Inside Kells Irish Pub: A Legacy of Whiskey, Music, and Community
Join us for an incredible conversation with Patrick Pearse McAleese, the heart and soul behind Seattle’s legendary Kells Irish Pub. We dive deep into the rich history of Kells, the origins of this iconic bar in Pike Place Market, and the unforgettable legacy it has built over four decades.
From its early days in the gritty streets of Seattle to becoming a centerpiece of the city’s Irish culture, Patrick shares captivating stories of his family’s journey from Belfast to the Pacific Northwest.
With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, we also get an insider’s look at the upcoming 47th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival. Patrick details the two weeks of celebrations, featuring live music, traditional Irish fare, and a vibrant atmosphere that brings together locals and visitors from around the world.
We also discuss the evolution of live music at Kells, its expansive whiskey collection, and how the pub has adapted through the years—particularly during COVID.
Plus, Patrick shares some intriguing ghost stories tied to the historic Butterworth Building, adding yet another layer to the mystique of Kells.
Kells Irish Pub With Patrick Pearse McAleese Episode Transcript
Scott Cowan:
00:00-00:00
Not long time maybe. I have a
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:00-00:02
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:02-00:03
Well, we’ll just jump in.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:03-00:05
So, is it from McAleese?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:05-00:08
Yes, yes, you got it right on, you know.
Scott Cowan:
00:05-00:25
little bit of a bit of a jump in. Oh my God. Um and do you go by Patrick Pierce MaAcleese? Or just Pat? Pierce? Okay, well, I’ll call.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:08-00:12
And do you go by Patrick Pierce, McElise?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:12-00:14
A lot of people call me Pierce, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:14-00:17
That’s a lot of people I know very well, but call me that, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:17-00:25
So it’s my wife will joke sometimes when someone refers to me as Pat, and then she realizes, oh, she doesn’t, they don’t know him very well.
Scott Cowan:
00:25-00:25
Got it. Got it. All right. Well, let’s just jump in and do this because you know, it’ll be fun. Awesome. All right. I am sitting down today in my studio and Patrick Pierce
McAleese. It kills Irish bar and pub looks like he’s sitting at the bar.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:25-00:28
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:28-00:31
All right, well, let’s just jump in and do this, ’cause you know, we’ll be fine.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:31-00:34
Looking forward.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:34-00:43
I am sitting down today in my studio, and Patrick Pierce, McAleese, – Yes. – Kells Irish Bar, it looks like he’s sitting at the bar.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:43-00:49
I am actually funny enough, my wife had a meeting, so therefore I’m in actually her new place, Karoo, which is two floors above Kells.
Scott Cowan:
00:49-00:53
Okay, so you’re in crew. So we’re going to talk about that a little bit, but let’s yeah, let’s talk about So it’s kind of, kind of– – Okay, so you’re in Karoo, so we’re gonna
talk about that one.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
00:53-01:01
Of course, yeah. – But yeah, let’s talk about– we got together because you’re doing I said the 42nd annual – We got together because you’re doing, I said the 42nd
annual– annual.
Scott Cowan:
01:01-01:23
It breaks out a little bit.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02-01:06
Yes, 47th annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:06-01:09
So, it’d be exciting, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09-01:23
As I said, this day five years ago, I wasn’t sure this would ever happen again, but that’s why we’re, you know, we’ve had a couple of good years in a row there, but I’m
really hoping this is the year that Seattle knocks the cobwebs off, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:23-01:25
It brings out a little bit.
Scott Cowan:
01:24-01:25
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:25-01:34
Yeah, you know, so, Let’s go back.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:26-01:33
we still, I think we’re still dealing with a lot of the legacy of COVID and some of the behavior, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:33-01:36
Let’s go back.
Scott Cowan:
01:34-01:40
How did kills get started for those of us that first? Well, let me let me let me let me give you a couple questions. Number one, how did kills get started and number two,
simultaneously with that. Why did you guys pick How did Kells get started?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:40-01:44
Good– – First of all, well, let me give you a couple of questions.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:44-01:46
Sure. – Number one, how did Kells get started?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:46-01:53
And number two, simultaneously with that, why did you guys pick Pike Place Market?
Scott Cowan:
01:50-01:51
Pike Place Market?
Scott Cowan:
01:51-01:52
Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
01:52-01:53
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:53-01:54
Good question.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:54-01:58
I had a brother that lived down in the market.
Scott Cowan:
01:55-01:56
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:58-01:59
Like I said, you know, Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
01:59-02:00
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:00-02:02
even we first opened here, so I’d say it’s a loaded question.
Scott Cowan:
02:00-02:01
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:02-02:06
So, I’ll answer the first one, you know?
Scott Cowan:
02:03-02:04
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:06-02:07
You know, being in the city, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:07-02:09
there wasn’t a lot of other places, you know, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:09-02:11
that was like the places where people would congregate.
Scott Cowan:
02:09-02:10
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:11-02:13
I mean, I think people have a rose-colored lens view Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
02:13-02:15
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:15-02:17
of Seattle in the early ’80s.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:17-02:18
It was pretty gritty downtown.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:18-02:26
There was no place she would, you know, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:21-02:23
and I think it was very dominated by neighborhoods.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:23-02:28
And I even saw that post-COVID where downtown really took another kick in the teeth Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:28-02:30
and people’s businesses started closing down again.
Scott Cowan:
02:28-02:35
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:30-02:36
So, it showed you back in those days, it was like, it was just not a lot of activity.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:36-02:43
And I think the way they look at, we found the space, the old 1916 post alley, the old Butterworth building.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:43-02:50
And I gotta tell you, even our Pike Place Market has rose-colored lenses there, had pictures of this alley, it hit, it’s where the rubber met the road.
Scott Cowan:
02:49-02:51
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:50-02:58
And then all of a sudden we opened up here, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:53-02:54
and a few other businesses went in.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:54-03:26
Then all of a sudden it became, it went on the Pike Place Market radar again, that we have to be really conscious Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
02:59-03:01
of the historical background.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:01-03:13
And I’m like, oh, I remember as a 11-year-old was 20 garbage cans, you know, dumpsters, and a back alley, you know, so I think the whole place is really transformed.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:13-03:23
So, yeah, like my parents, you know, as I said, they came from Belfast, Ireland, actually all of us, and we all moved here as a one-hole family late ’70s.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:23-03:27
So, Kel’s kind of started going in 1983, so, All right.
Scott Cowan:
03:27-03:48
Well, and it’s you’re still in business, so it’s obviously you found a market.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:28-03:29
around that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:29-03:39
And I guess, you know, my parents’ family kind of, you know, I guess the idea was to open some kind of business, you know, and they came from that kind of background.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:39-03:40
So, the two and two went together.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:40-03:44
And see, I didn’t have a lot of the offer in that area, so I guess it worked.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:44-03:46
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:46-03:49
(indistinct chatter)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:49-03:52
(indistinct chatter)
Scott Cowan:
03:51-04:00
I don’t know. I think I’ve been in Kells probably in the 90s. So I’m going to guess nothing’s changed at all.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:52-03:58
I don’t know, I think I’ve been in Kell’s, probably in the ’90s.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:58-03:58
Yep.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
03:58-04:00
So, I’m gonna guess nothing’s changed.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:00-04:04
Good question, actually, in the late ’90s, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:02-04:05
we did a pretty big expansion.
Scott Cowan:
04:04-04:14
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:05-04:14
We knocked out a few walls, and then in ’06, we added a banquet room somewhere around, we had a second level.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:15-04:21
And that’s when we purchased, my mom and I purchased a building in ’05.
Scott Cowan:
04:20-04:21
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:21-04:27
So, that kind of changed things a lot, So you own the building, which in in terms of like, what the future would hold, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:27-04:32
Yeah, so that being said, it’s transformed a lot of ways.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:32-04:45
You know, it took a lot of years to kind of get it done, you know, between building permits and COVID, and finding out it done after 20 years, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:45-04:54
Finally got the whole thing completed, and now we have, as my wife kind of put it together, it’s kind of an ecosystem of sorts, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
04:54-05:00
So, we have five, six levels, and it’s all kind of occupied by something we do, you know?
Scott Cowan:
04:59-05:01
Oh, really? Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:00-05:02
So, it’s kind of fun, you know?
Scott Cowan:
05:01-05:03
No one.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:02-05:14
So yeah, so Kell’s is definitely like, Mm hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:07-05:15
in 1983, ’84, you know, you had one little side to Kell’s, what we call the restaurant side now, and that was St Patrick’s Day, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:15-05:16
And that was kind of, I remember that well, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:17-05:18
’cause it was like, back in those days, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:20-05:21
it was kind of hard to get a liquor license, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:22-05:24
so we started out with just beer wine, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:27-05:54
and I remember it was on St. Patrick’s Day ’84, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:29-05:57
that actually Governor Spellman came in, and that somehow he, that’s why he’ll always be near and dear to my heart, you know, ’cause I guess it was quite difficult to get
something like that done, so he did it, and we got a liquor license after that, so that allowed us in the next year, ’84, ’85, that we expanded into what is now the
Butterworth Building, so we’re in the Alaska trade in the Butterworth Building, as well, so two buildings, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
05:57-05:58
So, we talked on the phone, mentioned something, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:01-06:03
and we mentioned that the Butterworth Building Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:05-06:10
has kind of a historical story to it.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:10-06:11
Yeah, it’s like a, I kind of– Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:13-06:15
Let me interrupt you, let me just go into the– Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:15-06:16
I mentioned something about the elevator Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
06:16-06:17
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:17-06:19
having the view of Elliott Bay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:19-06:27
That is, and a storeroom, don’t forget the cloakroom, It makes you just scratch your head with today’s okay anyway.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:21-06:36
they had a cloakroom that would have had a view of the Elliott Bay as well, which I kind of– – It makes you just scratch your head with today’s, So share share with my
listeners the kind of the back story of this of this building that you guys are occupying now.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:27-06:37
okay, anyway, so share with my listeners the kind of the backstory of this building that you guys are occupying.
Scott Cowan:
06:36-06:37
Oh.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:37-06:39
Yeah, I guess the Butterworth family, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:38-06:58
I guess they, that’s the urban legend of the whole thing, Oh, okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:41-06:57
they weren’t even morticians, they were clearly businessmen, and they built this, actually, which is this in 1903, so we’re actually four years older than the pipe
place market, so this is like the first freestanding building on First Avenue in this little area we call the pipe place market.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
06:57-06:59
And then they occupied here from 1903 to 1919, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:02-07:05
and that’s kind of, you know, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:05-07:19
because they started out as morticians for Seattle’s first mortuary, you know, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:13-07:26
yeah, like you mentioned earlier, the first elevator on the West Coast for the purposes of carrying gurneys, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:20-07:36
which was, as I said, in probably our most, our nicest view area of Elliott Bay, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:26-07:31
our elevator now is closer to First Avenue in a more appropriate place, I think.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:31-07:43
But yeah, I have to laugh the, and that’s where the, and that’s kind of, and that’s where the facts kind of end, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:37-07:53
and then the legend starts to begin, you know, like, you know, it was like when Spanish flew, and how they would, you know, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:44-08:03
they were getting bodies off the street, and the city would give you so much money for each corpse, and then that’s where the story starts to become legend when they, or
myth is when they were like, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
07:55-08:29
bodies were, you know, come into this mortuary who were not necessarily dead yet, you know, and that’s where the, you know, when you have these ghost tours come through
here, that’s something they kind of, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
08:05-08:12
kind of talk about, you know, so, ’cause I think I mentioned that to you yesterday, like, yes, we definitely were a mortuary.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
08:12-08:30
Yeah, we definitely were, you know, the Butterworth building was definitely an Irish bar, and then at some point along the way, you probably heard this in Seattle, we
had these seamstress tax, which was 10% of the budget in the beginning and at the end of the 19th century, yet when they did the audit, they found no sewing machines.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
08:30-08:59
So another part of the story is that this Butterworth building was a place of ill repute, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
08:36-09:00
so as we used to joke, it’s the three places that you’re dying to get into, you know, but again, that’s part of the myth, and you know, I’ve not seen that registered
anywhere that it was a house of ill repute, but not even somebody came up with it was a crematorium, and I’m like, well, you know, some stuff is interesting, we found, you
know, a lot of old duck work that just didn’t belong, but again, nothing official, you know.
