Hey, welcome to Last Call where we talk about some things we didn't get to in the first show.

And one of those, Wendy, is O'Connell's Pub, a St.

Louis institution.

The owner says he is going to close, wants to hang on until St.

Patrick's Day, which is six months from now.

But, you know, it's really sad when older restaurants close and maybe hopefully it could be saved.

I would love that.

I would love that.

I think that he has proverbially, you know, you can shoot yourself in the foot.

And I think that he has done this in several ways.

And sadly, it was mostly through social media.

I think some of his COVID policies, I don't think he really understood.

I think he thought that the, you know, the place that people have in their hearts for O'Connell's, you know, that he was going to fill up that space as well.

And when you are whining, when it's perceived as whining to your clientele, to other small businesses, that creates a backlash.

That gets people talking.

Because O'Connell's was, like you said, it's just an institution.

And so, you know, he said himself, I can be a real jerk sometimes.

So he's had this sort of social media war with the community.

It's just the whole thing is really sad.

So I would love to have him, you know, find the right buyer and, you know, somebody who's going to keep a lower profile on social media.

That would be advice to a lot of people.

You know, there's probably not a restaurant in St.

Louis that I've eaten more at than O'Connell's.

And my kids basically grew up there on the fried mushrooms and the hamburgers.

I mean, a couple of the ladies who were servers there, who were notoriously mean in a wonderful sort of way, both loved my kids and would say hi.

I mean, we went in there all the time.

And I think a couple of things worked against it.

And I think yours is major on top of it.

The other thing is, is that what they used to provide was hands down the best hamburger in town.

Now, everybody's got a good burger.

And I know that sounds like, oh, that's not a reason.

I think it is, actually.

I used to go there to get a really great hamburger.

And you can get that a lot of places, or a really good roast beef sandwich.

And more of that sandwich culture, there's a lot more outlets for that.

I think the other thing sad is, it'll be, I believe, our last continual connection to the old Gaslight Square, which is where O 'Connell's started.

And it moved there.

So it's kind of, I mean, I will be sorry to see it go, but the idea that you've been around 65 years for a restaurant, that's an awfully good run.

Okay, I'm glad you said for a restaurant, because I just turned 66.

Oh, no, people, 80, 90, yeah.

Jacob, he mentioned, just couldn't do it in the economy.

Is that a real thing?

Look, I think with the way that costs have exploded, and labor difficulties, I think that is a real thing.

And I think it's really difficult.

You have to check all kinds of boxes continuously to get people coming in again, and again, and again.

Even if they've been to your restaurant 25 times, getting them to come in 25 again in the next however many years is difficult.

I will say, it's a really interesting room that hopefully somebody else could maybe do something with.

But things do change.

I mean, just across the street on the hill, I've noticed all kinds of change in recent years.

And I'd say for the better.

Stuff is now open on Sunday, Sado is around.

So things change often for the better.

So let's see.

And I don't know that I'm ready to write O'Connell's obituary yet.

There was certainly an onslaught of coverage for this statement.

And I get why.

We also covered it.

Everybody in town has to cover restaurant closings because it's the number one thing St.

Louis people want to read about.

I have the web stats to show it.

But look, he's saying, oh, I'm going to probably close after a final hurrah on St.

Patrick's Day.

Who knows what they're going to be doing in March?

I don't even know what I'm going to be doing in two weeks.

I think any number of things might happen here.

Feels like a play for another buyer.

And I hope it works.

If that's a play for another buyer, I think that would be terrific.

It's a great restaurant.

The food is still really good.

You've got to love that dark kind of bar.

I wish you could still smoke in there.

It's a great place.

Maybe you want to take up smoking again.

Yeah, that's a mariposa.

Have no fear.

The Chuck-A-Burger is still open on the Rock Road.

All right.

Speaking of the Rock Road, let's go to Rock Hill, where residents near a marijuana manufacturing, I guess, facility, not just a dispensary.

The waft of marijuana is in the air, and they are complaining.

Well, people don't complain about gas fumes coming out of the gasoline station.

I think it's a business.

I don't think it's that bad.

I have lived near Rock Hill.

I have gone past where it is.

On the days I have been past there, it has not smelled.

So is this an overreaction?

I'll throw that to all of you.

You're saying gas isn't as important as cannabis.

I'm stunned by this logic.

And also, this was legalized just a few years ago, and what are the chances that these neighbors have been there much longer than that?

And even if somebody's okay with or is potentially consuming it, buying it themselves, I don't think that means that they get to turn your neighborhood into smelling like pot.

Just because you consume it or are okay with other people consuming it does not mean you want to smell it constantly, potentially inside of your home.

As much as I would like to say people should quit complaining about it, I remember some years ago, and this involved a friend of mine, you remember back in South St.

Louis there was a problem with some recent immigrants were smoking hogs and goats out in their backyard.

So a friend of mine lived right in the center of that, and I remember thinking, this is us just being intolerant of immigrants and everything.

And my friend was to the left of everybody here.

This was by far my most liberal friend.

So I thought, next time I see him, I'll ask him, he'll defend it.

He's like, oh my God, we've got to stop this.

It's awful.

He said, I can't open my windows.

I mean, he goes, you know, because to me, when I would drive by six blocks away, it smelled great.

Right.

He lived two doors away.

It gets old.

This is awful.

So I will reserve judgment on the people complaining until I've sat out there for like a week and saw what it was like.

Well, when they use skunky, I mean, that's a really distinct odor that we can all immediately identify with.

I don't know nothing about it.

By the way, I had a friend who lived right up on South King's Highway, and his name was Jeff.

