[VIDEO] Sound View Prepares To Open For The Summer Season

In the days and hours before Memorial Day weekend, owners of Hartford Avenue's seasonal businesses down by Sound View Beach were working at a frantic pace to make sure everything was ready for the season. 

Seasonal businesses shuttered for the winter were being aired out, scrubbed down, and spruced up in time for Memorial Day Weekend. A few business owners who spend their winters in Florida, however, returned to Old Lyme to discover lingering damage from Superstorm Sandy.  

Dino DiNino, who owns about half a dozen buildings on Hartford Avenue in Sound View, including rental properties, the Cool Moose package and convenience store, the video arcade, said he had to remove insulation from one house and repair a window that was broken by flying shingles in another. His biggest headache, however, has been getting the Video Arcade up and running. 

Fun And Games 

When Paul Massore, owner of American Family Entertainment, decided to retire at the end of last season, it looked as if Sound View's video game arcade would be gone for good. But DiNino, who owns the building, decided that he didn't want to disappoint the many families for whom going to the arcade has been a nightly summer ritual for nearly three decades. 

DiNino has given the building a much needed facelift, with fresh coats of brightly colored paint. What he didn't realize, however, was just how much damage Sandy had done to the game machine consoles and the bill changer when the building flooded. 

DiNino said he's ordered new games but they won't arrive in time for this weekend. Still, he said, he has enough games in working order—including the ever popular Skee Ball—to open. 

"I wanted everything up and running," he said. "Instead we're going to be limping in, but we're going to be open for the kids."  

Giddy Up! Carousel Opens This Weekend

Jerry and Dee Vowles were dashing about preparing to open the Carousel and its adjoining beach store and ice cream shop for the first time on Friday. As Dee swept the floors and stocked the store shelves, Jerry was working on last minute repairs to the music system for the Carousel which, if everything goes well, will be open for weekend rides starting on Saturday night.

"Otherwise, we're ready to go!" said Dee.  

It's Time To Make The Donuts

"The Original Beach Donuts" will once again be for sale at Sound View at the Shoreline Community Center. Starting Memorial Day weekend, the center will be selling donuts from 7 a.m. until they're all gone. (To avoid disappointment, you can preorder them!) Through June, the store will only be open on Sundays. It will open for weekends June 29 until Labor Day Weekend.  

New Kid on the Block

While the donut shop may have limited opening hours, the brand new Waffle Bar is already up and cooking. Evan Rowe, 28, is the newest kid on the block, moving into the space that was occupied by a rarely-open hotdog and burger stand last summer. Rowe is offering freshly made European waffles with all homemade toppings and fruit smoothies. 

Drinks With Umbrellas

The two local watering holes, The Pavilion and Lenny's On The Beach have been open for a few weeks already but they're gearing up for the big summer crowds. On Friday, Lenny Corto was putting the palm roof on the outdoor Tiki bar and hoping that the umbrellas on the tables would be needed more for shade than to keep off the rain.

Although Superstorm Sandy didn't cause the flooding at Lenny's that it did elsewhere on Hartford Avenue, Corto has given the entire place a facelift, inside and out, refinishing the bars, installing new bamboo floors and new tile floors inside and resurfacing the patio outside. He's also installed a new "to go" window to sell hotdogs, sodas, and ice cream to beachgoers.