Scott Cowan:
08:59-09:01
Nothing official. That’s fascinating to me. Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:00-09:06
Lot of luck packed into this 125 years So you mentioned Governor Spellman and you mentioned the in this building, I’ll tell you, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:06-09:18
You mentioned Governor Spellman, liquor license was was difficult to get. And I’m on your you mentioned the liquor license was difficult to get, website and it says
Kells is proud to offer one of the city’s and I’m on your website and it says, “Kells is proud to offer one of the city’s largest whiskey collections.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:17-09:20
“largest whiskey collections.” .
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:19-09:22
Yes, and funny, that was a, .
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:21-09:24
even between our Kells Portland, I tell you, .
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:23-09:26
that was, they had the biggest single malt collection .
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:26-09:30
for quite some time, and then we went that same route, .
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:31-10:00
and we really did, we really invested in it, .
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:33-09:43
but it’s like funny, speed of Irish whiskeys or even like, the Scotch single malt, for the first 20 years we were open, we could only get like three different Irish
whiskeys.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
09:43-10:19
Now I could cover three shelves, and I don’t even have them all, you know, you could go on, it’s the world, it’s just blown up, you know, so that’s pretty, yeah, but back
then, the old days you had, Jameson’s Bush Mills, and actually, Jameson’s 12 year old, that’s it, Jim and Simmonds, it was called 1780, What’s currently the most
popular, Jameson?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:00-10:02
that’s all you could buy.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:02-10:11
Now it’s like Patties, Riders, Tears, Proper 12, the list goes on, you know, so it’s a– – What’s currently the most popular?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:11-10:40
Jameson’s, yeah, yeah, Jameson’s, it’s by far the, that’s the big one that we’ve been putting in our Irish coffees, you know, Are you a whiskey aficionado?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:19-10:22
so it’s– – Are you a whiskey aficionado?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:23-10:26
‘Cause my dad used to joke, “If you are, you’re dead.”
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:26-10:28
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:28-10:30
You’re not gonna live too long.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:30-10:41
I enjoy it to a degree, but you know, it’s not really my, you know, so I said, not kind of lifestyle catches up with you, I don’t care what anybody says.
Scott Cowan:
10:41-10:48
I’m going to ask you what you give me a name of one that you think is underrated.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:41-10:46
I was gonna ask you what, give me a name of one that you think is underrated.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:46-10:50
Not even underrated, I would say dollar for dollar, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:48-11:04
the best Irish, or the best, I call it blend of whiskey You like that one?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:51-10:55
in the world, there’s gonna be, it’s called Red Breast, it’s made by Jameson.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:55-10:57
Excellent, excellent stuff.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
10:57-11:00
Dollar for dollar, really, really good.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:00-11:19
As far as the Scotch has occurred to concern, you just can’t go wrong with the McCallan, but then again, that’s probably me Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:05-11:29
in my American palette talking, ’cause it’s smooth, you know, and then you get people who will talk about, you know, like the island of those PD Scotch whiskeys, and
then you’ll, it’s not really my thing, but they’re excellent, and that’s actually fun enough Oh, really?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:21-11:36
that island of whiskeys, the island’s only about 50 kilometers from my house in Ireland, now, if you go on a rib boat, we get there 90 minutes, but if we drove there, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:30-11:35
it would take us like 16 hours, you know, going the whole way around, you know, so.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:35-11:36
That’s pretty cool.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:36-11:58
But yeah, again, those are very, very, and what I just described to you there is apples in orange, just they’re completely different flavor profiles, different
regions, different, just different, you know, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:47-11:56
and I gotta say a bit more expensive, you know, I said some of the Irish whiskeys, what I described there was to get more bang for your buck, for sure, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
11:56-12:01
And then you have Kelsbrusser on beer?
Scott Cowan:
11:58-12:05
And then you have Kelsbruz or own beer?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:01-12:26
Yeah, so I have a nephew down in Portland, and he’s been doing that since, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:05-12:09
I kinda can’t believe it’s been nearly 15 years, or time-wise, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:09-12:16
I kind of found myself correcting myself, yeah, we just opened, I said, “Shit, no, “it’s been a long time, it’s been a while,” you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:16-12:45
So we do all our pipeline beers there, that would be like your Kells Irish Lager, Kells Stout, we do an IPA, Kells Irish Red, let me do a, you know, some, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:27-12:40
we do a hazy IPA, then we do a group of seasonals, but this time of year, come through to Sybatic State, we just go to scale it back to what we call our pipeline, like our,
that’d be your Lager, your Pilsner, your Stout, your Red, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:40-12:44
Fortunately, it’s a, hopefully, a big crazy time of year, so.
Scott Cowan:
12:45-12:46
So what, let’s talk about this.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:46-12:51
So, let’s talk about this, You guys got like two weeks of celebration going on.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:47-12:50
you guys got like two weeks of celebration going on.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:50-12:51
Yeah, yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:51-13:07
You used to be St. Patrick’s Day, Just to be saying, Patrick’s Day, and now you’re, you’re, you’re, wow.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
12:53-13:20
and now you’re– – Good question, you used to be like this Saturday before, and it was kind of, as we, you and I got connected, kind of talking, and I’m like, “Yeah, we, you
know, when we think about it, “we put this event, it’s really kind of for us, “starts the sixth of March.” And then I officially started with, would be my dad’s 90s, would
have been my dad’s Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:09-13:46
92nd birthday on the eighth of March, which is Saturday, which is kind of a fun day to get things going, and that’ll be, that’ll be the first of my Irish bands, so we fly in
three groups for this event, and there, Oh, really?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:22-13:28
along with our great friends and musicians that are in our local community here, too.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:28-13:35
And we kind of mix those two together, so we have two stages, actually three, technically, but we have two main stages.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:35-13:42
In fact, even during COVID, which was kind of fun, we actually do a YouTube live of the whole event.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:42-13:53
And it starts the 15th, we do it from the 15th to the 17th, That’s very cool.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:46-13:53
so you could be anywhere in the world, and you could watch the Kelserrich Festival from the main stage, so it’s kind of fun.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:53-14:10
And it is kind of fun for the guys who are playing here, Actually, I like that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
13:56-14:10
’cause one of our guys, Martin Higgins, he plays throughout the year in Australia and in Spain, and a little bit in Ireland as well, so at least his friends and followers
in Australia can kind of catch up with what he’s doing, and you know, it’s kind of fun.
Scott Cowan:
L
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:14-14:16
Martin Higgins, you know.
Scott Cowan:
14:16-14:19
So there’s no way I would have ever pronounced it that way.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:16-14:19
So there’s no way I would have ever pronounced it that way.
Scott Cowan:
14:19-14:23
I’m looking on the website.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:19-14:24
Oh yeah, sorry, I was gonna say, oh yeah, when I, it’s spelled an Irish on our– I’m like looking at going, what?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:24-14:25
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:25-14:26
What?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:26-14:28
Yeah, and even I was stuck with that one too, you know?
Scott Cowan:
14:27-14:39
Oh my God.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:28-14:40
It’s like, it’s even in his, we’re good friends, so it’s up on his Facebook, it’s like an Irish, and then there’s WhatsApp, it’s in English, and you know, it’s okay, I
still can’t keep my wrap my head around it, so.
Scott Cowan:
14:39-14:43
That’s funny because I’m looking at going, is that who he’s talking about?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:40-14:41
That’s fine, so we can make one.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:41-14:42
Yeah. – That’s what he’s talking about.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:42-14:54
But he’s very, very good, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:43-14:54
and then we have another band, the Buck Mad, or sorry, the Smokin’ Shamrock, and then the Buck Mad Boys, so they’re each two in each group, so they’re a lot of fun, you know?
Scott Cowan:
14:54-15:09
And then.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
14:54-15:02
Good energy, and that’s what I was saying, is like, what sets us apart, like our event, is we kind of invest a lot in it, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
15:02-15:26
As I said, now we have the, you know, as we were talking earlier, the 1983, we started off in the one 2200 square foot area, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
15:09-15:26
and then, you know, the next year, we added our back bar area, and plus the alley, and that, I, maybe it’s, you know, you see this through the lenses of like a 12 or 13 year
old, but what I remember though, Sympathic State, it was like Woodstock, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
15:26-15:46
It was like the alley, there was no barricades, it was just, it was a huge stage outside, and you kind of, you walked in from either end of the alley, and you met in the
middle, and it was, it was controlled, I wouldn’t even say controlled, it was chaos, and it was, but through the eyes of a 14 year old, it was the neatest thing I’ve ever
seen, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
15:46-15:56
But since then, we have to, you know, fire department and rules, and we have a tent and a marquee, and, you know, proper exits and these things, you know?
Scott Cowan:
15:55-16:02
So growing up, was there any doubt in your mind that this would be the path you would follow?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
15:56-16:01
So, growing up, was there any doubt in your mind that this would be the path you would follow?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
16:01-16:04
Doubt, ah, God, you know, it’s a good question.
