There is good news for fans of Avon Pavilion, a decades-old seasonal restaurant on the Avon boardwalk whose longtime owners announced in September that they would not reopen in 2023.

Liam and Carmen Moloney, owners of Bareli's By the Sea in Spring Lake, are the new lessees of the Ocean Avenue restaurant. The couple, who are currently rebranding the Spring Lake restaurant as Amelia's by the Sea, previously were part owners of Bareli's Restaurant & Bar in Secaucus and Del Monico in Cedar Grove, where the late James Gandolfini was also a co-owner. Liam also consulted on the July reopening of Brielle River House in Brielle.

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Michelle and Rob Fishman, who owned Avon Pavilion for more than 30 years, ran the restaurant from May through September. The Moloneys plan to do the same, possibly even extending the season through some winterization of the beachfront restaurant.

The building housing the restaurant is owned by the borough of Avon, and after the Fishmans announced they were leaving, its lease opened for public bidding. Seven other restaurateurs bid on the lease, said the Moloneys, both 39 and of Spring Lake, who were encouraged to take over the restaurant by customers at Bareli's by the Sea.

"We got in there and saw it and had the feel for the menu, and it’s such an amazing area," Liam said.

To start, they plan to keep the restaurant's name and look, and "the menu is still going to be breakfast, lunch and dinner," he said. "It's still going to be the great quality they had before, and we're trying to do a little more seafood."

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They plan to add sushi to the menu, as well as upgrade online ordering to make pickup easier for customers.

"We don’t want to go in and make a lot of changes," Carmen said. "We don’t want to change something that's been working for so long.

"We want to continue those traditions for the community, so we plan on having it be very similar and just making some modifications to be representative of our brand," she said.

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The building also includes a retail space, which operates as a boutique selling beach items.

"There's value in being able to provide essentials People need it, you're right on the beach," Carmen said. "But we also want to extend into a little bit more of a gift shop as well."

Go: Avon Pavilion is at 600 Ocean Ave. Bareli's By the Sea is at 1505 Ocean Ave North in Spring Lake; 732-769-5700, barelisbythesea.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com.

Ten years ago next month, the Atlantic Ocean — churned into a frenzy by superstorm Sandy — rushed over the sand of the Avon beach and into Avon Pavilion, a restaurant on the borough's boardwalk.

It wasn't the first time the restaurant was destroyed. Twenty years earlier, a most unexpected December nor'easter blew through.

Sandy leveled the eatery, and owners Michelle and Rob Fishman and their staff — including Chef Ken Samuels, who had led the kitchen since 1991 — spent the following summer serving diners in trailers and tents along the beach while their restaurant was renovated.

"But we recovered," Michelle told The Asbury Park Press in 2015.

Avon Pavilion opened each year around Mother's Day and closed shortly after Labor Day, but this summer was its last. The Fishmans announced the restaurant's closure on Monday, Sept. 26.

"It's been a magical career, and it's really been all based on relationships," Rob said. "Relationships with vendors, with guests, with our whole staff — it’s really been wonderful."

The Fishmans shared the news on social media.

"It is with a very heavy heart to announce that the Avon Pavilion will be closing its doors after 33 incredible and wonderful years," they wrote. "It feels impossible to adequately express our gratitude for the lifelong friendships and memories created at the Avon Pavilion."

"Generations of employees and guests alike, united as a community through 33 years of triumphs and tribulations... celebrations, graduations, marriages, births and life events," they shared. "Together, we rebuilt the Avon Pavilion from the ground up after storms and floods, several times over. We persevered through a global pandemic."

Looking back:Ravaged by Sandy, Avon Pavilion reopens for summer

Another closure:The Serenity Cafe in Toms River to close Sept. 30

Rob first began selling concessions on the Shore's boardwalks nearly 50 years ago, and worked along the beach in Bradley Beach, Belmar, Spring Lake, Sea Girt and Deal.

"I started at age 19 while I was an undergrad at Rutgers, during my freshman year," he said. "I started at a place in Bradley Beach, The Jetty Joint. We sold hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, knishes."

The summer of 2023 would have been Avon Pavilion's 34th season. The decision to close was emotional, Fishman said, in part because of the staff's bonds with customers.

