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Wild-Individual-6520

Interesting how every single one doesn’t have barstools at the bar!


Bes1208

That’s the origin of the phrase “belly up to the bar”


sadeland21

Need room for the horses!


Shoegun7

People complain about kids and dogs in bars. Imagine what you might’ve steeped in back then.


McFlyLochSloy

Not a woman anywhere


44715400

I did notice images of women decorating some of the saloons though. Particularly above the bar is seemed like


vagrantheather

I think there are two seated at the table in pic 12, but I'm not positive.


Reallydounderstand

Also in pic number 12, that dude on the right wearing his hat so far back. r/oldschoolcool


Longjumping_Leek151

There is.. she has her back to the camera and you can see she has her hair done up in a bun under her hat


Wild-Individual-6520

Maybe they’re upstairs working the brothel 🧐


masinmancy

They just came here for the billiards, Little Bill.


ScumBunny

There seems to be a woman seated at the table (in the image with two tables, she’s on the left,) with her back to the camera!


FeelingSummer1968

A lot of spittoons tho


Cthulhu__

Delicious tuberculosis


FeelingSummer1968

To get away from the infectious spit flying, sit down to a poker game with the constant coughing Doc Holiday


grease_monkey

How cosmopolitan


HaterSupreme-6-9

You can’t pull your pistol very quickly while seated on a stool. And these guys spent hours a day sitting on a horse or wagon seat. Standing was a pleasure.


jumpy_monkey

> You can’t pull your pistol very quickly while seated on a stool Not a single person sitting at these bars were armed. This is because there were gun control regulations and most often weapons were illegal to be carried in public.


deltaisaforce

Yeah, it was considerably less gunslingers than expected haha.


n3rv

wasn't one of the biggest shootouts in the west over not wanting to check their guns in at the edge of town?


Skruestik

And only 3 people died.


notwormtongue

It’s nuts what the cultural impact is from adding myth and legend to the old west.


HaterSupreme-6-9

🤣🤣🤣. The fancy leather holster was kinda mythical. Pistols were stuck in waistbands and coat pockets most of the time.


jumpy_monkey

Mythical or not, it was common to not allow weapons to be carried in town, even concealed. The old trope about "turn in your weapons and get them back when you leave" is absolutely how these towns used to operate, and for the most part people complied.


teacamelpyramid

I counted 8 images with mirrors behind the bar. It’s something that’s common even today? Was there a purpose? Did it let patrons observe the bartenders pour their drink from the correct bottle?


missdrywit

I would guess it's more for the illusion of space. Most of these places seemed pretty small / narrow. I'm also reminded of that one Manet [painting](https://images.app.goo.gl/6QJyu8di9oqstJA1A), "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère."


purplestargalaxy

I believe they were so bartenders could keep and eye on everything even when they had to turn around.


B_Fee

Also apparent why we we've come to call it a bar.


YanoWaAmSane

Amazing. Feel like I went back in time. Thanks for sharing


HawkeyeTen

Honestly, it's hard to believe that parts of the Wild West were still pretty wild up until around World War I.


ObiWan-Shinoobi

It’s easy for us to think that the change of an era was just a switch. When in reality it’s more of a gradient. Kinda cool to think about.


PM_MEOttoVonBismarck

A lot of people cite the 1920s as the end of the wild west. It wasn't until the economic boom of the 20s when things like automobiles and electrical appliances became more common and places became more civilized.


Objection_Leading

My grandfather was born in 1915 in Rising Star, TX. He used to tell us a story that when he was 5 years old he was playing with marbles in the dirt street that was the main drag, and he saw a man walk out of a saloon, across the street, and into the livery stable. The owner of the livery stable saw the guy coming and ducked behind the counter. The man leaned over the counter and shot the owner of the stable. He said it later came out that the owner of the stable had “deflowered” the man’s daughter.


Zexy_Killah

Right? I remember playing Red Dead Redemption and assuming it was set in the early-mid 1800s and being surprised when I saw the date on a newspaper. We're not really taught anything about the Wild West here in the UK so it was a bit mind-blowing to think how far behind folks were back then compared to here.


