Local Legend Changes Owners

Local Legend Changes Owners

By Michael Eng

The East County Observer

When he gets overwhelmed, Linger Lodge RV Resort and Restaurant owner Frank Gamsky takes his old Honda motorcycle out for a drive down Linger Lodge Road. With the wind whistling by his ears, he slowly steers the machine from the right lane into the left and back again, humming a soothing tune to himself. If a car approaches, he straightens the wheel. But when no one is around, the road is his, and the drive always manages to clear his mind.

For 37 years, Gamsky has owned and operated the legendary restaurant, decorated with more than 160 snakes the self-taught taxidermist caught with his own hands. The long hours and never-ending piles of paperwork required many motorcycle drives throughout the years.

But on Aug. 1, Gamsky will drive away from the business one last time when he sells it to partners Sen. Mike Bennett and Marvin Kaplan.

"It's definitely time for me to go," Gamksy said. "I've been here 37 years. That's a long time when you think about it.

"I am sad, in a way," he said, looking at the hundreds of critters mounted on the restaurant walls. "I look at that rattlesnake, that otter, that bird, and I remember those stories."

Gamsky placed the business on the market in May 2004, citing wife Elaine's declining health as a major factor in the decision. He originally asked for $3.5 million for the 10-acre RV resort and restaurant located on the Braden River and said he will receive close to that from Kaplan and Bennett.

To the delight of Linger Lodge fans throughout the country, Bennett and Kaplan say they plan to keep both the restaurant and RV resort in operation. In addition, the partners plan to purchase a former hunting camp across the river for close to the $199,000 asking price. Currently, that 10-acre property is accessible only by boat, but the partners are considering bridging the two parcels. The deal for the second parcel is scheduled to close in mid-August.

"We really don't know what we're going to do with it yet, (but) we're certainly not looking to change it," Kaplan said. "It's great; we love it. We know we want to keep the restaurant but enhance it. Maybe build more decking out back."

Bennett agreed.

"It's great," he said. "I remember the first time I came here. It was in 1955; I was 10 years old."

Frank Gamsky, Elaine and their sons, David and Danny, bought the property in 1968. Infested with rattlesnakes, Frank Gamsky promptly converted an old Cadillac into a snake-hunting machine and picked off the slithery creatures one by one.

The Gamskys then opened a picnic business on the property, charging families 25 cents for lunch and canoe rental. The picnic business eventually grew into the Linger Lodge restaurant. It's menu - famous for unusual offerings such as alligator and frogs legs - coupled with Frank Gamsky's affinity for practical jokes and curious sense of humor - earned the business feature spots on the Food Network's "Al Roker's Weird Restaurants" and in Fox 13 Tampa Bay anchor Bill Murphy's "One Tank Trips" tourism guide.

Frank Gamsky said Linger Lodge would remain largely the same after the sale. The wait staff and cooks will continue working at the restaurant, and David Gamsky will stay on board for a few weeks to help Bennett and Kaplan train their new RV and restaurant managers.

"Everything is going to stay the same - all the animals go with the sale," he said. "The only thing is that I'm going."

Depending on his wife's health, Frank Gamsky said he hopes to spend his retirement and the money from the sale traveling. He mentioned Texas, Las Vegas and Milwaukee as potential destinations.

"I want to go around America," he said. "To me, I don't think there's anything better than America. You can see modern buildings, old-fashioned stagecoaches. Everything."

Although Gamsky said he is sure the decision to sell was the right one, leaving the legacy he spent nearly 40 years building won't be easy. Even at 75 years old, he still works as many as 60 hours weekly at the restaurant, and his practical jokes and bright grin have become as much a part of the Linger Lodge experience as the stuffed snakes on the wall.

"We were sitting out there (on the restaurant deck) yesterday, my wife and some friends of ours from up north, when an alligator came right up there," he said. "It was a 9-footer, at least. It came by real slow, and it didn't even care we were watching. I will miss that."