AUDIO PODCAST: Lawton's faces uncertain future
LAWRENCE — Lawton's Famous Frankfurters, the landmark takeout eatery on the North Canal next to Broadway, may soon become a floating restaurant.
The embankment the 80-year-old establishment sits on appears to be slumping into the canal. A deck attached to the small, red building has been undermined and is leaning away from the structure. A cement septic tank has also pulled away, prompting fears by the owners that raw sewage could spill into the adjacent canal.
If things get any worse, the whole building could eventually slide into the canal, which is why the business owner, Joanne Curley, has shut the operation down indefinitely.
"Falling into the canal is not an ideal situation," said Curley, who bought the popular hot-dog stand with her husband, Scott, in 2006.
She blames a host of problems, including 2007 utility work done underneath a nearby sidewalk as well as the fact that the wall of the North Canal just below her shop appears to be collapsing.
Curley said she first became aware of the problem last Monday after she went to the restaurant, when it is usually closed, to pick up some paperwork. At the time, nothing seemed amiss, she said.
The next day, however, one of the two deadbolts on the front door was a little sticky, making it hard to open, and the building seemed to be starting to "shift." By Wednesday, she said, she and her employees had an even harder time opening the door because both deadbolts were stuck.
"Something is shifting," she said, adding that there is also a crack in the foundation, the porch is collapsing, and the septic tank is "tipping so far out that it's no longer connected to the building. I can't run the water or use the bathrooms. So I had to shut down."
At least one longtime customer walked up to grab a hot dog Thursday but was turned away at the sight of a "closed" sign.
"I've been coming here since the 1940s when hot dogs were 15 cents," said the man, who didn't want his name used.
Curley said she typically serves about 100 people a day for lunch, more on nice days when people grab a hot dog or lobster roll and hang out on the benches next to the sidewalk.
But for now, or until the area can be stabilized, she will keep the restaurant closed.
While Curley owns the business, she leases the property from Michael Graffeo, manager of Lawton Landing Realty LLC of Salem, N.H.
Graffeo was on hand Thursday to inspect his property, noting that it appeared the damage was related to work done by Verizon — in particular a new telephone pole in the ground near Lawton's.
"Nothing's been done here for years; you put that pole in and this starts happening," he said, pointing to what looks like erosion under the sidewalk. "This place has been here since 1929, and this work was just done."
He said that another company dug up the sidewalk and installed underground cables before putting a new sidewalk in place. Meanwhile, the septic tank is also new, having been installed in 2007.
Stan Usovicz, a spokesman for Verizon, said engineers for the company are inspecting the utility pole.
"We are looking at trying to secure it in a reasonable way," he said. "We have had our engineers out there to take a look."
But Usovicz said it was AT&T that dug up the sidewalk and installed the underground cable.
An AT&T spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Usovicz went on to say that the bigger issue is with the poor condition of the canal walls.
"This problem is greater than just the Lawton location," he said. "It's widespread along the canal."
He and others say that the canal walls in many locations appear to be near-collapse.
Hank Sennott, a spokesman for Enel, the corporation that owns the canals, said there is a problem with the wall near Lawton's and that company engineers have been out to the site to take a look.
But, he added, "The structure issue with the wall, in our view, at this point, shouldn't have anything to do with operation of her business."
But he also said "we are taking a look at the placement of the septic tank. It's rather close to the canal wall. We're not sure if it's on our property or someone else's."
Meanwhile, an acting supervisor for the Lawrence Heritage State Park, which owns and maintains much of the sidewalk along the North Canal as part of the Canal Walk, said the area had been roped off to protect the public and that nobody seems to know what's going on at the site.
His boss, Ray Faucher, Atlantic district manager for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, agreed.
"We have no idea why there is movement there," he said, adding that the problem is not on state property but is actually on city property.
"That stretch of sidewalk is owned by the city," he said.
City officials could not be reached for comment Friday because they were on a furlough day, but Economic Development Director Tom Schiavone said Thursday that the city was attempting to find out what was going on.
As for Curley, Lawton's owner, she doesn't really care who owns what, she just wants someone to fix the problem so she can reopen and start selling hot dogs again.
"Nobody wants to take responsibility," she said. "And I am out of business. What do I do, just wait until everything falls into the river?"
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