Joliet pub closed its doors on Tuesday after 40 years of ‘great memories’

Lydia Granda of Joliet used to live a block away from O’Charley’s Irish Pub in Joliet and recalled how the “St. Patrick’s day crowd” would walk past her house, unwittingly providing free entertainment.

“We will miss the pub, another sad closing of a family owned business,” Granda said.

On Tuesday evening, Kathy Charley posted an announcement on the O’Charley’s Facebook page, saying the 40-year-old pub was closing for good that night. Charley also thanked patrons for “their loyal support” and “great memories.”

“We were blessed with your friendship and will miss you all very much,” Charley wrote. “We hope the time you spent with us at O’Charley’s was as good for you as it was for us. However, given today’s circumstances with Covid and, in general, people moving on, we felt it was time to shut her down.”

Janet Palkon, of Joliet, said she had stopped at O’Charley’s on June 26 to celebrate her 50th birthday, her first major celebration since the start of the pandemic.

Palkon said the pub was empty that night except for her and her friends and a couple patrons. This was a huge contrast to her first experience 20 years ago on St. Patrick’s Day – and to her daughter’s experience in 2019. Both times the pub was packed, Palkon said.

“It’s unfortunate when you lose the Mom and Pop places,” Palkon said. “You feel kind of bad.”

A Herald-News story from 2000 said owner Tom Charley estimated that thousands of people passed through his pub on St. Patrick’s day.

To make room for the crowd, Tom removed the stools and chairs and set up a tent outside the pub, among other preparations, which took a week to complete, the story said. Tom also cooked corned beef and cabbage for his customers and had “plenty of kegs on hand to supply his taps,” the story said.

“We have every Irish beer here you want,” Tom said at the time.

Former Joliet resident Craig Czerkies said O’Charley’s sponsored a softball team on which he played for many years, a team that won state and advanced to the national championship tourney.

Past Herald-News stories also referred to the O’Charley’s softball teams, and a 2000 story mentioned the annual O’Charley’s golf outing, which was held at Woodruff Golf Course in Joliet. After the game, golfers headed to O’Charley’s for food and prizes, the story said.

And a 2008 Herald-News story mentioned how O’Charley’s was part of a 10-week interbar bean bag league involving four Joliet bars: Jameson’s Pub, O’Charley’s Irish Pub, Chicago Street Pub and Heroes West.

By 2012, O’Charley’s offered bags outside for its patrons and karaoke nights inside the bar, too.

Donald Papesh of Joliet used to patronize O’Charley’s in the 1970s when it was located in downtown Joliet, he said. Patrons enjoyed watching Notre Dame football games at O’Charley’s, he added.

O’Charley’s moved to its current location on Center Street after a fire, the site of the former College Inn, Papesh said.

“When it was downtown, it was really hopping every weekend,” Papesh said. “Friday and Saturday nights, it would be slammed.”

Papesh said the downtown location was larger and able to accommodate the crowds. He called it O’Charley’s “heyday” and felt those kinds of crowds only happened at the Center Street building on special occasions.

“It was a crazy place to be on St. Patrick’s Day,” he said.

Although Papesh said he quit drinking 16 years ago, he said he was still sorry to hear O’Charley’s had closed.

“It’s sad because it was a staple of the community,” Papesh said.