Something old, something new, something borrowed, something brewed
From left, Waynesburg Mayor Greg Leathers, State Rep. Bud Cook, Commissioner Betsy McClure, Ingrid Toothman, Farley Toothman, Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, Commissioner Mike Belding and Chamber of Commerce Board Member Jay Hammers. Courtesy of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce
Top right: Jack Snyder, center, scoops ice cream while wife Pam was the celebrity barista at a recent Friday at Farley’s. C.R. Nelson/for the Observer-Reporter
Bottom right: Aaron Houser, left, of CASA of Greene County, and MaChal Forbes, center, of United Way of Greene County, chat during a luncheon meeting for all the human services nonprofits in the county to meet, eat and plan for the year, showing the comfort these groups feel about working with each other to get things done. C.R. Nelson/for the Observer-Reporter
Bottom right: Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, left, congratulates Farley Toothman’s wife, Ingrid, for putting up with Farley. C.R. Nelson/for the Observer-Reporter
Farley Toothman, center, stands under softly glowing glassware glued to the ceiling of his eclectic soda shop filled with history and bric-a-brac. C.R. Nelson/for the Observer-Reporter
C.R. Nelson/for the Observer-Reporter
Farley’s offers a variety of soda flavors. Courtesy of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce
Middle right: Coffee gear sits alongside charming decor. Courtesy of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce
Hotel Lantz was built in the 1880s and offered lavish accommodations for about 20 years before the building was sold. Courtesy of Farley Toothman
Bottom right: Farley had quite the momumental task ahead of him in fixing up the former hotel at 55 S. Morgan Street in Waynesburg. Courtesy of Farley Toothman
Courtesy of Farley Toothman
Courtesy of Farley Toothman
Courtesy of Farley Toothman
Courtesy of Farley Toothman
Middle right: Former owner Jim Orin during the Waynesburg Hotel and Lounge days. Courtesy of Farley Toothman
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Farley and Ingrid Toothman scoop and serve a variety of ice cream flavors for guests of all ages every Friday evening, when Farley’s Hotel Cafe opens from 4 to 8 p.m. for sweet desserts, freshly brewed coffee and tasty ‘taters. Farley Toothman spent nearly six years renovated the former Waynesburg Hotel and Lounge into a surreal gathering space.
Bottom left: A crank telephone that once belonged to Gov. Edward Martin hangs near the ice cream parlor window inside Farley’s Hotel Café, where folks are invited to enjoy fudge, root beer floats, coffee and taters every Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A dizzying spectacle is the Upside Down room in Farley’s Hotel Café, where a collection of China and glass dishware decorates the ceiling. Other themed rooms include the library, filled with law memorabilia. Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Welcome to Farley’s Hotel Cafe, a creatively repurposed, revitalized and quite tasty bit of Greene County history that officially opened its doors on Feb. 17.
Part coffee slash water bar, part ice cream parlor of your childhood dreams, part historical relic, knick knack heirloom artifact salvaged from the last hundred plus years of local living, arranged, displayed, glued and hung on every table, shelf, ceiling and wall, it dares you to see it all – then cheerfully invites you back to try again. And again.
Jay Hammers, once a next-door business neighbor, summed it up as he stood with Farley Toothman at the bar. “You just can’t see everything. I came in today and said, ‘Oh look – there’s an oar up there!'”
Before the ribbon was cut, owner Farley Toothman took first-time visitors like State Representative Bud Cook on a tour of the old hotel at 55 S. Morgan Street, Waynesburg. Built in the 1880s, Hotel Lantz had lavish accommodations with ornate tiled fireplaces (yes, some were salvaged). Around 1905, George M. Fordyce bought it, and Fordyce Hotel became a place for farmers and other travelers to unhitch their horses and stay for a night when in town. When Fordyce Hotel became Waynesburg Hotel and Lounge and new owner Jim Orum added gaming machines and a bar, the cramped, subdivided rooms became places that only the poor could afford. Orum died in 2010, and Crystal Ellifritz, owner of Ellifritz Amusement Co., bought the business at the estate auction in 2012 but never reopened it. The aging landmark stood unoccupied until Farley Toothman bought it and got to work. And now, this moment of reopening served up with a side order of ice cream. Thirty-some flavors and counting. Have you tried the toasted coconut?