Scott Cowan:
16:02-16:31
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
16:04-16:16
It’s a family business, it’s, I asked myself that, until I met my wife, I said to myself, I really probably should have done something else, you know, I mean, it’s just,
you know, it’s being the youngest kid, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
16:16-16:33
You know, my mom was living with me, you know, she wasn’t doing well, my dad passed away, and, but that was a good question, it’s, I knew I’d always be married to the
business in some way, you know, like in terms of, it’s really in your blood, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
16:32-16:43
it’s like my advice to anybody that, I want to go to a restaurant, no you don’t, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
16:36-17:12
you really don’t, and do you have a partner, or a wife, or a girlfriend, well you won’t, you know, when you’re said done, you know, you’re, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
16:44-17:22
we’ve, that’s why I’m excited about us moving forward, even how we are using our building, for example, my wife and I, we moved in here, we moved on the fifth floor, so we
were the first people to live in this building in over a hundred years, but it’s, it allows me to see our little daughter a lot more often, whereas, and that would, and we
built that around, you know, moving forward, we looked at our life, and like, you know, this is a tough business, like every business is tough, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
17:15-17:32
but it also goes, you know, very late sometimes, and very early, you know, but it’s a unique opportunity Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
17:22-17:42
for, you know, I’m able to see her a lot more often, my wife a lot more often, I’m able to work together, so we’ve created a great environment for us, whereas that’s just
not the case for a lot of people, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
17:35-17:52
you know, so when you asked me 20, 30 years ago, and I was doing other stuff, and you know, our family business was growing, and oh, and siblings started leaving the city,
you know, like one brother went down to Portland 35 years ago, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
17:46-18:02
and they did that, and one brother went down to San Francisco 25 years ago, and they moved their separate ways, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
17:53-18:12
and I was the one here, and I don’t give you a wrong, I always loved it, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s, that’s why even, you’ve talked about like 2025, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
18:02-18:22
or 2020, on St Patrick’s Day, I was literally driving down to the store to buy, to go containers so I could give away the corn beef and cabbage, you know, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
18:13-18:17
so you know, like COVID, you know, for shut down, you know, what are you gonna do?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
18:17-18:32
And I’m like, said to the wife, I’m like, no matter what stress you deal with at work, as long as I’m gonna have to do that again, you know, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
18:23-19:01
and that was, it’s crazy, you know, and again, you know, when days like that, you wonder, why did we stay in this business, you know, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
18:33-19:01
and then, and then there’s times like this, I’m talking to you, talking about our most exciting time of the year, and hopefully a springboard for the rest of our year to
come, and years to come, you know, so it’s, yeah, but yeah, this business will make you doubt yourself every day, but again, it’s a legacy of my parents, you know, my mom
and dad, you know, so it’s, I think it’s really important, you know, for me, that’s right.
Scott Cowan:
19:01-19:11
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:01-19:21
So you remodeled part of the calling, you actually turned it into a residence, you’re living there, so that’s, I can see that it’s both awesome and awful, like, you
can’t– – Good, good great point, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:12-19:31
I thought it was gonna be, fortunately, the friends that I called, you know, near and dear, you know, imagine if I was single living here, oh, it’d be a nightmare, you
know, guys trying to come up the elevator, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:22-19:30
but they know, when dear friends know you have a five-year-old upstairs, they’re like, you know, they’ll call first and these things, but it’s worked out better than I
ever thought it would.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:30-19:41
And, you know, as I said, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:32-19:51
Kells covers the first two floors on the alley, so that would be post alley, the 1960 post alley, and then our banquet room right above that, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:41-20:13
and one floor above that, we converted that, the old Butterworth Chapel into what is now my wife’s restaurant bar, coffee shop is the Karoo, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:52-19:57
and it’s a South African themed kind of bar experience.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
19:57-20:22
And then one floor above that is the Protea Yoga, so it’s another kind of a South African inspired yoga studio, and then one floor above that is where we live, so it kind of
gives us a bit of a buffer, you know, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:14-20:17
like, you know, you ask me, was it loud?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:17-20:24
Honestly, it’s ambient noise, no, no, I mean, the buses on the first avenue side are gonna be louder, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:22-20:25
so it’s, it worked out better than I ever thought it would.
Scott Cowan:
20:24-20:32
But the yoga studios aren’t yoga studios are normally not loud at 1am.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:25-20:27
The yoga studios are probably not loud enough.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:27-20:39
Oh, that, I was just talking about, yeah, but I was even asking about, like, because we do a little bit of music in Karoo, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:32-20:39
but we do a lot of music down in Kells downstairs, but, you know, it works out, it worked out better than I thought, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:39-20:40
Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
20:39-20:49
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:40-20:49
One of the things you mentioned on our call earlier was that you guys used to have music, music’s changed, the business of music has changed.
Scott Cowan:
20:49-20:52
How has that impacted you and Kells?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:52-20:58
You know, that was, that’s when you just have to, like any business with the changes or changes, right?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
20:58-21:09
And like you said to me, 20 years ago, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:02-21:03
we used to charge cover charts.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:03-21:07
A lot of places did throughout the, you know, Belltown in our area.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:07-21:11
And that stopped, and I still did music seven nights a week.
Scott Cowan:
21:09-21:19
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:11-21:17
And it was like, you could open the door and, you know, you’d create a business.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:17-21:20
People wanted that, and things changed, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:20-21:25
I mean, you could say COVID, but, you know, the mid teens kind of people were just looking for different things.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:25-21:28
And that’s like any business, you just have to learn to pivot, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:28-21:35
And back then it was very much our entire music genre would have been traditional Irish folk, and that’s it.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:35-22:00
And then from there, you’re like, of course, I’m gonna keep a lot of Irish music in Kells, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:41-21:45
but we don’t pigeonhole ourselves either, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:45-21:58
Like for example, I had a young fella, and we’re still good friends now, and he plays for us all the time, and he emailed me, and he goes, “I’m actually from Botswana.”
And, you know, I do know a little Irish music, and I’m like, funny enough, my wife saw that, freaking blah, blah, blah, blah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
21:58-22:10
We start this conversation like you and I right now, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:00-22:09
and from there, we came fast friends, and somebody come on down, and he ended up playing a few gigs for me, and funny enough, he plays a couple of gigs up, started playing
some gigs up at Karoo as well.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:09-22:20
And again, 20, 30 years ago, I would have been like, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:13-22:17
ah, God, you know, I really need a traditional Irish folk background.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:17-22:19
It’s like, that’s not necessarily it, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:19-22:21
And I will say about Irish bars, too.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:21-22:23
We’re supposed to be embassies of sorts, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:23-22:27
There’s supposed to be places where everybody kind of should feel welcome.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:27-22:50
You know, it should be a real place of, you know, inclusion, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:31-22:33
you know, and that’s the idea.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:33-22:36
That’s the whole, that’s what makes a Irish bar, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:36-22:47
So, you know, you don’t, you know, if I ever see a, you know, a red rope outside of an Irish bar, I’d be kind of like, maybe they missed the message, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:47-22:49
I don’t know the reference.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:49-22:51
Oh, like, you know, like a VIP entrance.
Scott Cowan:
22:50-22:51
I don’t, I don’t know the reference.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:51-22:52
(laughs)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:52-22:53
No, like a velvet rope.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:53-22:55
That was going in a completely dark place.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
22:55-23:24
You know, you know, it’s like, you know, great if you do that, Gotcha.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:00-23:03
but I just always like, you know, I like to use the word inclusion, exclusion.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:03-23:12
So, and that’s what, that’s what Kell’s on, Pimi, is always, if that’s one thing we’ve done well, you know, it’s like you said to me earlier about, you know, expensive
whiskeys and whatever.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:12-23:24
Yeah, Kell’s the kind of place, if you want to spend $50, $100 on a shot of whisky, you can, but also if you want to, you know, a shot of $9 whisky, you can get that too.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:24-23:28
You know, it’s for all folks, you know?
Scott Cowan:
23:24-23:29
Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:28-23:31
You talked about the bar.
Scott Cowan:
23:29-23:32
We talked about the bar.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:31-23:34
It’s not about the food.
Scott Cowan:
23:32-23:35
Let’s talk about the food.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:34-23:37
What are you?
Scott Cowan:
23:35-23:41
What do you, what’s your go to, if you’re the owner, you can have whatever you want.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:37-23:38
Our food?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:38-23:39
Your go-to.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:39-23:41
You’re the owner, you can have whatever you want.
Scott Cowan:
23:41-23:45
What do you, what do you gravitate towards?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:41-23:43
What do you gravitate towards?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:43-24:08
Oh, and our in Kell’s would be, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:46-23:58
I have to say, and I’ll back up a little bit here with Irish bars in general, describing yourself like an Irish restaurant, that is an uphill battle, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
23:58-24:02
People think, oh, Irish pub, no brainer, you know, they kind of have an idea of what they think.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:02-24:06
Oh, can get beer, you know, and fried food.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:06-24:08
We actually didn’t have a fryer in Kell’s until five years ago.
Scott Cowan:
24:08-24:37
Really.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:08-24:13
We bake three different types of bread a day.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:13-24:15
We do our Irish soda bread, we do our Irish wheat bread.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:15-24:28
Our chef of nearly 40 years, Brian still does his scones every Sunday, Sunday, and we do our Irish potato bread as well, which I get a day I’ll put against anything you’ll
find in Ireland, I promise you.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:28-25:06
But as far as what I gravitate to, like we’re really good at, as I mean, I was lucky enough to meet Anthony Bourdain once, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:37-24:39
and it was, you know, a 30-second conversation.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:39-24:58
It was in Chicago for the restaurant show, and I remember going to see a couple of other chefs were putting on things, and there was like 10 people watching them, and I
said, oh, Anthony Bourdain’s good, and I was expecting to see the same gallery of people, like 10 or 15, oh, this’ll be pretty cool, I get to be an Anthony Bourdain with 20
people.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
24:58-25:01
Oh no, it was like Taylor Swift showed up.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
25:01-25:16
I mean, it was for an auditorium of like 100 people, there was 300 people in this place, you know, you’re like, oh, but anyways, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
25:07-25:26
I thought, that’s a missed opportunity, and as I’m leaving, like literally going out to the back of the hotel, I bump into him and we just had a quick conversation,
’cause he had, I think he’d done a show, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
25:17-25:36
was like hangover weekend or something, and I kind of laughed, and he was very close to our restaurant in San Francisco at the time, and he was laughing, and he was kind of
joking about Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
25:26-25:46
literally how hungover he actually was, and a wonderful person, very engaging, and I remember kind of talking to him, but I’ve actually seen Seattle, but I’ve never
come there, I want you to have our sausage roll, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
25:37-25:46
so that’s kind of our cootie-growl, that’s kind of the, you know, if that was, I said, if Anthony Bourdain would have shown up, he would have had the sausage roll, so
that’s kind of something we do very well.
Scott Cowan:
25:46-25:56
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
25:46-26:07
All our past days are excellent, that’s one thing I would definitely gravitate to, and yeah, there’s some other staple items on there, like we take our corned beef and
cabbage, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
25:57-26:09
we take our rack of lamb, and our pork chops pretty serious, but as far as, you know, if I would, you’d come to Cal’s, I would, you know, next time I’d be like, get you a
sausage roll, so yeah.
Scott Cowan:
26:08-26:19
I have a board day and story shared on the podcast before I’ll give you the, the, the cliff notes of it. If you want to hear the whole thing, I’ll tell you off when we’re not
recording,
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:09-26:10
I have a 14 story.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:11-26:18
I’ve shared it on the podcast before, I’ll give you the cliff notes of it, if you want to hear the whole thing, I’ll tell you how, we’re not recording it.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:18-26:22
I chauffeured Bourdain from Portland to Seattle.
Scott Cowan:
26:19-26:29
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:22-26:23
No way.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:23-26:28
And you were Onalaska Washington
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:28-26:40
Yes, I’m done by, yes, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:29-26:34
I probably could drive to Portland in my sleep, sorry, you know, with my eyes closed, yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:34-26:49
So, about Onalaska he goes, “Hey, can we pull over somewhere “so I can get a cigarette?” Yeah, pull over into Onalaska, And pull over into Onalaska, pull over to a gas
station and he goes, Hey, can you drive around back?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:42-26:58
pull over to a gas station, and he goes, “Hey, can you drive around back?” He goes, “I don’t want anybody to see me smoking I’m thinking to myself, it’s on Alaska
Washington. No one’s going to know who the hell you are.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:50-26:58
“on my, I told my wife if I quit.” And I’m thinking to myself, it’s on Alaska, Washington, no one’s gonna know who the hell you are.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:58-26:59
Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
26:58-27:01
But I, you know, he’s the, he’s the client. Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
26:59-27:02
But I, you know, he’s the client, right?
