Beach music back at beach

VIRGINIA BEACH

Walking in her father's footsteps at the Upper Deck Restaurant, Nancy "Nan" Rodio's bringing Beach Music back to its old stomping grounds.

Atlantic Avenue.

In the 1960s, Beach Music poured from the Peppermint Beach Club and boosted Virginia Beach's seaside charm.

Rodio's father, Chester Rodio, helped give Beach Music a home on Atlantic Avenue. He was one of the principals of the original Peppermint Beach Club and also operated supper clubs at 16th Street including the Golden Garter, The Moonraker and The Upper Deck.

Aretha Franklin, Brenda Lee and The Platters, among others, appeared at his establishments. He died May 16, 2008.

"My dad was instrumental in Beach Music," said Rodio.

In recent years, The Upper Deck, 216 16th St., has been operated as a dinner buffet restaurant in the summer and a venue for wedding receptions, Bar Mitzvahs and birthday parties. It can hold 500 guests.

When Steppin' Out, a dance club at Hilltop, closed in December, the Virginia Beach Shag Club approached Nancy Rodio about the Upper Deck Restaurant for its new year-round meeting place.

Rodio saw an opportunity to revive an old, but not forgotten, scene. The Upper Deck remained a nostalgic dance and dining experience in Virginia Beach.

"We're stepping in trying to regroup and see what we can do," said Rodio.

Virginia Beach Shag Club holds its free shag lessons with a D.J. Wednesday nights and Fridays are open to the public with local band Coolin' Out at the helm.

Rodio may expand in the summer with more Beach Music events including Sunday afternoon jam sessions reminiscent of the Peppermint Beach Club, comedy shows and dinner theater.

Harold Davis, president of the Virginia Beach Shag Club, said the way the Upper Deck is laid out, with the dance floor in the middle and the chairs around it, can't be beat.

"She's giving shag dancers a place to dance," he said.

It makes sense that not much has changed since Rodio's father built the supper club in 1964.

"The way it is now is the way it's always been," she said.

Parking is available behind the building and guests enter on the 16th Street side. A glass case in the lobby shows pictures of big name acts that appeared there. Anticipation builds on the way up the staircase and is met by the vastness of the room, etched with ship decor and made cozy with well-dressed dinner tables.

The plaid carpet and old-fashioned chandeliers are from the original Cavalier Hotel, said Rodio, and the 600-square-foot oak dance floor's an original.

"Beach Music's back and it's on Atlantic Avenue," said Dwight Minyard, Coolin' Out's drummer and singer. "Everything comes full circle."

Stacy Parker, stacyparker@cox.net