A large-scale fund-raiser in December raised enough money for Joe “Jojo” Lasick, owner of Lasick’s Beef and Seafood, to clear away the remnants of his bar, destroyed by arson last semester, and to start plans to rebuild his family business.
Part of his plans include a revival of the restaurant’s old atmosphere, full of nautical souvenirs from Lasick’s years as a diver, though he lamented many of the pieces recovered from the fire were later stolen from storage trailers along with money from an ATM and some tools.
Lasick also hopes to include an expanded front deck and a larger kitchen for catering jobs, and wanted to see if he could include space for the relocation of CDepot and Atomic Music. The attached liquor store would also return, though Lasick said he and his father, who had long worked independently on either side of the business, would now cooperate on everything.
Lasick is seeking approval from the county liquor board to build a temporary liquor store on the site with modular buildings and plans to meet with an architect later this week to start fleshing out his dreams for a new restaurant.
The fund-raiser, held at DeMatha Catholic High School, was arranged in only 10 days by a handful of Lasick’s closest allies in College Park’s business community, said Tammy Hnarakis, a partner in Precision Small Engines and one of the fund-raiser’s organizers. Donations for the auction ranged from gift baskets and framed needlepoint artwork to overnight stays at luxurious hotels across the country.
The event drew more than 500 people who had been friends or beneficiaries of Lasick’s kindness, she said.
“Jojo is like the angel of Route 1,” Hnarakis said. “The [Lasick] family was there for everyone, then everyone was there for them.”
Hnarakis could name a dozen businesses and individuals from North College Park who began the fund raising effort, including the owners of IHOP, College Park Animal Hospital, Jordan Kitt’s Music, Enterprise Rent-a-Car and numerous volunteers for the Special Olympics that Lasick supported.
Lasick asked that the specific amount raised not be disclosed, but said it was enough to pay his 17 employees through Christmas and some of the cost of demolishing the building’s remains. Steve Stanley of Maryland Paving and Sealant, Inc. gave Lasick an open-ended $30,000 loan to haul off what remained of the restaurant, Lasick said.
“We didn’t want … another eyesore on Route 1,” Lasick said. “He knew it broke Dad’s and my heart to look at it.”
The site is now cleared of the restaurant’s remains save its sign, some storage and the donated RV Lasick made into a temporary office.
For Lasick, experiencing the flood of kind words and condolences, the old friends returning from all over the country to pay tribute and the wash of warm memories reaching back to his childhood was like watching his own funeral without dying.
In a way, a part of him did die: The 60-year-old heirloom of the Lasick family was consumed by a pyre of natural gas-fed flames in November, the result of an early-morning double arson that severely damaged E.J.’s Landing and destroyed Lasick’s. But Lasick and his father — two of the three generations to run the restaurant and attached liquor store — have been buoyed by the outpouring of support from friends, customers and business allies.
“Somebody calls you up every day asking how you’re doing, when you’re reopening; promising to come back,” he said.
Prince George’s County Fire Department Spokesman Mark Brady said there had not yet been any arrests in the investigation of the two arsons, which fire investigators believe to be linked. Brady urged anyone with information to call 301-77-ARSON.
