Anthony's Pier 4
Anthony's Pier 4 was a restaurant on the South Boston waterfront opened in 1963 by restaurateur Anthony Athanas. In the 1980s it was one of the highest-grossing restaurants in the United States. It closed in 2013 and the site was scheduled for redevelopment.
| Anthony's Pier 4 | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1963 |
| Closed | 2013 |
| Previous owner(s) | Anthony Athanas |
| City | Boston |
| State | Massachusetts |
| Country | U.S. |
| Coordinates | 42.351°N 71.044°W |
History
Restaurateur Anthony Athanas opened Anthony's Pier 4 in 1963, and lived in an apartment above it. It served traditional American food with an emphasis on locally caught seafood; the dining room, with seating for 500, overlooked Boston Harbor on three sides.[1][2] In 1968, Athanas bought a 1927 former Hudson River cruise ship, the SS Peter Stuyvesant, and brought it from New York to Boston, where a specially built concrete and steel cradle held it in place adjacent to the restaurant; it served as a private bar and dining room and held a wine cellar as well as art works and mementoes collected by Athanas. The ship broke free, turned turtle, and sank during the Blizzard of February 1978; after unsuccessful efforts to salvage it, in 1979 all but the hull was removed.[3][4]
The restaurant shot to prominence when Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton ate there in 1964 while Richard Burton's Hamlet was at the Shubert Theatre.[2] It was a prominent restaurant throughout its first two decades, attracting both out-of-town celebrities and Boston politicians.[1][5] By the early 1980s, it was grossing about $12 million annually, making it one of the five highest-grossing restaurants in the United States.[1][5][6]
Athanas died in 2005;[1][7] the restaurant closed in 2013.[2][5] A condominium tower was erected on the site of the parking lot,[5] and in 2016–17 the restaurant building was demolished and the remains of the Stuyvesant were dredged up for scrap in early 2017.[3] A multi-use complex on the site including offices and condominiums opened in 2018.[8][9]
Winter Hill Gang murders
In 1982, Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue were murdered in the restaurant's parking lot by Whitey Bulger and another associate of the Winter Hill Gang.[10] In 2014, Anthony's Pier 4 having closed, this murder was recreated at the Porthole in Lynn, Massachusetts for the 2015 film Black Mass.[11]
References
- Driscoll, Edgar; Levenson, Michael (May 23, 2005). "Boston's iconic restaurateur Anthony Athanas dies". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- Shanahan, Mark (July 6, 2013). "Anthony's Pier 4 will close for good in August". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 9, 2013.
- Baker, Billy (February 22, 2017). "SS Stuyvesant, a casualty of the Blizzard of '78, leaves its watery grave". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017.
- Clancy, Dave (2001). "Peter Stuyvesant". Hunting New England Shipwrecks. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- Logan, Tim (March 29, 2016). "Anthony's Pier 4 will fall to wrecking ball". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
- Taylor, David (September 17, 2007). "Anthony's Pier 4, the long-standing temple to perfectly cooked seafood, remains Boston's freshest catch". Forbes. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
- Arnett, Alison (May 21, 2005). "Anthony Athanas, Boston's iconic restaurateur, dies". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
- "Tishman Speyer sells Pier 4 to CommonWealth Partners for $450 million - designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects". New England Real Estate Journal. September 7, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- Acitelli, Tom (June 13, 2017). "Pier 4 condos in Boston's Seaport: Here are the latest renderings". Curbed Boston. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- Murphy, Shelley; Valencia, Milton J. (July 8, 2013). "Bulger's former protégé Weeks recounts tutelage". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
- "Porthole stages murder scene for Bulger film". Item Live. June 3, 2014. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.