"We treat everyone as a guest coming for a meal to the house," he added.

The restaurant was part of many family's vacation traditions, and hundreds of customers shared memories and photos on the restaurant's Facebook page.

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"I spent my childhood summers in Avon with my grandparents," wrote one user. "So many special memories, especially nightly walks to get ice cream. So many breakfasts with my mom. Thank you for creating such memorable summers at the Jersey Shore for so many people like me."

"I worked the take-out window on the boardwalk for four summers (in the early '90s)," shared another. "There is nothing I loved more than opening that window at 5 a.m. and not a soul was on the beach yet."

"You are such an integral part of what makes the Avon Boardwalk and beach such a classy and special place," reads another comment.

The Avon Pavilion building is owned by the borough of Avon, Fishman said, and a public bidding will be held to find a new lessee for the restaurant building and an attached boutique.

"It is our sincere hope that the new tenant who moves onto the magnificent Avon-by-the-Sea boardwalk cherishes the beautiful town and community as much as we have," the Fishmans said.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, and for more Jersey Shore food news, subscribe to our weekly Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

When my kids were young, a perfect summer family night would involve some kind of beach activity during the day and then a trip to the Avon Pavilion for dinner.

And sometimes over the years, my husband and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll on the boardwalk there, just the two of us, and then capped off the evening with a great meal at the Avon Pavilion.

We have so many wonderful memories there that I hate that I have to write this post.

The Avon Pavilion is no more.

It’s one of those things you had to experience to appreciate but I’ll try to explain.

Everyone has a place like this that’s close to their hearts.

For many on the Jersey Shore, that place was the Avon Pavilion, a family-owned and run business for 33 years.

AvPav, as it is lovingly referred to by locals, had a great menu, and an amazing staff that felt like family (and treated YOU like family).

It was accessible from the boardwalk either as a sit-down restaurant or through walk-up windows that made it simple to get a quick bite.

Having known its owners, the Fishman family, (didn’t everyone?), I knew how they cared about the customer and about making the AvPav experience unique.

There are restaurants open up and down the boardwalks of New Jersey, but in Avon, this was THE place to go.

And no one would have ever chosen anything else anyway.

Picture that warm feeling of your best summer day with your family.

That’s what the Avon Pavilion felt like to those of us who have memories from happy times there.

It’s one of those, “If you know, you know” places.

But if you’re reading this and you’ve EVER dined at the Avon Pavilion I don’t have to explain it to you.

According to their Facebook page, The Borough of Avon will soon be holding public bidding for leasing the restaurant building and boutique.

The post expressed that it is the owners' "sincere hope" that the new tenant who moves onto the magnificent Avon-by-the-Sea boardwalk “cherishes the beautiful town and community as much as we have.”

“To our cherished guests, friends and AvPav family,” the post says, “it is with a very heavy heart to announce that the Avon Pavilion will be closing its doors after 33 incredible and wonderful years”.

Heavy heart indeed.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

You can now listen to Dennis & Judi — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite best friends anytime, anywhere and any day of the week. Download the Dennis & Judi show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

More than 30 years of summers filled with food, family and memories have officially come to an end.

Avon Pavilion, an iconic restaurant among locals on the boardwalk in Avon-By-The-Sea, announced in a Facebook post this week that this past summer was its last.

The closing was the result of medical issues among members of upper management, according to owner Robert Fishman.

“Health always comes first,” he said. “People think that life is like a play, it’s four acts. You got the first act, the second act — well unfortunately life is just one.”

Avon Pavilion, which opened each year in May and closed in September, is known for its casual fine dining fare with stunning views of the ocean as well as its boardwalk windows, where guests could walk up and order some quick eats.

Since its opening in 1990, the restaurant has faced many challenges, such as a nor’easter two years after it opened that decimated the boardwalk and destroyed the building, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and most recently, the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s all about hard work, passion and dedication,” Fishman said. “Even through these trials and tribulations, our team always showed up.”

Shortly after the announcement went live, floods of comments came through expressing sadness, reminiscing about the good times, but most of all love, offering support and gratitude for the team.

