Old nightspot, new kid clientele
Butch Yamali joins children in a volleyball game in Lido Beach where the Malibu club, once a club hangout, is now a day camp. (June 30, 2011) Credit: Steve Pfost
Many baby boomers on Long Island will fondly remember the Malibu club on Lido Boulevard in Lido Beach as a place of all-night rock and roll and disco dancing in the '70s and '80s, and always, on summer nights, long walks on the nearby beach.
But those boomers probably wouldn't recognize the place now.
Their children or grandchildren might. Long Island entrepreneur Butch Yamali, who earlier this year bought The Sands club in Lido Beach, has converted the Malibu into a day camp for 3- to 12-year-olds.
The camp, now in its third year, has enrolled 200 kids, up from 14 in its first year. Yamali hopes to add another 40 to 50 kids next year. He won the right to convert the Malibu after responding to a request-for-proposals from Hempstead Town, which owned the Malibu. Some cabanas can still be rented for the season by Hempstead Town residents, and there is an oyster bar and other amenities for adults.
Could the place ever be a nightspot again? "Possibly," Yamali said. "Maybe it could also be a nice concert hall, or a catering hall, but something that wouldn't be burdensome to the neighborhood." Hempstead Town still owns the property.
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