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At first
glance the menu may seem small in comparison to some, but
our secret is consistency and quality. O’Connell’s
has been serving the same popular menu with only a few changes
for over thirty years. Our 9oz charbroiled Hamburgers are
most often featured because of the numerous times they have
won first place in the Riverfront Times restaurant poll, but
please don’t stop there. Our Roast Beef served to order
any day and the Fish & Chips on Fridays have no competitors.
You may believe that a Coney Island is just a chili cheese
dog, but when you start with a gourmet frank and top it with
our chili you have an experience you won’t forget. Our
jumbo shrimp appetizer is always cooked just right and a great
value. Customers sometimes ask why we don’t serve tomatoes.
The answer is easy: O’Connell’s understands the
need to start with fresh, high quality ingredients. The pale
and often mushy tomatoes found in this region for most of
the year do not meet this standard. To the new comer another
perplexing O’Connellism is that for over thirty years
we have only offered one dressing. Our “Mayfair”
dressing is made fresh on the premises and we hope that you
will believe, as we do, that it speaks for itself.
O’Connell’s
Pub first opened in 1962, in an area known to St. Louisans
as Gaslight Square. Gaslight Square was a bohemian, artistic
area, attracting many of St. Louis’s most prominent personalities,
some of which not only frequented, but also lived in the area.
Some of Gaslight Square’s residents were Ernie Trova,
an American sculptor known for “The Falling Man”;
Joe Pollack, noted food critic; Bill Woo, former editor of
the St. Louis Post Dispatch; and Leonard Slatkin, who has
moved on but was the conductor that brought international
recognition to the St. Louis Symphony orchestra. Gaslight
Square was also known nationally as an entertainment district,
attracting up and coming stars such as Barbara Streisand,
The Smothers Brothers, Woody Allen, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce
and countless others. Gaslight Square was named for a bar
called the Gaslight Bar, owned by Dick Mutrux. Dick’s
Brother Paul Mutrux later opened the nationally acclaimed
Three Fountains Restaurant known for its fine dining. Jay
& Fran Landesman who owned the Crystal Palace also wrote
a Broadway Show “The Nervous Set” along with Tommy
Wolf. Up and down the street you could hear Jazz and Dixieland
music spilling out into the streets. Pedestrians would walk
cocktail in hand from one club to the next. Even for a time
you could get a snow cone made with liquor until it was discovered
that this was not exactly legal. The birth of Gaslight Square
was between the years 1957 and 1959 but by 1967 problems were
already evident and the area began its decline.
By 1972
Gaslight Square was all but gone and many of the other clubs
and restaurants had moved or simply gone out of business.
Jack Parker now had the difficult task of choosing a new location.
O’Connell’s was the last to leave Gaslight Square
when it moved to its present location at Kingshighway &
Shaw. To preserve the atmosphere they took almost all of the
original woodwork and fixtures, even the beveled glass windows
from the front. Included in the move were the two historically
significant chandeliers made of bell bronze hanging by the
bar. These chandeliers were from the 1904 worlds fair. They
were made in England and hung in the Belgian exhibition hall
at the fair. The only significant piece that they left behind
was the fondly remembered stone fireplace which was used for
heat along with a potbelly stove on occasions when the furnace
would not work. One of the bartenders tell of fortuitously
driving past the demolished remains of the original O’Connell’s
just as the fireplace was pushed into the hole that once was
the basement. Gaslight Square now sits as vacant lots and
boarded buildings but the memories linger and the legend lives
on.
O’Connell’s
new location was built in 1905 by Anheuser Busch and originally
opened as a tavern. The building has always served as a bar
since the time it was built but sometime in the 1930’s
it was moved in its entirety from the corner of Kingshighway
and Shaw to were it now sits. In June of 1997 Anheuser Busch
returned for an afternoon to O’Connell’s to film
a commercial. This commercial featured August Busch III sitting
at the Bar speaking on the quality, heritage and 121 year
tradition of Budweiser beer. This was a full-scale production
starting around 5:00 AM, requiring the restaurant to remain
closed until the dinner hour. The parking lot was also taken
over by assorted equipment, lights, vans, trucks and even
a lunch tent was erected to feed the crew of approximately
25 people. Although they were required to remove the liquor
from behind the bar there were few changes made aside from
moving a couple of pictures. The commercial proved to be a
success for them and they filmed again in August of that same
year.
Possibly
one of the most unique aspects of O’Connell’s is
the fact that just upstairs what awaits you is Jack Parker’s
Fine Art and Antiques. Jacks interest in antiques was sparked
when he got to know some of the antique dealers that had storefronts
in Gaslight Square. He opened the second floor several years
after the move to Shaw and called it Second Story Second Hand.
Over time it has evolved and is now called Jack Parker Fine
Arts and Antiques with a more refined selection, offering
Native American artifacts, Navajo rugs and pottery, fine American
paintings, and furniture from the Arts & Crafts period
(Gus Stickley, Stickley Brothers, L.J.G Stickley, and Limbert
to name a few). Mr. Parker ran both the restaurant and his
art & antique gallery until 1997 when he turned over the
day to day operation of the restaurant to his nephew Fred
Parker. This has allowed Mr. Parker more time to devote to
his true interest, the Gallery. When you visit our restaurant
leave yourself a few minutes to come upstairs and see our
selection of fine art. |
4652
Shaw Avenue
Located at the intersection of Shaw and Kingshighway
1/2 block south of Interstate 44
Pub Phone (314-773-6600)
Antiques Phone (314-773-3320)
Our Hours
Bar:
M-TH 11am-1:30am / F-Sa 11am-3:00am / Sun noon-12am
Kitchen:
M-Sa 11am-12am / Sun noon-10pm
Write
to us and give us your feedback!
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