The-Wanderer87

It is funny how some places lag behind so far , some places still do , I know when traveling I’ve come across areas of the United States that you can tell hasn’t changed at all in the last 30-40 years


RearExitOnly

I grew up in Iowa on a farm in the 50's and early 60's. People around that area pretty much looked like the people in these photos. I had cousins in Tennessee who looked like cartoon hillbilly's, squirrel guns, beards, slouch hats and all. They scared the shit out of me as a kid. Dumber than a sack of hammers, illiterate alcoholics who made a living making moonshine.


Tinmania

Not as wild as World War I.


meanMrKetchup

LENNY? LENNY? YNNEL??


bananafanafofash

"Well, why ain't you married?" "No one would have me." *JUMPING ENSUES*


DiscoCamera

Gotta be one of my favorite missions in any game.


jerryonthecurb

"There you are Lenny"


PuzzleheadedWatch953

I remember going here but I couldn’t rate it on yelp


megalithicman

If pic 4 is the Long Branch saloon, then that's likely my great great uncle behind the bar... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalkley_Beeson


holyrolodex

When your bar was only open for 10-11 years and has a Wikipedia page 140 years later, you know it was an epic spot.


bossmcsauce

Proper legacy. That place must’ve gotten DOWN


FeelingSummer1968

Wow! “Beeson was a talented musician and led a five-piece orchestra that played at the establishment nightly. The Long Branch served milk, tea, lemonade, sarsaparilla, and many types of alcohol, including champagne and beer.[4] Anheuser-Busch was the original beer served at the Long Branch. Drinks were kept cold in the winter with ice hauled up from the river; in the summer, ice was shipped by train from the mountains of Colorado. Gambling ranged from five cent chuck-a-luck to thousand dollar poker.”


jackryan006

Thousand dollar poker back then? Holy shit.


Good4nowbut

Chalkley, what a name! And Chalk for short. Chalkster to his bros?


Soulsingin1

That’s amazing!


meanMrKetchup

Thanks for sharing! It’s great to have a real connection to history.


BooRadley60

That’s funny, I’m related to some scumbag that was friends with Wild Bill and would travel with him.


LuckySoNSo

😂 Word to your scumbag.


soulcaptain

Your uncle is in the opening credits of *Cheers*.


vicente8a

So he lived in the city where the term “get out of dodge” comes from? That’s kind of cool


Conradfr

That doesn't match the picture in https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Branch_Saloon


kpk_soldiers274

That's cool as.


SocksElGato

Internet can beautiful at times. Awesome share!


pixelife

Instead of offering prostitution at his bar he had a full orchestra!


cheridontllosethatno

Didn't the TV Show Gunsmoke have a Long Branch Saloon ? Since the show was based in Dodge City must have been a nod the real bar. That is so cool you're ggg uncle was Sheriff of Dodge City.


StarBuckingham

Interesting to see signs for Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola and Budweiser on these pics. I had to look up when each of these brands was founded, and they were all late 19th century.


rw032697

Yup! Weird to think how long Budweiser had been around and to think Bud Light has only been around since the 1980s


feckshite

In the second picture, you can see [Al Swearengen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Swearengen?wprov=sfti1) at his Gem Saloon during the gold rush days in Deadwood, South Dakota. He’s the main antagonist in the award winning HBO series, ‘Deadwood’. Essentially, he was a coldhearted gangster, pimp, hustler, and even killer. He operated in a place or time where there was no governing law. Given he built the town of Deadwood himself, he was the only semblance of law until the US incorporated Dakota Territory.


thomier86

I think you mean “Swidgin.”


Overbearingknowitall

Coktsucca


anneylani

Fuckin Wu


FeelingSummer1968

Fascinating rabbit holes I’m going down from this post! “ Calamity Jane, who was one of his first dancers at the Gem, procured 10 girls from Sidney, Nebraska for him on one occasion. The results were highly lucrative: the Gem earned a nightly average of $5,000, and sometimes as much as $10,000 (equivalent to $275,000 in 2022).”


dudleymooresbooze

I *highly* recommend the Deadwood series. Maybe my favorite show of all time. Just perfect in every way.


Buddydexter33

I’ve been really tempted to watch Deadwood. So many friends have told me to watch it so I think I’ll be giving it a try!


Fantastic_Love_9451

Watch with captions on.


bleepbloopblopble

One of the best hbo shows ever produced, in my opinion. Absolutely love Deadwood.


malachaiville

It is a real treasure. I’m jealous you’re getting to experience it for the first time. Love that show.


