The Story of a Santa Monica Sports Bar: O'Briens Irish Pub

Giants Fans to the left Celebrate a touchdown while to the right a Cowboys throws his hands in his face during game day at O’Briens Irish Pub on October 10, 2021. ( Neil O’Loughlin | Corsair )

The National Football League (NFL) has all kinds of fans across the United States. NFL-affiliated sports bars that dedicate themselves to televising the games of a specific team are something that Santa Monica College (SMC) students and local residents of Santa Monica could explore as a form of entertainment during their free time.

One particular sports bar in Santa Monica is O’Brien’s Irish Pub. It's located at 2226 Wilshire Blvd, which is hardly over one and a quarter miles from SMC's main campus. The owner, Willy O’Sullivan, 63, opened his sports bar 27 years ago.

At first, O'Brien's was affiliated with the Cleveland Browns however, it was something O’Sullivan did not enjoy. “It wasn’t so much fun being a Browns bar because they had not won in so long that their supporters had been wiped away.”

In order to revive the energy in his bar, O'Sullivan decided to make a choice that would change his life and business for years to come. In 2009, O’Brien's began an affiliation with the New York Football Giants. Since O'Sullivan didn’t want to kick his Browns fans out because of the risk, he decided to host both Giants and Browns games.

As a couple of years went by, the large amount of Giants fans coming to O'Brien's overwhelmed O'Sullivan to the point where he decided to become solely a Giants bar.

The choice paid off because that very same year, the Giants ended up winning the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots in 2012. O’Sullivan recalls the day of the Super Bowl as an experience of a lifetime but also a hectic one.

“In my memory, we were absolutely and utterly packed. We opened at 11 o’clock that morning and closed at 11:15 pm," said O'Sullivan.

Although the Giants have not come close to hoisting another Lombardi trophy since that magical run in 2012, fans still come out to show their support for the team and O’Brien’s.

One fan who continues to come to O'Brien's for every Giants game is 66-year-old Judy Henninger. Originally from New York, Henninger moved to Santa Monica in 1998 and is still a local resident. While looking for a place to connect with fellow Giants fans, she found out about O’Brien’s through Meetup, an online service that connects people together through their personal interests. Henninger has been a patron of O'Brien's for 10 years and welcomes more fans to join them on game days.

“Definitely come down to O’Brien’s because usually there's a really good crowd. You are going to be amongst Giants fans and you are going to feel at home, that’s what most people say” said Henninger.

It is safe to say that O’Brien’s will continue to be the home of Giants fans for years to come.