Log Cabin Inn marks milestone

By Christopher Behnan
Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (Howell)

GENOA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Brothers Harry and Nick Kovanis consider themselves “survivors,” a trait they attribute to keeping the Log Cabin Inn in Genoa Township going strong for more than four decades.

The Kovanis brothers opened the Log Cabin Inn restaurant and bar in Genoa Township, 45 years ago, after relocating to the U.S. from outside Athens, Greece.

The Kovanis brothers’ father served with the U.S. Army in World War I. Their father in 1920 returned to Greece, where he raised his sons and two daughters.

“That’s what they did in those days, came here for five years, 10 years,” before starting families in Greece, Nick Kovanis told the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus in Howell.
Nick Kovanis started in the restaurant business from the ground up, working first as a dishwasher and bartender.

Harry Kovanis, primarily a chef, uses the same recipe for his popular Greek pizza today that he used in 1956 at a Royal Oak pizzeria.

They set up shop in Livingston County after seeking a quieter community, farther west than the busier Detroit suburbs.

“It got too crowded down there,” Nick Kovanis said.

The brothers first considered starting their business in Fowlerville and Charlotte in Eaton County before settling on the rustic, log-cabin-style building between Howell and Brighton.

The original building, formerly a beer, wine and grocery store, was constructed in the late 1800s. It was destroyed in a June 1999 fire.

The fire occurred when a work crew boring a hole for a fiberoptic cable hit a gas main. Natural gas seeped into the sewer system, igniting a blaze in the restaurant and tavern.

Nick Kovanis’ son, a builder, rebuilt the Log Cabin Inn in 2004. The business was then reopened the following year.