Chris Montagne - Chris' Restaurant OC NJ

Chris Montagne was an Old Salt Italian fisherman from Sea Isle City who moved to Ocean City to open Chris Restaurant and run a fleet of fishing and touring boats. He married Dr. Marcia Smith and lived with her at their home at 821 Wesley Avenue from the 1930s until he died.

Chris' Restaurant, next to Hogates and the Ocean City - Somers Point Causeway Bridge, was a long time landmark and the first thing you saw when driving into Ocean City.

One of the boats Chris ran was the Flying Saucer, a converted World War II era PT boat that he took passengers for rides out the inlet and to the end of the island and back again, every day at 12 noon and 3 pm. When I worked at Mack & Manco's Pizza on the boardwalk you could count on Chris going by like clockwork. The boat rides lasted for many years, and you could be sure to get wet from the spray he kicked up - but that only made Chris laugh. The Flying Saucer rides only ended when Chris got pretty old and the boat sank at the dock one afternoon.

Chris was an alltime fascinating character. Even after he retired he continued to fish regularly. When I lived in Sea Isle City and drove down Ocean Drive I'd see him every morning emptying his minnow nets in the south end marshes. My brother Leo went fishing with him all the time, and took the picture at the top of Chris out on the bay in his boat with the big parrot Leo took care of for awhile.

When Chris retired, he sold the restaurant for a reported $1 million, but not to someone who would maintain the place as the living landmark that gave public access to the bay. Instead the city mistakenly allowed them to change the use of the property and convert it to condos, which made it private property and no public access. And the location, next to the noisy bridge and highway, was no conducive to living comfortably there, but somebody made a lot of money.