Oak Beach Inn

The Oak Beach Inn, commonly referred to by the abbreviation OBI, was a Long Island nightclub located in Oak Beach, on Jones Beach Island near Captree State Park in the Town of Babylon, Suffolk County, New York.

In 1969, Robert Matherson bought what was then a waterfront barrier island restaurant and converted it into an enormously popular (and controversial) nightclub. He later opened four more OBI night clubs and named them according to their geographic location. The OBI North was in Smithtown, New York, the OBI East near the Shinnecock Canal en route to The Hamptons and two OBI West locations in Island Park, New York. All five clubs were located on Long Island and were wildly successful for many years, bringing people in from all over Long Island, New York City, Westchester, southern Connecticut and New Jersey and hosting acts such as Twisted Sister and The Good Rats. In 1979, Matherson sued the town to lease him more land for additional parking which the town granted. However two years later, new officials disagreed which caused Matherson to sue again and when the court favored with Matherson, the town granted him $3 million and the nine acres. In 1993, an unhappy Matherson actually started a "Move Out of New York Before It's Too Late" campaign complete with a hearse, banners and TV ads. A 1993 New York Times article provided more details about his campaign including that the New York State Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control raided the club one year earlier in 1992. One of the OBI West locations burned down after only a couple of years of packing in thousands on the weekends. Arson involving organized crime figures referred to in the movie Goodfellas was alleged but never substantiated.

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