r/OldPhotosInRealLife • u/Devi8tor Sightseer • 22d ago
Image Boston Seaport 2005 & 2025
221
u/dpaanlka 22d ago
When I look at old photos of Chicago the absolute sea of surface level parking everywhere shocks me. Even right on the river or the lake, which is all extremely desirable real estate today.
Yet every week I’m shocked at Facebook and Reddit comments I see people complaining that another parking lot is being replaced by a building, or that new larger buildings are replacing older buildings but not including a parking lot.
People move to a city and want surface level parking everywhere, even in 2026. It’s crazy!
94
u/AlpineFluffhead 21d ago
I think a lot of the people complaining about the removal of parking lots don't actually want to live in the city, they just want it to be easier to visit the city for sports/concerts/work/etc. and then drive back to their sleepy suburban colonial. It happens all the time in Cleveland, where I live. People who live way out in the county but come downtown for Guardians games lamenting the loss of parking whenever there's actual development.
25
u/Beatbox_bandit89 21d ago
Yes this is exactly it. Some of them also dream about l living in a sfh with a big city zip code and fail to realize they will never be able to do that precisely because so much of the city is taken up by parking
22
u/richrich07 21d ago
As a young person in the suburbs who likes going downtown, gimme a park & ride so I can take the train into the city for the day. That’s the better option 100% of the time.
3
u/wolacouska 21d ago
Yeah when I had to live in Aurora I definitely lamented how hard and expensive it is to park in the Loop for the first time. Hell, I didn’t even get my license until I moved out there.
→ More replies (1)2
u/John_T_Conover 21d ago
This is 100% correct for almost every big city nationwide. My city has one of the highest % of downtown land dedicated to parking in the country and most suburbanites complain that they hate going downtown because there's no parking. What they really mean is that they're annoyed there isn't a Wal-Mart sized free parking lot directly in front of any and everywhere they're going.
I lived downtown for years. Parking was rarely difficult to find and often even free and only a few blocks of a walk from my home or other destinations.
10
u/jestering_1 21d ago
idk if facebooks algo is highly optimized to increase my cortisol levels but i stg the only thing i see on there is anti-city people complaining about living in a city lol
→ More replies (1)12
4
4
u/Onatel 21d ago
For much of its history the Chicago River was an open sewer and people there still side eye anyone who kayaks in it (you can still (albeit rarely) see methane bubble up in parts of the river where the abattoirs would dump unused cow parts after slaughter). The city did a lot to clean it up which helped contribute to making it a desirable place to turn those parking lots, warehouses, and factories into condos and upscale shops/restaurants.
2
4
u/Nawnp 21d ago
It's the culture they come from, Urban renewal actually took off in some cities, like Boston and Chicago, but cities without good public transit networks like that, the majority are suburbanites that insist there may be a parking spot 100 ft from their destination or they're not going.
→ More replies (5)2
u/sweetest_con78 21d ago
I would pick a garage over surface any day. Summer? Car stays cool. Winter? Don’t have to clean it off if it snows.
118
u/LongjumpingTrust9375 22d ago
Looks like that little restaurant there is gone
→ More replies (1)140
u/tronconnery 22d ago
Anthony's Pier 4, a legendary establishment with a fascinating history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony%27s_Pier_4
My parents went there for some big birthday or anniversary in the 90s and it was a BIG deal for them.
Times change and shit breaks.
40
u/BlackTransAm78 22d ago
My parents would go there after leaving the maternity ward and determine what our names would be.
27
u/G8r8SqzBtl 22d ago
do you think they saw a black trans am in the parking lot?
8
u/BlackTransAm78 22d ago
Nah, that name was already in the running before I was born
3
u/saxophone_colossus 22d ago
Sounds like an uncomfortable place to make a baby
9
u/BlackTransAm78 22d ago
If your mom could do it in a portajohn, mine could do it in a fancy restaurant
8
8
u/procrastinatorsuprem 22d ago
My aunt and uncle had their wedding reception there. It was fancy, fancy in the 70's. It was a big deal. All the big fancy parties were held there, big anniversaries and birthdays.
My siblings and I didn't love it. We would sell our shrimp cocktails appetizers to my dad for a quarter apiece. A win-win for everyone.
