Renowned artist Jim Fitzpatrick has at least two huge pop art murals in Captain Americas burger joint on Grafton Street. The Dublin institution first opened its doors in 1971 and the murals were painted in 1982.
Jim Fitzpatrick mural 1. Photo – Jessica Merritt
Jim Fitzpatrick mural 1. Photo – gwarcita
In the early 1970s, the restaurant became the unofficial headquarters for the band Horslips. Philip Chevron, of the Radiators from Space and The Pogues, interviewed the band there for his school magazine Write Up Your Alley and recalls:
Captain America’s was at the time about the ONLY remotely hip place in Dublin. This despite the fact that the resident singer/songwriter was Chris Davidson, a friend of Horslips [he supported them at their first ever headlining Stadium show in May 1972, my own first ever gig] who later found fame as Chris De Burgh. The Roy Lichtenstein type graphics on the wall, long since obscured by inferior murals, were by Jim Fitzpatrick, who did most of Thin Lizzy’s best graphic work and who claims to have originated that iconic Che Guevara image…
I’ve fond memories of being brought here when I was kid. Myself and Dfallon recently availed of a Living Social voucher (buy €60 worth of food & drink for €30). It was my first time eating there in years. The food was lovely, service was great but if hadn’t of had a voucher, I don’t really think we’d have considered it as it remains an expensive place.
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Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
Capt A’s was always that bit more expensive than the competition. It was to filter the punters a bit … they were looking for South-siders who were hip.
Great place to work (I was a floor manager there in the early seventies) with a very 60’s style of management (“Let’s all have a jar after work so that no one notices that you’re doing 60 hours-a-week instead of 40”) and legendary Christmas parties.
Never quite the same after the BIG FIRE in 1978 when it was re-built in lounge-bar style and they got a liquor licence.
I remover going there plenty ofttimes when I was younger. Took the wife there when I came back with her from Korea for the first time, more for my own sake than for hers, and we had a similar experience minus the voucher. The point is I could hardly sit still looking at the walls with all the memorabilia and murals. Nostalgia to beat the band!
Wait – the murals were painted in 1982? I remember seeing them in Mr Oliver’s day (see above). One of them was famous for the spelling mistake in Captain America’s speech bubble describing his foes as “Facist Pigs!”
I myself thought they were older but I’m 99.9% sure they say ‘Jim Fitzpatrick, 82’ in the bottom right corner. Haven’t been able to find any decent pictures to prove my point though! 😕
Quite right. I did the first two in 1971 and the larger mural in 1982 after the fire. Jim F
Yes, Jim was renowned for his graphics rather than his orthographics .. but he was also a very good soccer player. I remember playing with him many a times in Herbert Park with the likes of Pat O’Faoláin, Bernard and Ger Griffin, Kevin Rockett and the legendary goalkeeper, Wolfgang Keller.
I imagine that the original murals which Mr Chalker saw in the seventies were victims of the Big Fire. RIP.
Thanks for the informative comments Simon.
Is there a doubt about Jim’s authenticity regarding the Che image??? “Who claims…”
[…] Captain America’s on Grafton Street is the only restaurant out of this list which is still open. Opened in 1971, it is still going strong after a staggering 43 years. We’ve featured Jim Fitzpatrick’s 1982 murals on the blog before. […]
Hi I have an original signed Fitzpatrick captain America painting signed in 1983 is this worth anything
That’s interesting Ann: it could mean that Jim re-did all the paintings that were lost in the 1978 fire. It’s probably worth a few bob…