Superstorm Sandy slammed into southern Rhode Island with 20-foot waves and 80-mile-an-hour winds and left a trail of devastation from Watch Hill to Little Compton. And while the impact of the storm was felt all along the coast, some of the worst damage happened on Atlantic Avenue.
Since then a "new and improved" Maria’s Seaside Cafe has opened, where the old Sisco's once stood, a comic book and candy haven for kids of the 70's and 80's. In addition to tremendous Italian food, there are now beautiful "lodging options" above it.
But it's The Andrea that has undergone the most amazing transformation - at least as far as this Misquamicut "lifer" is concerned. That sucker had begun leaning years before either storm hit, plus the erosion was jaw-dropping; the beach was literally disappearing. After Sandy it had to be torn down. Yet within months, the hotel’s owners were back in business, serving food and drinks from inside a temporary tent.
But now? Wow.
Where I used to find my mother and father throwing back a cocktail or two and promptly hit them up for change for the nearby video games or pool table is now essentially an open-air all-bar blast. Lights hang, for nighttime drinking pleasure, with an enormous stone fireplace surrounded by huge wooden chairs completing the picture.
Best of all, there is Andrea memorabilia for sale right out front, just before you enter. T-shirts and the like, reasonably priced.