A fun era in Culver City commerce is near denouement with Mayor Mehaul O’Leary’s disclosure this morning that he has sold the popular Irish pub Joxer Daly’s.
Dec. 31 will be closing day for Mr. O’Leary at Joxer Daly after 15 years in the hugely visible catbird seat of the sports bar, public, jolly-well liked restaurant and hangout for working class clientele, sports figures, politicians.
The owner was as visible as the ceiling and sometimes truly loomed as large when a sports or political contest was to be decided.
Since the turn of the century, not one bashful patron has been espied at Joxer Daly’s.
St. Patrick was and is Joxer’s patron saint.
If you were not inside the Irish pub on every March17, you did not squeeze the maximum amount out of St. Patrick’s Day that was available in Culver City.
Mr. O’Leary, in his eighth and final year as a member of the City Council, probably is more widely involved civically than any of Culver City’s 40,000 residents.
Ben Myron, owner of the heavily patronized Backstage bar on Culver Boulevard, and Mom’s in West L.A., will become the new face of the pub on New Year’s Day.
It was not Mr. O’Leary’s idea to jolt his thoroughly-enjoyed professional life at this 50-year stage of his business career.
The $500,000 transaction was triggered by Mr. O’Leary’s recent divorce settlement.
Now what?
“I am going to take my time in making that decision,” said the mayor, repeating what he had said here three months ago when he first disclosed the pending sale of the centerpiece of his life.
“I will finish out my political career here,” Mr. O’Leary said, “and I have a couple of options I am considering.”
He has spoken in the past about moving out of Culver City and into Los Angeles to compete for Mayor Garcetti’s job in 2017, mere months after he is termed out here next April.
“That is still an option,” he said. “I have to test that political temperature, let’s say.
“Nothing has been crossed off the checklist yet.”
