#6087 - Red Star Inn, Cumberland Township (Fairdale), PA - 2/26/2025

Serb Krewasky, Red Star Inn, Fairdale, PA

Miljo “Serb” Krewasky opened his bar here on Labor Day 1965 -- almost 60 years before I first set foot in it on this day, with him still working the bar. Serb says it had been the Red Star Inn since 1938. In this case, the nickname is accurate, as Miljo ("My-low") is indeed Serbian, and has hosted a Serbian Christmas celebration each Dec 7 for decades. He told me he served in the Army infantry 1961 to '63, and when he heard them call him "Miljo" instead of "Serb," he knew he was in trouble.

There's a framed, yellowed newspaper hanging over the paint peeling from the wall, with a blaring headline: "Cumberland Twp. Plays Wilmerding for Title." "That's older than you are," says Serb, and I thought he was probably wrong, but as it was about the 1952 squads, he was correct. The local Carmichaels boys (Cumberland Township), including freshman Miljo Krewasky, made it all the way to the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) B Division Championship that year, having whipped Zelienople 40-14 for their 10th straight win. The "Mighty Mikes" would go on to nip Wilmerding 12-6 to take the title.

Serb was started out as a quarterback and later played linebacker. He is 86 now, but he's not ready to give up the bar. When he does, he says it will be to family only. His hand shakes now as he pours me a shot of Jameson. It was a beer and shot bar when it was full of coal miners, and it's a beer and shot joint today. There's still a framed photo of FDR on the back bar. 

I went from doubting this place was still open to adding it to my list of favorite dive bars in western Pennsylvania. It was an old geezer in an old bar up the road that told me about the place -- "It's even older than this one," he told me. If you're not immediately endeared to a small town working class bar that features a 70-year-old news clip about the local high school team, and with an 86-year-old alumnus pouring you a shot, well, we just have very different tastes.

334 S Vine St, Carmichaels, PA 15320 - (724) 966-9937
Est. 1938 
Articles: greenscenemagazine  

#6088 - Pancake Inn, South Strabane (Pancake), PA - 2/26/2025

Dave Crompton, Pancake Inn, South Strabane, PA

Dave Crompton, AKA "Clem Riley," dressed in a bathrobe and shorts, sat at the bar of in the joint his father bought in in 1964, when Dave was 18. Dave's worked in it ever since, along with his other profession as a bricklayer. It's been the "Pancake Inn" since sometime before that -- I found several liquor license suspensions of former owner Charles Johnson in 1963 and '64, which perhaps contributed to his motivation to sell the place?

You can't get pancakes at the Pancake Inn, nor at any other business in the Pancake, the unincorporated community established in 1822 by settler George Pancake. Before it was a bar, the Pancake Inn building served at least into the 1920s as a one-room schoolhouse, hard by the famous "National Road," originally comprised of the Native Americans' Nemacolin's Trail and Mingo Path, which was later traversed by George Washington himself on his way to erect Fort Necessity during the French and Indian War.

From aged Insulbrick interior it doesn't look like a place where you could take for granted that non-locals were welcomed, but they definitely are by Dave. He tells Dan the bartender that my first drink is on the house, and tries to do the same with my second. He enjoys chatting, generally responding with a satisfied, "Cool beans!"

The decor is just what you'd want in a classic dive -- artifacts that have plainly been collected over many years from many sources, including "Dusty," the mounted deer head, much in winsome disrepair, shabby but perfectly functional.

It's the sort of joint that I will make a point of visiting when I am in the area.

1726 E Maiden St, Washington, PA 15301 - (724) 229-0648
Est. 1963 or earlier 
Previous bars in this location: None known 
Web site: facebook 
Reviews: triblive - untappd 

#6068 - Pleasure Bar, Pittsburgh, PA - 2/7/2025

Pleasure Bar, Pittsburgh, PA 

On our way to a late dinner at Fet-Fisk in Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood, we stopped in for a beer at the Pleasure Bar. Pleasure Bar is an old neighborhood joint (the sign right out front says since 1941, which isn't exactly accurate but is only a few years off), with a neighborhood bar on the edge of divey-ness up front and an Italian restaurant behind and beside.

If it weren't for our reservation at a difficult to get into restaurant, I would have welcomed the chance to taste the food I smelled there, and could have easily spent a few hours chatting with long-time locals Ollie, Patrick, and 2 others, as well as bartender Christy.

Pleasure Bar, Pittsburgh, PA 

Pleasure Bar was established in 1944 by Samuel and Michel Collinger in 1944 in a space that had briefly been filled by the Friendship Restaurant. It was one of several businesses named "Metropolitan Restaurant" in the 1920s and "Bloomfield Tavern" during the 30s. Pleasure Bar remained in the Collinger family for many years, and all the regulars we chatted with remembered them well.

It seems to have had a colorful history. In the 40s John Collinger was reputed to be one of the biggest numbers operators in the city. The family also didn't seem to buy into the blue laws restricting activities on Sundays, having had their license suspended at least once for serving alcohol on Sundays and another time for allowing dancing (the horror!) on Sundays.

Pleasure Bar has been run by only three families since 1944: The Collinger family eventually sold the business to Robert Mariani and the Mariani family, who ran it for about 25 years until selling it to Jim Campau in 2009, with the Campau family continuing to run it today.

4729 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224 - (412) 682-9603
Est. 1944 
Previous bars in this location: New Metropolitan Restaurant, Bloomfield Tavern, Friendship Restaurant
Web site: pleasurebarpittsburgh.com - facebook - instagram 
Reviews: cooksandeats - yelp - travelocity - thrillist - acrosspittsburgh 

#6064 - Corner Cafe, Pittsburgh, PA - 2/3/2025

Corner Cafe and Bar, Pittsburgh, PA

This is a cool neighborhood bar in the South Side Slopes section of Pittsburgh. It may or may not fit your description of a "dive," it is old school in many ways, but certainly not all, hosting live hardcore bands, comedy acts, and late night drag shows. But for me, the main attraction is the beautiful back bar.

I have nothing like a comprehensive history of the bar, but continue to slowly piece things together. The "Corner Cafe" appears to first show up in city directories in 1938. But the building and hotel have been around since at least the 1880s. A framed photograph in the bar itself claims to be from 1890 and notes that the location was then known as the Fischer Hotel. Sure enough, the 1907 Mowrey Directory for Pittsburgh contains a listing for John Fischer at S 18th and Monestary in the Hotels section -- although I can find no application for a liquor license for the location. (John Fischer does, however, apply for annual liquor licenses for a restaurant at 128 17th Street, which I believe is the location of the current Dish Osteria.) 

Corner Cafe and Bar, Pittsburgh, PA 

I do not know the origins of the bar itself, but it is impressive, with gold trim and appliques, a curve awning-style top section extending outward, and top shelves on either side featuring a small railing. I assume it is pre-prohibition, and if it came from one of the major manufacturers of the time, it seems a little more in the style of B.A. Stevens bars than Brunswick. If anyone can point me to any more history of the building, bar, or business, I'd love to hear it.

  

2500 S 18th St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 - (412) 488-2995
Est. 1938 or earlier - Building constructed: 1887 or earlier
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: instagram 
Reviews: yelp