Prelude by: Mike Raven
There’s nothing quite like having a cocktail in a historic bar. It makes your mind wonder about who has visited this same place in the past. If you happen to be in Babcock & Story Bar in the Hotel Del Coronado, which opened in 1888, the imagination can conjure up the power brokers of the early 1900s deciding the fate of the great West over cocktails at the massive handmade mahogany bar; or the Navy pilots-in-training during World War II enjoying the high life before going off to war; or the movie stars…well, you get the picture.
We will take a look at a handful of these historic imbibing institutions, including the famous bar at the Silver Dollar Bar that has 2032 uncirculated 1921 Morgan silver dollars embedded in the bar surface! And one of my favorites in The Big Easy, The Carousel Bar, where the 25-seat bar rotates on 2,000 large steel rollers. And then there’s a bar with a signature drink called “Aspen Crud” – do you know the location? We will also visit a Seattle bar in a hotel built in 1927 that serves one of the world’s best martinis. So let’s turn some pages and study these bars, their history, and their signature drinks. After all, who can resist a good saloon!
Historic Hotels are found throughout the country. If you are considering staying at one of these fabulous institutions, please refer to the Historic Hotels of America National Trust for Historic Preservation website: www.historichotels.org.
Hotel Del Coronado
BABCOCK & STORY BAR AT THE HOTEL DEL CORONADO
When the Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888, it did so to great fanfare. The rambling Victorian masterpiece not only boasted a spectacular Pacific setting and the promise of endless California sunshine, it was equipped with every resort amenity – including a first-rate bar.
The spacious oceanfront gentleman’s bar, in typical Victorian fashion, adjoined an enormous men’s billiard room (no women allowed). When the grand opening took place in April of 1888, a San Diego newspaper reported that the hotel’s “Bar Room” was “undoubtedly the largest and most elegantly appointed saloon on the coast.”
The bar itself was unusual in design. Almost 50 feet long, it came to a 90-degree angle at one point and a 40-degree angle at another. Built by the Brunswick Company in Pennsylvania, also known for billiard tables, the magnificent mahogany bar was shipped, fully assembled, around Cape Horn.
An early brochure describes the “bar-counter” as: …forty-six feet in length, made of solid mahogany, highly polished. At an angle in this counter is the cashier’s desk, of new and peculiar design, a canopy resting on six pilasters over which appears a large, gilded metal crown, the elevation and location of the desk being such as to give the cashier full view of the entire room. The back counter of the bar is twelve feet in height, handsomely carved, and holding three immense mirrors.
Signature Drink: The Suntini
The bar itself has been moved and modified a couple of times since 1888. At one point, possibly in the 1950s, the structure was cut in half and one portion was removed. Today, master craftsmen have restored the bar to its original dimensions and configuration, and it currently serves as the centerpiece for the oceanfront Babcock & Story Bar.
Bar Room History
Getting Off to a Great Start: At the time the hotel was built, owners Babcock and Story had secured all liquor rights in Coronado so that no other businesses could serve alcoholic beverages. Early guest ledger reports indicate that the hotel served a variety of cocktails, including gin flip, cherry brandy, and whiskey sours.
The Well Never Ran Dry: Rumor has it that Prohibition didn’t dampen The Del’s spirits. Apparently, the hotel’s proximity to Mexico kept the bar well supplied.
World War II Watering Hole: The Del’s bar saw increased action during World War II, when the Navy housed many of its pilots-in-training at the hotel. The bar was so popular that fighter squadron yearbooks routinely included photos of military men enjoying the high life with their dates at The Del. The resort’s bar became such a San Diego hotspot that the hotel manager later admitted that bar receipts – and bar receipts alone – had kept The Del afloat during America’s impoverished war years.
Babcock & Story Bar
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