1910 by society architect Ogden Codman. (Also owned by Kershaw, the Georgian Revival townhouse currently functions as a high-end event hall.) Located directly across from Boston Public Garden, the pub served as the establishing shot throughout the show’s eleven seasons on air (from 1982-1993).