Rotgut.org Blog: #6087 - Red Star Inn, Cumberland Township (Fairdale), PA

Thursday, February 27, 2025

#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.