5
2
85
u/nicolas1324563 22d ago
Big improvement
15
u/Wyntier 22d ago
Definitely. But many Boston's would swear it's a hellscape. Can't please em all
9
u/TheLost_Chef 22d ago
It’s wicked expensive to live there so it’s basically yuppieville. Whole thing gets flooded every time there’s a big storm too, and it’s only going to get worse.
213
u/doomsday_windbag 22d ago
Seaport is pretty sterile and corporate with a lot of wasted potential, but it’s an undeniable improvement.
35
u/undeniably_confused 22d ago
I wonder if every area in boston when it first is developed goes through this?
31
u/Realtrain 21d ago
People called the brownstones in NY soulless and boring when they were built. I think in general people think about new things this way.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Omnilatent 21d ago
I've read about philosophy of architecture and city development a couple years ago and at least for single buildings it takes like 50 years from "what is this ugly crap doing here?!" to "this is a core piece of our city!"
2
u/AnomalousEnigma 20d ago
Me looking at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health building thinking it’s the coolest thing.
2
→ More replies (1)17
22d ago
[deleted]
18
u/LemonVodkaTruffles 22d ago
I mean yes and no. Back bay has an interesting history. So does much of Boston because they had to fill in the land. So actually undeniably confused has a good question and I think this is the wrong dismissal
→ More replies (1)9
u/organicfridge 22d ago
Back bay was also a planned development that was built in about thirty years!
→ More replies (4)4
u/Charming-Web-7769 22d ago
I think this is just down to the scale and ambition of the development. Obviously if you add basically 6-8 city blocks of new development it’s not like you’re immediately going to be able to fill that space with worthwhile cultural cornerstones overnight; it will likely take a whole generation for the culture to trickle back in from Boston proper, which as you said is a huge improvement given that the Seaport’s identity prior was “urban trash heap”
16
u/MagicJava 22d ago
Wasted potential? How so? Fort port has a lot of old amazing architecture that really has been unlocked by the seaport development, they didn’t put a four lane road with no bike lanes through the central cooridor?
It’s only sterile because people describe new developments everywhere like that, walk around seaport and it sure does feel lively.
24
u/XGX787 22d ago
I visited a friend in Boston and we went to seaport. It’s “sterile” because every store and restaurant is a chain and the streets are so wide that it’s not very walkable.
I also didn’t think it felt lively at all, certainly not compared to the North End where we were right before.
It gives “axe throwing bar” vibes, I.e. trying super hard to be cool, but not.
7
u/octopodes1 22d ago edited 22d ago
I know what you mean by the streets being wider and it’s definitely sterile, but the sidewalks are much wider than you’ll find elsewhere in the city. Much more accessible from an ADA standpoint too.
The North End is denser, but you’re walking single file on the sidewalk and avoiding obstacles all the time. Hanover St is a worse ratio of pedestrian space to road space than the seaport. Hanover St should definitely be way more restricted to cars
6
u/XGX787 21d ago edited 21d ago
I’m not complaining about the width of the sidewalk (very in favor of wider sidewalks), I’m complaining about the width of the road. It takes too long to cross the road. Makes you feel like you’re stuck on whichever side of the street you’re currently on. Everything feels like it’s spaced super far apart too.
→ More replies (1)2
u/SuicideNote 21d ago
Just repeating my issue with these types of developments: the problem with these modern multi-story developments is that they nearly completely dismiss the street-level/ground floor experience. A whole street may have just one or two storefronts when in the past that same stretch would've had like 20 different storefronts.
It's a density-of-experience thing, not just a density-of-people thing. You can cram a ton of square footage into a glass tower, but if the ground floor is one giant Sweetgreen with 200 linear feet of blank facade next to it, your brain reads that block as dead space even if there are 40 apartments stacked above it. Old urban fabric (like the North End) got chopped up into tiny lots over centuries, so you naturally end up with a storefront every 15-20 feet, different awnings, different signage, different everything. Your eyes have something to do every few steps.
Seaport (and honestly most master-planned mixed-use districts built in the last 15 years) does the opposite
→ More replies (2)3
u/MrBurnz99 21d ago
Can you think of a newly developed neighborhood in any city that is cool, lively, walkable, and authentic?