Scott Cowan:
27:01-27:05
So I pull around the back of this gas station. I get out now it’s a Lincoln town cart. It’s not a stretch.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:02-27:07
Pull around the back of this gas station, I get out, now it’s a Lincoln town car, And I was just a, it’s a town car.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:05-27:07
it’s not a stretchable one, I’m supposed to, it’s a town car.
Scott Cowan:
27:07-27:08
I get out.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:07-27:10
I get out, I’m wearing a black suit and all that stuff, I’m wearing a black suit and all that stuff.
Scott Cowan:
27:10-27:11
I open the door for him.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:10-27:15
I open the door for him, he stands up, He stands up and he lights a cigarette and we’re standing out by the car.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:12-27:15
and he lights a cigarette, and we’re standing out by the car.
Scott Cowan:
27:15-27:18
Six people show up.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:16-27:24
Oh my God. (laughing) And you know, he’s like kind of like hiding the cigarette, you know, and he’s trying, you know, and I’m like, Oh my God.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:19-27:32
And you know, he’s like kind of like, hiding the cigarette, you know, and he’s trying, you know, and I’m like, “Oh my God.” And so we get back in the car and he goes, Yeah,
that’s, that’s my life because I everywhere I go, I can’t even have a cigarette anymore.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:25-27:33
And so we get back in the car, and he goes, “Yeah, that’s my life.” He goes, “Everywhere I go, “I can’t even have a cigarette anymore.” I’m really sorry to hear that.
Scott Cowan:
27:33-27:33
I’m really sorry to hear that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:33-27:34
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:34-27:50
But I gotta tell you, he’s, I don’t know, I guess our exchange is 30, I mean, felt like shorter, but I’m sure maybe it was 30 or 40 seconds, and you felt like he was, did a very
good job of, you’re very visible, you felt very sane, and he was very engaging.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
27:50-28:13
And that’s why I probably, I was gonna say to you, like, it’s like I got a friend of mine, local guy here, he’s a writer, a storyteller, and I remember like driving to
Portland with him once, and it felt like 20 minutes, you know, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:03-28:06
and I was gonna ask you that, what did it feel like with Bourdain?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:07-28:15
Did, if you had a conversation with him, I would imagine he’d be the kind of guy, if he did continue our dialogue with him, it would probably feel very quick, you know?
Scott Cowan:
28:13-28:19
Well, we, we did chat most of the way from on Alaska up to Seattle.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:15-28:25
Well, we did chat most of the way, along Alaska, up to Seattle, And at that time, my daughter was 14 years old.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:20-28:30
and at that time my daughter was 14 years old, and I could have given her to Tony Portain, And I could have given her to Tony Bourdain and she would have been happy.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:30-28:41
and she would have been happy, I mean, the world’s, I mean, you know, and, and I just, I said to him, I said, Hey, you know, I know you probably don’t want to do this, but you
know, I got to ask you and you’re trapped in the car and he started laughing.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:31-28:33
I mean, she’s the world to me, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:33-28:34
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:34-28:42
And I just, I said to him, I said, “Hey, you know, I know you probably don’t want to do this, “but I got to ask you, “and you’re trapped in the car, you start laughing.
Scott Cowan:
28:41-28:44
I go, Would you, would you be willing to sign autograph for my daughter?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:42-28:45
“Would you be willing to sign autograph “for my daughter?” He goes, Yeah, sure.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:44-28:46
He goes, “Yeah, sure.” No problem.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:45-28:49
He goes, “Let’s call her.” He goes, Let’s call her.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:48-28:49
Okay.
Scott Cowan:
28:49-28:53
I go, Okay, so, hand my, hand my cell phone.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:49-28:54
I go, “Okay, so I hand my cell phone, I go, Hey, can you say, Hang on a second.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:53-28:55
“I go, “Hey, Kenzie, hang on a second, Hand my cell phone back to him.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:54-28:57
“hand my cell phone back to me.” And he starts talking to her.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:56-29:03
He starts talking to me, And I can hear her squealing and you know, she is just, she is just beside herself, right?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
28:57-29:02
and I can hear her squealing, and she just, she just, she just, besides herself, right?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:02-29:07
And he goes, “Well, why don’t you, And he goes, Well, why don’t you and your dad come to the show tonight?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:04-29:07
“our dad come to the show tonight?” – Oh, wow.
Scott Cowan:
29:07-29:12
And I’m like, I can’t afford to go to this thing at the Paramount that sold out.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:07-29:16
And I’m like, “I can’t afford to go to this thing “at the Paramount that’s sold out.” And he goes, and I’m not supposed to take gifts from the client, right?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:12-29:13
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:13-29:16
And I’m not supposed to take gifts from the client, right?
Scott Cowan:
29:16-29:19
And he goes, and he was, you know, you can imagine the words he threw together.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:16-29:17
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:17-29:19
And he was, you know, he can imagine the words they threw together.
Scott Cowan:
29:19-29:25
And, and, well, anyway, long story short is I, I dropped him off in Seattle.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:19-29:20
Yes, yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:20-29:33
And anyway, long story short, is I dropped him off in Seattle, Drive back to Tacoma, change out the suit, get my car, get my daughter, drive up to the Paramount Theater,
fine parking.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:25-29:34
I was living in Tacoma, dropped him off in Seattle, drove back to Tacoma, changed out of the suit, get my car, get my daughter, drive up to the Paramount Theater, mine
park.
Scott Cowan:
29:33-29:38
See the line outside the Paramount Theater, go up to the will call booth, which is where he said tickets would be.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:34-29:40
See the line outside the Paramount Theater, go up to the Will Call Booth, which is where he said tickets would be, And there’s no tickets.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:38-29:39
there’s no tickets.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:39-29:40
Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
29:40-29:43
My daughter’s not exactly an understanding child.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:40-29:43
My daughter’s not exactly an understanding child.
Scott Cowan:
29:43-29:43
Sorry, Kenzie, if you hear this, you’ve heard the story, you know, she’s heard the story lots of times.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:43-29:44
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:44-29:51
Sorry, Kenzie, if you hear this, you’ve heard this story, she’s heard this story a lot, Anyway, but at the will call booth, I’m talking to the guy that guys, there’s no
tickets here.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:48-29:56
anyway, but at the Will Call Booth, I’m talking to the guy, And he, Bourdain literally walked behind the, and I go, he’s right there.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:51-29:58
the guy says, “There’s no tickets here.” And Bourdain literally walked behind, and I go, “He’s right there, Would you please just turn and get him?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
29:57-30:00
“would you please just turn and get him?” And the guy actually did.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:00-30:02
And the guy actually did.
Scott Cowan:
30:00-30:02
And Bourdain goes, oh, shit.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:02-30:09
And Bourdain goes, “Oh, shit.” And he comes outside the Paramount, grabs my daughter and me and brings us inside to the Paramount Theater.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:04-30:10
He comes outside the Paramount, grabs my daughter and me, and brings us inside to the Paramount Theater.
Scott Cowan:
30:09-30:17
We sat in the fifth row and she got to go up on stage after it was with a talk with him and Mario Battali.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:10-30:18
We sat in the fifth row, she got to go up on stage, after it was a talk with him and Martin O’Vatally.
Scott Cowan:
30:17-30:19
And there was an after hours party.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:18-30:22
There was an after hours party, We got to go to the after hours party on the stage at the Paramount Theater.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:19-30:23
we got to go to the after hours party on the stage of the Paramount Theater.
Scott Cowan:
30:22-30:26
I am father of the year forever.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:23-30:26
I am father of the year forever.
Scott Cowan:
30:26-30:28
He was so nice.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:26-30:36
He was so nice, he was such just, He was such just, you know, he’d be a great guy to sit at Kells and have a beer with, you know what I mean?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:33-30:35
he’d be a great guy to sit at Kells.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:35-30:36
Oh, jeez, I mean.
Scott Cowan:
30:36-30:38
You’re exactly right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:36-30:41
You’re exactly right, You could sit there all day with him and it would seem like 10 minutes.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:38-30:40
you could sit there all day with him.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:40-30:49
You know, it’s like great people that die too young, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:45-31:02
the only silver lining of it is, they get to be that for eternity, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:49-30:55
whether you’re JFK or whether you’re Anthony Bourdain, they’re just people that just were absolutely adored.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
30:55-31:04
And clearly had, they were normal people, didn’t try to make it, they only better.
Scott Cowan:
31:02-31:08
Right. Now he was…
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:04-31:08
Clearly he had some real struggles and didn’t mess around with that.
Scott Cowan:
31:08-31:22
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:08-31:20
But yeah, every, especially, I can’t think of a person who would be like, who would you, bucket list, who would you want to spend an evening with?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:20-31:22
I think he’s on everybody’s list.
Scott Cowan:
31:22-31:24
Yeah, he would be on mine.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:22-31:24
You know, I mean, yeah.
Scott Cowan:
31:24-31:25
He would be on mine.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:24-31:43
They’re spirit people that require taste, There’s a couple others.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:28-31:50
but that guy just seemed to, and even how he was able to, I mean, for goodness sake, he took a cooking show into a travel show and it, and then was able to give his own two
cents and what he saw in the world and people took that real serious, you know, Did you ever read his fiction?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:44-31:47
rather than like, oh God, you’re a chef, keep your mouth shut, what do you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:47-31:50
No, people looked at him more than they looked, you know, any other expert.
Scott Cowan:
31:50-31:51
Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:50-31:53
Did you ever read his fiction that he wrote?
Scott Cowan:
31:51-31:54
Did you ever read his fiction that he wrote?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:53-31:55
No, I have not.
Scott Cowan:
31:54-31:59
It’s just trashy beach novel, you know, about a cook involved with the mafia.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:55-31:56
Not any.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
31:56-32:00
Each novel, you know, about a cook involved with the mafia.
Scott Cowan:
31:59-32:00
I mean, it was just like it was awesome.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:00-32:02
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:02-32:04
Yeah. That’s awesome.
Scott Cowan:
32:03-32:04
All right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:04-32:05
All right.
Scott Cowan:
32:04-32:12
So, St. Patrick’s Day, Kells is gearing up for this giant celebration two weeks of this.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:05-32:12
So, at St. Patrick’s Day, Kells is gearing up for this giant celebration, two weeks of this.
Scott Cowan:
32:12-32:18
But you got 50 weeks of the year outside of this celebration.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:12-32:13
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:13-32:16
But you’ve got 50 weeks of the year outside of this celebration.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:16-32:17
Sure.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:17-32:21
What else do you guys like to do?
Scott Cowan:
32:18-32:28
What else do you guys like to do?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:21-32:22
Oh, good question.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:22-32:30
I have to say, our craziest times of the year are spring and summer for sure, you know?
