A relic from the heyday of Saratoga’s notorious lake houses is about to receive a new lease on life as the centerpiece of a 5,000-square-foot club in Brooklyn.
Built in 1886, Riley’s Lake House on Lake Lonely was a pillar of Saratoga nightlife through the turn of the 20th century and the Prohibition Era, when high rollers came to town with hopes of winning big at one of the town’s illicit casinos. Riley’s was one such gambling house that operated under the noses of local politicians and law enforcement until it was shut down in the mid 1900s. It sat vacant until 1996, when it was demolished.
But not so fast. Before one of Saratoga’s last remaining Lake Houses was completely lost to history, local furniture store owner Michael Zappone stepped in to purchase its gigantic, curved bar.
“I figured I’d turn it around and make a profit on it,” Zappone says. “Time went by, and I kind of forgot about it.” That is, until Zappone sold the building he was storing it in and needed to get it out.
Through a connection in New York City, Zappone found Jane Love, a wardrobe stylist-turned-entrepreneur with big plans to open a big nightclub in a former motorcycle garage in Bushwick. The one thing her bar was missing? The actual bar itself.
“I saw a photo and decided in my heart the minute I saw it,” Love says of the Riley’s bar. “But I think I pulled the plug the next day. I had wanted a round bar from the beginning.”
So, the next time you’re in the city in search of a drink, check out Love’s Club (yes, that’s what it’s called). You won’t be the first Saratogian to belly up to that big ol’ bar, and you probably won’t be the last.
