Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Big Charlie\u2019s Saloon, the South Philadelphia<\/a> corner bar known nationally for its unlikely devotion to the Kansas City Chiefs, is getting a new playbook.<\/p>\n Drew DiTomo, the chef and a partner at the Kensington gastropub Meetinghouse<\/a>, and Tim Jacobsen, owner of the Old City<\/a> vintage shop Stickball<\/a>, say they have an agreement to buy the bar at 11th and McKean Streets, which closed last December following the sudden death of its longtime owner<\/a>, Paul Staico, at age 59. <\/p>\n DiTomo and Jacobsen say they plan to turn it into Sweets, a neighborhood bar. DiTomo said that he would remain at Meetinghouse and that his business partners there have no stake whatsoever in Sweets.<\/p>\n Sweets will have no Chiefs memorabilia \u2014 or sports theme of any kind, for that matter. DiTomo said they\u2019re thinking low-key. \u201cI\u2019m not a big concept guy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to stay true to what that neighborhood deserves out of a neighborhood bar, and that\u2019s about it.\u201d The partners started an Instagram account<\/a> to float photos that inspire them.<\/p>\n DiTomo said he and Jacobsen are working through due diligence for the purchase of the building, which had been listed at $1.1 million<\/a> and includes apartments upstairs. A liquor license transfer is also pending.<\/p>\n They are aiming for a winter opening, though that timing is tentative. \u201cIf we could capture the holiday season, that would be beyond fantastic,\u201d DiTomo said. \u201cBut we\u2019re both realists. We\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n Big Charlie\u2019s, a tiny, two-room corner tavern, had become one of Philadelphia\u2019s great sports curiosities: a fiercely loyal Chiefs bar deep in Eagles country<\/a>.<\/p>\n Its allegiance dated to Super Bowl<\/a> IV in January 1970, when Staico\u2019s father, Charlie, bet on Kansas City to beat the Minnesota Vikings and promised his young son a bicycle if the Chiefs won. They did, Paul got the bike, and a lifelong allegiance began.<\/p>\n After taking over the bar following his father\u2019s death in 1983, Staico bought a satellite dish in 1986 so he and friends could watch Chiefs games that rarely appeared on Philadelphia television. Over the decades, the bar became known as \u201cArrowhead East,\u201d its wood-paneled rooms covered with signed helmets, pennants, bobbleheads, street signs, and other Chiefs memorabilia.<\/p>\n NFL Films featured the bar<\/a>, Chiefs players and coaches visited, and on important game days crowds spilled outside. The bar\u2019s prominence grew along with the Chiefs\u2019 success, creating complications when Kansas City faced the Eagles<\/a> in the Super Bowls of 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n But Big Charlie\u2019s was also a neighborhood bar, and that is the aspect of the property that DiTomo intends to preserve \u2014 rather than its sports identity. He and Jacobsen both live in South Philadelphia.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always admired neighborhood bars,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up in neighborhood bars, so I want it to be true to form \u2014 just the classics, done well.\u201d<\/p>\n That philosophy will extend to the drinks. DiTomo said the bar will pour Meetinghouse beer, along with a straightforward selection of beer, wine, and cocktails built around classics.<\/p>\n Sweet\u2019s food will be simple, he said, because of the tiny kitchen.<\/p>\n DiTomo, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who rose to prominence a decade ago in the Marc Vetri<\/a> organization at Amis, was a chef consultant<\/a> on M. Night Shyamalan\u2019s series Servant on Apple TV+ when Meetinghouse opened in 2023.<\/p>\n DiTomo and Jacobsen have been friends for about five years. DiTomo said Jacobsen had long been interested in doing a project together, but nothing had clicked until the Big Charlie\u2019s building became available. \u201cThis building spoke to him, so he jumped on it,\u201d DiTomo said.<\/p>\n Stickball, Jacobsen\u2019s shop, specializes in vintage clothing, art, and objects. GQ included it on its 2024 list<\/a> of 30 notable vintage menswear stores in the United States.<\/p>\n DiTomo said the Sweets name came from a running list he has kept over the years. He associates the word with several of his uncles, who used it as a term of affection. \u201cI always liked the feeling of it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sounds nice, and it\u2019s timeless. It feels good for the neighborhood, too.\u201d<\/p>\n