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“A huge part of the love that has been outpouring is that our restaurant has always been so family-oriented between not only the team but our guests too,” said owner Michelle Fishman, Robert’s wife. “We go to all their weddings and baptisms. They’ve been such a huge part of our lives.”

Although the owners are saddened by the loss, they will always carry this experience with them, they say.

Kenneth Samuels, the executive chef and a partner, says he’s going to take some time off and recharge.

“It’s like a double-edged sword. It’s bittersweet,” he said. “It’s going to be nice to be able to move on, reinvent and get a little bit of rest and relaxation.

“But I’m definitely going to miss seeing the team year after year and making all these memories.”

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Three-minute read

Asbury Park Press

AVON - As a history professor at Brookdale Community College, Jess Le Vine is comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. But the stakes never have been as high as they were in July, when he addressed members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about the rare disease plaguing two of his daughters.

With Amber and Haley Le Vine and their mom Karen in the audience, Jess explained the challenges of living with an enzyme deficiency known as SSADH, which causes intellectual delays, communication challenges, diminished motor skills and — most frustratingly — memory loss. Amber and Haley are in their early 30s but struggle to remember the simplest things, like what day of the week it is.

“I said, 'You have no idea what it means to have these kind of memory problems,’” Jess Le Vine said. “With an Alzheimer’s patient, you’re in this fog. But for them (Amber and Haley), they’re alert and it’s agonizingly frustrating for them not to be able to retrieve things.”

The Le Vines spent two days in Bethesda, Maryland, with other SSADH families and advocates to lay the groundwork for what they hope is eventual approval of a therapy drug that is in development at Boston Children’s Hospital. It’s been a long and draining crusade for the Avon residents, who have been at the forefront of research initiatives for several years.

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Because there are only 500 known cases of SSADH (succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency) in the world, it’s hard to move the needle in terms of fundraising or mobilizing the necessary government support.

So imagine getting 10 minutes to state your case to the panel that may decide your daughters’ fate. That was the situation in Bethesda.

“The Le Vine family is a key player in this … and is of tremendous help in advancing our research work,” said Dr. Henry H.C. Lee, who is helping spearhead SSADH research and was in attendance in Bethesda. “Their powerful testimony is a great example of what challenges the patient families face daily, and the perseverance and love they have for their children. It was a powerful and moving message for me motivating my research work toward a tangible therapy for the patients.”

Amber and Haley, who were the second and third Americans to be diagnosed with SSADH, already have come a long way thanks to sheer perseverance. They learned to ride bicycles. They attended Brookdale. They’ve held jobs at local restaurants as greeters and food runners. Haley takes guitar lessons.

Still, the memory problems persist. Jess and Karen post lists all over their home — literally spelling out everything the sisters have to do, every day.

“You’re desperate trying to find some way to help them remember,” Jess said.

For nearly 10 years, Amber and Haley took part in a clinical study of an Alzheimer’s drug that showed promise.

“The NIH (National Institutes of Health) dragged their heels,” Jess Le Vine said. “We burned up a lot of time. In the end, the NIH said there wasn’t enough efficacy to go ahead and use it.”

Parents requested more information, like how the drug performed specifically for their children, because the symptoms of SSADH vary so widely. They never got answers. It was a heartbreaking dead end.

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That disappointment is fueling their proactive approach this time around.

“With gene-editing technology readily available and a clear objective in our research plan, we successfully created a mouse model which becomes a powerful research tool for us to understand how gene replacement therapy might work in the brain," Lee explained. "Within two years we have already obtained favorable data for gene therapy in this disorder, laying the foundation for future clinical therapy in patients.”

Of course, that hinges on fundraising and FDA approval. The Le Vines are persistent about the former — a key benefit event is taking place Sunday at The Columns in Avon — and their trip to Bethesda was aimed at the latter.

“They don’t really get it until they see the people face to face and you tell them the horror stories,” Jess Le Vine said. “Then they get it.”

The annual “Wave of Hope” benefit for the SSADH Association takes place from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at The Columns in Avon. Tickets are $35 and include live music, food, drinks and a gift auction. For more information visit www.waveofhope-ssadh.org/benefits.

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.