Nevada's oldest continuously operating bar, featuring Old West memorabilia & a pool table.
As luck would have it, the oldest bar in Nevada — the Genoa Bar — is located just down the street. There’s one step up to the bar, but there’s plenty of seating outside to enjoy an adult beverage or two.
Service options: Dine-in · No takeaway · No delivery
The top of my bar is original from the front to mid-way where you'll see a line across it. The medallions on the ceiling above the lights are original as is the one red oil lamp which is lit every New Year's Eve. The electric lamps are also original to the bar and were oil but converted to electricity at the turn of the century. I'm kept warm in winter by the woodstove,and since it's the only source of heat, the locals often bring in firewood when I'm getting low. And, no, those are not blood stains you see on the ceiling (it's tomato juice) while there have been many rough and tumbles here, no one was ever killed. And yes, we grow our own cobwebs here too.
The Diamond Dust Mirror on the back of the bar came from Glasgow, Scotland, in the late 1840's. It was shipped around the "horn" to San Francisco, then brought here by covered wagon. Originally, there were two mirrors, but one was sold to a movie company in the 1930's during the great depression. If you shine a flashlight in the mirror, you can see the diamond dust! The mirror has only been out of the saloon three times in it's history, the last time in 1910 when it was saved from the great Genoa Fire which destroyed most of the town.
If you look on the floor on the left side of the pool table, you'll see a trap door which leads down to the cold storage cellar. Ice was packed in burlap and straw and transported by mule down from two small lakes in the mountains behind me. There are many stories about the cellar -drunks are thrown down there to "sleep it off" -dancing girls come out at night -the local kids have all been taught that alligators and monsters live down there!
Many famous people have visited over the years. Among them, Mark Twain when he first reported for the Territorial Enterprise which opened in Genoa before moving to Virginia City. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt enjoyed “cool ones”, perhaps right where you're standing. Carol Lombard and Clark Gable came here to play high stakes poker games with the local cattle barons. Among the other famous and infamous, Lauren Bacall, Richard Boone, Ronnie Howard, Red Skelton, Cliff Robertson and all of our Nevada Governors have come through my doors.
Around the mid-1980's the Coor's Beer Company came here to film a commercial. Unfortunately, the local gentlemen who were extras, didn't like Coor's. They emptied their cans, filled them with Budweiser, and proceeded with the filming!
Musicians seem to gravitate here. I've welcomed Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Slim Pickens, John Denver, and the Captain and Tennille to name just a few.
