Riptides 11561 owner: Long Beach's order to remove tables violates lease

Long Beach has sent notices to several businesses on its boardwalk ordering them to remove tables on city property, which the owner of one business says could force him to close his restaurant.

Riptides 11561 owner Brian Braddish plans to hold a news conference outside his restaurant on Monday after receiving a Dec. 6 letter from the city revoking permission to utilize the boardwalk for his picnic tables, which he told Newsday on Sunday could be detrimental to his business and violates the lease he negotiated with the city last year. 

The restaurant and city had negotiated a notarized amendment to the restaurant’s lease in July 2021 after the city asked the restaurant to move its Pride, American and POW/MIA flags off city property and onto Riptides’ leased property.

The city's push to move the Pride flag from city property outraged LGBTQ advocates who said that Long Beach specifically targeted the Pride flag.

The agreement allowed the restaurant to pay $100 a year per table on the boardwalk. Braddish said he thinks the city is retaliating against him for the Pride flag criticism by canceling the contract. 

“We’re completely blindsided by this,” Braddish told Newsday, speaking by phone from Puerto Rico, where he spends his winters. He plans to fly to Long Island on Monday to hold the news conference and rally. 

At least four other vendors along the boardwalk received similar letters from the city, said city spokesman John McNally. The placement of private property on the boardwalk violates city code, McNally said, who declined to comment further. Businesses have until Jan. 3 to remove their private property from the boardwalk, according to the letter sent by city attorneys. 

During the pandemic, the city allowed vendors along the boardwalk to use the space for extra tables. Businesses, including Riptides, received letters in May 2021 revoking any allowance of chairs and tables on the boardwalk to comply with city code. 

“By losing these tables, they have basically evicted me and put me out of business,” Braddish said Sunday.

Beach Burger, Marvel Frozen Dairy, Shakes & Shuckers and Skudin Surf also received letters from the city prohibiting them from placing personal property on unleased city property. Beach Burger co-owner Stacy Adler Anselmo said she received the notice to remove tables from the boardwalk, but was hopeful she could negotiate with the city, as less dining space could negatively impact the business. 

The restaurant’s lease expires in September 2025, as does the amendment allowing Riptides to place tables on the boardwalk, said Braddish’s attorney Jon Bell, who said the city is legally bound by the amended lease. As of Sunday, Bell said he and the city were beginning to negotiate.

By Brinley Hineman

brinley.hineman@newsday.com

Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.