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Owner of The Peanut Bar Taking Business His Grandfather Started During Prohibition Into 101st Year

BySteph Walton and Tamala Edwards WPVI logo
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Art of Aging - A Real Life Speakeasy
The bar and restaurant opened during prohibition.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging

Michael Leifer is the third-generation owner of Jimmie Kramer's The Peanut Bar Restaurant.

"This is my grandfather, Isadore, but he went by Jimmie, Jimmie Kramer," says Leifer. "My grandfather was very much the good-time guy."

Leifer says Kramer opened the bar as a speakeasy in 1924 in nearby Wernersville, PA.

"It was right in the middle of Prohibition and for the first nine years of our existence we moved around quite a bit," he says.

The bar moved to its current location in Reading, PA in 1933, with Michael's father, Harold Leifer, taking over in the 1950s.

"I've been actually working full time in the business since 1978," says Leifer. "We're very family focused."

He says the restaurant is a place that people find as "a home away from home."

"People start coming here as strangers and they become friends, and later family," says Leifer. "The people are what make us what we are."

True to its name, peanuts are plentiful, with bowls on every table.

"The peanuts on the floor here started in 1935," he says. "And we've been doing it ever since."

He says it was his grandfather's idea to "let people relax and throw those shells right on the floor."

Food was first introduced by Leifer's grandmother, Annie, otherwise known as "Mom".

"My grandmother was really the backbone of the business," he says.

Leifer calls her "an incredible cook."

He says she made her Depression-era crab cakes with a lot of egg, filler and some crab meat, which is very different than the Broiled Jumbo Lump Maryland Crab Cakes they serve now.

Seafood is still big on the menu, with popular items like the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail.

He says they offer very fresh food with a lot of it being "locally sourced."

"We have a fabulous dessert," he says. "It's a frozen, chocolate-covered pretzel ice cream pie."

Now Leifer spends a lot of time bartending, just as his father did. There are a lot of specialty drinks offered, like the "Mickey's Margarita," which Leifer created.

He says they also make a drink called the "Just Trust Me."

"The thing I enjoy most about our business is interacting with our guests, making memories all the time," he says. "And that's what keeps me going."

He says as the business moves into its 101st year, there's "immense pride" for what his family and staff have done over so many years.

Jimmie Kramer's The Peanut Bar Restaurant

Jimmie Kramer's The Peanut Bar Restaurant
332 Penn Street
Reading, PA 19602

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