“I hated to see it dilapidated and empty with no one doing anything about it,” said Toothman, a former Greene County Judge and self-described savior of old historic buildings. “I knew it was a wreck. There was mold in the basement where water had gotten in. It was really bad. But I saw hints of possibility…”
Those hints took the best part of six years to come shining through. Toothman took photos of the transformation as he and his hired workers dug, hauled, replaced, restored and finally refurbished.
“People say, hey, you fixed that building up. Well yeah, I’ve always liked to fix up old buildings and old cars, but this building actually fixed me up. This is a new chapter in my life.”
The rooms that line the long hallway upstairs “used to rent for $300 a month with one light and one outlet. Everything else was extension cords. I bought all these used windows and put them in. That’s fireproof drywall, new wiring, a new heating system.”
That was then. Now it was time to look back and grin.
“I’d come home from a day at Children’s Court and say, ‘Honey, I glued sheet music to the ceiling today,’ and Ingrid would say, ‘That’s nice!'”
Toothman admits the lessons learned doing volunteer work scraping walls and rearranging old furniture with his dad at the Greene County Historical Society as a kid came in handy as he took on every room and crevice of the old building that would someday house the artifacts he has managed to collect.
“My mother was a collector of stuff, so was my father, and they lived in a big old house. There was a lot of stuff when they passed, and there were certain things I would never get rid of, and pretty soon, I saw this could be a place to display various things. I thought every room should be a theme. I tried to collect all the history I could find on the coal industry and put it in the library. My father’s art is hanging on the walls.”
His mother’s teacups? Glue them, along with a sparkling array of salvaged glassware, ornamental plates and genteel whatnots, to the ceiling in the room next to the library and lace them together with holiday lights.
In the music room next to the back door ramp, Nelson Fox played a medley of show tunes to rock and roll on the baby grand piano. At the bar at the end of the hall, songs that memories are made of come through speakers hidden amid the artifacts on the wall.
Above the bar, the restored wooden wheels with their iconic lantern glass lights were shining, a living memory for some of their Waynesburg College days when “Wagon Wheel” or just “the Wheel” was code for let’s go downtown. Today, the downstairs bar they headed for is Hideaway Candle Bar, a DYI candle-making hang out owned and operated by Central Greene high school math teacher Sara Eddy.
The upstairs bar in the lobby of the old hotel is where coffee is now being brewed, hot, cold or steamed. The water bar has a fountain of flavors- how about desert pear? The half-coffee sodas are from the bye-gone days of soda fountains in drug stores, and how about a root beer float? Ice cream is brought in from the Chautauqua area of New York, and local high school and Waynesburg University students and graduates work here on Fridays and for special events.
Scooping ice cream and making banana splits is nothing new to Toothman or the kids he grew up with in Waynesburg, back in the 1960s. “We have connections – we were DBs – dairy boys at Bryans Dairy!” Commissioner Blair Zimmerman told the crowd.
“We’re doing a little science here making fudge, waffles for cones, stuffed taters,” Toothman said. How about a square stack of Farley’s Famous Fries? “We’re working on it.”
If there are two phrases to sum this all up, Toothman thinks he’s found them: “Community in a cone or a cup” and “It has to be unique to make them come and then come back.”
For now, the doors are open Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. with local well-known local “celebrity” baristas on hand to serve, keep the conversation lively and sometimes hold auctions for worthy causes like CASA – Court Appointed Special Advocates for children caught up in the court system.
When organizational meetings, reunions and other events are scheduled, the ice cream parlor and cafe are open for business.
With spring and summer just around the corner, there are more open days and events on the horizon, Toothman said. How about movie night on the lawn? Karaoke jam? A birthday party? Stop by Farleys Hotel Cafe on Facebook. Make a suggestion. Stay tuned. See you next Friday!