{"id":240078,"date":"2026-03-28T00:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T00:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240078\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T00:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T00:39:09","slug":"one-of-californias-oldest-bars-is-closing-after-153-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/240078\/","title":{"rendered":"One of California&#8217;s oldest bars is closing after 153 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"An American flag wraps around the front of the Clayton Club Saloon in Clayton, Calif.\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>An American flag wraps around the front of the Clayton Club Saloon in Clayton, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>Jessica Yadegaran\/SFGATE<\/p>\n<p>One of the oldest continuously operating\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/travel\/article\/yosemite-bar-iron-door-saloon-17277460.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bars<\/a> in all of California is closing its doors on March 29 after 153 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co\/events\/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&amp;template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl\" alt=\"\" class=\"x1px y1px vh abs\" aria-hidden=\"true\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Clayton Club Saloon is a dark,\u00a0Western-themed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/food\/article\/lafayette-california-last-bar-22073585.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dive bar<\/a> with the cowboy boots of fallen regulars dangling from the ceiling and, outside, hitching posts for horses that are still used today. The bar has anchored the tiny historic downtown of Clayton, at the foot of Mount\u00a0Diablo, since 1873. It has survived the Great Depression, Prohibition, and numerous owners and name changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>The reasons for the closure are complicated, as is the modern history of this gathering place, which has had its share of controversy.\u00a0SFGATE interviewed five sources for this story, including the publisher of the local newspaper, the Pioneer, and the vice mayor of the town of 11,000. Both the publisher and the vice mayor relayed stories of bar fights and violence over the years.\u00a0SFGATE also spoke with a former co-owner, who shared her efforts to bridge the divide between the bar\u2019s \u201cold-timers\u201d and newer patrons.<\/p>\n<p>In many ways, the bar is a symbol of the historic mining town itself: It\u2019s split.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"An interior view of the Clayton Club Saloon, in Clayton, Calif.\u00a0\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>An interior view of the Clayton Club Saloon, in Clayton, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Image via Yelp user Shane N.<\/p>\n<p>As in many Bay Area suburbs, there are old residents in Clayton, and then young families moving in, but the town\u2019s growth has stagnated. \u201cWe\u2019ve lived in the same house for about 38 years. The population has barely changed,\u201d said longtime resident Jay\u00a0Bedecarre, founder of Bay Area Festivals and part of the original administration at Concord Pavilion, which is just down the road. \u201cThe city has even been politically divided over a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2020\/03\/05\/controversial-81-unit-senior-apartment-project-can-move-forward-clayton-council-says\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">senior housing project<\/a> right around the corner from the bar for years. There\u2019s definitely a NIMBY factor here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Make SFGATE a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=sfgate.com\" data-link=\"native\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Add Preferred Source\" class=\"td300 cp f aic jcc disabled:cd wsn px24 y40px px16 py8 buttonSm fs13 xs:fs16 lg:buttonLg bg-primaryAccessible hover:o80 c-white disabled:bg-gray300 disabled:c-gray600 border bn tac br48px\"><\/p>\n<p>Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In 2020, the Clayton Club Saloon made headlines after the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control conducted an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2020\/04\/01\/then-employees-of-historical-clayton-club-saloon-charged-with-cocaine-sales\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">undercover investigation<\/a> and arrested a bartender and a bouncer on suspicion of selling cocaine out of the bar, unbeknownst to Steven Barton, the owner at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Barton did not respond to a request for an interview with\u00a0SFGATE, but friend and Pioneer publisher Tamara Steiner spoke emotionally about Barton\u2019s devotion to the Clayton Club Saloon from the time he took it over in 2007.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we started the Pioneer [in 2003], the bar had a terrible reputation,\u201d she told SFGATE. \u201cFights and violence. Steven and his team absolutely turned it around. They had events. It was a delightful place. Those two assholes cost him a life savings. They pulled his license, and he was not able to save his bar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Scenes from inside the Clayton Club Saloon, in Clayton, Calif.\u00a0\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Scenes from inside the Clayton Club Saloon, in Clayton, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Image via Yelp users Anthony P &amp; Robin W<\/p>\n<p>Steiner referred to Clayton as deeply divided between red and blue. \u201cIt\u2019s an ugly split,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, Misty Leone and her partners, Dean\u00a0Cafiero and Charles Hammond, sought to make the bar a more inclusive place when they formed a limited liability company and purchased it from Barton for $210,000, Leone told SFGATE.<\/p>\n<p>Leone was fairly new to Clayton at the time. She had moved there following the death of her mother and had found the club during that dark period.