The space that once housed Bobby Dee's, a neighborhood dive bar at 49 Beacon Avenue in Jersey City Heights, has reopened after sitting closed for several years, this time as Kitty O'Shea's Irish Bar. The new spot is running what locals reported is a soft opening, with a hard launch expected after football season begins this fall.
A New Name, A Familiar Team
Kitty O'Shea's is operated by the same hospitality team behind Grace O'Malley's and Irving Public, according to The Hoboken Girl. Camillus O'Callaghan, Michael J. Dorrian, Jeremy S. Tirpak, and Michael McKenna previously took over the Grace O'Malley's concept and also launched Irving Public in Jersey City Heights. The liquor license for the Beacon Avenue Pub Group LLC lists all four men — O'Callaghan, Dorrian, Tirpak, and McKenna — as connected to the new venture.
The regulatory paper trail behind the change stretches back further than the current ownership names suggest. In August 2025, an application was submitted to transfer the liquor license at 49 Beacon Avenue from Bobby Dee's to Fro Da Hip LLC, an entity linked to Dorrian and the Grace O'Malley's team, as Jersey Digs reported at the time. The Hoboken Girl notes that the license at the same address was then transferred from Fro Da Hip LLC to Beacon Avenue Pub Group LLC around September 2025. A new ownership group had purchased the Bobby Dee's property in late 2017, and the bar's liquor license had gone inactive in March 2020, after the business shut down during COVID-19.
Bobby Dee's Long Road to Closure
Before it closed, Bobby Dee's was known for a nostalgic old-school interior and strong local ties, cultivated over decades as a traditional neighborhood tavern. The bar underwent a year-long renovation in 2018 that included new siding, bigger windows, and a brickface on the building front, while staying open on weekends during much of the work. That renovation followed disclosures from former management, reported by Jersey Digs, that 49 Beacon Avenue was a very old structure requiring extensive repairs to a warped, structurally compromised wall.
The renovated space also gained a performance stage, and the ownership group at the time — which included Tom Egar and Dominick Pandolfo — planned to offer live music, acoustic performances, karaoke, sports viewing, made-to-order sandwiches, and pizza. Egar had previously co-owned Lamp Post Bar & Grille, while Pandolfo was a partner in Edward's Steakhouse. Interior updates during that era included a new American walnut bar top and a wooden bench from the original exterior, reinstalled inside the bar area, according to Jersey Digs' reporting on the 2018 project.
The bar's local reputation ran deeper than its renovations. During its long tenure as a dive bar, Bobby Dee's gained a reputation for distinct neighborhood gatherings, including hosting a community party upon the death of Osama bin Laden, Jersey Digs reported in its coverage of the closure. Hoodline previously featured the bar in a roundup of affordable dive bars following its 2018 renovation.
A Pattern of Reviving Neighborhood Taverns
The Kitty O'Shea's conversion fits a broader pattern for the ownership group, which has built its footprint by acquiring historic local taverns and updating them into Irish pubs rather than starting from scratch. The team launched Irving Public at 1135 Summit Avenue in Jersey City Heights in February 2023, taking over the former Blarney Pub space that had operated since the 1950s, as the Hoboken Girl has reported. They also opened Grace O'Malley's ‘Whiskey Chapel’ at 140 Newark Avenue in Downtown Jersey City in June 2020, taking over a storefront LITM had occupied for 17 years.
Co-owner Michael Dorrian also operates Dorrian's Red Hand in Jersey City's Newport district, an offshoot of his family's landmark Upper East Side Manhattan establishment founded in 1960, according to Jersey Digs. That multi-generational hospitality pedigree, paired with the group's now-familiar model of reviving neighborhood dive bars, has made Kitty O'Shea's the third such project for the team in Jersey City.
Why License Transfers Carry High Stakes
Liquor license transfers like the one that enabled Kitty O'Shea's are not simple paperwork. Retail consumption license changes in Jersey City require mandatory public notice periods, background checks, and formal hearings before the municipal Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Jersey Digs has reported. New Jersey also caps consumption licenses at one per 3,000 municipal residents, a quota system that pushes secondary-market prices for plenary retail consumption licenses to an average of $350,000 statewide and frequently above $500,000, sometimes topping $1 million, in dense markets like Jersey City, according to an April 2023 analysis from Downtown New Jersey.
Those costs land at a moment when Jersey City hospitality operators are also facing rising overhead. Hudson County's adopted 2026 budget increased the county tax levy by more than 9%, adding financial strain for commercial properties and small business operators across Jersey City, the Hudson Reporter reported in July.
What's Open Now
For now, Kitty O'Shea's is listed online as Kitty O'Shea's Irish Bar of Jersey City, with hours running from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. to midnight on Sunday. The Hoboken Girl reached out to the individuals listed on the liquor license and said it plans to update its article after receiving more information about the bar's official plans.