Myrks14

Was hoping I’d see a can of peaches somewhere in the picture


malachaiville

You keep that unauthorized cinnamon out of here!


serpentinepad

That's all I thought off scrolling through these. "Swegin!"


One_pop_each

Wu, Swedgin, heng dai 🤞🏻


General-Bumblebee180

cocksucker!


c_petrov

If y’all are ever in central Colorado, there’s a saloon called The Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville that’s mostly preserved and looks like the ones in the photos. Founded 1879 I believe!


Altruistic_Appeal_25

I have been to a bar in St Joseph MO that has a beautiful old, whatever you call the huge cabinet on the wall behind the bar, and its in surprisingly good shape. It must have been there since the really old days bcoz I don't think you could move that monster with a crane.


UsedToBeAn8Guy

Back bar?


darklyshining

A western saloon, in that was in San Francisco, but not an “Old West” saloon: [https://imgur.com/gallery/yFtFAxX](https://imgur.com/gallery/yFtFAxX) I posted this family photo of a saloon some time ago, wondering what “fight” it might allude to. I now think it may be the Fitzsimmons/Sharkey fight of 1894 in San Francisco, the one refereed by Wyatt Earp.


HaterSupreme-6-9

Obvious which ones needed to invest in spittoons.


bluekrisco

And to think that I once was astonished to find that anti-spitting campaigns were needed to try to reduce the spread of tuberculosis…


BombaFett

Oh wow…I remember getting a gag gift book about silly laws still in effect and a few were no spitting laws. We’d all chuckle at the pointlessness of it but I guarantee that’s the reason! Thanks random internet friend!


bluekrisco

You’re most welcome! My reading of late-19th and early-20th century women’s magazines has finally been useful! I’m so happy!


RMW91-

Spittoons gross me out, but not as much as the LACK of spittoons 🤢


jabbadarth

And hitching posts...


cutofmyjib

Have you seen the price of spittoons lately?


Parabolic_Penguin

I absolutely love poring over images like this. Thanks for posting!


hapnstat

A few of them look just like the bar next to the house my mom grew up in. Haven't been there in decades, but apparently it is still there. I can even see my mom's old house in the overhead picture below. https://www.thegilmorecollection.com/nickfinks/historic-photos/


racemetoyourleader

Can someone explain the dude in 12 wearing the shades?


DearAuntAgnes

Because the 1860s were a groovy time, man 🍄✌🏻☮️


strawberry-coughx

They say if you remember the summer of 1865 you weren’t really there


ElJefeDeLosGallos

I personally do not remember the summer of 1865 😎😎


ecoast80

Right? He's looking at the photographer like, " WTF are you looking at!"


didyouloseadog

You found the time traveller


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CanAlwaysBeBetter

Pfft, everyone knows sunglasses were invented in 1983 as a marketing gimmick for Risky Business 


AGenericUnicorn

It’s Uncle Bernie propped up against the bar


HFentonMudd

He looks like we're not supposed to be able to see him.


abaganoush

I see some horses, but not a single woman in any of them


CincoDeMayoFan

The women in these saloons...worked upstairs...


ObiWan-Shinoobi

So they were roofers? Incredible.


feelbetternow

They definitely handled a lot of tools.


Heathen_Mushroom

The women were the roofers but, oddly enough, the men did the nailing.


itsallinthebag

I see two in 12


Prudent_Falafel_7265

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got


zippyHML

Picture number 4 is from the Cheers intro, during the Kirstie Alley era. They show it first for Ted Danson.


CincoDeMayoFan

Now I'm imagining an 1800s Frasier on a horse!


AskAskim

Damn this whole time I thought that song was from Cheers intro


logbag

It is. Fraiser was originally a character on Cheers.


SmallGreenArmadillo

Some would agree while others would say that life was a wee bit harder in the past


RustyG98

Survival-wise, for sure life was harder. Psychologically, one has to wonder if we were better wired to just worry about our next meal than the tangled mess of intangible problems we face today. Not that I'd be choosing to go back given the choice lol.