Scott Cowan:
32:28-32:57
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:30-32:31
We have a great patio.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:31-32:36
Again, you know, that’s a slogan I use for promoting our business.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:36-32:49
And even when I’m promoting our new FIFA Club World Cup this summer, it’s like, you know, we’re a great view bar for sports or any sort of entertainment, but if you’re a
visitor to town, where else would you want to be?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:49-32:50
You know, in the Pike Place Market.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:50-32:57
I mean, it’s in, we have our new waterfront now with Viaduct gone, the Great Seattle Disconnect.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
32:57-33:13
Now, I kind of say our Pike Place Market Cascades Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:01-33:03
right into the Elliott Bay now.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:03-33:11
So, it’s pretty, whether you’re on a cruise ship or you’re someone visiting our lovely city, this is kind of ground zero.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:11-33:42
It’s the, I used to call it the soul of the city, Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:14-33:29
but it really is, you know, it’s, especially how Seattle kind of, I mean, I like to tell myself that we’re really improving, but the Pike Place Market Fortuny has been a
mainstay as far as activity.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:29-33:31
And that’s the most important thing when you come to like public safety or anything.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:31-33:36
As long as you get businesses open and activity, it really helps a lot.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:36-34:11
So, as far as Kel’s concern, you know, you know, our summers have always been kind of a, just a, look at the urban setting Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:44-33:50
of our entire Pewds Sound region, whether Tacomas, but they’ve done to their waterfront.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:50-33:53
Goodness me, I never thought that in my lifetime that would look like that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
33:53-34:00
And from, you know, from the South Puget Sound all the way up to what a wonderful, you know, what a setting, right?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:00-34:08
You know, you just, everybody comes here, they’re just, it’s a jaw dropping, you know, even today, as I look at the white caps out there.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:08-34:23
It’s a phrase I cannot stand that people say, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:13-34:17
especially when they’re from here, they go, “If it was this nice all the time, “I’d totally live here.”
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:17-34:19
(laughs)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:19-34:23
You know, do you realize how much water it takes for it to look like this, you know?
Scott Cowan:
34:23-34:49
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:23-34:24
Sorry to laugh.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:24-34:31
But so what we do the rest of the year, you know, as I said, the summer’s epic, you know, I just said we have a great outdoor experience here.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:31-34:42
What’s kind of fun with our building, as I said, we have our, by next summer, 26, we’re still working on our permits and all that, but we’re gonna do our rooftop deck, the K
Club on our roof.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:42-34:49
So that’ll be a seasonal outdoor space, which is gonna be, again, really, really unique in a very unique place.
Scott Cowan:
34:49-35:17
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
34:49-35:09
So, but it’ll be more attached to our, my wife’s place, the Karoo on First Avenue, but on the summer months, you know, it’ll be our, as I said, you know, Seattle, how was
joke, Seattle is probably the most temperate city in America, it’s temperate 300 days a year, but we have no idea what those 300 days are.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:09-35:14
You know, maybe two weeks ago, we had like, it was quite chilly, but it was just epic, sunny weather.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:14-35:16
And then there was last night, Jesus.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:16-35:18
(laughs)
Scott Cowan:
35:17-35:25
I was kind of wondering if you were going to have power today from what I read.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:18-35:20
I was kind of wondering if you were gonna have power today.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:20-35:23
Oh, goodness me, I mean, I brought in our flags last night.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:23-35:26
I mean, pulled the awnings in, it was off the charts, you know.
Scott Cowan:
35:25-35:46
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:26-35:30
It gave my, yes, even our building lights flickered.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:30-35:32
I was like, you gotta be kidding me, this is nuts.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:32-36:15
And my daughter was at the window, and she thought it was just, I mean, you know, she’s an amour buyer, she loved looking at the water, you know, but she was just, and then
she was already, ’cause her mom would work out last night, which is only like a block away, but she’s just so concerned about how mom is gonna get home Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:47-35:51
in this weather, and it was like, even by my, I have no idea, I was just getting home.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:51-35:54
It’s 250 yards away, but she might have to take an Uber.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:54-35:56
You know, it was crazy.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
35:56-36:01
So, to answer that question, we have a, you know, it’s a great, it’s a great, fun area.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:01-36:05
If anything, you said to me, what about January and February?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:05-36:07
And I’m like, oh, for goodness sake, I’m a driver.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:07-36:09
We’re nearly through them, they’re terrible, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:09-36:23
In our business, in Seattle, January and February, you know, ouch, you know, it’s stuff, you know, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:15-36:19
that’s why it’s so fun when you have the likes of a Sympathetic City event come along.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:19-36:20
It’s our kickoff to spring.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:20-36:33
It’s like, and it literally is the kickoff to spring, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:24-36:34
but it’s fun being in an industry, like ours being in the Irish Bar industry, whereas March for some restaurants is just like January and February, but for us, it’s a
pretty, pretty neat time.
Scott Cowan:
36:33-36:42
You got a built-in Kickstarter.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:34-36:35
Got a built-in.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:35-36:42
Yeah, so it’s, and I said to me, what we’re doing here is a pretty unique event in that way.
Scott Cowan:
36:42-37:07
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:42-36:48
You know, they said we’re doing it for close to two weeks, and we’re trying to do the music nearly every day.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:48-36:59
And that’s why, now somebody asked me that question, you know, what would be, what’s the thing they want to experience first time they’re here, and it’s of course the
entertainment’s got to be right on top of that list, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
36:59-37:07
That creates an environment, that creates a buzz, and then how people react to it is what makes you want to go to a place, correct?
Scott Cowan:
37:07-37:36
Mm-hmm.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:07-37:13
You know, like you don’t go to an empty place that has no energy, no buzz.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:13-37:15
You kind of want to go something else, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:15-37:51
So we’ve done a really good job of, and that’s what’s kind of fun, but like, we have our two, you know, that’s close to 8,000 square feet between our marquee we put
outside, the three Kells spaces, and of course even my wife’s space, Karu on First Avenue will be part of the fun that day as well, so, especially if the weather’s like
this, No.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:37-37:42
you know, we need a, we need some more covered place to stay and hang out and have fun, so.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:42-37:47
But yeah, it’s a great, you know, people ask me, oh, you must hate it now, after COVID?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:47-37:52
Absolutely not, it’s the greatest day in the world, it’s fun, yeah.
Scott Cowan:
37:51-37:53
Walk me through.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:52-37:57
Walking through, I’m looking at this, I’m looking at this and you got, so you got your kickoff celebration.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:55-38:00
and you got your kickoff celebration, And like you said, it would be your dad’s 92nd birthday.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
37:57-38:05
and like you said, you’re gonna be your dad’s 90 second birthday, and you’ve got, you know, And you’ve got, you know, from the 6th through the 17th, you’ve got Irish
music and there’s, we’ll put a link to that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:02-38:08
from the 6th to the 17th, you’ve got Irish music, and we’ll put a link to that, And there’s, there’s all, you’ve got a nice selection.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:06-38:09
and there’s all, you’ve got a nice selection, We’re talking about your food.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:08-38:10
we’re talking about your food, But you got themed events.
Scott Cowan:
38:10-38:14
So you got key highlights include a rugby watch party or parties.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:10-38:13
but you’ve got themed events, so you’ve got key highlights, include a rugby watch party.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:13-38:15
Oh yes. – Watch parties.
Scott Cowan:
38:14-38:29
St. Patrick’s Day Parade is scheduled on the 15th and reception for the mayor of Galway.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:15-38:20
St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the schedule on the 15th, and a reception for the mayor of Galway.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:20-38:30
Yeah, that’s a fun one, that was good, we’ve always kind of unofficially been involved with that, now we’re official, and that’s gonna be on, I believe the Thursday,
the 13th, yes.
Scott Cowan:
38:29-38:39
The 13th is what it says here. Yes.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:30-38:58
The 13th was. – And that goes back to the Irish Heritage Club in Seattle here, they have a, years ago they started up a sister city program with Galway, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
38:39-39:27
which is kind of cool, very fitting, and it’s the West Coast City, probably one of our biggest towns on the West Coast of Ireland, and a really beautiful scenic space,
you know, I guess somebody made the connection between our Emerald City and Galway, and Emerald Isle, whatever, and it, but it’s very fitting, and since then, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
39:00-39:51
the mayor this year, it’s their deputy mayor, is coming over, and they made a great connection, and I think it’s, the links have actually gone pretty deep as far as
commerce is even concerned, you know, I think this week, even their Irish tourist boards in town, kind of, you know, and I think a lot of those connections were started
through the sister city program, so we’re kind of, you know, it’d be fun, that’s why I kind of want to knock it out of the park and make them feel very welcome, ’cause in the
past, it’s always been kind of, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
39:28-39:36
I don’t know if I was well organized or whatever, so I gotta make sure she, Kels puts on a really good show for the mayor, it’d be kind of fun, so.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
39:38-39:50
And then from that weekend, we really kind of steamroll into our, it’s when the other two Irish bands show up, Buck Mad Boys and the Smokin’ Shemrocks, and it’d be great,
great fun, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
39:50-40:06
Do you get a noticeable amount of patrons from, Do you get a noticeable amount of patrons from out of the area? I mean, is.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
39:57-40:00
out of the area, I mean.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:00-40:09
Yeah, in fact, I do, you know, it’s really funny, I’ve a friend of mine, Dr. Bruce Twaddle, he’s a character, he’s from New Zealand, and he literally flies in for four
days.
Scott Cowan:
40:06-40:08
Okay.
Scott Cowan:
40:08-40:30
Really.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:09-40:17
He must have horse blood though, I know who can do that, I mean, even I said to him, can you sleep on the plane, he goes, oh yeah, no problem, I said, you are unbelievable.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:17-40:23
He lands on the Wednesday, and I think last year, he landed on the Wednesday, and he left on first thing Monday morning.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:23-40:30
And I’m like, and it’s not an easy flight to New Zealand, by the way, I think you had to go to Vancouver, and then down to LA, it was not a straightforward operation.
Scott Cowan:
40:30-40:45
No, that’s, that’s.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:31-40:44
But on saying that, we do, I mean, I couldn’t put an exact number on it, but it’s like, we have, I mean, I remember buddy Brian Henry, he was always fly out from Boston.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:44-40:51
But I mean, but people that I don’t know very well, Wow. Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:48-40:52
they come in from, you know, definitely the Pacific Northwest, you know.
Scott Cowan:
40:51-41:03
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
40:52-41:03
A lot of people from East of the mountains, you know, and that’s why we sell all these wristbands and stuff now, early, ’cause you know, those are the kind of customers I
really do want to be in, Cal’s, you know.
Scott Cowan:
41:03-41:32
Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
41:03-41:10
Our thing as part of our business is, you know, put it on an event like this, is like, I’m delighted that you’re coming for Subatix Day, but it’d be great if you came at
another time.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
41:10-41:16
And that’s why I even stress why, if you want to come with like your kids, and you have a young family, right?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
41:16-42:01
Oh God, if you’re coming, maybe coming on Subatix Day, it’s seven, eight o’clock a night, I don’t think that’s, you know, you wouldn’t, I don’t know why you’d wanna do
that, you know, in fact, a lady complained last year that one of the performers may have used some bad language, and that was, you know, of course, you know, of course, we
all want to be family friendly, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
41:33-41:34
but why were you here?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
41:34-41:48
And she goes, “I was there at eight o’clock, and I don’t know how, we’re 21 and over at that point.” And she was saying like the day before, I said, but she goes, “No, I was
the day before.” And I’m like, I don’t know, my daughter would have been four years old at the time, and I’m thinking, I don’t think, I would have had her in there.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
41:48-42:00
I mean, it’s just different strokes for different folks, I guess, but in saying that, it’s, we do set it up, like if you want to come, like the Sunday before, the 16th
March, you’re still gonna have the same music.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:00-42:30
So if you just like, my mom, she’s nine years old now, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:03-42:07
that’s the day I’ll have her in, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:07-42:39
I don’t think I’m gonna, you know, she’s an, she has a tough dementia, but that’s the day I would bring her in and enjoy the music, you know, so it’s like, to show folks
that, you know, these different experiences you have at Kells, ’cause we do want to stress that we are still very family friendly, and you know, even if you’re just
coming in for that day, but we also kind of want to show why we’re doing it Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:30-42:39
these two weeks, you’re like, you know, there’s a lot of different things you can, you know, enjoy here without, you know, just being here at eight o’clock and Sympatic
State Night, you know, so, yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:39-42:43
That’s, I wanna completely backtrack.
