By MINDY LUCAS
Looking for a large blue marlin to round out your ocean-themed décor? Or maybe you’re in the market for a gently used oyster table?
If so, then you won’t want to miss a live auction Saturday, Jan. 25, at Steamer Oyster and Steakhouse, on Lady’s Island.
Restaurant equipment, movie memorabilia, furniture, and yes, several mounted fish, are just a few of the items that will go on the auction block when the final chapter ends for one the area’s longest running seafood restaurants.
Co-owner Adam Rosica confirmed that he and his partners have inked a deal with Carolina Restaurant Group which plans to build a Wendy’s on the site, as soon as the restaurant, which closed its doors last year, is demolished.
“We thought about selling over time and we waited over time, and finally somebody came to us with a good offer,” said Rosica.
Rosica and his partners, all members of Secession Golf Club, bought the restaurant in 2000.
Asked if he was sad to see it go or had any mixed feelings about selling it, the 77-year-old said, “not really.”
“I’ve been in the restaurant business since 1983 and that’s long enough,” he said. “A lot of the partners were in their 50s and 60s then, and now they’re in their 70s and 80s.”
So just what’s up for grabs?
Anything you can think of that would be in a restaurant plus oyster tables, various neon signs, the original Steamer sign, artwork, fish prints and other ocean or beach-themed décor.
“If you can take it out of the restaurant and pay cash for it, it’s yours,” Rosica said.
Most of the restaurant equipment was sold in advance of the event though there are still some items and a few of the oyster tables that had family or lunch group name plates have been sold to those families, Rosica said.
There’s also various sports and movie memorabilia that hung on the restaurant’s walls such as a photo of Tom Berenger when he was in Beaufort filming the Big Chill, and another of former USC coach Lou Holtz.
The hot auction item, though, may just be the restaurant’s handmade shrimp boat complete with tiny nets.
Reaction to the restaurant’s closing and upcoming auction surprised longtime auctioneer Glenn Hartshorn, whose company “Uptown Auctions” is handling Saturday’s liquidation.
A post about the auction received more than 26,000 views and 91 shares, he said.
Comments have ranged from “Sad to see it go” to “Tear down all that is memorable. Add another Wendy’s. Sterility is just around the corner.”
Both Rosica and Hartshorn said there was a “lot of history” in the place and many great memories had been by those who sat at its tables.
“If those tables could talk, they could tell a lot,” said Hartshorn.
The auction will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will include a preview at 10 a.m. at the restaurant at 168 Sea Island Parkway, Lady’s Island.
