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When the Inlet Café in Highlands was being rebuilt this past winter, the goal was to recapture the character of the waterfront eatery which dates back to 1966.
Owners Robin and Doug Lentz said they wanted to preserve the restaurant’s original look and menu. They did, however, add one new design flourish: The walls of the restrooms are now adorned with a line of colored tile, marking the height of the Hurricane Sandy’s floodwater.
"The water was up to 59 inches," Robin Lentz said. "We wanted to put a blue line around the whole restaurant but that was a little crazy so we settled on putting a line in the bathrooms."
The Inlet Café is one of several Jersey Shore businesses that have reopened with lines marking the name and date of the storm. Water stains are being transformed into memorials, created with paint, tile and decorative molding, illustrating both the wrath of the hurricane and the massive task of rebuilding.
Up and down the coast, simple lines on walls or waves on doors tell the epic story of Sandy in a way that resonates with visitors. The Inlet’s bathrooms have become an unlikely tourist attraction where customers pose for pictures next to the water line, according to the Lentz’s.
"People who come here from other places don’t have a concept of what happened," said Doug Lentz, Robin’s brother. "The line is a little reminder."
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At Leggett’s Sand Bar in Manasquan, a local artist painted a line around the back entrance to the pub, which got hit with 40 inches of water and mud.
"When we were redoing everything, everyone kept looking in and asking, ‘How high was the water?’" manager Paul Wolf said. "I figured that we should just paint the back door so everybody could see it." The line has become a mini attraction. People take pictures with their phones at the water line and they post the pictures on Facebook. I had a guy come in a week before Memorial Day and ask, ‘Where’s this line everybody’s talking about?’"
Stephen DiPietro, owner of four restaurants on Long Beach Island, drew waves next to a window to mark the height of the water at the California Grill & Pizza in Beach Haven Terrace.
"It’s a reality check," said DiPietro’s wife, Jane. "Everything underneath the window had to be ripped out. My husband decided to draw choppy water with the date of the storm in black magic marker and when we cleaned the restaurant out, we decided not to paint over it." The words "Sandy Line" are painted over the high water mark on the patio doors of the Ocean Drive bar in Sea Isle City.
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"There was almost three-and-a-half feet of water in the place," co-owner Ralph Pasceri said. "So many people asked about flooding that my business partner, Mike decided to create a Sandy line. One of our employees and his girlfriend painted it."
People are finding inventive ways to note the storm.
Michael Parziale, co-owner of the Riverside Café in Manasquan, is planning to mark the water line with a collage of photos depicting the restaurant buried in sand. He said waves crashed through the doors and shattered the windows, depositing four feet of muck throughout the building. The brightly colored eatery will have a special spot near the front entrance marking that dark October day.
"It was an historic event," said Parziale. "We’re here 46 years and we’ve never had water. People didn’t think we were going to make it but we’re here. Almost every person that comes in has asked how bad was it so we’re going to mark the line and show pictures answering all their questions."
Chilangos Mexican restaurant in Highlands was destroyed by a six-foot surge of water. Owner Leo Cervantes lost everything except his food, which he packed away in coolers while the hurricane was churning up the coast. He said he brought the coolers to the emergency shelter at the Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands, where he and his crew took over the kitchen.
Cervantes is now putting the finishing touches on his revamped restaurant. The water lines have been power-washed away but he plans to paint a Sandy sign on the front window.
"I’m going to put up something like, ‘Sandy was here,’ with a little wave," said Cervantes. "People want to know and we’re willing to share the stories of what happened in this town."
Not everyone, however, wants to look back.
Some business owners said they are erasing water lines rather than immortalizing them. Brian McMullin, owner of Gracie & the Dudes ice cream parlor in Sea Bright, said the shop is reopening without any Sandy displays.
"This has been a nightmare," owner Brian McMullin said. "I’m not putting anything on the wall. I don’t want to remember this."
There are a couple of high water marks at Keansburg Amusement Park but they are not in public areas and owner Bill Gehlhaus said there are no plans for a storm memorial.
A banner near the front of the park reads, "Sandy ... Shmandy. We are coming back."
"We’re not dwelling on Sandy," Gehlhaus said. "This was a disaster and we don’t dwell on disasters. This is a place to have fun and escape your reality. In this business, you don’t dwell on the past."
A thumbtack is pinned to the wall of the Wood Agency realty office in Manasquan. The tack measures precisely 4 feet, 11 inches up, marking the height of the water that destroyed the original building. The agents worked out of a trailer during the winter while a new office was under construction. Realtor Bob Wood said that he is going to paint a blue line with the date of the storm behind one of the desks.
"A lot of people say we shouldn’t put the line up because we sell houses and when they see a water line, it might be bad for business but everybody knows that the Shore was flooded out," Wood said. "We’ve been in business for 60 years and we’ve never seen anything like it. It’s history."