Shades of Sol Lipkin and Faith Guthrie, the most famous coin-op old timers to crack 100 years on the earth! We just now learned that Philadelphia patriarch Al Rodstein will be honored at his own 100th birthday party on Saturday, Jan. 27.
The swank affair, set for the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Fla. will be produced by offspring and spouses Arlene, Jim, Jill, Howie and Marc, and invited guests will give the dude his due homage. Al’s been retired for many years now, but during his career in the biz, he was best known as founder and leader of Banner Specialty Co., one of Pennsy’s premier dealerships, which he ultimately sold to Bally.
He also operated lots of machines, including sliced pie vendors (his late wife Miriam baked the pies eons back when they first started out). Al also co-founded the Century Club, which at one time was a gathering of trade veterans with 50 years or more in coin-op, but was later brought down to 25 years because there just weren’t that many around that long who could find their way to meetings without a guide. Congrats!