It’s a tiny corner bar in a gritty South Philadelphia neighborhood, a hangout no bigger than the row houses that surround it. A group of maybe 30 locals, some friends for 50 years, gather at Big Charlie’s Saloon every fall Sunday, filling the place to the brim.
Sometimes you wanna go
Where everybody loves your team
Imagine, a Kansas City Chiefs bar in the City of Brotherly Love, where authorities have to grease the light poles to keep jubilant Eagles fans from climbing them — and even that doesn’t work. Yet, even with Philadelphia squaring off against Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, the patrons of Big Charlie’s still belly up to the bar in the belly of the beast.
“This is our neighborhood, and it works because we’re neighborhood guys,” said Paul Staico, who owns the establishment five blocks from Lincoln Financial Field. “So you have Eagles fans, Chiefs fans mingling every single day. It does happen.”
It won’t be happening Sunday, though — at least not on a grand scale. As he did two years ago when the Eagles and Chiefs first met in the Super Bowl, Staico closed the bar to the public and invited only a small group of friends and family. He didn’t always like the way the bar was portrayed by local media.
“Last time around, a couple of different TV stations kind of made us look like the bad guy,” he said. “I felt like we’ve been here so long they shouldn’t have put a spin like that on it.”
For that game, which the Chiefs won, Staico originally had planned a Super Bowl party and sold tickets. When the first 150 sold out in two hours, however, he realized the event was getting too big too quickly. He feared the intersection would be clogged with ride shares, and he didn’t want strangers meandering the unfamiliar streets in Chiefs jerseys.
“If you were wandering anywhere outside of this neighborhood you’d have trouble,” he said. “I don’t want to have that on my hands.”
Staico is a Philly guy through and through. He loves the 76ers, Flyers and Phillies and celebrates them at his bar. He pours gallons of Budweiser and Coors, but lots of Yuengling and Rolling Rock too. There are six TVs at Big Charlie’s, and at any given time there’s one of five movies playing: “The Godfather,” “Goodfellas,” “A Bronx Tale,” “Jaws” and — naturally — “Rocky.”
In fact, there’s a scene in “Rocky” that was shot nearby.
“Sylvester Stallone walks through a convent that’s near a church that’s two blocks away,” Staico said. “It’s my parish.”
So why, in the name of Sly, does Staico root for the Chiefs?
It seems his late father, for whom Big Charlie’s is named, was a gambler who bet on Kansas City to beat Minnesota in Super Bowl IV (which, coincidentally, was played in New Orleans). It was 1970, and young Paul hadn’t started grade school.
“I remember him telling me we need the red team to win,” Staico said. “They won, and the next day I got a bike. I was loyal after that.”
A few years later, Charlie bought the bar. Paul stayed loyal to the Chiefs, even though they weren’t on TV in Philadelphia more than maybe a game per season. Years later, his family got a satellite dish and his fandom grew.
Charlie died in 1983, and eventually Paul and his buddies began watching games at the bar. The group grew and began to accumulate Chiefs memorabilia — jerseys, helmets, posters, cups — and decorate their hangout.
When NFL Films showcased Big Charlie’s in 2003, then surprised everyone in 2023 by bringing former Chiefs (and Eagles) coach Dick Vermeil by for a visit, the place became more than a neighborhood curiosity.
“That really put us on the map,” Staico said.
One day, the wife of Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo stopped by and brought her father. They loved the vibe of the place. Soon enough, Spagnuolo dropped in with a gift: a replica Lombardi Trophy from the Super Bowl win over the Eagles.
“After we got the one,” Staico said, “I said I gotta get the one from 1970 too. Then over the years we won a couple more, and now I’ve got four trophies in the back of the bar.”
A constant flow of Chiefs fans take selfies with those shiny silver keepsakes.
But not this Super Bowl Sunday.
“We’re gonna take a knee,” said Staico, South Philly’s answer to Sam Malone.
Cheers to that.
The post A Chiefs bar in Eagles country? Not all Philly faithful are seeing red appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
