Rosedale Inn

Introduction

There seems to have been a tavern at the corner of 36th and Federal Streets for many years prior to World War I. Jacob Bendinger was the proprietor as early as 1899 through at least 1906. Bendinger had operated a saloon at 120 Market Street in the late 1880s and early 1890s.

A Russian Jewish immigrant, Samuel Zeff, acquired the business in 1917. On May 25, 1917 Judge John B. Kates approved the transfer of the liquor license from Mary Krenzle to Samuel Zeff. The Zeff family lived above the bar, and operated the business for decades. Samuel Zeff passed away in the 1950s.

The Rosedale Inn incorporated Chinese food into their menu by the mid 1960s. The Zeff family sold the bar in the 1990s to the Chinese family which had operated the kitchen for many years. The bar closed around 2001, and was sold to a nearby church for use as a community center.

Early in 2003 the church abandoned the building, and it stood vacant most of that year. The Rosedale Inn was razed over three days in mid-November, 2003.