Sam’s Beach Bar in Hudson ’98 percent restored’ following Hurricane Helene

HUDSON, Fla. — Along the shoreline of the gulf, it’s hard to fathom the quiet serene water in December doing something like knocking over sealed doors in September.

“I had the hurricane curtains on the outside,” said Brad De La Osa, part-owner of Sam’s Beach Bar, while showing parts of his business. “[The doors] actually lifted up, flipped over.”

De La Osa is one of the owners of Sam’s Beach Bar, which, according to him, has been in his wife’s family since they bought the place in 1981.

They’ve dealt with storms in the past. It’s hard not to when you’re right on the water, but Helene was rough because they saw several feet of water, about three and a half feet, De La Osa estimates, go into the business.

Ketchup bottles were floating all over and most of the items in the kitchen were destroyed.

“Everything here is new,” De La Osa said when showcasing their replaced items.

It forced them to close Sam’s for about a month, which is tough for any business to deal with — let alone one that’s off the beaten path for tourists.

But when you spend some time at Sam’s, even as they’re opening and there are a handful of folks inside, you see stockings lining the wall with names of employees and you start to understand why this place means so much.

“This is a way of life,” De La Osa said. “This is what feeds our families, feeds our employees, puts money on the table. So, it really does. Anything like this is a severe impact.”

Which is why they immediately got to work spending thousands to restore Sam’s and taking that entire month to make sure they were back in business as soon as possible.

“It’s a haven for everybody. I mean, this is to me, you find that one niche, the one place you’d like to go, that’s your place to go to, and that’s where you want to be.”

And no storm will be changing that anytime soon.

According to De La Osa, they’re about 98 percent done with bringing things back to where they want it to be.

He says Milton’s wind damaged the tiki hut outside so that needs repairing, but he says spring is their busy season so they’re making sure they’re good to go for that time of year.