New owner and name helps shuttered Highwood bar earn a comeback

A local Highwood bar with a devout following but troubled past will soon be back in business — but not how you remember it.

Howard Hughes, who currently owns The Wooden Nickel bar in the city, is taking over as the main operator of the business now formerly known as Teddy O’Brian’s.

Highwood City Council during its Aug. 4 meeting approved an agreement to issue Hughes a liquor license and subsequently reopen the local tavern at 432 Sheridan Road. It will no longer have the Teddy O’Brian’s name and will instead now be known as The Silver Dollar, city officials confirmed.

Shutting It Down

As previously reported by The Record, Teddy O’Brian’s closed in 2025 after the city revoked its liquor license. According to city documents, officials did so in April of 2025, and a city memo included in the Aug. 4 meeting materials said the business “has not operated with a liquor license since January 2026.”

Highwood officials in city documents said the decision to revoke Teddy O’Brian’s liquor license was a result of “violations and issues of concern,” including “service of alcohol to a minor, failure to aid or assist the police in execution of their duties and failure to report all instances of disorderly conduct or any and all criminal violations or violations of the liquor code.”

In the same city memo published with the Aug. 4 packet, city officials said “the previous business was found to have repeatedly violated the liquor code.”

During the 2025 city hearing on Teddy O’Brian’s liquor license, documents show, Highwood Chief of Police David Wentz testified that the police department received “numerous calls” to respond to the business multiple times per week over the past several years.

Additionally, Wentz said the business had “regularly failed” to assist or help the police department in the performance of its duties, mainly by failing to provide video recordings to assist police investigations of alleged conduct that occurred at the bar.

Teddy O’s since was most recently owned by two property owners and, according to city documents, Anthony Lampros was the most recent liquor licensee for the bar. Before then, it was co-owned by Ted Banick and Brian Carman from 1999 until approximately 2021, The Record has reported.

All the incidents cited in the hearing that resulted in the business’s liquor license being revoked occurred after Banick and Carman’s ownership.

Trying A Comeback

Banick, earlier this year, as previously reported by The Record, pleaded with Highwood officials for another opportunity to operate the local tavern under his management. And as part of his efforts, he created and disseminated a petition supporting his push that garnered more than 1,400 signatures.

City officials in May reported meeting with Banick to consider his pitch but his efforts did not extend much past then.

Roger Lunardi, who with this family owns the property, told The Record he’s been in touch with Hughes for about two months regarding Teddy O’s reopening under new management.

When asked about Banick’s push to reopen, Lunardi said, “I just think the city wasn’t going to give him a (liquor) license, so we have to go a different route.”

Highwood City Manager Scott Coren said that while the city does control the ability to make a licensing decision, it does not select operators of businesses, noting that the property’s owner recommended Hughes as the proposed management. He prefaced that remark by saying the city has “worked well with Howard once he started working with the property owner.”

Making It Work

According to Coren, the city has been in conversations with the Lunardi family for “a number of years” regarding potential development of the site, but the family had intended to keep the history of the building.

“At the end of the day, I think there is strong support from the family itself, the property owner, who wants to keep some of the history of that building, some of the memories of that building similar rather than develop the property,” Coren said.

The city and Hughes reached an agreement on a series of conditions that must be met throughout the duration of the liquor license and for its future renewal.

Those conditions include: an active security camera system with sightlines to all public areas that will be maintained, the submittal of security footage within 24 hours of a request from police and front windows that are free of obstructions to keep open sight into the building.

Additionally, the fencing on the front of the property must be “open style, wrought-iron fencing to maintain sightlines into the patio,” according to the agreement. Further improvements include updating the patio and fixing the stairs leading to the property’s basement.

The agreement states that improvements must be completed “to the satisfaction of the City of Highwood” by July 1 of next year.

During an Aug. 4 Committee of the Whole meeting of Highwood’s City Council, Hughes told officials that The Silver Dollar could open as soon as next week. In an interview with The Record after the meeting, Hughes said he’s “trying to open as soon as possible” but noted that it “could be days, or could be weeks.”

Hughes told city officials that he’s “not looking to reinvent the wheel” and that the business under his operation won’t be “The Wooden Nickel 2.0.”

“I don’t really plan on changing the concept they had before,” he said, adding that the changes will more so be related to “how the business is run.”

The bar will still feature live music and will offer food, Hughes confirmed.

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