Old Stove Pub Sign Will Have To Comply With Code

The Old Stove Pub has been the Brigadoon of the restaurant industry on the South Fork for a decade now. At times it has been open for business on an intermittently unorthodox schedule, only to then vanish into the darkness off Montauk Highway in Sagaponack, seemingly 
unannounced, for weeks, months or even years—only to suddenly reemerge again for a new stint.

During much of this time, as owner Coula Johnides tried to find a new partnership to take over the restaurant, the only hint that longtime fans of the char-grilled steaks and classic Greek cuisine have had that the famous steak broiler is roaring again has been the sudden re-illumination of the neon red arrow that tops the restaurant’s roadside sign. The glowing arrow, above a white backlit sign with the restaurant name, points to the former Victorian-style home that might otherwise never be taken for a restaurant, sitting several hundred feet back on the largely unlit property.

The arrow burst back to life earlier this fall when a new consortium took up management of the restaurant as it tries to work out a deal to buy the property from Ms. Johnides. But its beacon may be short-lived.

A Sagaponack Village law modeled after a similar townwide amortization law requires that any commercial signs that do not conform with the town’s sign codes—Southampton Town banned the use of neon lighting in the 1980s—must be removed or brought into compliance by January 1, 2013.

Unlike the restaurant’s grandfathered zoning designation as a commercial business in an otherwise residential area, the Old Stove Pub’s sign will not be spared from the rule simply because it existed before the law was written. However, according to Village Clerk Rhodi Winchell, the owners of the building can apply to the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance to allow the sign to remain.

Ms. Winchell said she is sending out letters this week to the owners of all non-conforming commercial signs in the tiny village, informing them of the closing amortization window and of the appeals process.

To be sure, the sign will have its fans and detractors among residents and within village government. On Tuesday evening, members of the Village Board voiced both sides of the argument.

“I think it should stay,” said Trustee Lee Foster.

“Well, I don’t,” Mayor Donald Louchheim countered. “Neon has been outlawed for close to 30 years.”

Ms. Foster alluded to the sign’s iconic place in Sagaponack history, even if its kitschy glow is out of place in the pastoral setting of the surrounding farm fields and palatial mansions of Sagaponack.

“I really think that is one of the last ... ” Ms. Foster said, her thought trailing off mid-sentence before summing up: “Let’s just leave it there.”