Ken Michaels
If you’ve visited PJ’s Oyster Bar in St. Pete Beach, you’ve seen the dollar bills. Bills with notes, signatures and doodles adorn the walls and counter spaces, but why? Do they serve as a nostalgic glimpse, or boast of the restaurant’s success? Or… do they represent something entirely different? The Gabber spoke to Kelli Umstead, PJ’s co-owner, about the mementos.
“Brett and I bought the restaurant about 15 years ago and the dollar bills were a thing before we ever bought the restaurant. But, about five years into us owning the restaurant, we thought that the walls really needed a good cleaning,” Umstead said.
Debating what to do with the money on the walls, they came up with a perfect solution: donate to the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg.
For Umstead, the choice of charity comes from her family’s own tragedy. Before she was born, she had a sister, Lisa, whom doctors diagnosed with bone cancer. Lisa and Umstead’s mom moved into the Chicago Ronald McDonald House, where they lived for two years before Lisa passed.
“It’s always been a charity or a cause, in my family, that we always gave to,” Umstead said. She mentioned that PJ’s donates directly to the charity since bartender Billy Reilly’s mom holds a management position at the St. Petersburg location.
Starting in the ’80s, customers would decorate a dollar bill with their name, a note or a doodle and staple it to the wall. The first year PJ’s donated, they donated between $7K and $10K, according to Umstead (she said she couldn’t recall the exact amount). PJ’s made the donations annually, during the Christmas season, but due to COVID-19 (and the fewer customers to put dollars on the wall), they’ve yet to donate the cash from 2020 and 2021.
When the time comes to donate, PJ’s employees will take to each dollar bill with a pair of pliers and gather the charity funds for the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg. Umstead estimates the restaurant has $6K on the walls, and the amount increases daily.
To contribute to the cause head to PJ’s Oyster Bar: 7490 Gulf Blvd. on St. Pete Beach.