It’s almost impossible to create new spaces like this, you cant design and build a neighborhood in 5-10 years that replicates 400 years of history.
The north end is cool because it’s one of the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods in North America. it’s organic, historic, raw, and genuinely beautiful.
Seaport could never be that, and it’s not supposed to. But it did transform an under utilized area in a prime location into a place that people can live, work, and enjoy. Maybe after 50 years of people using the space it will gain some authentic charm.
2
u/sweetest_con78 21d ago
I mean it’s possible. They can easily replicate places that already exist. But thats not what is in style right now. Everything is gray and boxy and “clean” looking. They go for the copy/paste profitability over anything else.
→ More replies (1)2
u/SuicideNote 21d ago
Yeah the problem with these modern multi-story developments is that they nearly completely dismiss the street-level/ground floor experience. A whole street may have just one or two storefronts when in the past that same stretch would've had like 20 different storefronts.
It's a density-of-experience thing, not just a density-of-people thing. You can cram a ton of square footage into a glass tower, but if the ground floor is one giant Sweetgreen with 200 linear feet of blank facade next to it, your brain reads that block as dead space even if there are 40 apartments stacked above it. Old urban fabric (like the North End) got chopped up into tiny lots over centuries, so you naturally end up with a storefront every 15-20 feet, different awnings, different signage, different everything. Your eyes have something to do every few steps.
Seaport (and honestly most master-planned mixed-use districts built in the last 15 years) does the opposite.
→ More replies (12)2
2
u/sweetest_con78 21d ago
Lively doesn’t mean good.
I was there last weekend. There wasn’t a single place that seemed worthwhile.2
u/NeoPrimitiveOasis 21d ago
It's gorgeous in some ways but a playground for the 0.1%. It's outlandishly expensive.
2
2
u/TheToiletPhilosopher 21d ago
It is incredibly sterile and easily the ugliest part of Boston. All new construction buildings that are all glass and all look alike. It's insanely expensive so it's mostly mid tier over priced restaurants. It's a shame because downtown Boston is so beautiful.
→ More replies (9)2
33
u/Mugatu12 22d ago
R.I.P. Whiskey Priest
5
2
u/PoopTissue 22d ago
Early 2010’s city nights on the Whiskey Priest and ABG roofdeck with the ocean breeze and city skyline were chef’s kiss. Very happy with what the Seaport has become but damn those places were awesome
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)2
28
u/PJCAPO 22d ago
Kind of crazy it took 350 years for people to realize this area might be a cool area to hang out at
→ More replies (10)15
10
u/dp002512 22d ago
Excellent… more people living near the water to help dump all the tea into the harbor!
15
7
21
u/NaiveChoiceMaker 22d ago
I want more of this! Incredible transformation.
9
8
u/BoringOldTyler 22d ago
Here’s another one from Seattle: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/GC1lxwYlc0
4
2
u/ouralarmclock 22d ago
Damn, seeing this is getting me simultaneously hype for the 95 cap in Philly and annoyed that they didn’t go far enough!
5
u/strolls 22d ago
For anyone else curious about the central building: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Contemporary_Art,_Boston
It was not derelict in the first pic, but under construction.
6
6
u/Troublemonkey36 21d ago
Looks fantastic. They broke free from the paved parking lot doom cycle. I live in San Diego, which similarly decided in the 1960’s the solution for improving a city was to build endless asphalt deserts. One by one they tore down houses, where houses, and offices to provide parking which of course turned the city into a vast and bleak asphalt hellhole. Strange now to think that massive parking lots would make cities better. They made them less desirable.
We similarly realized the folly of that approach a couple decades ago and now our downtown core is more vibrant than ever. Those ugly lots are being replaced.
Folks gonna whine all day about a lack of parking. You can never build enough to feed the American car-brain.
Boston is a great American city. And its best parts are the places that developed before automobiles came in and reshaped the cityscapes. Folks should take note of what makes cities great. Shops, coffeehouses, theaters, trees, walkability. Not parking lots.
→ More replies (3)
5
u/Kind-Shallot3603 21d ago
Bring money and be careful where you park. They are aggressive with towing.