Scott Cowan:
42:39-42:45
Let’s, I want to completely backtrack is a young kid.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:43-42:49
As a young kid, how old were you How old were you when you first started working at Kells?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:46-42:48
when you first started working at Kells?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:48-42:49
11 years old, yeah.
Scott Cowan:
42:49-42:51
11.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:49-42:51
11. – 11, yeah.
Scott Cowan:
42:51-43:18
What was your job when you were 11?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:51-42:53
What was your job?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
42:53-43:09
Oh, everything, dishwasher, you know, busing tables, you know, it’s, as far as that, you know, I went from a range of emotions, that’s why even in my daughter, I’ll be
like, that’s what I kind of like living within the place.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
43:09-43:47
It’s nice for her to come and enjoy it for a little while, but it’s not necessarily, fortunately, Kells was a wonderful environment in terms of the people that were
there, you know, Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
43:18-43:23
and the customers and the wonderful friends we got to meet.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
43:23-43:33
Looking back on it was like a very, it was a rich environment, it was a healthy environment, you know, it didn’t feel like, oh goodness me, you don’t have your child
around that environment, you know, they could stray or whatever.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
43:33-43:46
So in saying that, it was very nice, but, you know, I never wanna see my daughter like, I’m bored, I wanna, you know, I wanted to be something she enjoys, and if, you know,
but it’s, again, it’s still a work environment, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
43:46-44:16
So I guess, you know, as I said yesterday, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
43:50-44:14
I take that bus, you know, downtown from where our home was, the East Side, and you’re going through Fourth Avenue, and I remember it’s a 11, 12, 13 year old going, this
place is a gritty downtown, you know, after dark and the winter nights, there was nothing going on downtown, so I don’t, when I hear people preach about, oh, the tech
companies are gonna ruin Seattle, and I’m like, there was nothing downtown, guys, there was nothing to wreck, I mean, it was a gritty downtown.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
44:14-44:40
And we’ve seen that over the last five years, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
44:17-45:04
downtown starting to shut down again, and I really hope, you know, and I’m impressed with a nice, I try to stick up for businesses that really try, you know, it’s like our
friends over at the State Hotel, they transform that building into what I call the worst corner in Seattle, the second in Pike, almost laughably bad, and what they did
to that building Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
44:43-45:02
and put in, you know, beautiful hotel, but again, one of my favorite go-to places to go and eat, but 15 years ago, you would’ve went, you’ve gotta be kidding me, guys,
that’s the worst corner ever, you know, but so I gotta stick up for places that make that, take that chance, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
45:02-45:06
What else about kills?
Scott Cowan:
45:04-45:33
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
45:06-45:13
I don’t know how long for this.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
45:13-45:19
Share with us something, share a secret with us, what doesn’t the public know about ghosts?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
45:19-45:21
The ghosts?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
45:21-45:42
It’s funny, not really, actually, a friend of mine, she was doing a, I guess I’ll call it a meeting with the other side, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
45:35-45:42
you know, she was talking to the spirits, and apparently they liked me, you know, according to her and her, yeah, that’s a fact, you know.
Scott Cowan:
45:42-46:08
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
45:42-46:37
Some of the other people that have come in here, like our guy Zach from Ghost Adventures, he apparently didn’t like him, he was too abrasive and he was very aggressive,
you know, but she was, you know, he was something, but I’m saying fair play to those guys, they never turn it off, it’s on all day long, there’s no like, oh, show’s over,
no, that’s what they do all day long, that’s their mission is to talk to the other side, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
46:08-46:24
you know, but as far as secrets in this place, I mean, it is funny how my connection with the place, even though I thought, God, I probably spent more time alone in this
building than anybody over the last 125 years, right?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
46:24-46:30
I mean, 40 plus years, but I would be upstairs by myself, you know, always had a very good sense of comfort.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
46:30-47:06
It is funny, I don’t know what this means, it’s, you’re asking me, what’s the secret, but I’ll say something I’ve observed, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
46:38-47:35
and like my daughter, for example, she was this funny little girl, so when she was, she’s five now, but when she was like, she didn’t took her a long time to talk, maybe
it’s a COVID experience, you know, not being around other kids, and but she would go to this one staircase in Kelsen, she would just sit down and she would talk to
somebody, I don’t know what it was, but she was like from the age of two to four, she would just sit down and blah, blah, blah, and she’d have a little chat and then you’d put
on the buddies, and so what’s funny, we go upstairs, you know, only the last two, three months that we moved Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:06-47:37
into the building, and it’s funny, she just, I get it, it’s an observation more than a secret than I haven’t really shared or talked to anybody about, but it’s funny,
it’s like, like, she still does it in terms of like, it’d be in the evening, I need to go to the bathroom and come with me, and I’m like, no, you know what, you’re fine,
you’re, you know, it’s not that far away, you know, and you know, no, no, you’ve got to come with me, but I just, I catch her, like as I go back there, and she’s talking away
to somebody still, so it’s kind of funny, you know, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:37-47:42
and I ask her, she’s, it’s nobody, you know, That’s interesting.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:39-47:43
and I’m like, it’s a friend, okay, you know, I just don’t, you know, you know, Okay.
Scott Cowan:
47:43-47:50
That’s, that’s all right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:43-47:44
That’s good, all right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:44-47:47
Don’t, I’m, hopefully it’s healthy,
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:47-47:49
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:49-47:51
but it’s funny, I just was thinking about that, Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
47:51-48:00
What do we know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
47:52-48:29
the other day, it’s like, I haven’t really, I guess I talked to my wife about it, but I’m like, and I’ve said to this, like my friend, Susan, even do these ghosts, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
48:04-48:22
I guess we call it adventures of sorts, and she was like, oh yeah, that’s totally natural up to the age of about four, they have this extra sense, and I’m like, okay, you
know, I’ll take your word for it, but so I think about it sometimes, ’cause I remember kids would come down, and they’re like, can you show us what a ghost is?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
48:22-48:27
But I’m sure, and I said, and I say to Madeline, she’s with me, I said, he wanna give these kids a bit of a tour of the ghost, she’s like, okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
48:27-48:30
(laughing)
Scott Cowan:
48:29-48:51
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
48:30-48:45
Four of these kids just bolted, no jets, she’s like, oh yeah, they’re upstairs over here, and it’s like this about a year ago, you know, so it was cute, she could, you
know, it’s just kind of, having a hard time kind of communicating to them, but just kind of showing up where the ghosts are, and all that, it was very comical, I mean, yet.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
48:45-49:20
But it was, some of the other kids were just delighted, and then these other kids were just not having it, you know, so it was funny, but as far as, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
48:54-49:07
I think, or some of the, I wouldn’t call them, say, necessarily secrets, or stories of this place, I think there’d be a lot more to come, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:07-49:18
I think we’re in a very, as I said, we use that phrase, the ecosystem that my kind of wife created here when we were kind of coming out of COVID, going, how are we gonna use
this space?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:18-49:29
You know, the idea of, you know, some law firm or design company showing up Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:22-49:26
to rent space office just may not happen, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:26-49:31
I don’t, you know, people work from home, look at us, we’re having an interview over our laptops, Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:30-49:33
it’s, you know, that’s what we do.
Scott Cowan:
49:31-50:00
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:33-49:35
So that’s kind of where that conversation started.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:35-49:43
So I think, I think we’re gonna moving forward, we’re gonna, I think a lot of crazy stuff’s gonna happen in here, I don’t know, ’cause I’ve been pretty lucky.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:43-49:48
I mean, I’ve had some, you know, talking about the ghost stuff, I’ve had some great stuff.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
49:48-50:12
I mean, nutty stuff’s happened here, and I mean, I’m not as bad as some people, like I had a kid, Josiah, he worked on the door for us, great big guy, and he chased this
little girl up the stairs into the bedroom and ran through her, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:02-50:11
and he wouldn’t, and he’s this great big football player and follow, and he’s just like, oh no, it’s no way I’m going in that place alone ever, forget it, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:11-50:25
And of course, it’s one of those stories like, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:15-50:21
I don’t know if you’ve ever done, captivated us, and it’s like the little girl in the red dress, oh yeah, everybody’s seen her, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:21-50:22
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:22-50:24
I hadn’t, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:24-50:54
It’s like my, and my most, I mean, of course, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:27-51:23
my vivid, absolutely the most vivid experience I’ve had here was with my friend Paulette and Josh, came in, it was years ago on Thanksgiving, and they come in, and I
forgot who it was, but one said, “Are you open today?” And I’m like, “Of course not, it’s Thanksgiving, “I’m just waiting for you guys.” Then Paulette kind of goes,
“Who’s the lady in the kitchen?” And then Josh’s like, “Yeah, who’s the red-headed lady?” And I’m like, “Whoa!” And we go back there, and it was like, of course,
nobody’s there, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
50:54-51:08
and of course, I’m looking at these two guys, I mean, we’re talking four o’clock in the evening, sobers can be, I mean, I’m thinking, “Why are you asking me that
question?” Of course, it’s like me being here, and of course, you know, I’m not open right now, you know, you can see for yourself, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:08-51:18
And then of course, that’s, and of course, I go to my cook the next day, I’m like, “You won’t believe what happened last night!” And then he’s like, and I tell him, and he’s
like, “Oh yeah, everybody’s seen her.”
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:18-51:19
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:19-51:22
I get news to me, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:22-51:34
You know, I mean, it’s, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:23-51:33
so as far as the old secrets are concerned, yeah, I don’t know, it’s just a funny old place, but I think I have a funny feeling the answer to that question, I think you and I
need to talk again.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:33-51:46
I think some, as I said, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:34-51:42
jokes with my daughter going upstairs and talking to her new friends and all that stuff, I’m like, maybe I got some more stories for you in the future, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:42-51:44
Hopefully good ones, hopefully positive ones, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:44-51:46
Hopefully they like her as much as me.
Scott Cowan:
51:46-51:46
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:46-51:48
(laughing)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:48-51:55
Here’s on you now, this is easier, I mentioned to you, I asked you three questions, this is the beginning of those three questions, so everybody gets this question.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:55-51:59
Where’s a great place to get coffee near my place, Mark?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
51:59-52:05
So I gotta tell you, it’s the great question, and not only that, it’s something that I’m enamored with.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:05-52:08
I said I’ve been in the restaurant business for a majority of my life, obviously.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:08-52:12
Coffee shops have always interested me to no end.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:12-52:24
I think it’s the, you know, it’s like, not to say, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:15-52:24
you know, there’s businesses, you know, of course I’m enamored with landscape architects, of course, you know, who doesn’t want to be a surgeon, right?
