Demolition of Anthony's Pier 4 Could Come Any Day Now

Boston bids farewell to a piece of history this week as the city prepares to tear down the iconic Anthony's Pier 4, which once attracted the likes of celebrities and politicians for many years. The now-shuttered restaurant could be torn down any day now to make way for condos and an office building, according to The Boston Globe.

Since 1963, Anthony's Pier 4 at 140 Northern Ave. served as a gathering point for locals to enjoy the waterfront. It closed in 2013 ahead of the planned development project. Its founder, Anthony Athanas, was an Albanian immigrant who built the restaurant into one of the most successful in the country in the 1980s, when it served about 700,000 meals and brought in around $12 million each year, as previously reported.

Its menu featured classic New England items like clam chowder, lobster Newburg, and filet of sole, and the faces that flocked to Anthony's included Alfred Hitchcock, Bobby Orr, Peggy Fleming, and Elizabeth Taylor, among many others.

Athanas' family took over the restaurant after his death, and his four sons still operate a handful of restaurants in Massachusetts, including Hawthorne by the Sea Tavern and Anthony's Pier 4 Cafe in Swampscott and Anthony's Cummaquid Inn in Yarmouth. The space where Anthony's stands for just a few more days will be turned into a one-acre park as part of the development.