Lyndora Hotel sees its last day
BUTLER TWP — You always knew where Bea Hickey, of Center Township, would be on Friday nights: at the Lyndora Hotel, drinking a Long Island iced tea.
She had her last one at the restaurant Wednesday evening, Sept. 6, the Lyndora Hotel’s last day of operation.
“We moved here five years ago from Florida, and we were looking for a place that was like the place we went there,” Hickey said about herself and her husband, Don. “We like the people and the food; we’re going to miss it.”
On Monday, Aug. 29, the owners of the Lyndora Hotel announced the restaurant would close Wednesday, Sept. 6, after 76 years of business.
Mike Pawk, who owns the business along with his siblings, said they tried to sell the business and liquor license to continue its legacy in Butler, but to no avail. The liquor license was recently transferred to the Sheetz in Harrisville borough, according to Pawk.
The bar and restaurant has been owned by the family since 1947. The building was constructed in 1908, and also served as a hotel for travelers doing business at the steel mills, Pawk said.
On Wednesday, the bar was packed with people, some of them with tears in their eyes as they drank a last beer or ate their final chicken wing at the Butler Township staple. Strangers sat at tables together, in part because there was nowhere else to sit, but also because it let them share memories with one another.
Laura Santora, one of the owners of the Lyndora Hotel, was stopped by almost everyone at the bar to get a hug and goodbye words.
“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “I am loving everyone’s shared memories.”
Stephen Tylor, of Center Township, said he celebrated his 21st birthday at the Lyndora Hotel, and it has had a special place in his heart ever since. He described the restaurant as a good meeting place for everyone.
“Where brothers and sisters can come and have a great meal that grandma would approve of,” Tylor said. “My wife and I, we would come for all the Steeler games and after each golf event. You play golf four or five days a week — that’s a lot of Lyndora Hotel.”
Amy Shinsky normally returns to her hometown of Butler from Fort Worth, Texas, a few times a year, and always makes a point to go to the Lyndora Hotel during her visits. She made a special trip this week to go to the restaurant one last time with her brother, Richard Shinsky.
“I came here 25 years ago with my sister-in-law, who is passed now,” Amy Shinsky said. “We said (to Richard) we would be here an hour. We had to call him hours later to come pick us up because we were having so much fun.”
Another aspect of the restaurant people lamented losing is the food. Joyce Klabnik, of Penn Township, said she goes to the Lyndora Hotel every Monday for chicken wings.
“I’ve lived here all my life and we would come,” Klabnik said. “My Aunt Helen used to sit right here from 2 to 4 p.m. seven days a week. We would meet her here all the time.”
Some people said the look and feel of the restaurant was special.
“The whole place, the history we’ll miss,” said Ken Benmar, of Center Township.
Hickey spent several hours at the bar Wednesday evening. She said she is not sure where she will go from now on when she wants a Long Island iced tea and good conversation.
“It has always been a family affair and now we’re losing all that,” Hickey said. “We’re really going to miss it. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