Scott Cowan:
52:24-52:53
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:24-52:26
But coffee shops just– – I do not want to be a surgeon.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:26-52:31
Coffee shops, I’m like, I’m just enamored with them, I just, I love them.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:31-52:40
Oh, by the way, it’s not like a bar where like, I promise you, you’ve been to bars you’ve really enjoyed, but you’ve regretted going to them the next day.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:40-52:51
Where does coffee shops, I just think, as far as when they’re done right, like it’s even going to like, yeah, some of those European experience of the fed, New York, San
Francisco does a really good job of that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:52-53:22
So I’ve always been interested with the flavor of the coffee, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
52:55-53:04
and that’s why, and that’s why my wife’s Karoo experience here, now that we have the Protea Yoga starting up, will be open much earlier in the morning.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:04-53:11
So part of our whole experience here is the coffee environment as well, coffee experience.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:11-53:15
So that’s why the Andrea question ran long way around.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:15-53:21
I’ve tried every coffee, I’ve been just, I mean, enamored with the business, I think it’s the coolest thing in the world.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:21-53:41
And that’s what I, Fonte Coffee, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:23-53:24
that’s why we partnered with them.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:24-53:27
It was like the, I wanted somebody local.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:27-53:36
I needed the balanced flavor, for example, we talked about the Dugourmet Irish Coffee experience.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:36-53:37
And no one’s really done it.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:37-53:42
I mean, Irish Coffee is one of the most popular, we’ll call it cocktails you’ll find, you know?
Scott Cowan:
53:41-54:04
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:42-53:52
It’s probably hot, warm cocktails, I think that couldn’t be, you know, out that the hot toddy, I think the Irish Coffee is the most recognizable beverage, I’ll call it
beverage.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:52-53:56
But no one’s ever went, oh my God, we gotta put a really great cup of coffee in that as well.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:56-53:59
Of course, you’re gonna use your quality, Jemison’s Whiskey, great.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
53:59-54:33
And of course, proper heavy cream, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:04-54:08
none of the cheap stuff that breaks down and has a chemical reaction.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:08-54:12
But, and I, of course, I even come up with something called the Marconi Coffee myself.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:12-54:18
And that’s the shot of espresso with the whiskey and the half shot of whiskey in the whipped cream in the smaller vessel.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:18-54:22
I named it after Marconi was John Jemison’s grandson.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:22-54:29
And of course, I’ll give Tesla credit there, but along those two together came up with wireless Morris code.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:29-54:34
But he did it from just north of our house in Ireland over to a place called Rathen Island.
Scott Cowan:
54:33-54:43
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:34-54:37
So that was good, that’s what he did the first.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:37-54:41
As my dad used to joke, it’s so close, he probably could have just yelled and that’s why he heard him.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:41-54:43
(laughing)
Scott Cowan:
54:43-54:55
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:43-54:46
So, but yeah, he did it from there.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:46-54:47
So I called it the Marconi Coffee.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:47-54:53
So it’s a little shot of espresso, half shot of whiskey and then finished off with either.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:53-54:57
And you can put a little brown sugar, a couple of real purists don’t do that.
Scott Cowan:
54:55-55:24
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
54:57-55:03
But anyways, Fonte Coffee was the, let me round about way there.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:03-55:14
We picked them, their local, good friends of mine, but they had an I’d ask friends, you know, we’d go for this and I don’t wanna begrudge anybody.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:14-55:20
You know, I have the certain coffee places that I’ve had around here that are quite popular that to me, they’re very bitter, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:20-55:43
There’s a sourness to it that, I don’t know, it’s almost like they’re trying Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:26-55:28
to put a uniqueness on it.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:28-55:29
And it doesn’t suit what we do.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:29-55:38
So as far as Fonte is a no-brainer, I mean, even when we order off them now and it’s like we roast on a Wednesday, we get a Thursday.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:38-55:43
So I’m very comfortable and very happy with the quality of stuff I’m getting to.
Scott Cowan:
55:43-56:08
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:43-55:48
So what sort of blend are you using for your coffee?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:48-55:54
We use their, goodness me, it escapes me, just their great question.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:54-55:55
What do we use?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:55-55:59
And we use, I guess it’s the Fonte House blend, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
55:59-56:06
We do, now we’re just getting into the espresso world and that’s that I don’t know off the top of my head, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:06-56:07
Then again, it is my wife’s place anyway.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:07-56:10
I’m just kind of going along for the ride here.
Scott Cowan:
56:08-56:34
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:10-56:14
But you’re right, we do use our, the Fonte House blend on a Kells downstairs as well.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:14-56:23
And again, it’s not a really, it’s bold enough that allows the whiskey to shine through a little bit and advise a person, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:23-56:34
Without, like some people you say, you gotta use a proper malt whiskey to get through the coffee but some of the coffees I’ve had in some areas coffees are like the
coffee’s just not very good, you know?
Scott Cowan:
56:34-56:53
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:34-56:36
So, you’re not so– – I’ve experienced that a lot.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:36-56:38
All right, second question.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:38-56:41
I’m gonna get to bike place market area around lunchtime.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:41-56:43
So I’m always looking for a good place for lunch.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:43-56:47
Now you can cheat and say Kells and that’s fine, it’s a perfectly acceptable answer.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:47-56:48
But I’d like to know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:48-56:52
Yeah, I joked yesterday, I’m like, is there any other place open?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:52-56:54
I mean, it’s during the day, it’s really challenging.
Scott Cowan:
56:53-57:20
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:54-56:56
There are some really neat places in the market.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
56:56-57:12
Like I’ll say one block away of my go-to would have been the Ben Paris, but that’s not like one block away on second and hike.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:12-57:17
But do you have your place like Matt’s in the market?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:17-57:18
It’s really nice, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:18-57:20
It’s a good spot.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:20-57:49
Again, I’m delighted that Tom Buggles Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:26-57:31
put his kind of got things going again with his half shell.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:31-57:42
He had eddas for years and years and I’m kind of happy that he kind of got that going on again because it was a, you know, as I said, he’s a good barometer for our business
here.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:42-57:48
He had a lot of restaurants within this area and some started closing, you know, and that was kind of frightening.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:48-58:16
So I think we have some new experiences going, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
57:51-58:00
but again, from our food lunch experience in the market, there’s kind of like good little secrets in the market there too.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:00-58:16
It’s like you’ve got a jack’s fish spot, they have a little bar in the back of that, which is a neat little, as far as you want to get like fresh crab or some of their seafood
stew stuff and all that, it’s pretty neat, pretty unique, you know, as a quick turbo experience.
Scott Cowan:
58:16-58:17
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:16-58:44
All right, so here’s the third question, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:19-58:21
which I told you I wasn’t going to share with you.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:21-58:22
You ready?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:22-58:24
I’m going to set this up.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:24-58:27
You have to give me an answer.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:27-58:29
You have to explain why.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:29-58:29
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:29-58:32
You want to play along?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:32-58:33
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:33-58:36
You want to play with cake or pie?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:36-58:37
Ooh, wow.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:37-58:43
You know, I would have normally said pie, but since I met my wife, I’m going to go with cake.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:43-58:45
Just quite a baker, quite a baker.
Scott Cowan:
58:44-58:45
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:45-58:46
Okay, so.
Scott Cowan:
58:45-59:14
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:46-58:47
So what type of cake?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:47-58:49
Ooh, it’s funny.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:49-58:58
I was enamored with red velvet.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
58:58-59:04
I don’t know why, I mean, do that thing, you have a, and I remember every time I’d eat it, someone would say, do you have any idea what they put in that stuff?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:04-59:09
I’m like, I mean, when I said red velvet, I’ve probably had it 50 times in my life.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:09-59:10
You know what I mean?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:10-59:11
It’s like, oh, it’s a red velvet.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:11-59:12
I enjoy that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:12-59:14
Not like I had it every day.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:14-59:19
I’m like, again, we’re joking about drinking Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:17-59:19
and bad behaviors and all that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:19-59:41
I’m thinking me having 50 red velvets in my life, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:22-59:23
I think I’m going to be okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:23-59:28
I do, oh, shit.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:30-59:37
You know, again, my wife is the best baker ever, but we were kind of talking about this as far as a flavor, which this will probably kill you.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:37-01:00:05
But have you had that Mexican, that’s the treleches, that kind of like to, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:41-59:52
that to me is, to me, that if it’s done right, could be, ’cause it has the right amount of like, it’s moist, it’s got its cream.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:52-59:55
It’s pretty wonderful, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:55-59:58
Again, probably wise not to have it every day.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
59:58-01:00:01
You know, I’ve personally never had it that many times, but I got to take it as a cake.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:01-01:00:03
Wow, it’s just fantastic, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:03-01:00:07
Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
01:00:05-01:00:06
Okay.
Scott Cowan:
01:00:06-01:00:22
There you go. You survived. Cake or pie? really. Okay. So let’s go back. So pre- 2018, if you would have said pie, what would the go to pie be?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:07-01:00:08
There you go, you survived cake.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:08-01:00:09
I survived cake and pie, yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:09-01:00:11
But yeah, it’s funny, that just changed.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:11-01:00:16
But it said, oh, in a drop before 2018, pie, no, in a second, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:16-01:00:22
Okay, so let’s go back, so pre-2018, if you would have said pie, what would the go-to pie be?
Scott Cowan:
01:00:22-01:00:45
Yeah, it’s open.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:22-01:00:46
Oh, I definitely would have went that direction of like that, those apple crumble, that the right, so it’s kind of, is that still called pie, you know, that was kind of
that crumbly kind of thing, was just, in fact, there’s another place in the market there, I forget what it’s called, it’s right next to Charlie’s Pro, or sorry, yeah,
Frank’s Produce.
Scott Cowan:
01:00:45-01:01:11
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:46-01:00:51
There’s a little bakery there, and they actually do a raspberry oat bar down there, it’s a crumble, I’m gonna tell you.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:51-01:00:54
And they do a pecan, it’s pretty darn good, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:54-01:00:59
It’s a, in fact, I stopped by there the other day, ’cause you usually have quite a sizeable line.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:00:59-01:01:13
So I was picking up blackberries for Karoo, we do this, they go through blackberries like crazy here for one of their cocktails, and so I said, ooh, there was no line, I
think I’ll pop in and grab one, you know, and it was, it was well worth it, you know, I’ll tell you.
Scott Cowan:
01:01:11-01:01:19
There you go.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:01:13-01:01:16
And yeah, they do a great job, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:01:16-01:01:22
What didn’t we cover that we needed to cover?
Scott Cowan:
01:01:19-01:01:28
What didn’t we cover that we needed to cover?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:01:22-01:01:28
Oh, I think, you know, I really appreciated, we’re talking about our Sympathic State event, and it’s, again, getting our, – Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
01:01:28-01:01:29
.
Scott Cowan:
01:01:29-01:01:30
.
Scott Cowan:
01:01:30-01:01:31
.
Scott Cowan:
01:01:31-01:01:32
.