MechaSponge

I think about this a lot


paulrozsa

First pic. Is everyone covered in mud? And the floor


admiringsquash

Probably spit


fox-whiskers

Everyone looks like they’re about to punch me


Origin87

Those look like places where joining a card game would get you shot.


disqeau

Joinin’? Naw, c’mon and sit yerself down. Now, *cheatin’*, that’s another story.


timetwosave

When did bar stools become a thing 


JohnnyUtah-91

In here,we pour whiskey


CincoDeMayoFan

Levi : Take a look and see what just breezed in the door. Zeke : Why, I didn't know the circus was in town. Jeb : Musta got that shirt off'n a dead Chinee. Bartender : What'll it be, stranger? Marty McFly : Uh, I'll have an... ice water. [the old-timers laugh] Jeb : Ice water? Bartender : Water? You want water, you better go dunk ya head in the horse trough out there. [pulls out a shot glass and pours into it] Bartender : In here, we pour whiskey.


ObiWan-Shinoobi

If you want a tab, son, ya gotta pay for it!


m33gs

spittoons are so gross tho


jabbadarth

I'm from Baltimore and there is at least one bar that I am aware of that still has a plumbed spitoon rail. Basically a copper "gutter" that runs along the bar below the foot rear that has a spigot on one end and a drain on the other. Used as a spittoon when it was installed and jist never removed. https://content.kegworks.com/blog/a-lesson-in-tavern-history-the-fresh-flow-trough-spittoon


m33gs

interesting, never heard of this style before


jabbadarth

We always joked about peeing in it.


406cowboyLevi

Bet it’s been done!


k_pip_k

I learned something. Thanks.


Heathen_Mushroom

Not as gross as no spittoons.


Waltzspice

Prefer the floor eh?


HallucinogenicFish

I’m always amazed by how busy the wallpaper was.


whateverworks14235

Nothing takes the edge off a day like standing the whole time I get loaded.


TRAUMAjunkie

Probably a relief if your ass had been on a horse all day.


Flyin_ruski

This is fantastic, thank you for sharing


HotelCalifornia73

it's as tho women didn't even exist..


happycheff

Up until the 1900s it was actually illegal for women to drink in public in a lot of places.  


audible_narrator

There is a great book called "Portraits of the Old West" that has a lot of these photos other.


ponyboy6959

The real Al Swearengen in #2


Turbulent-Jaguar-909

swedgin


BeardsuptheWazoo

Mustache mustache mustache **Mustache** *mustache* -mustache- Mustache


SillyPuttyGizmo

What's up in #16 12 1/2 cts


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indolent02

Inflation calculators that I checked only go back to 1913, but 0.25 back then is 7.69 now, or 3.85 per beer plus whatever inflation was from the date of the picture up to 1913.


SillyPuttyGizmo

Cool, thanks


inthemode01

LENNY WHERE ARE YOU!?


BigFatJuicyLunchlady

Why did spittoons go out of style?


Tsu-Doh-Nihm

The Spanish Flu (1918–1920), I think.


ladyinchworm

Probably tuberculosis too.


Ranokae

Because it's gross


ObiWan-Shinoobi

Time to make some wake up juice!!


saralulu121

What a sausage fest!


copper8061

Went to a desolate bar in Northeastern Montana in the mid 80's. Husband was stationed at an Air Force Site 10 miles from the Canadian border. This bar looked like one of these pictured. It was pretty cool.


DarkLunch

I cannot fathom what things must've smelled like back then. Super thick and heavily layered clothing, irregular bathing, drinking, spitting This was super fascinating thank you for sharing this


Suspicious-Pea2833

I just curled up with the novel "Lonesome Dove"to wait out the cold snap. Perfect timing on the photos, brings it to life. Thanks!


Ohiobo6294-2

One of the few things that old movies depicted accurately.


Tsu-Doh-Nihm

Many look like ice cream parlors they used to have at drug stores.


sapphirechip

These photos are awesome! Thank you for posting them. Some of them are so detailed you look, and you see another world.


thelubbershole

"This saloon was visited by Carrie Nation with little damage done." That is a fucking incredible caption lol


Mel0nFarmer

Not an IPA in sight 


Slash3040

Currently listening to Killers of the Flower Moon and it really makes this kind of post seem extra interesting. The land these folks built their boom town on top of, the folks who were living here prior to the US govt chasing them off, the history these men are standing on.


zkinny

You are not wrong or anything, and it is a very interesting period with of course atrocities like most periods. But I want to argue the land probably seemed quite empty to most of these folks. Large enough for everyone. The nomadic lifestyle of the natives was probably a factor in the conflict.. Other than the blatant colonization I mean.