And he was a chef.

Literally.

Jeff the chef.

Jeff the chef.

And he was just like your friend.

He was like, hey, you know, I'm a college brother, man.

Yeah.

Goodness gracious.

Yeah, this is bad.

But it sounds like when the state has come in, and they have had, obviously, 500 people show up to voice their concerns, that they sort of, they, the, why am I blanking on the name?

It starts with a P-R.

P-R.

Proper.

Proper.

Thank you.

They adhere to those guidelines for a while, and then, you know, it seems like this would be a fairly easy fix in terms of manufacturing.

I don't know.

I think aroma.

Ventilation.

Aroma is so complicated, and it's so ephemeral.

You know, I think of the days that I can smell the Anheuser-Busch brewery so strongly, and I love the smell.

You could blindfold me, and I'd be like, oh, I'm in St.

Louis.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's great.

But it's like there's days it comes and goes.

And I'm sure there's days inspectors have been out there, and the neighbors are like, dammit, they're here today.

Yeah.

Blowing the other way.

Yeah.

I mean, that's a good point.

And I don't know if you can remember, as a small child, but we have a connection with Pine Bluff Arkansas.

Pine Bluff Arkansas.

Paper mill.

There's a paper mill there.

And some days.

Oh.

Lord.

It's all, yeah, you wouldn't think a paper mill smelled so sulfury, but it actually does.

Yeah.

And I think maybe that summer may have something to do with this.

It probably does.

And it did mention it in the story.

But, I mean, like you said, if it's 110 degrees outside, I think that might have something to do with it.

And I'm not an engineer, but you would think that just ventilation.

There's got to be a solution.

You might have to spend money, but.

Well, there you go.

Yeah.

And you know, businesses want to spend money.

And the marijuana industry isn't making any money.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, there's no profit.

You can't make money off weed.

Oh, no.

I'm telling you.

Hey, you can make money off tourism, and things seem to be turning around.

We've had a good quarter, unexpectedly, Sarah, and you reported on that.

Yeah, a good half a year.

So I remember going to the annual meeting for Explorer St.

Louis last year, and Brad Dean, the new CEO, who I think a lot of people find really impressive, he's brought some energy, some new sort of solutions to things.

He was kind of foreshadowing, hey, these conventions tend to book about three years out, and 2026 is going to be grim.

And I'm thinking, oh, boy, I can't wait to see what the business journal is going to say as our convention center business continues to decline.

Well, they very proactively tried to address this, and by doing it in sort of a short-term way, like we can't get a big convention to come here at the last minute, but we can bring in Usher.

We can bring in Chris Brown.

We can get these smaller events.

They ended up exceeding what they had done in 2025, which was a really good year.

So it was interesting to learn about some of the strategies they're using.

I think, I know we've had this fight so many times on Donnybrook, but it's one reason I tend to support my fellow outsiders coming to town.

Sometimes people bring new ideas of how you can do things differently, and I think Brad Dean is really exhibit A in that in a really good way.

I agree with that.

I think that that's accurate, and the increase on that period is totally real.

But we do have to kind of look back a little bit.

Before COVID, in like the 1918-17 era, the convention business was massively bigger than even now with this increase.

And we have a very distressed downtown, frankly, and that's a big part of it.

So there's a long way to go.

Didn't that have something to do with the Rams, though?

I mean, when the Rams moved, I would think that, because that was 16, I thought.

Well, you know what?

The business, the restaurants and stuff downtown would say, like during a Rams game, it didn't always work out.

I mean, it was like not so great.

But the baseball team was better.

I will agree with Sarah.

I think every city should hire people into their tourism board who are not from their city, because a native is the worst judge of what's interesting about their city, because they're so used to it.

I mean, the old joke was, I didn't go up in the arch until I was in eighth grade.

It was part of a field trip, because my mom and dad were like, we'll go next year.

Yeah, we'll go next year.

Next summer.

We'll go next year.

I mean, I think you're the worst judge of your own hometown on what's interesting.

That's like when I tell people, and you're from Cleveland, people love to make Cleveland a bun of jokes.

First time I went there, I thought, I love Cleveland.

I loved the place.

Went to the Rock and Roll, all fame was new.

Because I think the thing is, is everybody then is approaching it with fresh eyes.

So I'd love to see tourism bureaus for all the cities hire out-of-towners, and they'll go, that's cool.

That's cool.

Where the natives will be like, what's so cool about that?

I grew up with it.

But I think the one that Brad Dean brought in from New Orleans, who was a native of Southern Illinois, who considers himself to be a native.

And he said St.

Louis was the big city.

Yeah, for him.

Because he was coming in, though.

He didn't live around it every day.

No, but still, he felt like that was his trip into the big city, and so it had a special place in his heart.

So I think so often there's this assumption or presumption that younger is always better.

This is younger, faster, stronger.

They are, I think Brad Dean, you're absolutely right.

I was just talking about outside was better.

He's killing it.

No, you're right.

Brad Dean knows this because he's talked about it, but I'd just like to see some progress on it.

These increased people downtown, year over year, get them into our neighborhoods.

Some kind of infrastructure that gets them into some of the best neighborhoods in the country.

That's our huge strength.

So we gotta make progress on that.

All right.

And before we go, I gotta tell my mom.

I know she's watching.

My mom and dad went up in the arch as soon as they could go up in the arch.

They were part of the Top of the Arch Club, and we even went down there and got shavings of stainless steel when they were trimming it up, and we still have them at my house to this day.

Thank you for watching Last Call.

We'll see you next week.

Once again, thanks Jacob.