Cans Galore
Round Up People | Places | Events | History
Cans Galore York Haven inn boasts largest beer can collection in the world by Stephanie Kalina Metzger
(above) Half-gallon cans line the shelves on a wall at the Brewhouse Mountain EcoInn in York Haven near Ski Roundtop.
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eff Lebo first became interested in collect- remember visiting him at the factory as a kid and ing cans when he was 14 and his father worked seeing all these cans flying around, and it always at the American Can Company in Lemoyne, fascinated me.” Cumberland County. When Lebo started collecting beer cans “It was the first company to develop the in the 1970s, it was a bit of a fad. beer can, which was copyrighted in the “It was the fastest growing hobby in the 1930s,” says the York Haven resident. “I United States back then,” he states, “so I York County
8 Vol. 37, No. 1 | www.pa-mag.com
joined Beer Can Collectors of America, which later changed its name to the Brewery Collectibles Club of America. I would write to collectors all over the world, and we would trade cans back and forth for fun.” Fast forward 37 years, and the beer can enthusiast is still adding cans to his collection. “All these years later, we’re still sending boxes of cans back and forth in the mail, which is neat,” Lebo adds. His collection, said to be the largest in the world, totals 83,600 cans from more than 130 countries around the globe. For more than two decades, he displayed the cans in a guesthouse he had built to showcase the collection. Then last year, he turned the guesthouse into an inn and now, at the aptly named Brewhouse Mountain Eco-Inn, he and his wife welcome visitors who want to spend the night surrounded by Lebo’s collection of cans.
Quirky Lodging
Originally built in 1999 as a guesthouse to showcase his 83,600 can collection from 130 countries, today the building is available for overnight stays.
Throughout the rooms, cans from Lebo’s collection are neatly stacked from floor to ceiling. A hall leading to a bar area is lined with five-liter, barrel-shaped cans, which Lebo says are still made in Germany with some exported to the United States. On display are the earliest cans, called flat tops, which needed a “church-key,” or triangle can opener, to be opened. This design was followed by a cone-top can. “Those cans looked and opened like a bottle, so smaller breweries could use their bottling equipment to make them,” Lebo says. “They were much lighter than glass, thereby saving shipping costs, and were unbreakable. They also didn’t take up much space and kept light out.” He explains that ring-pull cans were developed in 1962, followed by today’s popular sta-tab, which was introduced in 1975. “Those were the most successful, although there have been many others,” he adds.
Lebo bought the bucolic woodland property, situated off the beaten path in the Conewago Mountains of York County in 1988 and, a year later, constructed the house in which the pair still live. They added the guesthouse in 1998. “For years the guesthouse just held my private collection,” he explains. “We really didn’t use it. Then, last year when we were doing some research for a trip to Costa Rica, I kept reading about Airbnb, a website that matches up homes and travelers.” The Lebos liked the concept and decided to list their guesthouse for rent. Themed Cans “The response has been pretty amazing,” he says. Lebo likes to group the cans in his collection “Since it’s not your traditional bed and breakfast and according to themes, such as an Africa room, a is really quite unusual, our place attracts those who Pacific, Germany, Sweden and an American room, like quirky, unusual things.” and in each of these almost every bit of wall space is The two-story, 6,500-square-foot structure con- covered with cans. Many also feature pull-out walls tains five bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and to display yet another layer of cans. living areas on both floors. Here, guests can peruse Among his favorites are the pre-war British cans. “I the massive can collection, which starts with the went to college in England,” he says. “The cans were very earliest cans manufactured in 1935 up to cans started in 1936 when Britain was in dire straits for from the present day. steel. Because cans were melted down for the war
9
Pennsylvania Magazine | January/February 2014
Round Up Building Windmills The vertical wind turbine, WindStax, takes shape in a Pittsburgh factory Text and photographs by Bette McDevitt
W
effort, those pre-war cans are extremely hard to find. A rare few have survived.” Of the many series in his collection, Lebo is also fascinated with the Tennent Girl cans, which depict females in front of English scenes dating from 1962 to 1991 when their production ceased, and the Meister Brau Happy Days Series that portray people having fun and living the American dream. Fellow can collector Todd Leffler of Mechanicsburg calls Lebo’s collection a labor of love. “His collection is massive and high quality,” Leffler says. “Some of the cans he has are very hard-to-find, sought-after pieces. Being a collector myself, I admire his efforts and would love to have a lot of the local brewery pieces that are in his collection.” If you want to see the collection for yourself, you can rent individual rooms or the entire house, which sleeps up to 10. Pinchot Park, Ski Roundtop and other attractions for outdoor enthusiasts are located nearby. To learn more, visit Airbnb.com and type in “York Haven.” Or call Lebo at 717-938-4332. (top) A bedroom’s walls are lined with cans. (above) Jeff Lebo stands at the bar at his former guesthouse turned inn
—Stephanie Kalina-Metzger writes from Camp Hill.
10 Vol. 37, No. 1 | www.pa-mag.com
hen the WindStax, a sleek cylinder of polished wood, stands tall on a
flatbed truck outside the factory in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, passersby refer to it as a windmill, even if it doesn’t quite fit the image of windmills that have been around since the 1600s. Consider the famous windmills in Cervantes’ famous 17th century tale, Don Quixote
Cans Galore York Haven inn boasts largest beer can collection in the world by Stephanie Kalina Metzger
(above) Half-gallon cans line the shelves on a wall at the Brewhouse Mountain EcoInn in York Haven near Ski Roundtop.
