State College establishments that alums miss the most

Omar81

Senior
Nov 12, 2014
244
526
93
Late 70s: The Cattle Car had great subs. The Train Yard was fun on nice spring afternoons. Tippy’s Tacos was short lived but a favorite of me and my friends. And for games, I preferred Campus Casino to Playland. Finally, my first date with my wife was at The Phyrst with the Phyrst Phamly performing — a blast.
 

OUIrPSU

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2021
997
1,290
93
Crap. Baby’s is gone!? Bummer. And I was there when Darkhorse opened. Honestly - I was too poor to go out for drinks and food during the week; had to save up for the weekends, so I missed out on the ‘regular’ bar culture for the most part, like discount pitcher night or wing night. I was lucky if I could get Chinese takeout and a couple beers at the end of the week. To that end, I don’t have a lot of places I’m super fond of. I did like Crowbar and The Saloon I guess. Thanks for sharing!
My wife worked at Baby’s in 1987 (I hadn’t met her yet).
 

rudedude

Heisman
Sep 28, 2002
7,736
15,126
113
The Lion’s Den, Mr. C’s, The Saloon


 
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razpsu

Heisman
Jan 13, 2004
12,680
12,022
113
How about the frozen tundra parking lot by east halls. Isn’t that a garage or a building now?
 
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Pocono Lion

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
2,054
3,687
113
Most of the ones mentioned, plus one. Village Inn Pizza, in the mid ‘80’s, it was up on North Atherton before it got all built up (maybe where Champs is now?). One night during the week they had all you can eat for a ridiculously low price. Not great pizza, but it WAS all you can eat. We used to pile in a few carloads and head up there on a regular basis. Probably contributed to them going out of business.
 

pennstater97

Junior
Oct 12, 2021
255
349
63
Lol.... post of.the year!

Surf Club - $.25 Bay Fries or onion rings. I still have one of the old plastic beer mugs. My daughter has an old t-shirt around somewhere.
I made it to the Surf Club once in the early 90s. I was in the Army and visited friends in State College while home on leave. Fun place (but we were there on a Saturday afternoon as Saturday night was spent at the Phyrst). It was closed by the time I was back as a student in 95.

Like others, enjoyed the Dark Horse. I remember that the owners son or nephew was RJ as, following one particular encounter, a friend gave us the mnemonic device of "Real Jerk" to remember his nick name (no idea if he really was a jerk lol).

I was also sad to see Baby's close. Yeah, it wasn't the greatest; but, my kids looked forward to dining there when we would visit State College. Now I need to find another fav for them. 😆
 
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Erial_Lion

All-Conference
Nov 1, 2021
3,092
3,722
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Post house tavern was a fine off the radar spot when I lived in atherton next to the imperial 400
Funny memories of Stoney’s…my senior year, they used to have a half price happy hour on Fridays from 4-6, with free pizza. Used to hit them up for a few hours before we’d head to the Cafe to see John Cunningham…they used to load those pizzas up with red pepper flakes, almost to the point they were inedible. But they sure sold a lot of beer as you were trying to cool off your mouth.
 

1995PSUGrad

Senior
Nov 16, 2019
648
933
93
Most of the ones mentioned, plus one. Village Inn Pizza, in the mid ‘80’s, it was up on North Atherton before it got all built up (maybe where Champs is now?). One night during the week they had all you can eat for a ridiculously low price. Not great pizza, but it WAS all you can eat. We used to pile in a few carloads and head up there on a regular basis. Probably contributed to them going out of business.
Not sure if Village Inn Pizza is the place I am thinking of, but a couple of friends and I went there one Saturday to watch a game (on a really big tv with a really bad picture) and for the all you can eat pizza. We expected a buffet but when we walked in we didn't see a buffet. When we asked the waitress about the all you can eat special, she said to just tell her what kind of pizza we wanted and they would make it for us. We had them making all kinds of pizza over the course of 3 hours during the game. We also probably contributed to them going out of business.
 

