Classic Images of American Taverns, Bars, and Saloons Through the Years

The engraving appeared in Detective John W. Cook’s memoir about his time fighting crime in rugged Colorado in the 1800s. It depicts Cook and his partner, Detective Smith, arresting fugitive Bill White in a crowded saloon in Denver

The bar in a lavish hotel in Trinidad, Colorado, built in 1879, featuring bas-relief friezes of country scenes, both gas and electric lamps, carved and lathe-turned wood detailing, and taxidermy pheasants. In the 1800s, the most luxurious bars were often in hotels.

A stereoscopic image of customers by a small outdoor bar with a sign reading “Lager Beer and Ice Cream Saloon” near the Augusta Arsenal in Augusta, Georgia. h

A few rugged men pose at this hotel saloon in the town of Table Bluff in California’s Humboldt County. The unique chairs were made by the famous local hunter and “mountain man”: Seth Kinman, who once played a tune for Abraham Lincoln on a fiddle he made from a mule’s skull.

The bartender raises a glass in a toast to the camera at this tavern somewhere in Southern California – possibly San Juan Capistrano.

Several men stand outside the Arcade Saloon in Eldora, Colorado. At the time, Eldora was a mining town; now it’s a getaway for skiing and other outdoor activities.

Several mustached men crowd around a table at this saloon in Bluff City, Alaska. Bluff City was established as a mining camp in 1900 during the Nome gold rush on the Seward Peninsula.

A bartender poses behind the bar, surrounded by an array of bottles, location unknown.

The historic bar at this famous institution on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, opened in 1806. A tap on the bar dispensed absinthe, the anise-flavored spirit that was banned in the U.S. for its supposed mind-altering effects in 1912, becoming legal again only in 2007.

Cowboys in an unnamed saloon, location unknown, aim guns at another man’s feet, suggesting the old Western tradition of shooting at a newcomer’s feet to make him “dance.”

The Carlton Hotel’s art deco-style club bar. The hotel, located in Washington, D.C., just two blocks from the White House, still exists, now branded as a St. Regis.

A view of the bar at the Almas Temple, longtime home of the Washington D.C. chapter of the Scottish Rite Temple. Modeled off the castles of Moorish kings in 13th-century Granada, the building still exists today.

An unhappy-looking man spends his Saturday night with his kitten at an unnamed bar in Craigville, Minnesota.

Another shot of a bar in Craigville, Minnesota, shows a few men talking while one holds a box of R.G. Dun cigars. Today, the boxes are vintage collectibles and can be found for sale on eBay.

A bar filled with people in Raceland, Louisiana, on crab boil night. Seafood boils remain popular throughout the state.

A group of men enjoy beers at a little bar in Pilottown, Louisiana. In the background is a poster for Falstaff beer, a major brewery for much of the 20th century.

A man in all white gets a beer from the bartender in a well-stocked bar in New Orleans’s French Quarter.

Two bartenders watch as their picture is taken in the bar at the Necho Allen Hotel in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Pottsville was a coal mining town, and one of the bar areas in the hotel was called the Coal Mine Tap Room.

The Seagram’s Distillers Corporation rented a floor in New York City’s iconic Chrysler Building and created an office that included this private executive bar designed by architect Morris Lapidus.

The bar at the Carson Brewery in Carson City, Nevada, the state capital. A picture of a bar in Nevada’s capital shows a group of people standing around enjoying themselves. A few of the men are covered in grime, perhaps after a day’s work.

Bill’s Gay Nineties was a New York City bar that started out as a speakeasy in the 1920s. Over the years it transformed into a restaurant and piano bar and eventually closed in 2012. In this 1940 photo, the barman is wearing a fake mustache.

Several men enjoy beers one night at a bar in Norfolk, Virginia. Behind the men are racks filled with magazines.

Frenchie’s, a combination beer garden, juke joint, barbecue place, and gas station at a crossroads in Melrose, Louisiana.

A bar at New York City’s iconic Tavern on the Green in Central Park, originally built in the 1880s as a place to house the sheep that grazed in New York’s Central Park. It was transformed into a restaurant and bar in 1934 and is still open today.

A woman plays the violin during New Year’s Eve celebrations at this Lower East Side Manhattan bar. Sammy’s stayed open until 1971, a year after its founder passed away.

The famous jockeys, wearing the racing silks of stables owned by wealthy customers, outside the “21” Club in New York City. Opened in 1930 as a Prohibition-era speakeasy, it was designed with secret doors and cellars to hide alcohol. The establishment lasted until 2020, when it closed as a result of the pandemic.

Patrons watch live music in this French Quarter bar in New Orleans. The Paddock Lounge was opened in 1925 by racehorse owner Steve Valenti and played a major role in the 1950s in the revival of New Orleans jazz.

A man stands drinking at an unnamed bar in Manhattan. Some historians refer to the 1950s as a golden age of entertainment and nightlife in New York.

Two men marvel at the decorations in Foster’s Bighorn in Rio Vista, California. The establishment is filled with stuffed animal heads owned by hunter William Foster. The restaurant and bar, which still exists today, has over 300 stuffed hunting trophies on its walls.

A man sprawls on the sidewalk outside the Blue Moon café and bar, probably in New York City.

This was a notorious dance club and bar on Decatur Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

A band performs at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago, a popular blues venue where the Rolling Stones and Muddy Waters recorded a live album in 1981.

People drinking beer at Zabala’s Bar in Paradise Valley, Nevada, after enjoying a barbecue.

Patrons at a combination bar, diner, and store in Paradise Valley, Nevada.

Locals at the Paradise Valley Bar and Store.

This historic art deco-style bar in Anaconda, Montana, was chosen as America’s favorite historic bar by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2016.

No longer open, Geronimo’s Castle Bar once served the small town of Bowie, Arizona. Bowie is near the area where the Apache leader Geronimo fought a war in the 1800s against the encroaching U.S. government and was eventually defeated and imprisoned.