Old North Dayton was traditionally the most densely concentrated neighborhood of Eastern European immigrants in Dayton, and it was a self-sufficient, walkable area with schools, churches, shopping, and entertainment all in close proximity.
The intersection of Troy and Valley Streets was the commercial center, known as “The Point,” with business development extending far along both of those thoroughfares.
Today the neighborhood has lost much of its density and a large percentage of its residents, and its cohesive feel was damaged with the construction of Route 4 through the heart of the area.
But Old North Dayton does retain some pockets of its European heritage, including churches, social clubs, and numerous small businesses.
One of these businesses is the Amber Rose restaurant at 1400 Valley Street, which offers up great Eastern European cuisine in a historic setting.
The food does a good job of representing the various European traditions that were present in Old North Dayton, as it features German, Lithuanian, Polish, Hungarian, Russian and even Italian menu items.
Favorites include (but are certainly not limited to) pierogis and onions, turtle soup, Lithuanian cabbage rolls, virtinai (meat dumplings), Hungarian paprika chicken, and several varieties of sausage.
The bar is made of imported Turkish marble and features hard-to-find European beers and wines. The restaurant also offers two private banquet rooms for special events.
History of the Amber Rose and Sig’s General Store
The building that houses the Amber Rose was built around 1910 by Sigmund Ksiezopolski, who ran a general store and deli on the ground floor and lived with his family upstairs. The general store known as Sig’s would survive until the 1980s.
In 1989, Elinor Sluzas bought the building and planned to open a restaurant until a devastating fire put those plans on hold.
But Sluzas was resilient and by the following year the damaged portion of the building had been rebuilt and the restaurant opened as planned.
Joe Castellano bought the restaurant when Sluzas retired, but he kept using her tried and true recipes.
Haunted Amber Rose?
There’s also one more twist to the Amber Rose: many say it’s haunted!
The restaurant appears in the book Haunted Ohio III and employees have long reported a number of strange happenings, including glasses flying off of shelves, doors mysteriously slamming, and lights and fans turning on by themselves in the upstairs office.
Some claim to have seen a young girl with black hair wearing a white gown staring out of the attic window at night, and a restaurant cook reported that the same spirit appeared in front of him one evening (a strange light in the kitchen at the same time the cook claimed to have seen the spirit was captured on surveillance camera).
The author of the Haunted Ohio book believes this to be Genevieve Ksiezopolski, known as “Chickie,” a daughter of Sigmund who never married and thus lived her entire life above the old general store.
The Amber Rose stays open until 9pm or 10pm most days of the week for those who’d like to try to catch a glimpse of “Chickie,” while those hoping to avoid a ghostly encounter can stick to the lunch menu.
Update: The Amber Rose was significantly damaged on May 27, 2019 by the tornado that swept through Old North Dayton. Many residential streets in the neighborhood were devastated, as well as numerous other Miami Valley locations. The community response was swift and major cleanup efforts helped the restaurant reopen soon after.
Image credit: Wdzinc
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