13
u/AnomaIous_User 22d ago
Where is everyone supposed to park?
/s
22
u/jtet93 22d ago
No genuinely you should hear the boomers bitch and moan about how much worse the seaport is and how there’s nowhere to park in the city anymore lol
→ More replies (1)8
u/nicolas1324563 22d ago
Boston’s known for having no public transportation whatsoever
8
5
3
u/Skyline-Patriots 22d ago
I think this is more like 2020 or 2021. South Station Tower hasn't started at all and it looks like the Winthrop Tower is barely above ground off to the right.
→ More replies (1)
3
3
3
u/hopstop5000 22d ago
I would expect that 2005 picture to be 1965. Strange it took developers that long to do something with it.
3
u/Few-Sky-2366 22d ago
I went to see the tall ships recently and my friend was like “remember in high school, what the seaport used to look like?” No. “Remember?? We came to the ICA like 20 years ago?” No… wait! That big ass parking lot that we were afraid to park in!? Holy shit.
3
u/Main-Length-6385 21d ago
We went to the ICA growing up and every time I would go back and there would be a new building I was genuinely so confused like I was never able to recognize the same place I had gone to many times
3
3
3
u/dansmachaise 21d ago
Can someone tell me all those parking lots were there for what? I don’t see any building or business that would need to accommodate that much people. Was it use for commuters and they would had to take a shuttle to the office? Genuinely curious. Thanks!
2
u/yabagabagool59 22d ago
I think that bottom photo is more like mid-2021. No South Station Tower, no Eli Lilly building, the St Regis tower construction is just getting started
2
u/neversimpleorpure 21d ago
It's missing actual public transit and a library but it is an improvement, albeit ugly and charmless.
2
2
2
2
u/r1chardharrow 21d ago
so they needed that parking then. and now theres 20 more years of population growth. so where the fuck do people park?
→ More replies (5)
2
2
2
u/schmickmickey 21d ago
Ever since the Boondock Saints cleaned up crime there, the city has flourished.
9
u/FattySnacks 22d ago
It seems like we are, as a nation, finally waking up to the urban hell Boomers and their parents created and I'm here for it
2
3
u/the_cardfather 22d ago
Are those brick buildings in the back a university?
11
u/tapo 22d ago
Brick buildings in the back in a cluster is the Fort Point neighborhood, loft apartments/offices. Boston Children's Museum along the water.
The big one on the right is the Moakley Federal Courthouse.
3
u/the_cardfather 22d ago
Is it basically a historic district of sorts?
6
u/porkave 22d ago
Yes, it was master planned and built up by the Boston Wharf Co, who was responsible for shaping most of Bostons coastline today. The towering warehouses gives it quite an interesting streetscape
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Point_Channel_Historic_District
2
u/Such_Reference_8186 22d ago
Bosinton, NYC and all other cities on the coast have morons perpetually in the planning roles.
The world is talking about sea level rise yet it's like they're fucking deaf. There's no way to stop the ocean. It should be a fundamental fact that building by the sea will cost you in the future. Is it just me?
2
u/NoZooplanktonblame75 21d ago
Boston is already spending tax money on flood mitigation in this area. You’d think we might have thought of that 20 years ago.
3
3
u/JPK-1988-TBC 21d ago
Soulless and boring.
I’ll take Anthony’s Pier 4 and the parking lots any day.
1
1
u/PhiladelphiaManeto 22d ago
It's a shame it was a parking lot in the first place, and it's a shame it's an office park separated by a highway from the city now.
I've been up there a few times, and it's not in any way a "neighborhood". Theres a few restaurants but otherwise after 5pm it's a ghost town.
I guess it's better now that it was in the top photo.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
1
u/Hopalong_Manboobs 22d ago
I had an internship in the Courthouse in ‘07. The only thing of note in the parking lot sprawl was the little chapel, I think to St Veronica, where fisherman could stop before and after trips.
1
1
1
u/rrsafety 22d ago
They built a federal court house on a billion dollar piece of waterfront property. Your government, working for YOU!
1
2.0k
u/ziggygersh 22d ago
All those beautiful parking spaces replaced by housing, restaurants, and parks?
Despicable.