Leaping leprechauns! St. Patrick’s Day draws crowd to local pub

Stefanie Frith

A leprechaun, complete with pointed ears and a tall green hat. A green

man, complete with green hair, finger and toe nails. And a few hundred

more decked in everything from simple green shirts and hats to buttons

that read, “No beer gut, no glory” and “Kiss me, I’m Irish.”

Muldoon’s Pub in Newport Beach was host to hundreds of Orange County

locals celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday. The pub also hosted the

Van Diemans Band to keep the Irish jigs going. By noon, the music was

loud, the Guinness beer was flowing and the pub was packed.

“I like being out around all the young people,” said Maggi Beegle, 76,

of Leisure World. “If I had known it was going to be so packed, I would

have gotten here all day and gotten a table, and then definitely a cab

home.”

Michael Patrick McCullough of Laguna Beach and his family have been

coming to Muldoon’s for 14 years, and he said they always make sure to

come early enough to get a table and spend the day.

“It’s a tradition now,” said McCullough, 38, who was sporting green

hair, finger and toenails. “We all like drinking and we have been coming

so long that we are like little celebrities around here now. Well, at

least we think so. It’s a blast here.”

McCullough may or may not be a celebrity at Muldoon’s, but Earl Dugan

certainly is. Always dressed in a tall green leprechaun’s hat, buttons,

pins and huge, pointy elf ears, Dugan’s attire has become so popular that

he is now simply known as “The Leprechaun.”

“People always come up and touch my ears for good luck,” Dugan, 49, of

Irvine, said, shouting over the noise. “And they ask for a lucky kiss

from the leprechaun. I have been doing this for 21 years here. My family

always comes.”

Muldoon’s manager Sharon Barkley said seeing people like Dugan get

dressed up for St. Patrick’s Day at the pub is always a highlight.

“I don’t even recognize him [Dugan] without his ears on,” she said.

Steve Amania of Orange and his group of 25 friends don’t dress up in

leprechaun ears, but they do take St. Patrick’s Day quite seriously. They

started a T-shirt club and hectic schedule of events nine years ago that

keeps them drinking and eating from 8 a.m. to about 3 a.m. each St.

Patrick’s Day. The T-shirts list all the eateries and pubs the group will

be visiting that day.

“We go where they have the friendliest service and keep the drinks

coming,” Amania, 30, said, proudly displaying his T-shirt, complete with

the words, “1 p.m., lunch at Muldoons.” “But you know, as we get older,

it’s getting harder to do. But hey, it’s still a good excuse to drink.”

Patrick Billinger of Huntington Beach said that because he is Irish,

St. Patrick’s Day takes many special meanings.

“It’s the one day a year that my Italian friend can make fun of my

people,” the 28-year-old said laughing. “It’s an excuse to drink and a

good chance for the guys to get out. We leave the wives at home and they

come pick us up later.”