By MIKE CAPUTO
"Don't sell the club - we love it here," said one. "How much does it cost? I'll buy it."
Sands owner Stuart Yachnowitz could only grin as he told that story inside his Atlantic Beach catering office late last week. "It's another generation of kids growing up in the beach club era," he said.
Three days earlier, a high-profile development group had put an end to its plan to transform the beach club into a high-end condominium complex. Uncertain about his own future with the family-owned beach club and catering hall, Yachnowitz was sure about only one thing. "If I do sell," he said, "it will be to someone to continue the catering hall and beach club."
Fifteen months after filing its application with the Town of Hempstead, the Deb Steve Development Group, led by former U.S. Sen. Al D'Amato, announced on July 29 that it would pull its request to rezone the Sands property from marine recreational to multiple-dwelling. In order to break ground on at least 100 high-end condos on the property, in Atlantic Beach Estates, the developers needed the rezoning authorization from the Hempstead town board.
Atlantic Beach community leaders and elected officials urged town officials to preserve the marine recreational zone, which was established in 1987 to protect the beachfront from residential and commercial developments. As recently as July 18, community activists Raina and Ralph Russo of Atlantic Beach Estates sent a letter to Hempstead officials, voicing concern about the proposed development and its unfavorable location within a high-risk coastal flood zone on preliminary flood maps that were recently redrawn by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Gary Lewi, a spokesman for D'Amato, said the group was not surprised by the revised flood maps. It was the community's fervent opposition to the condos, not the flood maps, that led to Deb Steve's decision to withdraw its application, Lewi explained.
"There [comes] a point where you ask the question, Can you reach a consensus with the community?" Lewi said. "The answer is no.
"It's clear the answer is no, and it was no yesterday, it is no today and it will be no tomorrow," he added. "So at what point do you say, OK, without a consensus, this can't go forward? It becomes obvious."
Raina Russo, who tracked the project's progress almost from the day the application was filed in May 2007, was pleased with the result. "As a concerned resident, I am thrilled to see the nature of the land, the safety of our residents and the lifestyle of our beach front community has been saved," Russo said.
Despite the strong community opposition, Lewi appeared optimistic that a future buyer would transform the beach club into what he described as its "next phase." "Somebody else will ultimately do something with the site," he said. "It will be the next person's vision."
A beach club legacy
When Joseph and Ruth Yachnowitz purchased the Sands at Lido Beach in 1961, the family's experience was in the catering business, not beach clubs. But the Sands quickly expanded to Atlantic Beach, taking over the Elks Lodge property, which burned down later that year.
Both sites thrived as beach clubs and catering halls, with their nightclubs featuring headline acts like Sammy Davis Jr. and house bands led by performers like Tito Puente. "People utilized the entire facilities back then - dinner, showtime, nighttime," said Stuart Yachnowitz, Joseph and Ruth's son.
As a generation of beach club members changed, so did the clubs' ownership. When the younger Yachnowitz took over at the Sands, he understood their importance to their members. "People that belong to beach clubs love it," he said. "They can't wait for that bill to come, because that means summer is coming."
That made it even harder for Stuart Yachnowitz to sell the property to the Deb Steve group. "I realized how much it means to these people," he said. "I started thinking about it: They love it, it's their life, do I take it away?"
But after the death of his father in 2006, and with his mother stricken by illness and currently hospitalized, operating the beach club became more of a chore for the second-generation owner than a passion. "After the passing of my father and with my mother ill, it took my heart out of it," Yachnowitz said.
For now, he still owns both the Atlantic Beach property and the catering hall in Lido Beach. As the clubs near their 50th year, they remain in good condition, and there is still a waiting list for cabanas as members and guests continue to pack the club throughout the summer months.
But to Yachnowitz, who remembers sneaking into late-night shows at the clubs as a 13-year-old, things have not changed much. "I don't see the beach club operation changing," he said.
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 201.
