NANNY O’BRIENS
NANNY O’BRIENS
“I drank my first bar beers here in 1976 when this was Gallagher’s Pub and I was 15. That was a different DC but Nanny O’s is still the same.”
Around 2002, we caught wind that Nanny O’Briens was for sale. Nanny O’s was the oldest bar in Cleveland Park, dating back to the early 1960’s when it opened as Gallagher’s Pub. In the 80’s, the Lyons family bought it and named the bar after their grandmother, Nanny O’Brien. Nanny O’s became a well respected Irish music hub, attracting musicians word- wide and helping launch the career of Mary Chapin Carpenter who performed at open mics. Across the street stood Ireland’s Four Provinces, another Irish music venue, and the two threw outlandish St. Patricks Day parties with drunken customers dodging rush hour traffic on Connecticut Ave. We kept the music going, sometimes provided by my son Zack and his bandmates or by neighbors, friends and local musicians. Nanny O’s remains the local pub that everyone should have just around the corner.
I grew up a block away from Nanny O’Briens (then Gallaghers) and had managed to get served my first bar-beers there when I was 15. My cousin Chris Shorb had been banned for life in the 70’s, and many decades later, I happily stayed the sentence and welcomed him back. when we heard it was for sale, we simply couldn’t let this neighborhood gem be turned into a vape shop, so Mark Handwerger, Curt Large and I bought it. I guess it’s half historic preservation and half plain old fun. Our kids have worked there over the years (12 year-old Julian filling the ice bin pictured right) and have played music on the tiny stage. Nanny O’Briens continues to be one of my favorite DC bars.
The Cleveland Park community makes Nanny O’s special. Next door we have Jay Morris who has run Brother’s Sewing & Vacuum since 1977. He’s as much a part of Nanny O’s as we are. Pictured left is David James, sadly gone now, but he was one of our lifelong customers and was often found helping bartender Sharon Lyons fold napkins or ice the bins. Teachers from nearby schools often arrive after surviving another day in the trenches, happy to share a beer and some wings or a burger. Nanny O’Briens will be in business as long as the neighbors keep showing up.
