Restaurants aren’t just places to eat; they’re also a reflection of their times. So when venerable Boston institutions shift locations, as Anthony’s Pier 4 is expected to do eventually, or shut down altogether, as Locke-Ober abruptly did Saturday, changes are afoot in the city — ones that go well beyond a shift in consumer tastes from deep-fried Dover sole to sashimi.
As the Seaport District booms, a famous family-run restaurant on a previously underused waterfront has become a prime redevelopment opportunity. As the Globe recently reported, construction will begin next month on a mixed-use complex in the area where Anthony’s Pier 4 now stands. Within a few years the restaurant will have to move, presumably somewhere else in the Seaport area. This will require some adjustment, both for the restaurant and its customers, but it’s also a sign of a neighborhood reinventing itself as dingy memories of the Central Artery and a filthy Boston Harbor finally disappear.
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While Boston may have a reputation for clinging to tradition, it is largely a myth. The city has changed and evolved continuously, throughout its history to remain viable and relevant. Education, medicine, and technology have all been shaped by major innovations that originated, and continue to originate from here. But this should not suprise us, after all, it was some folks from Boston who instigated an uprising called the American Revolution that has national repercussions to this very day.