Demolition of Joey Harrison's Surf Club in Ortley Beach Begins

Joey Harrison's Surf Club, one of the largest oceanfront businesses to have been damaged by Superstorm Sandy, is finally coming down.

Crews from T. Fiore Demolition have been working at the site, picking apart pieces of the wreckage left behind by the Oct. 2012 storm.

The famed nightclub and restaurant, located on the oceanfront near Sixth Avenue in Toms River's Ortley Beach section, has been left relatively untouched since Sandy struck the New Jersey coast 19 months ago. The building was literally torn in half by the storm, the waves from which battered the building, exposing what was left of the structure to the elements. Even as the building was being torn apart by an excavator on Tuesday afternoon, a shot wheel – a small remnant of good times had over decades of summers – remained.

Some surfers, in recent months, have complained to the township council that high-tide waves were reaching the structure and carrying debris back into the ocean.

In April, the club's owner, Joey Barcellona, Jr., told Toms River Patch that the building was supposed to have come down last August, but an ongoing dispute with Fiore prevented the demolition from moving forward. The dispute eventually culminated in a lawsuit.

Barcellona did not respond to a phone call or an e-mail from Toms River Patch seeking comment on the details of the demolition and the status of plans to rebuild.

In April, Barcellona said his family intends to rebuild the nightclub, which has been a staple in Ortley Beach since it opened in 1973.