Peace Brings Change

The Allies entered Berlin, Hitler was dead and victory in Europe was followed by victory over Japan by August.

As the war approached an end, the soldiers started to leave the area. The war shifted fortunes and many businesses changed hands. The Coast Guard ended their occupation of the Tremont. Charles Wagner, who lived on The Terrace, took back the management of the hotel with his wife. The cost to refit the hotel would drive him to sell the property in less than three years. The Signal Corp held onto the Sea Girt Inn for one more season. Walter Brohn renovated and re-opened the Holly House as the Inn on Baltimore at 112 Baltimore Blvd.

Defense Department photos celebrate the end of war in Europe

Mrs. Nora Stubbs died in 1939, and her husband was at a loss without her. William lost the Warren Hotel in 1944 to the Cosgroves, and looked to get out of the Stockton. His nephew, A.M. Hopkins took over ownership of the 300-room hotel. He promised town leaders, his hotel would remain discriminatory as to who was permitted to make a reservation. Hotels, once a primary draw to summer resort communities, were not as attractive when raising young children in town.

The old Country Club House, Club Lido, was closed since losing their liquor licence for excess noise in 1938. After new owners tried several times to reacquire the license, it was sold to become a furniture store. Council agreed with the homeowners that there were too many liquor licenses in town, and they did not want to reinstate the club.

Lou Novello opened Lou’s Cottage Inn at the old Alice Clarkson location (Harrigans), While Lou’s continued Alice’s cheap eats, he focused more on the bar and entertainment. Leo Luft opened Leo’s Sea Girt Manor on Washington Blvd, where the Stockton Cottage was at 509 Washington after Charlie’s had been closed for gambling. Leo would have a longer tenure than the first four operators. He ran the place until 1967, with a fine dining menu as the focus.

Leo Luft slowly decorated the interior with images of famous guests dining in his restaurant.

The two Ventnor cottages, the original rooming house in Sea Girt, were sold off by the retirement of Airenda Devlin to separate owners. There was a 50-foot lot in between the two houses. They were reunited by the 1940 and 1944 purchases of Richard Westphal, and his wife Meta, both originally from Germany. Meta had been managing one of the cottages and Richard was a carpenter. They bought the second house and envisioned expanding the Beacon Blvd property to make one large house. He would call it the Beacon House (singular). Borough leaders had a problem. They had zoned for the existing rooming houses and hotels to continue, but the ordinance prevented expansion. They denied the Westphal’s application. Residential was the direction town leaders wanted.

The Beacon House had a pool between the two houses because town leaders denied its extension.

Richard fixed up the two homes, adjusting the interiors to update the 60-year-old buildings. The empty lot between the buildings was a pool and gardens. The family lived in the home, and operated successfully until the late 1970s. Ginny and Ernie Westphal took over the houses in 1980 and managed the properties until 1998 when they sold to the Ruiter family. Candy Kadamic raised her two children while operating the Beacon House until 2021, when the rooming houses finally came down for three houses on the property.