Longtime Arnold restaurant closes

The owner of Magothy Seafood Crab Deck and Tiki Bar, a popular neighborhood hangout for nearly 40 years, is seeking a new site for the business after closing up shop at an Arnold marina last month.

Donald Broglie said he closed the restaurant because it was "cheaper to pick up my stove" and move to a new spot instead of extending his lease at Ferry Point Marina.

Broglie said he wants to buy a piece of property in the area and set up the restaurant there.

"I won't miss the location as much as I'll miss my friends," said Broglie, who also is a waterman. "We were on a first-name basis with 60 percent of our customers."

John Kurtz, one of the marina's owners, said Magothy's lease was set to expire by the end of the year.

After consulting with restaurant experts, Kurtz said he and the other marina owners made what they viewed as a "fair and reasonable offer" to extend the lease and raise the restaurant's rent to a current market rate. But Broglie said he felt that amount was too high.

Broglie said he also offered to sell the restaurant to Kurtz and his business partners for $500,000. But Kurtz said the amount Broglie offered "was several times greater than its actual value" and that he and his business partners were interested in operating a restaurant at the marina under a lease - not operating it themselves.

Broglie said he is now looking at new areas to set up shop, but also worries that he will lose some of his customers because drunken driving rules are strict and locals won't want to travel as far to drink.

Kurtz said he has the "utmost respect" for the owners of Magothy Seafood. He said he expects to have a new restaurant operator at the marina by spring to serve the same customer base.

"It is going to be replaced in a similar way," Kurtz said. "It's an appealing restaurant on a waterfront site."

Magothy Seafood Crab Deck and Tiki Bar is one of a number of longtime local restaurants to close during the recession. Paul's on the South River will close the day after Christmas, and Northwoods in West Annapolis closed last year.

Originally founded as a carryout, Magothy Seafood used to supply some of the area's renowned restaurants, including the former Harbour House in Annapolis.

Once it established itself as a crab deck, customers gathered regularly under the blue-and-white tent of the tiki bar to drink beer, eat steamed crabs and enjoy sunsets.

In 2007, Kurtz, Al Towle and Cliff Silbiger bought the Ferry Point Marina.

"We all live in the community and we all kept our boats there," Kurtz said. "I think we've made some changes in staffing and I think we have a very capable group. People are enjoying it."

Kurtz said his group also took over the marina's boat service operation and improved it. "We're trying to run a good, service-oriented marina where people get service for reasonable prices," he said.

Jesse Harrahill, a retired Naval officer and patron of Magothy Seafood for 16 years, said he will miss the restaurant's Arnold location.

"It's the passing of an old friend," Harrahill said. "I've met some of the best friends and some of the strangest people there."

Broglie and his wife, Linda, ran a restaurant that served as a "community center" where people gathered during power outages or stayed warm and dry while tending to their boats during a storm.

Harrahill said he has fond memories, including watching Broglie's late yellow Lab, Lady, grow from a pup into old age. Neighborhood children worked at the restaurant, too, he said.

Harrahill also recalled famous Magothy Seafood characters like the late "Mr. Al," a World War II veteran who flew B-29 planes. There also was the late "Laughing Ed," who "was sort of the encyclopedia," he said. "You could always come to him with a question and he'd start with a laugh."

Harrahill said he still goes down to the former spot of Magothy Seafood to watch the sunset with a beer and a cigar.

"A number of people still pull up in cars and open their eyes wide at the fact that it's gone," he said.