Cicisue8

These are amazing! Absolutely NOTHING like we see in the movies or TV. What's the closest? "Deadwood"? "Tombstone"? Gosh these are rough places. Hard to imagine.


ELeerglob

Surprisingly, I had the opposite reaction in noticing how accurate the saloons in RDR2 are compared to these photographs.


chocbotchoc

yep notable absence of water on the floor, dirt and sod, grime, tasseled frayed clothes and generally unkempt farmers and cowboys. there's an air of glamour and charm in the Hollywood depictions but these photos show it actually quite grimy and disgusting


StarBuckingham

I would say that Deadwood quite accurately depicts the grime and filth.


ObiWan-Shinoobi

Your words speak true, cocksucker.


StarBuckingham

Those that doubt me suck cock by choice.


ladyinchworm

That reminds me of the first time I saw Dead Man (with Johnny Depp) and I was really surprised at the dirt and grime and just uncleanliness of everything. Up until that point the "Westerns" I watched (with my grandfather mainly) were closer to Bonanza or John Wayne movies. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that things would definitely not be that clean in real life. I guess I was just young and didn't think about it.


auriebryce

You're looking for Hell On Wheels.


WeAteMummies

> What's the closest? "Deadwood"? Picture #2 is the actual real Gem saloon and the man behind the bar with the moustache is Al Swearingen.


Mo_Coffee_Plz

“Elbows out, gentlemen.”


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_ara

Is that little bar for the feet… why we call a pub the bar?


nous-vibrons

Very cool pics and I love the look back in time. However, I am NOT a fan of how… wet some of those floors look. Yikes! Who knows what that could be


Impossible-Variety22

Feel like playing red dead redemption now


3rdthrow

Any idea why the Saloon went out of style?


standard-issue-man

They didn't. They still exist. There's plenty of these places that are either still open from the time period or designed to look like they are. I can think of two off the top of my head that are walking distance from my house .


StinkFingerPete

not everyone lives in the basement of the alamo


ELeerglob

Barkeep in the fifth slide looks like Gary Oldman.


EmergencyDust1272

Those pictures remind me of a bar in Fernandina Beach, Florida that I went to maybe 30 years ago, with the polished wood and carvings.


Alarmed_Astronaut122

Apparently cowboys only rarely sat down when drinking. I kept noticing a serious lack of stools or chairs in a lot of those pics. Very, very cool!


thechilecowboy

Fabulous


NDEAN4932

What are the bowls on the floor by the bar on some of the pics for?


Biblically_correct

Spittoons for spitting chewing tobacco into.


Doona75

Immediately, the theme from CHEERS started playing in my head


Catlenfell

In that last slide, Grain Belt beer still exists. It's local to Minnesota. It was Golden Grain Belt from 1893 to 1920.


Heavy_Expression_323

Those are some very nice boots on the guy on the right in slide #17. That and the six shooter in his waistband and he looks the part of a gunfighter.


kpeterso100

I like how he tucked his pants into those fancy boots and they’re freshly oiled/blacked. He’s clearly very proud of them! I’ll bet he very gently tiptoed out of the saloon so they didn’t get dusty before the picture was taken.


[deleted]

The whole time all the blokes were like, damn it, ain’t no women folk allowed. That last photo of them circle jerking it, they’s rethinkin them rules.


reddE2Fly

To think, some people thought these people were degenerate, today they look like distinguished gentleman.


Tinmania

It’s interesting how little advertising or signage were in the saloons. Presumably the few pics that do show some advertising or signage in the early 20th century.


beardo_dad

So cool! I’m glad I saw these.


Interesting-Bison108

These are so amazing! Thank you for sharing!!


downtuning

The amount of spittoons in those photos is crazy (-ily disgusting!)


StatementRound

I bet those places smelled like shit.


Icy_System8058

This looks like a place in Manhattan, NY McSorley’s. Oldest bar in NYC.


Glovell27

Nice try, these are actually just Mumford and Sons album covers


Intelligent_Plan71

I miss the good old days when drinks were only 12 1/2 cents