Riley's Restaurant & Pub, Whitehall

The building that houses Riley's Restaurant & Pub has worn many hats in its lifetime. Erected in 1790 as the Egypt Hotel, it transformed into a store, tavern, and post office as the city around it grew from a clapboard village to a town with trolleys and traffic lights. Throughout prohibition, the building's owners kept spirits high by transforming it yet again into a dance hall and ice-cream parlor. Today, the historic spot continues to entertain visitors, albeit now with an Irish twist: the pub fills bellies with cheesesteak sandwiches, burgers, and homemade specialties including crab cakes. Through a recent $100,000 remodeling effort, it has even rekindled the magic of its former self, restoring the tin ceiling to its original copper color and shaving off its middle-aged love handles.