Nightclub operator John Rizio, owned Wildwood's Oasis

THE OASIS in Wildwood might have been the only nightclub in the history of that august institution to use grandmothers as bouncers.

OK, they weren't exactly bouncers, but they could defuse a tense situation by being - well, grandmothers.

The Oasis was owned by John Rizio, a South Philly transplant who refined the nightclub scene in Wildwood, during the years when it was the place to go for fun and entertainment, by creating a family-friendly atmosphere.

John's wife, the former Ida Cusella, was largely responsible for establishing that kind of ambience.

"My mother didn't want any bouncers at the door," said their daughter, Laura Rizio. "She thought they incited violence. So she brought in older friends, mostly women.

"They were out on the floor and they could dispel an argument in a second. They could see a fight coming and stop it just by being nice people."

John Rizio, who also ran other nightclubs in the resort town in the '50s, '60s and '70s, when Wildwood was a jumping scene, died Aug. 9. He was 89 and lived in Wildwood.

The Rizios were not like most bar owners. They treated their help and even the entertainers like family.

David Christopher, who leads a popular band dating back to that era, told their daughter after John's death, "Your mother and father were like my parents, my family. Your mother fed us and took care of us."

The Oasis could seat 1,000 people at its peak, with several bartenders keeping the thirsty crowds happy. And then there were the grandmothers.

"One time one of the women saw two young men ready to fight," Laura Rizio said. "She grabbed one of them from behind. He said, 'Get your hands off me!' She said, 'Its either my hands or the police hands.' He laughed and gave her a hug."

John's entrepreneurship dated back to his childhood, when he shined shoes and peddled flowers and even chicks at Easter.

He and some friends would drive a borrowed truck to Lancaster County - before he had a license - to pick up fruits and vegetables to sell.

John was born to Italian immigrants, Italina and Lorenzo Rizio, and grew up in South Philly. His father was a ditch digger and, when the Depression hit, was often out of work.

At the age of 11, John decided that it was time to go to work. He got a job in a bakery, which meant that he had to get up in the wee hours. And he often fell asleep during classes at Southwark Elementary. He decided in the sixth grade to drop out.

One enterprise that didn't work out too well was when John and some friends rounded up stray cats to take to a laboratory. They stuffed the animals in burlap sacks and got on a trolley. Of course, the cats escaped and were leaping around the trolley terrorizing riders when the boys decided to give up that caper.

John and Ida married in 1943.

While spending time at the Wildwood summer home of his wife's mother, Laura Cusella, John saw an opportunity to buy a rooming house. He no doubt also saw that Wildwood was prospering, and he decided to go into the bar business.

He found the Glen Oak, on Oak Avenue, a rundown bar in bankruptcy with one piano. He was surprised to find that it had an African-American clientele. Unfazed, he got his six brothers to pitch in and they fixed the place up.

It became wildly popular. Busloads of customers would come down from Philly. An out-of-work musician named King Charles played for room and board. He tuned the piano.

"The place hummed," Laura Rizio recalled. "The customers loved my father."

John later rented a bar at Pacific and Schellenger avenues, and moved his liquor license there. It was a feisty Irish bar that featured drunken fights nearly every night.

John and Ida tamed the place, catered to a more peaceful clientele, and it became the Oasis. Over the years, it expanded twice. John also bought a bar across the street and called it Oasis II. He later acquired a third nightclub named the Opera House.

Entertainers included Ray Charles, Ricky and the Rockets, the 5th Dimension and others who were popular in that era. The Oasis was packed nearly every night.

By the mid-'80s, the Rizios got fed up with trying to buy insurance in a suddenly tightened market and decided to sell their properties.

Ida became ill and required constant care. She died in 2005. John developed Parkinson's disease and died of pneumonia.

"He was a dreamer and a schemer," said his daughter, a Philadelphia lawyer married to James A. Hamilton III, also a lawyer. "He was a very tough man, but also very gentle and caring. He would tell a perfect stranger what to do to make his life better."

Besides his daughter, he is survived by two brothers, Frank and Anthony Rizio; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services: Were Aug. 12. Burial was in Calvary Cemetery, Cherry Hill.

Donations in his name may be made to the American Parkinson Disease Association, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore MD 21201.