Michael Lohan to open Westhampton Beach club

Michael Lohan is courting Controversy - the new nightclub he's opening at the Westhampton Beach eatery Annona along with Brett Hirsch, who owns the restaurant with Barry and Stephen Rubio, sons of the original owner.

Lohan, the father of actress Lindsay Lohan, said one hallmark will be a driving service for partyers who might have partied too much. "We are offering free pickup and drop off by limo for patrons who call and reserve a table for bottle service," Lohan, 50, said in an e-mail. "Other patrons who have a little too much to drink will be offered a ride home at discounted rates."

Hirsch, who said he took over the five-year-old restaurant "about six months ago," told Newsday, "We're going to have a security firm from Southampton working the door and working the bathrooms, screening for drugs, and East End Limousine will be on call if we see anybody intoxicated."

Hirsch said it was he who approached Lohan with the idea. "He's been coming to dinner here with [fiancee] Kate [Major] the last couple of weekends, and we've gone back and forth about different business ventures; we're doing a couple others. I mentioned this to him, and he said it'd be great to get involved."

Lohan is an investor in the club, Hirsch said - technically as a consultant, so his 1990 conviction for criminal contempt of court and his 2005 DUI "have nothing to do with our liquor license. He's a promoter type of investor." As Lohan put it, "My name is not on the license - I am promoting it, to there is no legal reason that I cannot be part of it. Thousands of felons promote clubs!" he joked.

Lohan said he hopes to have his son Michael Jr., 22, who he said graduated summa cum laude from Ithaca College last month, "help on weekends with the management of the club."