By Kara O’Neil, Staff Writer, The Derrick
June 12, 2025
Things were bustling both inside and outside of 100 Seneca on Tuesday, providing more insight in the evolution of the former bank building in Oil City.
A new sign for Side Hustle Brews, a maker of craft beverages, was affixed to the back of the building facing Oil Creek. The Exchange by Side Hustle, a restaurant with a distillery and brewery, is scheduled to open in early summer.
The new sign, which is 67 feet long and 9 feet high, covers where the Mellon Bank sign used to be at the top of the building.
Inside, there was plenty of work activity on the first floor as the 46-foot long, cherry bar top was installed on top of marble that once supported the bank teller counter.
Jeff Karns, founder of Side Hustle, said the brass footrail by the bar was repurposed from the former Days Inn in Oil City. Several lamps, also from the razed hotel, will adorn the bar.
The restaurant and distillery will have tables and chairs to accommodate 90 people on the first floor when it is finished, Karns said.
A ribbon-cutting for The Exchange by Side Hustle will be held during Oil Heritage Festival on July 23, Karns said. He is planning a soft opening in the weeks leading up to the ribbon-cutting.
During the soft opening, people will get to try a variety of dishes from a limited menu, said The Exchange’s chef, Chuck Hamm; for a flat fee, patrons will be able to try and review many dishes, according to Karns.
Hamm described it as a “food flight” with samples of six or seven appetizers, six or seven entrees and three desserts. This gives the cooks time to learn to prepare the dishes, and people get to try things they otherwise maybe wouldn’t think to order, he said.
The menu, Karns said, will have a “Cajun and barbecue backbone.”
John Thibaut, the front of house manager who is from Louisiana, said “Cajun food is not spicy, it’s flavorful.”
Read the original article from The Derrick here.