Pier into the future. - Video by John Wilcox , Article by Colneth Smiley Jr

Pier into the future
Historic preservation on menu at new Legal Harborside eatery
By Colneth Smiley Jr. (Boston Herald)
Sunday, April 24, 2011

The new Legal Sea Foods eatery standing in the place of the old Jimmy’s Harborside is paying homage to history with wood floors made from the pilings that stood under its predecessor for nearly a century.

“The floor literally held up Jimmy’s Harborside for 85 years and we hope it provides solid grounding for Legal Harborside for another 85,” said Roger Berkowitz, president and CEO of Legal Sea Foods. He said the wood could bring “good karma” to the new three-story restaurant that opened this month.

The floor was crafted by Antique Lumber Corp. in Chelsea. Owner Arnie Jarmak said the wood came from 45-foot-long pilings that were driven into the mud under the harbor.

When Jimmy’s was demolished, the piles were pulled from the water and sent to an Amish mill where they were cut into boards, air dried for at least four years, then kiln dried before being installed across the 2,000-square-foot floor of Legal Harborside.

“Boston Harbor is a really special place with an incredible sense of history,” said Jarmak, whose company also salvaged wood from the pier pilings of Bay State Lobster and the old Boston Tea Party museum for other projects.

“There’s so much history here and the old buildings are disappearing, so we go around and save what we can of the wood,” he said.
smiley@bostonherald.com