2023 Memorial Day Issue

HISTORY
A Beacon in the Styx
by MARTY KANE
Photos courtesy
of the
LAKE HOPATCONG
HISTORICAL
MUSEUM
This spring I learned that, after a 21-year
run, Mario Ferra sold Pavinci Italian Grill
to three partners who already own two pubstyle
restaurants in Manhattan. Renovations
to the River Styx location are expected to be
completed shortly and include a new deck and
remodeled interior.
The new establishment will be known as
The Beacon and continues the evolution of
this location, which has been home to several
popular long-term businesses over many years.
River Styx Cove was sparsely developed
in 1906 when Martin Kjellman established a
houseboat as a refreshment stand. The August
11, 1906 edition of the Lake Hopatcong Breeze
reported that “the house boat [sic] on the
Styx is pictured on souvenir postcards. Martin
Kjellman, the Captain, does his utmost toward
keeping the Styx dwellers cool.”
A 1908 advertisement bills the houseboat
as “the most unique and popular place on the
lake for all kinds of refreshments, such as ice
cream, fancy biscuits, orangeade, soft drinks …
Cigars, tobacco and souvenir postals for sale.”
To convince boat owners that River Styx
Cove was not too shallow to navigate, early
ads for the houseboat noted “water deep
enough for launches.” Kjellman’s idea proved
successful, and his business grew.
The June 29, 1912 edition of the Breeze
reported that “the houseboat on the Styx is
no more. It has changed into something better
and more beautiful, as a butterfly comes forth
from its chrysalis. It is now the Pagoda, which
the dictionary informs us means a Hindu
temple. The Pagoda in the Styx is indeed a
temple of pleasure.”
The article further noted that “the structure
with its wide porches, white columns and
unique roof makes a pretty picture and is well
worth a visit in itself to say nothing of the dainty
refreshments served there for a consideration
by the busy hands of Mrs. Kjellman.”
While the Breeze reporter may have been a
bit confused about the architectural style of
the River Styx pagoda, one can imagine how
surprised visitors arriving for the 1912 season
were to see this new structure. How odd it
must have seemed to enjoy a refreshment
in this Asian-inspired building while looking
across River Styx at the imposing hotel Castle
Edward, built to resemble a European castle.
The early Pagoda offered useful items such
as film and postcards, along with Schrafft’s
chocolates and Viedt’s ice cream served on an
open-air porch.
The porch was enclosed, and an addition
was built during the 1920s and 1930s to create
a luncheonette and soda fountain. By 1940,
the Pagoda added a swimming dock, housed
the post office, offered bungalows for lease
and became a popular spot to rent boats
and canoes, while still maintaining the lunch
counter and soda fountain.
During this era, the Pagoda also housed
Goody’s Bike Station, where visitors could rent
bikes for 25 cents per hour or $1.50 per day.
Following World War II, the Pagoda added gas
pumps for boats and cars.
The Kjellmans sold the Pagoda in the late
1920s to the Osterblom family, who owned it
for nearly 40 years, until they sold to Lennie
Eisenstein in the mid-1960s.
Envisioning the business as a full-service
restaurant, Eisenstein built another addition,
which he called the Lobster Shack. Len E’s
Pagoda and Lobster Shack proved to be very
popular. When the church next door became
available, Eisenstein had even grander plans.
The first church services in the Borough of
Hopatcong were held during the
late 19th and early 20th centuries
by the Rev. T.A.K. Gessler at Tangle
Wild, his property in Davis Cove. After the
Hopatcong School (later Hudson Maxim
School) was built in River Styx in 1908, church
services were conducted in the one-room
schoolhouse. Locals noted that the borough
had a jail but no church.
On July 2, 1911, the cornerstone for the West
Side Church, the borough’s first church, was laid.
Gessler preached at the nondenominational
church until his death in 1925.
In 1949, following a vote of the congregation,
the church became the West Side United
Methodist Church. After a 1968 fire gutted the
inside of the church, the congregation decided
more space was needed. A new church was
built across River Styx Bridge on Maxim Drive,
opening in 1971.
The old West Side Church structure seemed
headed for the wrecking ball, but Lennie
Eisenstein had another idea.
Having doubled the size of the Pagoda,
Eisenstein bought the church building and
connected it to his existing establishment,
creating one large restaurant. Though unique,
the expansion proved to be a step too far.
Overextended financially, the restaurant was
forced to close.
The business reopened under new owners
as the Jolly Buccaneer in 1975 and, after being
sold again, became the Lighthouse in 1978. The
Lighthouse operated as a dinner theatre for a
year before latching onto the disco craze of
the late 1970s.
With its large dance floor and numerous bars
on multiple levels, The Lighthouse became
one of the most popular clubs in New Jersey,
drawing customers from a wide area. The
steeple of the church served as the Rock
Room, a unique venue for live bands.
Following the Lighthouse’s closure in the mid-
1980s, several other restaurants experienced
various degrees of success at the location.
During this period the unique remaining
portion of the old pagoda roof was covered.
(It remains under the existing roof, should a
future owner wish to revisit the establishment’s
original theme.)
With the turn of the century, the property
was split into three different businesses and
given fresh life by new owners led by Scott
Barber.
Johnny’s Marina, long run by the Salamone
family, offers boat slips, sales, repairs and a wide
variety of boating and fishing
supplies. In the former church
structure, Barber and his team
established the Barber Shop,
a state-of-the-art recording
studio. And in the restaurant
Far left: The Pagoda, circa 1912,
which replaced a houseboat,
circa 1908, that served
refreshments (immediate left).
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Memorial Day 2023