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about it,\u201d she said of the bar, describing how she stumbled upon it as she wandered downtown. \u201cI walked into the back of the club, and that\u2019s when the old-timers welcomed me with open arms. They asked me to play dice with them. And they became my family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She and her co-owners built on the traditions of the saloon\u2019s previous stewards, hosting pool tournaments and popular barbecues on the back patio. In 2022, they participated in Clayton\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/pioneerpublishers.com\/clayton-hosts-its-first-ever-gay-pride-parade\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">first Pride Parade<\/a>. There was a procession down Main Street, right in front of the bar, with the theme \u201cAll the Colors of the Rainbow,\u201d marking a historic moment for the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was not necessarily accepted by everyone in town,\u201d Leone told\u00a0SFGATE. \u201cWe definitely got some criticism online for supporting it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"The window looking into Clayton Club Saloon, the oldest continuously operating business in downtown Clayton.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The window looking into Clayton Club Saloon, the oldest continuously operating business in downtown Clayton.<\/p>\n<p>Jessica Yadegaran\/SFGATE<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Still, like Barton, she tried to shed the Clayton Club of its reputation; she asked her longtime patrons to be tolerant and welcoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClayton Club historically has had issues and has not had the best clientele,\u201d she said. \u201cThere have been a number of incidents over the years, a lot of fights. It\u2019s a divided town. It can be\u00a0unwelcoming to certain groups.\u201d Leone said some patrons were \u201cracist\u201d but saw over time that some grew to be more open and accepting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Leone and her partners never got to see their mission through, however. Co-owner Hammond died in 2022, leaving Leone and Cafiero <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/file\/192\/94\/19294-c23-01955.pdf\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in litigation<\/a> ever since with Hammond\u2019s next of kin over who is entitled to his portion of the bar (Hammond did not name a bar successor). In 2023, the Superior Court of Contra Costa County assigned a <a href=\"https:\/\/odyportal.cc-courts.org\/Portal\/DocumentViewer\/DownloadDocumentFile\/Download?d=E4E5331E0AC39676CD1270F1A6D0C02C&amp;c=6B3B3D2384C1BE4B592D9D6604DD2949&amp;l=21A325BF163FC264B3E625936D3FE766&amp;cn=EE0387B3BBAB5AF3AEB13A8910A5FF23&amp;fileName=C23-01955%20-%20Notice%20of%20Plaintiffs%20Proposed%20Receivers&amp;docTypeId=3&amp;isVersionId=False\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">receiver<\/a> to manage the bar. Now, the Clayton Club Saloon is set to be auctioned off on the steps of Clayton City Hall on April 3, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"The door and bronze plaque outside Clayton Club Saloon in downtown Clayton, Calif.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The door and bronze plaque outside Clayton Club Saloon in downtown Clayton, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>Jessica \/SFGATE<\/p>\n<p>Leone\u2019s hope is that whoever takes over the bar keeps it open, and that young and old can come to appreciate it as much as she did. \u201cI hope it maintains its historical value and integrity and everybody feels welcome there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Clayton Vice Mayor Richard Enea confirmed the April 3 auction to SFGATE and said there is already a bidder. He called the bar part of the fabric of the town. \u201cIt\u2019s a piece of America. Small town America,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to miss it when it closes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Enea is a retired Clayton police officer and remembers breaking up fights at the bar. \u201cUsually, you would get them to leave,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a rowdy cowboy bar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the Clayton Historical Society, the original bar was built by Jacob Rhine in 1873. Rhine operated it as a hotel, saloon and ice cream parlor at the corner of Main and Morris streets from 1874 to 1898. At that time, it was called the National Saloon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"An interior view of the Clayton Club Saloon, in Clayton, Calif.\u00a0\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>An interior view of the Clayton Club Saloon, in Clayton, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Image via Yelp user Todd W.<\/p>\n<p>In 1905, new owner Carl Berendsen renamed it Clayton Club and added a building that he had shipped across the bay from San Francisco to Martinez and transported over land to Clayton. It served as a saloon, restaurant and his family\u2019s home until 1920. During Prohibition, the bar survived as a cafe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Ownership details are scarce between the 1930s and the 1950s. In 1959, Jennie and Carl\u00a0Milano bought the club. Jennie\u2019s daughter, Dolores, took over in the mid-\u201990s and restored the saloon, according to a bronze plaque outside.<\/p>\n<p>A final backyard\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/224448411967537\/posts\/1676632643415766\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">barbecue <\/a>\u2014 bring your own meat\u00a0\u2014 is planned for Sunday, starting at 10 a.m. \u201cLet\u2019s come together, raise a glass, and celebrate the history of our town and this place we\u2019ve all shared,\u201d the Facebook invite reads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An American flag wraps around the front of the Clayton Club Saloon in Clayton, Calif. Jessica Yadegaran\/SFGATE One&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,4991],"class_list":{"0":"post-240078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-sfgfood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}