An Introduction by Steve Novotney
This is a story about survival. Think about it – one generation after another has managed different businesses while navigating ever-changing economic times in the same town for more than a century, and thanks to ingenuity in the face of adversity, the property at 338 National Road has been more prosperous over the last quarter century than ever before.
That’s because a Wheeling native returned to his hometown so he could protect, preserve, and enhance his family’s legacy in the Fulton neighborhood of Wheeling, and appropriately so, Michael Duplaga III named it Generations Restaurant & Pub.
He graduated St. Michael School in 1980, is a member of the Class of 1985 from Central Catholic High School, and was graduated from Bethany College in 1989, and Duplaga then thrived in the publishing business for close to a decade before he and his wife, Alyssa, would make a decision that changed their lives forever.
Since Mike and his bride have raised their five kids inside those walls – all five have been or are employees, too – and his mother and father work there, his uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, and cousins visit often, and his younger brother, Chris, is a frequent customer, too.
Today, it’s a family affair, truly, but only because of the advice a young man once received from his dying father-in-law.
The Story Behind the Generations
By Michael Duplaga III
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An Unexpected Homecoming
I may have been raised by parents in the bar business, but I never really wanted to be into the lifestyle. That’s why, right after I graduated from Bethany College in 1989, I immediately took a job with Ogden Newspapers.
After three years with the company, I was promoted to advertising director in Elkins, and I loved it there. There were great people, and I had a blast hunting, golfing, and skiing. It was always fun when we came back to Wheeling, but my wife and I were definitely carving a new life in Elkins.
When 1996 came around, I got a call asking if I could pay the property taxes for 336 National Road, which was the address for the former Swing Club. So, I paid the taxes, and I was met with the same situation the next year because there wasn’t much business at that location for a small, local bar. The place had gone through two name changes and was dying on the vine.
I was home for the holidays in 1997 and went to Elby’s for dinner with my wife and my father before we headed back to Elkins, and that’s when my father told me he wanted me to come in and purchase the land, the building, and what was left of the business. I truly had no interest in doing it.
The price of just under $400,000 seemed insurmountable, but that was the number that could get the property free and clear of debt. If I said yes, I would be responsible for that debt with an aging building and very little business.
It didn’t seem enticing to me. At all.
A couple of months went by, and I couldn’t help but remember what my father-in-law, John Daniel, said to me on his deathbed in 1989. He was self-employed at Spin n’ Span Cleaners, and he called me over with Alyssa and said in a faint voice that if I was ever given the chance to take over the family business, he said, “You do it.” And he pointed at my wife and said, “And you stay out of the way.”
We thought about it and talked about it, and we made the decision in March 1998 to move back to Wheeling where we would finalize the purchase and begin the journey to what is now Generations Restaurant & Pub.
Like a Surgeon
I knew I had my work cut out because I didn’t want it to be a dance club three nights a week. I knew, for longevity, I was going to have to diversify so I could lure customers seven days per week, and that’s why I knew I had to be a restaurant first. The big question, though, was about how big an overhaul would be needed to make that transition.
The place needed a kitchen, and I needed cash immediately to pay for everything, so I made the decision to go back to the bread-and-butter of what the Swing Club used to be with DJs and college nights. So, that’s what I did; I reopened the upstairs, and with every penny I made, I kept the mortgage current and put everything else into renovating the downstairs to open the restaurant.
When I moved home, I took a job at Lamar Advertising for income because I knew there wasn’t going to be much money coming in from the new business at the start. The Thursday college nights really began to take off, and within a few weeks, I had over 500 college kids every Thursday night paying a cover charge and doing what college kids do.
I would work at Lamar through the day and then come back to the Swing Club to stain and paint all of the wood downstairs so the contractors could use it the next day on the job. I was able to get very good oak flooring and rails from a family-owned business through my contacts in Elkins, and I also bought some leftover materials from them and was able to get quality products that my Uncle Stan had obtained from renovating Outback Steakhouses up and down the East Coast. Stan also painted and textured the interiors.
I remember when I was working at Lamar, I went to lunch with a few other guys and with Mark Pappa, who owned an advertising agency. My boss asked me how everything was going with building the restaurant, and then Mark asked what I was going to name it because he believed no one was going to lunch or dinner at the Swing Club.
The name was damaged goods, and the place didn’t have a great reputation with the customer base I was chasing.
It needed to change, and I understood his reasoning, but my great-grandfather named it the Swing Club so that’s why, at first, it was called the “Swing Club Generations Pub”. Over time, though, the “Swing Club” was dropped, but there are a lot of photos of my family members from past decades on the walls of the restaurant, and there always will be. They are the people who are being paid tribute to with the name “Generations”.
