Young people drive over what they know as "Bugzie's Mountain" daily, but many probably don't know why it's called by this name.

Bugzie's Mountain, or Bugzie's Hill, is a piece of Route 902 located at the entrance to Summit Hill from Mahoning Township.A bar and restaurant, named Bugzie's, was perched at the top of the hill. It was built in the 1920s.In its heyday, it was a popular place for socializing. One of the more popular items on the menu was hard-shelled crabs.It was one of the first locations to have television reception, before cable TV, where sports fans would congregate to watch a game, beamed in from Philadelphia or New York.Eventually, problems began occurring which resulted in police responses, including an instance where a patron was injured when he was set on fire. An arrest and conviction occurred from the incident.Bugzie's closed for good in early April 1987 25 years ago.Three weeks after the closure, early in the morning of April 22, 1987, the official doom of the hotel occurred when a raging fire gutted the 2 1/2 story structure, forcing its demolition.About 1:30 a.m. on the morning of the fire, Summit Hill Police Officer Robert Bashore passed the inn and didn't notice anything suspicious."There was no fire at that time," he told the TIMES NEWS.An hour later, Lucinda Bamford of Lansford was passing the hotel and saw dense black smoke. Cell phones weren't as common as they are today, so Bamford had to drive to her mother's home in the White Bear section of Summit Hill to call the Panther Valley Communications Center.Bashore was the first emergency responder to reach the scene."I went behind the building and saw small flames coming from one of the doors," he said.The fire had a vigorous start and quickly spread throughout the structure.Summit Hill Fire Chief Louis Mitchalk said the whole building became involved in flames in a very short time."The fire was going pretty good," agreed Mahoning Township Fire Chief David Pollock. "It got burning in the ceilings and we had a hard time fighting it."One of the problems with battling the fire was extensive remodeling which had occurred to Bugzie's, including three different types of ceilings installed one on top of the other and the partitioning of a former spacious dining area.An estimated 150 volunteers from nine communities battled the stubborn blaze for several hours.The building was owned at the time by Susan Easterly of Mahoning Township. A second-floor apartment was being rented by Kathy Tessitore, who lived there with an 11-month-old daughter. They weren't in the building when the fire occurred.Mitchalk said the origin of the fire was suspicious in nature, and no reported cause was ever listed.The remnants of the fire-damaged structure were razed and today a private residence sits on the site.