Two markers just inside the front door at the Subway Cafe in Harrisburg illustrate some of the challenges this unassuming neighborhood institution has faced since opening in 1935.
One, halfway up the door, marks the high water line from a 1936 flood.
About four feet above that, another marker shows how high the water rose during Hurricane Agnes in 1972, nearly reaching the ceiling. By then, the Subway had become a local favorite for the signature personal pizzas with a cracker-like crust and other Italian specialties, which owners Liana and Donato Giusti began serving when they took over the business in 1948.
The Subway bounced back from those floods and decades of change to become a go-to lunch and after-work spot among locals, including workers from the long-shuttered Harrisburg Steel Corp. and TRW manufacturing plant, politicians and state employees, and area residents. Even as jobs left the city and dining tastes changed, the Herr Street restaurant managed to outlive dozens of other eateries in the area, remaining a place where locals gathered over pizza and beer, served in its unique fashion.
On a recent Monday afternoon, I visited the two-story brick building with the neon sign for the first time in about 15 years. Much to my delight, I found that things haven’t changed a bit.