It’s Who You Know
I held my official grand opening on May 7, 1999. It was a slow build and a slow grind, but the dust didn’t settle that opening weekend. The build-out continued for three to four years, and our business continued to increase, too.
Just when we were starting to establish the restaurant, The Highlands opened, and we saw a big difference in business because everyone was trying the new places up there. We had to tighten our belts to weather that storm, and that’s when I got the idea of bringing bands in from the Pittsburgh area. A lot of people were telling me I had to have The Clarks.
So, I made the calls, they came down to check out the place, and we’ve had a great relationship with The Clarks for the last 20 years. That’s because I witnessed something during that first Clarks show; I saw a lot of out-of-towners coming into Generations for the first time, and they were eating our food and having drinks.
That’s when the lightbulb went off.
I knew right then that I needed to keep bringing in the out-of-town acts so Generations could become a regional destination for quality live entertainment. I felt that would be the driving force to make me unique.
The next big name was the country band Povertyneck Hillbillies, and I became good friends with their lead singer, and I went on a trip with them to Nashville where I met a lot of people in the country music industry. One of those guys was Kevin Means, and he was a young booking agent at the time with William Morris Entertainment. His territory was the Mid-Atlantic Region, and we exchanged contact info and I honestly never thought I’d ever hear from him.
So, I went home and continued with The Clarks, the Povertyneck Hillbillies, and a lot of other bands, and we were doing great when I got a phone call in late 2007 from Kevin and he told me he has a country act that needed to find a spot on his way to Baltimore. He tells me it’s Chuck Wicks, a guy who had a song climbing the charts and had a chance to be in Top 3 when he got here.
So, we booked the show.
And Kevin was right. His song “Stealing Cinderella” had reached the top three in the country, and that was the first national show, and we did it upstairs of the restaurant. That first show led to a long relationship with Kevin and William Morris Entertainment that brought in Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Justin Moore, Randy Houser, Old Dominion, and a bunch of others to Generations. We were also dealing directly with other agencies like Creative Artists Agency and United Talent.
We had big crowds with a lot of people coming into Wheeling from outside the area, and there was a definite buzz. We had become a regional destination, but then we heard of something called a coronavirus.
The Post-Pandemic World
People changed. The business changed, but fast forward to nearly six years from the very beginning of Covid and the pandemic, and Generations Restaurant & Pub continues to be a major factor in the region’s social life.
That’s because the business came out of the pandemic better off than most other restaurants. Since we had become a regional destination prior to Covid, a lot of people from the Pittsburgh area knew about us and made the short drive to Wheeling for dining and entertainment because Pennsylvania was completely shut down.
That is not to say Covid has not changed some things, and that’s because I believe Covid altered a few aspects for the worse at a lot of establishments. Here at Generations, though, we continued with reunions, live entertainment, with our very popular trivia nights, and we had weddings and private events during those times, too, and those nights are what keep driving us forward.
We have also continued to evolve the restaurant; its decor is always going through changes, and the menu is a constant work in progress. We’ve made a lot of upgrades in our audio and visual equipment, and there’s always free WIFI for our guests in the restaurant.
Nowadays, you will see more of a family flair here at Generations. Of course, my dad My three sons, Michael, John, and Luke, are now all involved in various degrees at the restaurant along with my daughter, Taylor. For the most part, there is always a family member here and every member of the family has worked here at Generations.
My son, Ben, also was a busboy, server, and bartender, and my wife, Alyssa, used to bartend in the early 2000s, but, for the most part, Alyssa followed her father’s advice and, for the most part, really did stay out of the business.
As family members grow to become more integral parts of the business, I would be remiss if I did not mention all do the staff over the last 26 years. I’ve had Matt Benson as our general manager for two decades and he has done a terrific job. He began with us as a server and a bartender, but today our customers will tell you he is synonymous with our success, and they are 100 percent correct.
There are many people who come to mind when I’m thinking about people who spent time building this place to what it has become. Like Kenny, Randy, Bekah, Paul, Brian, Leon, Scotty, Joey, Monica, Patty, Evan, Kirstin, Brittany, Tina, Ashley, and many more I know I’m missing (and I’m sorry!).
Plus, there are countless servers, bussers, bartenders, and many more who have been involved in one way or another, and to everyone – including our loyal customers – my family wants to say, “Thank You,” and we wish you all a safe and enjoyable holiday season.
