'It is so nice to be given such a warm welcome and remembered by the staff each and every time. Jane Grethel said her entire family has spend so much time at Doc's that it's the first place all her kids and grandkids want to visit when they come to visit. The unusual project encountered no difficulty with permitting or regulations, he said. 'Later on, Dale put in a roof covering the deck, and also enclosed the bottom,' he added.

'It was more like a mobile home,' he said, estimating it to be about 30 feet long and 8 feet wide and tall. The structure, said Holden, was bigger than a modern-day food truck. 'He bought the trailer from Indiana and trailered it down.' 'Dale wanted to build a hot dog and ice cream stand,' said Holden. Holden was the contractor on the job and remembers the project well. He and his father hauled it to Bonita on his long cargo trailer with a pickup truck.ĭavid J. One more interesting detail: Jeffrey says the huge sign on the road side of the building was bought at auction when the original Chuck E. The rest of the story is pretty well known.' After that, his interest waned and having problems with getting the right people to run it for him, he closed. As a family, we ran the upstairs year round and the downstairs in season until I left in 1983 or '84. The upstairs remained open as a fast food and ice cream facility. 'The next year, he enclosed the bottom and created a full-service restaurant.

'With the Florida sun so hot, and daily summer showers, my father decided the next summer to roof over the entire deck,' said Jeffrey.

The work took place during the summer and fall of 1979. Once set atop the pilings, the deck was finished, complete with half picnic tables and benches built into the railings so that customers could view the beach to the west and south. When the unit arrived and it was attempted to put atop the pilings, it tipped the 13-ton crane and a second crane had to be brought in.' 'Meanwhile, here in Bonita, pilings were driven to set the unit on top of and for the deck surrounding it. 'It was so heavy that they blew 11 tires on the trip down,' said Jeff. Dale Brink then had the unit transported to Florida. In Indiana, they completed the transformation into a fully equipped snack and sandwich stand. He found an extra modular gas station unit from Checker Oil and the fun began.' 'Originally, he wanted to only put in a concession trailer but zoning wouldn't allow it. 'I think that he was somewhat bored and with my decision to come to Florida, it led him to decide to put up a snack stand on the beach,' said his son. I was running the kitchen in a bar and grill at that time.'ĭale Brink was a retired funeral director and Realtor. I got fed up with the weather and said that I was moving to Florida. My father was a winter resident and I lived in Indiana at that time. 'That was the winter of the bad blizzard that pretty much paralyzed much of the Midwest. 'Back in 1978, my father owned the vacant 100 feet of beachfront where Doc's Beach House now sits,' he said. B's, was happy to share information on the iconic eatery that is now called Doc's Beach House. Jeffrey Brink, the son of Dale Brink, who was the builder and owner of Mr. It doesn't get much better than hearing from the original contractor and the son of the founder when it comes to the colorful history of the beachside eatery once known as Mr.

Docs beach house