(Publisher’s Note: This article appeared three years ago after the property at 50 Carmel Road was sold at auction and the renovation work was started by new ownership. The Alpha Tavern, the new eatery that replaced Ye Olde Alpha, now is open seven days per week and offers outdoor seating.)
It will never be the same again because what we all came to know had to be destroyed in the name of safety.
And, while we know a bar and eatery will be recreated on this property, what it will look like remains an unknown, and it may be even longer now that the coronavirus pandemic has interrupted, well, everything.
But it will not be Ye Olde Alpha, a legendary establishment once with a fairly simple, yet loved menu, and for the kills hanging from its walls. It was known as a “joint” when Frank Miller owned and operated it, and it stayed the same after his passing when his son, Bob, took over operations. Bob, however, suddenly passed away in August 2004, and after his family attempted to keep it going, they decided to sell to partners who kept the name and the décor but made significant changes to the menu.
The eatery, however, was shuttered by the Ohio County Health Department in January, and then the new owner, Wheeling Coin, began renovations a month later. The initial goal was to be open again by Nov. 1, but that timeframe has been extended.
Right of Passage?
For some who were raised in the area of Edgington Lane, the Alpha was where those 18th birthdays were held because, up until the late 1980s, 18 was the legal drinking age in West Virginia.
But for others, it was a treasure found later in life, perhaps during college or even later.
“I don’t remember hearing anything about the Alpha until I was in college when it was the place to meet up over the holidays,” recalled Christie Companion-Varnado, a 1986 graduate of Wheeling Park who now lives in Charleston, S.C. “Generations of families would be there — my parents and their friends, their kids, and eventually the oldest grandchildren.
“Oh! And the animal heads in the bar,” she continued. “I remember hearing about them.”
“It seemed like it was the place to be in Wheeling,” said Wheeling resident Josh Wack.
“When I was growing up in Wheeling, I always heard stories about the Alpha from my family. My grandfather and uncle, both professors at Wheeling Jesuit, frequented the Alpha quite a bit to socialize with both their coworkers, friends, and students,” he said. “My parents spoke fondly of the Alpha, as well, as they frequented the Alpha when they were first dating. I got the impression very early on that it was a great place to socialize.”
But some, for sure, found other establishments more attractive for whatever reasons.
“Growing up,” explained Heather Glasser, a 1984 grad of Wheeling Park, “I spent a lot of my weekends and summers in Edgington Lane. I always knew the Alpha to be the place where a lot of families went out for dinner on a regular basis, but my family never did.”
That First Time?
The taxidermy. The long bar. Pool tables. And for nearly 20 years, the poker room. That’s when patrons entered through the front door on the left. The door on the right took you to the dining room. Once upon a time long ago, the kitchen was in the middle of the two areas but was replaced with a high-top seating area after a new kitchen was constructed in the back.
But not everyone waited to visit for that first legal beverage, and that’s because parents were fans of the menu that featured home-cooked comfort food and the best cheese sticks and beer mustard in the history of cheese sticks and beer mustard.
“I recall going to eat at the Alpha when I was younger. Specifically eating French fries with gravy, Reuben sandwiches, and olives (maybe from my parents’ martinis),” Wack recalled. “I definitely remember my first time going to the Alpha as a paying/drinking customer.
“I was excited to be seen there and felt as though I had been accepted into some kind of cool social club,” he said. “I loved the fact that I was able to see so many people I knew in one small area.”
And then, of course, there were the holidays spent home during those college years.
“Without a doubt, the Alpha was a holiday gathering place,” he said. “When I was in Cincinnati for college, I never missed a Thanksgiving Eve Alpha night. I don’t think I missed that night until I had kids in my early 30s. After I moved back to Wheeling, I started doing the Christmas Day tradition, which is such a fun time. Without question, the Alpha was the holiday gathering point to reconnect.”
But Glasser, who grew up no more than two miles away from the Ye Olde Alpha, did not venture inside 50 Carmel Road until after college.
“The first time I actually went there was in my mid-20s. I had met some friends at the bar and sat near the jackalope,” she remembered. “I clearly remember naively believing it was real and was amazed that I had never seen a rabbit with antlers before.
“I’ve actually only had dinner or lunch at the Alpha less than a dozen times, and I rarely went there on a weekend night out,” Glasser said. “Unlike a lot of people I know, I don’t have that same bond with the Alpha as so many of my friends do. I moved away from Wheeling when I was 28, and when I would come home for holidays my go-to was The Swing Club, Claytor’s, Office Lounge, the Bridge Tavern, (and) a few other places in Ohio. I just started going there more in the last 10 years than I ever did when I was younger.”
Companion-Varnado departed Wheeling for the University of South Carolina to earn her ungraduate and law degrees, and when first returning to her hometown, Mac’s Club in Washington Avenue is where she met her friends. But then, the homecoming spot changed to, yes, the Alpha.
“I don’t remember why that happened or what trip home it was, but that’s where everyone was going,” she explained. “And it was that way for a long time until it closed.
“But the Alpha was the place to be on Thanksgiving Eve, that’s for sure,” Companion-Varnado said. “It was packed, really packed, every year, but you did get to see so many people from when I lived there, and that was always the best part. It was just like the Rax parking lot when I was in high school.”
Ye Olde Alpha or Carmel Road?
For nearly a century, Ye Olde Alpha was a neighborhood bar nestled in an area that remains retail heavy. Once it included the Rose Bowl, Frank’s Hairquarters, the liquor store, Miklas Meat Market, and the Minute Market. Today, the bowling alley remains, and so does the butcher shop, but now Country Roads Barbecue has transformed the former Minute Market location.
Changes have taken place, yes, and more will occur soon, so where will the Alpha regulars go when both the new location is opened at Stratford Springs and the new eatery is operating on Carmel Road?
“I have a lot of memories associated with the new location that are incongruous with the Alpha being there. I can’t stand seeing that they built a building where the pool used to be,” said Companion-Varnado. “I never went to the Alpha for the food and probably ate there only a couple times, so I can’t say whether the food will be a draw for others. It won’t be for me. Or for any memories of good service — it felt nearly impossible to get a drink sometimes.
“Beyond that, the location is not a convenient one and won’t have the ‘old neighborhood bar’ feel that was part of the Alpha’s charm on Carmel Road. I believe that many of us returning to Wheeling from away over the holidays will go to the Carmel Road location to meet up with old friends because it’s a habit, as long as the new setup is conducive to that type of gathering.”
Some of her best memories, Companion-Varnado realizes, never will be the same.
“We’ll maybe miss the ‘pure Wheeling-ness’ of the old ambience — the bar entrance where the pay phone was leading to that long narrow space with the dark wood, ancient bar setups, and of course the animal heads,” she said. “But I expect to hear, ‘Let’s meet at whatever they are calling the Alpha these days,’ and everyone will understand that to be the Carmel Road location.”
It won’t happen to Wack, though, because the Alpha is the Alpha.
“I lived a quarter mile from the old location and considered myself lucky to have such close access, but I’m looking forward to the new location of the Alpha,” he said. “It’s a very cool building, and I’ll be interested to see a nice combination of old and new. I have faith that the menu will always be solid, the loyal clientele will always support the business, and Charlie will always find innovative ways to make the experience a unique one.”
While Glasser has not been a persistent patron, she believes the love affair to continue as Wheeling makes it work.
“I have no doubt that wherever the new location ends up being and whenever it eventually reopens, the place will be successful,” she said. “’It’s good people who make good places,’ said Anna Sewell, ‘and Wheeling is full of great people, so you can be sure that they will come together for the new Alpha and make a generation of new lasting memories.’”
