Barfly on the Wall: Charlie’s
When the Barfly on the Wall suggested Charlie’s as her next subject, I had certain expectations. I happen to know a couple of people who dissipated part of their youth at that little piece of Terre Haute real estate, so I was looking forward to some nice descriptions of decadence. Imagine my surprise to read details about tasty Tweety burgers, a friendly attentive waitress and an area for playing corn hole. Was our Barfly living in a parallel universe?
She overheard someone say, “I have trust issues, but I’m going to leave my purse at the bar.” I would’ve expected something more like, “I have trust issues, so if anyone even looks at my purse, I’ll carve out their eyeballs with a Bowie knife.” Alas, it seems I was thinking of a place called Charlie’s Hideaway. The barfly went to Charlie’s Pub and Grub. Same location, similar name, but Charlie’s apparently was born again years ago, like some of its former patrons. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, necessarily. Change can be good.
“When the hell did Terre Haute join the British Empire?” and “Why would you associate your menu with beetle larvae?”
Charlie’s has moved along with the times. On their website, they show pride in being green, and in giving back to the community. Those are the touchstones of commercial popularity in the twenty-first century. Of course, a “pub and grub” is not the same as a bar, let alone a hideaway. I noted that phrase right away, recalling it from the name of another establishment that the Barfly reviewed. Am I the only one who thinks, “When the hell did Terre Haute join the British Empire?” and “Why would you associate your menu with beetle larvae?” Since I was on the Internet, I did a search for Charlie’s Hideaway.
Out of the usual multitude of results that aren’t quite what you asked for, I found two that were pertinent. The first was an ISU alum reminiscing about breaking his finger in a town and gown fight “right in front of Charlie’s Hideaway.” He brags on his and his friend’s success in scaring off the opponents, but gives credit where it’s due by explaining, “It certainly helped that Charlie Crispin came out and pointed a gun right in the face of those idiots.”
Well, that was a Lou Reed kind of wild side
I didn’t expect.
The second item was from the Brazil Times in a 2004 story about a 1985 homicide. It reports that the man charged almost twenty years after the crime “stated that he would visit establishments such as Charlie’s Hideaway and other places that homosexual men might be.” Well, that was a Lou Reed kind of wild side I didn’t expect.
Our barfly was asked to interview Joe Weber who I knew was old enough to have hung out at Charlie’s two or three decades ago. She took that to mean Joe Weber. He confirmed my impression, saying, “It was a wild place back in the day. It got that way late into the night and after hours.” The Barfly reported that Weber recalls that his car was twice the victim of a hit and run in the parking lot. He also remembered that the place went through a biker bar phase.
“It always had that dichotomous existence, it was kitsch but also mafia-ish,” Weber said.
Weber speculates that once Charlie’s became known better for their food, especially the Tweety Burger, it became a place where blue collar people and people with money would mix together. It became not so rowdy.
“It always had that dichotomous existence, it was kitsch but also mafia-ish,” Weber said.
Our Barfly noted a small remnant of the past atmosphere in the entertaining antics of a midday drunk, but, otherwise, she recommended Charlie’s as a good place for a meal and a spot to feel at home, seeming to confirm Weber’s opinion about how the establishment evolved. In the past, who knows what might have happened to you on your birthday at Charlie’s. Nowadays, you can get a free Tweety burger. And I’m guessing no cartoon characters were harmed in the making of the sandwich. Their hours are Mon-Sat 7am to 2am and Sun 7am to12am.
