Want to own a piece of the All-American Rathskeller’s history? Here’s what to know
Memorabilia from the All-American Rathskeller is set to be auctioned off this summer more than three years after the downtown State College landmark closed its doors.
Three auctions are planned to begin Friday and continue through at least July 17.
Duke and Monica Gastiger wanted little more than to put the All-American Rathskeller in good hands when their revered business closed in 2018.
The husband and wife duo who operated what was once the longest-running bar in State College hoped to package the watering hole’s name, liquor license and memorabilia together. That didn’t happen.
The Gastigers instead filed a lawsuit that was eventually settled out of court to protect the restaurant’s name and transferred their liquor license to RE Farm Cafe, a restaurant the pair opened in 2019.
They removed the Skeller’s entire collection of artwork and memorabilia before their lease expired, leaving them to ponder what to do with a hodgepodge of items linked to downtown State College’s history.
The longtime business owners considered selling the entire collection to a single buyer, but struggled to find someone who they considered a good steward of their business.
That’s part of the reason why the Gastigers’ turned to their former employees and decades’ worth of customers to preserve the last physical remnants of the famed bar.
“It was important to us that we find the person or a group of people that would be good caretakers of the legacy of the Rathskeller,” Gastiger said Monday. “... It’s been a lineage of people who had a real love for the Skeller, even back to Doggie Alexander in 1933. It’s much more than just a business. Ultimately, we were unable to find somebody to fit all those bills.”
The first of the three sales is a private auction limited to Rathskeller and Spats Café and Speakeasy alumni. The auction is scheduled to begin noon Friday and continue until 11:59 p.m. July 11.
A public, online auction is scheduled to follow from 12:01 a.m. July 12 until noon July 16. Items — which were cataloged, researched and photographed by former employees Joe Bonner and Ellen Braun — will be available to purchase at theskeller.com.
Any remaining items — whether framed art, photographs signed by athletes and celebrities, tables or bar lights — are expected to be auctioned July 17 at RE Farm Cafe.
“It was an extremely emotional period that my wife and I both went through because so much of our lives were wrapped up in the people that made the Skeller and Spats what they were,” Gastiger said. “It’s good to reflect.”
The Gastigers almost immediately ruled out reopening the Rathskeller in a new location, though Duke wasn’t as quick to rule out opening another bar.
He left the door ajar until the coronavirus pandemic, when his motivation waned. Operating a State College bar takes an “inordinate” amount of energy, the 69-year-old said.
It didn’t help that one recent Penn State graduate told Gastiger during a golf outing they never heard of the Rathskeller, while a second graduate only recognized it as the place where Doggie’s Pub now stands.
“It’s sad,” Gastiger said. “But change is change.”