Wally Kennedy: The Pub in holding pattern in block of change
Dec. 22—When I started as a reporter for the Globe in 1976, I was assigned to the police beat. My job was to write accident, theft and fire reports, and just about anything else that came down the pike that day. I spent a lot of time listening to the police scanner for breaking news.
It did not take long to realize there were a couple of places in town where the police were regularly dispatched to restore order. One of them was The Pub, 904 S. Main St. It had a reputation, a bad one.
Today, The Pub, the longest-running bar on Main Street and possibly all of Joplin, is watching as virtually everything around it is changing. It's near the epicenter of an impressive Main Street revitalization that has brought new shops and buildings to the 900 block of South Main. The neighborhood is changing in a big way.
So I decided to find out what the owner of The Pub, Howard Beasom, age 92, was thinking about all of this change. It had been a long, long time since I had ventured through the front door of The Pub. While everything around it has changed, The Pub is still The Pub. Little has changed. It's like it's caught in a time warp. But not in a bad way. It's a place to have a smoke if you are so inclined, have a Busch or Budweiser from the tap, and remember a time when things were a lot simpler.
As Willie Nelson sang "Midnight Rider" from the jukebox, which is always playing free music, I talked to Beasom about the history of The Pub and how he came to own it.
"I took it over in about 1982-1983. Before that, it had been where the parking lot of Smith's Floor Store (814 S. Main St.) is now," Beasom said. "My wife, Denia, who I was married to for 41 years, was opposed to me buying the place. She said: 'Nobody with any self-respect would walk into that place.'
"But she came around. She would open in the mornings, and I would close at night. We made a good team."
A faded color picture of his wife hangs on the bar. It's not far from a black-and-white photo of Elvis Presley. Beasom owned a jukebox business in Joplin for 43 years before he took over the bar. He knows his music.
"Elvis was the greatest of all time," he said. I told him I agreed because he dared to rock. Now that that was settled, we got back to talking about the bar.
Beasom said, "I went to the police chief at the time to get a beer and liquor license. He told me I had six months 'to straighten that place up' or he would close it as a public nuisance. If he were to close it as a public nuisance, it could never reopen."
With the help of his wife, Beasom turned things around. Today, the bar caters to its regulars "who want to come to a place with a little atmosphere. They don't want to come to a place that is lit up like a Christmas tree. People have a good time here. It's going to stay this way. I will never let it change as long as I am alive."
Beasom hails from Quapaw, Oklahoma. He and Mickey Mantle, who grew up in nearby Commerce, were friends. They were a rowdy pair before Mantle hit the big time as a slugger for the New York Yankees. Said Beasom: "We would go out at night, and I would drive him home. I took him home time and time again. His mother would meet us at the door. She would say: 'Oh, Howard, not again!'"
He would have been set for life if his mother had not accidentally thrown away a rookie baseball card that Mantle had signed and given to him.
Beasom said he is stunned by the revitalization that is happening in the 900 block of Main Street. He has been approached by people who want to buy his property. He has said "no." He fears that his building will be torn down to make way for a parking lot.
Remembering the way Joplin once was, he said, "They tear down way too much in this town." Once again, I found myself agreeing with Beasom.
The atmosphere at The Pub includes a collection of ladies' undergarments — bras, to be specific — that hang from the ceiling above the bar. Because this is a family newspaper, you'll have to ask Beasom about them yourself.
The Pub is probably best known for the plants growing in its Main Street windows. Vining philodendrons have taken over most everything, including an antique cigarette machine. These plants are decades old.
"I love my plants. I have collected all of them," Beasom said. "People come in here and get clippings to take home and plant. When they die, I tell them: 'They needed more smoke and liquor.'"
Happy holidays, everyone.
Contact Wally Kennedy at wkennedy@joplinglobe.com.