CF Lion

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2021
483
1,341
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This thread made me visit the digital archives of The Daily Collegian. I looked through a week of papers from my senior year and saw an ad for a restaurant called “Arthurs” that appeared every day. I don’t recall it at all but they had cheap pasta every night. The address was 214 W. College Ave. The special on Monday night was “Lusty Lasagna” for $2.95.
 

manatree

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2021
2,443
4,052
113
Most of the ones mentioned, plus one. Village Inn Pizza, in the mid ‘80’s, it was up on North Atherton before it got all built up (maybe where Champs is now?). One night during the week they had all you can eat for a ridiculously low price. Not great pizza, but it WAS all you can eat. We used to pile in a few carloads and head up there on a regular basis. Probably contributed to them going out of business.

Not sure if Village Inn Pizza is the place I am thinking of, but a couple of friends and I went there one Saturday to watch a game (on a really big tv with a really bad picture) and for the all you can eat pizza. We expected a buffet but when we walked in we didn't see a buffet. When we asked the waitress about the all you can eat special, she said to just tell her what kind of pizza we wanted and they would make it for us. We had them making all kinds of pizza over the course of 3 hours during the game. We also probably contributed to them going out of business.

The Villige Inn was on the corner of NAtherton & Woodycrest, across from the Sheetz. It was bulldozed and the lot now holds a Northwest Bank. It was a fine establishment that was a bit of a respite from the standard college bar.

The Champs on NAtherton was the sit down Susie Wong’s (see the photo above)
 

PSUJam

Heisman
Oct 7, 2021
12,128
22,133
113
This thread made me visit the digital archives of The Daily Collegian. I looked through a week of papers from my senior year and saw an ad for a restaurant called “Arthurs” that appeared every day. I don’t recall it at all but they had cheap pasta every night. The address was 214 W. College Ave. The special on Monday night was “Lusty Lasagna” for $2.95.
That appears to be in the same building as Cafe 210 West. Maybe upstairs?
 
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bbrown

Heisman
Jul 26, 2001
12,129
24,907
113
this has been a frequent topic over the years on the board.

Onward State posted Part 1 of an article on the subject. I think some of our past threads were better on the subject, but it's an interesting read.

In no order:
Train Station
The Brewery
Post House
Vesuvios
Bubbas
Stage Door Deli
Roy Rodgers
 
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Erial_Lion

All-Conference
Nov 1, 2021
3,092
3,722
113
This is my era - don’t recall SportsCenter though…
It was at the corner of College and Burrowes. Sports bar inside, with patio seating out front…pool and darts in the basement. Probably opened in about 98, and changed their name to The Soorts Cafe at some point when ESPN raised copyright concerns. They served 23oz beers. Probably spent every NFL Sunday out there for a few years.
 
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Midnighter

Heisman
Jan 22, 2021
11,004
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It was at the corner of College and Burrowes. Sports bar inside, with patio seating out front…pool and darts in the basement. Probably opened in about 98, and changed their name to The Soorts Cafe at some point when ESPN raised copyright concerns. They served 23oz beers. Probably spent every NFL Sunday out there for a few years.

Ah - graduated in 97.
 
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manatree

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2021
2,443
4,052
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This is my era - don’t recall SportsCenter though…

It used to be a Pizza Hut before it became the SportsCenter / SportsCafe. They painted the red roof blue. It was the de facto soccer bar for international & American students as it was the only place that would subscribe and show the various Euro league & cup games. They also had great burgers. It is currently Noodles & Co.
 

bbrown

Heisman
Jul 26, 2001
12,129
24,907
113
Trivia Tidbit. The Post House was originally part of a chain of Post House restaurants owned by Greyhound bus lines. They were typically built next to or even inside of a Greyhound bus station, some even operated a small hotel/motel.
+1. and I'm old enough to remember the Greyhound bus station that was in State College. :eek:
I think later on it was turned into a strip bar for about a minute.
It was also a long walk back to 737 Stratford drive at 2:00 in the morning from the Post House.