2019 Update: MAN has the White Horse become one of my favorite places! So much so that we left home wicked early (they still close at 11am) to get there in time for breakfast on my BIRTHDAY!
Please please please do yourself a favor and visit there, you'll love it like I do!
Original 2015 Post:
As soon as I saw The White Horse in Berwick Pennsylvania in the background of a photo of my pal Jimmy Rosen's car, I was obsessed with visiting it.
I mean how could I not? LOOK at this place - with the exception of the ramp out front and a few incidentals, it looks like this photo could've been snapped 75 years ago!
Nestled in a residential neighborhood, you wouldn't know to even look for it, as Google doesn't have it on their map and Yelp is wrong and says they're closed.
Mod Betty says - THEY'RE OPEN.
As if the outside wasn't enough to get you to want to go there - as soon as you pressed your nose up to the glass and glanced inside, there would be NO TURNING BACK because, well...take a look: While it is a bit worn, The White Horse looks almost exactly like it did when it opened!
Check out that terrazzo floor, and those barstools, and that tile...!
So when I finally managed to get there when they were open, I was all agog at having felt like I totally stepped into a place that was frozen in time. But I was there! What a trip.
This is the type of place that gets Mod B acting like a total spaz - trying to act all normal and order breakfast when just below the surface I'm like "omg-omg-omg-this-place-is-so-awesome-but-if-I-try-and-tell-them-they'll-just-think-I'm-weird-calmdown-calmdown-be-normalz"especially when the jukebox looks like this:
So while I was failing at pretending to casually eat my tasty breakfast when really all I was doing was more gawking than eating, I finally had to confess to the sweet gal refilling my tea how much I was swooning over the restaurant!
She was not put off, thank goodness, but instead told me that she (Jeri), her mom, and her grandmother, ran the place.
As if I could not be more in love with this whole scenario, give me a gaggle of gals keeping a vintage joint alive, and I'm like, on the moon! You GO, ladies!
Can't you just hear the Glenn Miller on the jukebox? or see the folks swing dancing in the back, in front of the stage that is now just used for storage? Coming in after 2nd shift after working at the tank factory? Or in for breakfast after 3rd shift? Easy to imagine here.
Fast forward almost 75 years and be glad that Jeri's mom and Gmom have kept the place alive, serving breakfast for the past 24 years. And what a fine breakfast it is!
Not only tasty, but affordable too. Check out that menu!
While they're only open Tuesday-Saturday from 6am-11am, and Sunday from 8am-11am, you'll want to make a point to go there, as there are definitely not a lot of places like this around!
And tell Jeri Mod Betty sent you, you know "the crazy gal all excited about the authentic vintage charm!" :-)
AND PS: If you are reading this and thinking you're gonna try to sweet talk any of these ladies into selling you any pieces of this place for your own private collection, STOP. RIGHT.THERE. Mod Betty will throw a curse on you like you would not even believe. Seriously. Don't mess with me when it comes to stuff like that. I'm crazy about keeping the authentic vintage charm around FOR EVERYONE.
Places like these are wonderful. I can only imagine what it was like
during the early 40’s. You had to be damn good to continually attract
the workers from nearby factories. I love the atmosphere and have never
seen table-top jukebox units like those.
Adrian M. Hickman
April 12, 2015 at 10:56 amPlaces like these are wonderful. I can only imagine what it was like
during the early 40’s. You had to be damn good to continually attract
the workers from nearby factories. I love the atmosphere and have never
seen table-top jukebox units like those.
and you showed BREAKFAST!!!