Scott Cowan:
01:01:32-01:01:34
.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:01:33-01:01:47
as I said yesterday, was Seattle, and, you know, knocking the cobwebs off, you know, like literally, after a tough couple of years for us.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:01:47-01:01:51
I mean, to me, I always thought of Seattle as the most dynamic city in the world.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:01:51-01:02:08
I mean, from its unique setting to the industry, the neighbors here, the industries that have risen here, just, it’s a special place, unique, I mean, even the unique
name, you know, it’s, it reminds me of that scene at a beamousen butthead when he said to you, what are you from?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:08-01:02:11
And then the guy goes, oh, Seattle, and he goes, pretty cool.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:11-01:02:12
And I’m like, you know, that was, that’s kind of,
Scott Cowan:
01:02:12-01:02:14
[laughs]
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:12-01:02:14
that was my, you know, that’s what I thought of Seattle.
Scott Cowan:
01:02:14-01:02:16
I would see that!
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:14-01:02:17
Then we became, it was funny, it was cute.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:17-01:02:28
And in fact, that’s a funny thing you’d say, when I first came to, you know, as a child, you think that, you know, the world is your, you’re the center of the universe.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:28-01:02:31
And you, then that’s how, and that’s, that’s what it is.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:31-01:02:34
But you also said to think yourself, what is the rest of the world thinking?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:34-01:02:35
I mean, you said thinking out loud.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:35-01:02:42
I remember we first moved to America, and it was really sad, but we’re watching, it was like 1980, and we’re watching these like, eight millimeter reels.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:42-01:02:43
It was the Vietnam War.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:43-01:02:46
And it was like the same scene.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:46-01:02:48
It was this poor young man’s been shot.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:48-01:02:51
And of course, this medic is working on him, and he’s trying to calm him down.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:02:51-01:03:02
I’m sure the medic’s 24, and this kid’s probably 18, and he kind of says, “Where you from?” And he’s like, “Seattle.” And he goes, “I’ve been to Seattle.” It’s pretty,
and again, same as a pretty cool town.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:02-01:03:08
And I’m thinking, it just, it, I’m like, wow, that, I realize this guy’s halfway around the world.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:08-01:03:15
And I don’t know why it, it just, it hit me, you know, like, oh, that’s where I live.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:15-01:03:18
You know, and at that time, my family had just moved here.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:18-01:03:24
And there’s, you know, they go, you know, Seattle’s a special place, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:24-01:03:27
And I really, I think our best days are ahead of us, for sure, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:27-01:03:30
But I really, and, but I was like, you know what?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:30-01:03:32
You look to ask about my business and moving forward.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:32-01:03:36
It’s like, so many friends have closed up and moved on.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:36-01:03:39
And it’s, it’s been a challenging environment to have a business.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:39-01:03:43
But again, I think our best years are ahead of us.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:43-01:03:45
So, you know, we’re a dynamic city still.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:46-01:03:51
But we got to keep the lights on a little brighter, you know?
Scott Cowan:
01:03:50-01:03:52
I think Seattle will be okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:51-01:03:52
I think so. – Yeah.
Scott Cowan:
01:03:52-01:03:54
I mean, it’s, it’s, I think it will…
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:03:52-01:04:02
Yeah, so it’s a, you know, we can go on and, you know, all our minimum wage and, you know, that was, that was tough, you know, but it, make moving forward.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:02-01:04:04
It’s, we are such a neat city.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:04-01:04:13
And we have, so, of course, you know, with this World Cup, Club Cup and the, you know, the FIFA World Cup next year, I think we have a really neat opportunity.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:13-01:04:18
Like my in-laws are from South Africa and they weren’t making fun of us for a while, you know?
Scott Cowan:
01:04:18-01:04:20
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:18-01:04:21
And I’m like, for goodness sake, they’re in South Africa and they’re making fun of Seattle, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:21-01:04:24
So it’s, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:24-01:04:31
You hadn’t moved to Seattle yet, but in the 70s, there were those billboards that said, “With the last person to leave, please turn out the lights.” – Yep, yep, and I
remember that.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:31-01:04:43
In the early 70s was– – And I have to say, some of our business leaders here, I think, you know, whether they meant to or not, I think they listened to that loud and clear
and they diversified quite well, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:43-01:04:46
And the whole region, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:46-01:04:47
And I don’t know what it is.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:04:47-01:05:00
I mean, hats go off to our, you know, people say, I don’t care what anybody says, but when you get places with really crappy weather, sometimes you come up with some very
creative people, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:05:00-01:05:07
Maybe that’s true or not, but we’re in a place that has definitely encouraged creativity.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:05:07-01:05:10
I don’t, and no one can argue with that, you know?
Scott Cowan:
01:05:10-01:05:12
I agree. I mean, yeah, you’re right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:05:12-01:05:14
And, but that’s why I’m excited about it, I can’t argue.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:05:13-01:05:36
but one thing Seattle, and I’m gonna say it from our standpoint, like my industry, we’ve done a very poor job, and I’m gonna say, I could talk positively, I’m happy with
our new city council and our mayor, I’m gonna stick up for him, and I don’t wanna be the armchair quarterback and say, oh, everybody does everything bad, you know, you
gotta be part of the solution, not the problem.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:05:36-01:05:52
But I have to say, and you agree with me this, we’ve done a really poor job of hosting, I would call neutral events, like, you know, whether it’s a sporting event or
anything, it’s like, that’s why this World Cup coming up, I’m like, finally we’re doing something that’s, you have to come here, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:05:52-01:06:03
I’m not gonna say like, Super Bowl should be played here, you know, sometimes, or maybe January, February are the most desirable spots for, you know, for here, but
Detroit did it, you know?
Scott Cowan:
01:06:02-01:06:22
And Detroit did it, and I, I’m of the opinion, you know, and we’re going off the rails here, but, but I’m of the opinion that, that the, the city of Seattle would be an
outstanding host of the Super Bowl, not, not all the time, but it deserves a, it deserves a…
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:06:03-01:06:05
So it’s, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:06:05-01:06:18
I love the opinion, you know, and we’re going off the rails here, but I’m in the opinion that the City of Seattle would be an outstanding host of the Super Bowl, not all the
time.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:06:18-01:06:19
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:06:19-01:06:40
I mean, I just think we gotta start thinking out of the box, for example, we have this thing called the America’s Cup, sailing, wonderful, and I’m like, for goodness
sake, we have Elliot, but I don’t know why we haven’t had, you know, world-class sailboat races, I just think, I mean, this setting here is just so unique and so special,
and I do want the world to see it, you know?
Scott Cowan:
01:06:40-01:06:42
Right.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:06:40-01:07:06
I mean, everybody, whether it’s the temperate climate, whatever, I mean, we do get a lot of people from Texas and, you know, in the summertime, Arizona, Florida, funny
enough, just they steamroll through kales, and they just, I just kind of have to laugh at them, they’re like, you know, they’re leaving environments that are
incredibly hostile, you know, you’re gonna, I mean, I’m 117 degrees and you’re coming to Seattle and it’s 75 in August, you’re like, you know, pretty cool, Yeah,
pretty cool.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:07:04-01:07:06
you know, and, you know, literally, pretty cool.
Scott Cowan:
01:07:06-01:07:08
[laughs]
Scott Cowan:
01:07:08-01:07:10
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:07:09-01:07:26
So, I just think it’s just, I really wanna put Seattle back on the map, you know, and, you know, it’s, I think it’s very doable, maybe it’s fast enough in our darned
downtown, you know, it’s time for us to, you know, get some people here, you know?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:07:26-01:07:40
Yeah, so, but again, we have this unique opportunity this summer, we’ve done it, and in fact, even next summer, Seattle’s gonna host one of the actual USA Games here,
how does just, I mean, come on, so I gotta, That’s, that’s awesome.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:07:40-01:08:14
so rather than being the guys that would, you know, usually talk on podcasts and just they say and talk, you know, garbage about, I think whoever put that together did a
great job, hats off to them, and I’m gonna give our city council and our mayor the credit that, you know, they deserve, and hopefully they’ll build from there, ’cause I
mean, yeah, we got a lot of work to do still, but I still think we’ve created a good setup, Well, I, I wish Kels the best for this.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:08-01:08:11
you know, for success, so, I mean.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:11-01:08:20
But hopefully, it’ll hopefully Kells, hopefully Kells Pike Place Market will be a big part of that process, and hopefully will be the launching pad for Seattle.
Scott Cowan:
01:08:20-01:08:20
There you go.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:20-01:08:22
(laughs)
Scott Cowan:
01:08:22-01:08:26
Well, thank you for sitting down with me today, and I…
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:22-01:08:23
Funny stuff, but.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:23-01:08:25
Well, thank you for sitting down with me today.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:25-01:08:32
Oh, jeez, I hope I can get you up for it, I’ll send you all your wristbands, get you up here for the main event, it’ll be a lot of fun this year, I can guarantee it.
Scott Cowan:
01:08:32-01:08:36
I, you might see me because I, I realize I, I’m…
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:32-01:08:40
Yeah, I’m gonna give you the tour, you gotta meet my ghost, my Madeline’s gonna give you, Alright.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:38-01:08:40
she’s gonna introduce you to all her ghost friends, you know.
Scott Cowan:
01:08:40-01:08:44
Yeah, I actually, I have to be in Tacoma on the 18th.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:40-01:08:45
Yeah, I actually, I have to be in Tacoma on the 18th.
Scott Cowan:
01:08:44-01:08:50
And I, I might just, yeah, I might just darken your door.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:45-01:08:49
Okay, T-town, Southy Bad Boy, that’s it, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:49-01:08:51
Yeah, and I might just darken your door.
Scott Cowan:
01:08:50-01:08:54
I, uh, yeah, we’ll get a hold of you.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:51-01:08:56
Yep, well let me know first, you have my mobile number, and we can do this, you know, But…
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:08:54-01:09:02
it’s gonna be fun, ’cause I gotta say, this year is gonna be very unique, ’cause it’s like, we’ve never really incorporated a whole building into this, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:02-01:09:16
Now, I’m glad we don’t have a rooftop deck open, but that’ll be next year, but with the crew right downstairs to the banquet room, into our back bar, into the alley, it’d
be a lot of fun, it’d be unique, you know.
Scott Cowan:
01:09:14-01:09:16
Yeah.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:16-01:09:20
So again, after 42 years, we’ve never done it like this.
Scott Cowan:
01:09:18-01:09:20
Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:20-01:09:22
So that’d be kind of, So this is, this is a new, okay, excellent.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:21-01:09:22
So this is a new walk-out?
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:22-01:09:28
Excellent, yeah, as I said, what’s different, or we’ve never done it like this before, Okay.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:27-01:09:29
so it’s gonna be pretty neat, you know.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:29-01:09:31
Kind of incorporating all that space, so.
Scott Cowan:
01:09:30-01:09:32
Alright.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:31-01:09:34
Different, – Well again, Well, again, thank you and best of luck.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:33-01:09:34
thank you and best of luck.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:34-01:09:36
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:36-01:09:40
Thank you, have a great day, and happy St. Patrick’s
Scott Cowan:
01:09:40-01:09:40
There we go.
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:40-01:09:42
(laughs)
Patrick Pearse McAleese:
01:09:42-01:09:43
Okay, thanks.
The Exploring Washington State Podcast is your go-to source for discovering the diverse wonders of the Evergreen State. Whether you’re seeking inspiration for your next adventure, looking to savor local cuisine, or eager to learn about the businesses and artists that call Washington home, this podcast has something for everyone. Join us as we showcase the splendor of Washington State, reminding you that “there is always more to explore!”