J
eff Lebo first became interested in collect- remember visiting him at the factory as a kid and ing cans when he was 14 and his father worked seeing all these cans flying around, and it always at the American Can Company in Lemoyne, fascinated me.” Cumberland County. When Lebo started collecting beer cans “It was the first company to develop the in the 1970s, it was a bit of a fad. beer can, which was copyrighted in the “It was the fastest growing hobby in the 1930s,” says the York Haven resident. “I United States back then,” he states, “so I York County
8 Vol. 37, No. 1 | www.pa-mag.com
joined Beer Can Collectors of America, which later changed its name to the Brewery Collectibles Club of America. I would write to collectors all over the world, and we would trade cans back and forth for fun.” Fast forward 37 years, and the beer can enthusiast is still adding cans to his collection. “All these years later, we’re still sending boxes of cans back and forth in the mail, which is neat,” Lebo adds. His collection, said to be the largest in the world, totals 83,600 cans from more than 130 countries around the globe. For more than two decades, he displayed the cans in a guesthouse he had built to showcase the collection. Then last year, he turned the guesthouse into an inn and now, at the aptly named Brewhouse Mountain Eco-Inn, he and his wife welcome visitors who want to spend the night surrounded by Lebo’s collection of cans.
Quirky Lodging
Originally built in 1999 as a guesthouse to showcase his 83,600 can collection from 130 countries, today the building is available for overnight stays.
Throughout the rooms, cans from Lebo’s collection are neatly stacked from floor to ceiling. A hall leading to a bar area is lined with five-liter, barrel-shaped cans, which Lebo says are still made in Germany with some exported to the United States. On display are the earliest cans, called flat tops, which needed a “church-key,” or triangle can opener, to be opened. This design was followed by a cone-top can. “Those cans looked and opened like a bottle, so smaller breweries could use their bottling equipment to make them,” Lebo says. “They were much lighter than glass, thereby saving shipping costs, and were unbreakable. They also didn’t take up much space and kept light out.” He explains that ring-pull cans were developed in 1962, followed by today’s popular sta-tab, which was introduced in 1975. “Those were the most successful, although there have been many others,” he adds.
Lebo bought the bucolic woodland property, situated off the beaten path in the Conewago Mountains of York County in 1988 and, a year later, constructed the house in which the pair still live. They added the guesthouse in 1998. “For years the guesthouse just held my private collection,” he explains. “We really didn’t use it. Then, last year when we were doing some research for a trip to Costa Rica, I kept reading about Airbnb, a website that matches up homes and travelers.” The Lebos liked the concept and decided to list their guesthouse for rent. Themed Cans “The response has been pretty amazing,” he says. Lebo likes to group the cans in his collection “Since it’s not your traditional bed and breakfast and according to themes, such as an Africa room, a is really quite unusual, our place attracts those who Pacific, Germany, Sweden and an American room, like quirky, unusual things.” and in each of these almost every bit of wall space is The two-story, 6,500-square-foot structure con- covered with cans. Many also feature pull-out walls tains five bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and to display yet another layer of cans. living areas on both floors. Here, guests can peruse Among his favorites are the pre-war British cans. “I the massive can collection, which starts with the went to college in England,” he says. “The cans were very earliest cans manufactured in 1935 up to cans started in 1936 when Britain was in dire straits for from the present day. steel. Because cans were melted down for the war
9
Pennsylvania Magazine | January/February 2014
Round Up Building Windmills The vertical wind turbine, WindStax, takes shape in a Pittsburgh factory Text and photographs by Bette McDevitt
W
effort, those pre-war cans are extremely hard to find. A rare few have survived.” Of the many series in his collection, Lebo is also fascinated with the Tennent Girl cans, which depict females in front of English scenes dating from 1962 to 1991 when their production ceased, and the Meister Brau Happy Days Series that portray people having fun and living the American dream. Fellow can collector Todd Leffler of Mechanicsburg calls Lebo’s collection a labor of love. “His collection is massive and high quality,” Leffler says. “Some of the cans he has are very hard-to-find, sought-after pieces. Being a collector myself, I admire his efforts and would love to have a lot of the local brewery pieces that are in his collection.” If you want to see the collection for yourself, you can rent individual rooms or the entire house, which sleeps up to 10. Pinchot Park, Ski Roundtop and other attractions for outdoor enthusiasts are located nearby. To learn more, visit Airbnb.com and type in “York Haven.” Or call Lebo at 717-938-4332. (top) A bedroom’s walls are lined with cans. (above) Jeff Lebo stands at the bar at his former guesthouse turned inn
—Stephanie Kalina-Metzger writes from Camp Hill.
10 Vol. 37, No. 1 | www.pa-mag.com
hen the WindStax, a sleek cylinder of polished wood, stands tall on a
flatbed truck outside the factory in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, passersby refer to it as a windmill, even if it doesn’t quite fit the image of windmills that have been around since the 1600s. Consider the famous windmills in Cervantes’ famous 17th century tale, Don Quixote
. When the hero and his sidekick, Sancho, come loping over a hillside, they spy what Quixote believes are hulking giants whom he declares he will slay. “Take care, sir,” cries Sancho. “Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone.” Although not a windmill in the traditional sense, the WindStax is a vertical wind turbine that could, in fact, turn a millstone. It works when the wooden cylinder, which is slit lengthwise, is positioned to catch the wind, creating energy that is stored in a battery on the bottom of the unit. But, instead of turning millstones to grind grains, the energy produced by the WindStax is typically used to power a furnace, a pump, a house, an office or an outdoor complex, really anything that operates on electricity. Ron Gdovic, the owner and inventor of WindStax, had been thinking of his design for 20 years. This
