The South Boston waterfront will soon lose Anthony's Pier 4.

The business has played host to generations of Brahmins, Beacon Hill powerbrokers, and old-school celebrities, like Julia Child (right).

Anthony’s national profile was dramatically enhanced in 1964 when Elizabeth Taylor (left) and Richard Burton dined there.

Business has not been what it used be, however, and the restaurant will close in August.

"Our father had a vision of this whole area and look what’s come true around us," said Michael Athanas of the restaurant's founder, Anthony Athanas (right).

The neighborhood around Anthony's Pier 4 was a wasteland of rotting piers and dirt lots when the restaurant opened in 1963.

With its incomparable water views, impressive wine list, and a menu stocked with local seafood, Anthony's restaurant became a phenomenon.

Now, the restaurant is a vestige of another era, one that seems less and less relevant.

The Athanas brothers – Paul (from left), Anthony Jr., Robert, and Michael – say there's a possibility they will reopen a smaller version of Pier 4.

Meanwhile, longtime customers will soon be left with only the memories of the storied original.

"I really don't know what we're going to do," said longtime customer Richard Sweeney. "I asked my wife to marry me there in 1974, and we've been going ever since."