The propeller on the nose of the plane outside DB Cooper’s Safe House, at 6109 Gravois, is turning. The garage doors are up; the bar is open; and wings, pizzas, and toasted ravs are flying out the kitchen window.
“Our grand opening is Saturday, September 15,” says owner Jared Gallagher, “but we’ll be open all this week.” (Already, a crowd was gathered inside this past Saturday.)
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The pub is situated in the South Side space formerly occupied by Mak’s Pub & Grub. In fact, Mak’s former owner, Mike Makhamreh (pictured at right), is one of four partners at DB Cooper’s. (He was cooking on the day that we visited.)
The pub’s theme takes its inspiration from America’s most famous criminal who got away. Cooper dominated the news in November 1971, when he hijacked a Boeing 727 and collected a ransom of $200,000 in cash (the equivalent of nearly $1 million today) before parachuting from the plane, never to be found. The décor is all about bad-boy Cooper, from the plane nose to the bar top plastered with wanted posters, articles, and composite sketches. (There are even murals of his “escape route” mapped out in the cubicles of the ladies room.)
The pub is all about fun, with 20 high-definition televisions, pinball machines, and beer pong set-ups on several tables. A patio includes two TVs near the outside bar. Posted on a screen at the end of the inside bar, the menu focuses on a limited pub grub–style mix: pizzas, toasted raviolis, cheese sticks, garlic cheese bread, boneless wings sauced one of four ways (barbecue, hot, buffalo, and jalapeno mango).
Select cans of beer are just $1.25 all day, every day. (In 1971, the average cost of a pint was 89 cents, according to a price comparison index year by year, so it’s close to the prices that Cooper would have paid.)
Although the staff and patrons aren’t kid-averse, DB’s is primarily a place for grown-ups. You’ll find vintage Playboys, for instance; Cooper cut and pasted his most famous letter taunting the FBI using letters and phrases cut from a June 1970 Playboy.
Note that it’s cash only, and there’s no table service. It’s bare bones but friendly—just how Cooper probably would have liked it.
