Rotgut.org Blog: #6324 - Lucky Frank's Irish Pub, Braddock, PA

Saturday, August 30, 2025

#6324 - Lucky Frank's Irish Pub, Braddock, PA - 8/27/2025

Lucky Frank's Irish Pub, Braddock, PA

A lot of people assume Lucky Frank's Irish Pub is no longer open, and that's what I had done until a local informed me that it's one of those places where you have to ring the doorbell and hope they let you in. Standing on the main drag of Braddock, PA, with an attention grabbing "Harper Whiskey" ad painted on the side, it's not that you'd miss Frank's, but from the front doorway there are no signs of lights on inside, and not knowing about the doorbell, my previous attempts ended when I found the door locked. This time, however, the door was actually slightly propped open, and I entered and took a seat at the bar, in front of two interesting old back bars, and amidst some curious stares.

Lucky Frank's Irish Pub, Braddock, PA

The borough of Braddock, just southeast of Pittsburgh, was name for the British General who died here in a failed mission to take Fort Duquesne from the French (his aide-de-camp Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington would live to fight another day). It has been a struggling community ever since the Carnegie steel mills closed down in the 1970s and 1980s. It was named a "financially distressed municipality" by the state, and in 2006 elected a hulking, shorts and hoodie wearing mayor named John Fetterman, who initiated various revitalization efforts. On this day, in addition to Frank's, I was able to visited the recently reopened and still being remodeled "Carnegie One," the very first of the over sixteen hundred libraries erected with funding from the steel magnate.

It should go without saying that inside Frank's is a classic dive bar, and it was tended by a woman who told me her name was Henrietta, but was curiously called "Mary" by all the patrons. Mary/Henrietta examined my ID carefully, quizzing me about whether I worked for a lawyer or was an inspector of some sort. The bar has a posted policy of not allowing anyone under the age of 35, a policy that is not so much enforced anymore, esp. since COVID. Mary told me she's a tough broad, and informed me that "There's something wrong with you and I'm going to figure it out." When I asked her if it was okay if I took some pictures she called Frank, who gave the okay.

With a cold Yuengling in hand and my web page on the phone, I eventually convinced Mary that I was who I said I was and I was there because of my bar hobby. It turned out that Mary had a lot of information to share about the bar, its history, and people there and around the neighborhood, and we slowly become something like buddies. She dug out relics from the bar, including pulling out boxes of old bottles she'd founding digging in and around the building, unwrapping each one from the packing paper to show me.

It's clear that the Frank's building is pretty old, and that it's hosted bars for a long time, but I've only been able to find snippets of information, especially post-prohibition. There have been saloons at this address since at least 1889, under the following succession of owners:

Samuel R. Holmes (-1889-)

Patrick McKeown (-1890-1902) and John O. Lightner (-1892-)

Christian Echart (1901-1904)

Fritz Totzke and Peter Schmidt (1904-1905)

Matthew Marohnick (1905-1907)

Michael Kalina (1907-1908-)

Peter J. Caulfield (-1909-1919-)

Frank Skrabec (-1913-1921-)

From there the info becomes more sparse. In 1935 it was a tavern named the "Barcewicz Café," by 1949 it was the "Silver Grill," and it was "Lucky Frank's Irish Pub" by 1993. Around 15 years ago it was closed by the authorities for several years due to rampart drug activity. It was reopened in 2012, under a plan from owners Frank Evanovich and Charles Blon that included banning anyone under 30 and staying open only from 8am to 6pm.

As I left Frank's, Mary escorted me out the door, continuing to share information, until we each took a photo of the other in front of the place, and gave each other a departing hug. I'm really hoping I can dig out substantially more of the history of the bars here, and definitely plan to return.