This 110 year old private club just reopened their doors.

This social club was once the hot spot for Italian immigrants back in the day. This wasn’t completely open to the community. You absolutely had to be a member. How do you become a member? You’ve got to be invited for membership here, buddy. And it will remain that way as they reopen their doors.

This Italian hotspot was reopened by Chef Cichonski, who was on the hunt for a new store front for some of his pasta creations as he stumbled upon the old club. It wasn’t exactly what he was going for, but he thought this could actually be a great idea and signed his name on the dotted line anyway.

Back in the day, Messina was a private social club/ community center for Italian (Sicilian) immigrants coming into Philadelphia. Every member was expected to pay dues. The dues covered the cost for things such as hospital bills, funeral costs, and anything else that would run up a check.

According to philly.com, Cichonski hopes that the membership invitation process will help its community grow. “That’s the whole point of these clubs — for people to be in community with each other,” he said. “It’s not us versus you.”

As for what’s on the menu, you can definitely expect European comfort food and amazing drinks. The menu is currently very limited, but as membership grows, so will the meu. The space can seat 36 people at a time, and are open until 3 am! Don’t worry, if you have a membership you can ring up to 3 guests. Membership is $100 and dues are only $25 for the entire year. Honestly, you can’t beat that!

 

 

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