Spit-and-sawdust saloon transformed into luxury wine spot

A former Western saloon bar built in 1800 is up for sale for US$5.5 million, and realtors are marketing it as the perfect place “to drink premium Californian wine”.

A 150-year-old former saloon in Los Alamos, Southern California, is available for purchase, and Sotheby’s, which is managing the sale, has grand plans for the property.

It comes with more than a century of drinking history, with cowboys, soldiers and Gold Rush prospectors all likely to have pushed through its swing doors and pulled up a bar stool to knock back shots.

Originally built as a stagecoach base, 1880 Union burned down in 1893 and was rebuilt in 1915 as a hotel and saloon.

In 2016, it was given a luxury makeover, adding a ballroom so that the space could be used as a wedding venue, though the “historic saloon bar” remains in place.

According to the Sotheby’s listing, Job Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney have all used the building as a filming location for their music videos.

At more than 11,000 square feet and sitting on half an acre of land, the building has plenty of potential for development. And Sotheby’s is pushing it as the perfect spot in which to serve high-end wines from the likes of Napa Valley, Sonoma and Santa Barbara.

“This is an incredible opportunity to purchase a piece of California history and is the ultimate platform for creation of world-class food, to serve premium California wine and host guests through a fully appointed boutique hotel,” real estate agent Micah Brady said.

The building pre-dates the oldest commercial winery in Santa Barbara (The Santa Barbara Winery, which opened in 1962) by 82 years.

However, Charles Krug Winery in St Helena, Napa Valley, which has been owned by the Mondavi family for four generations, first opened for business in 1861, meaning that theoretically its wines could have been served at 1880 Union in its heyday. However, the saloon’s patrons would probably have been more interested in drinking straight rye or Bourbon whiskey.

In a Western saloon, according to legendsofamerica.com, “If  a man ordered a ‘fancy’ cocktail or ‘sipped’ at his drink, he was often ridiculed unless he was ‘known’ or already had a proven reputation as a ‘tough guy.’ Unknowns, especially foreigners who often nursed their drinks, were sometimes forced to swallow a fifth of 100 proof at gunpoint ‘for his own good’…”

The price tag for the saloon property, built just four years after the town of Los Alamos was founded, is US$5.5 million.