Pioneer Saloon

Southern Nevada's oldest saloon, built from stamped tin in 1913. Famous for its historic bullet holes and Clark Gable's tragic 1942 vigil.

The Pioneer Saloon stands as the oldest continuously operating bar in Clark County, having poured its first drinks in 1913. Built by prominent businessman and Clark County Commissioner George Fayle, the structure is one of the last remaining examples of a prefabricated stamped-tin building in the United States, likely ordered from a Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. Both the interior and exterior walls are made of this original pressed tin, which has survived over a century of desert heat, the Spanish Flu, Prohibition, and the decline of the surrounding mining town of Goodsprings. Inside, the centerpiece of the front room is a massive cherry wood bar manufactured by the Brunswick Company in Maine during the late 1800s. Before the construction of the Panama Canal, this heavy back bar was shipped all the way around Cape Horn to San Francisco, eventually traveling by rail through the mining town of Rhyolite before finding its permanent home here.

The physical history of the saloon is literally written into its walls. Near the old potbelly stove, three distinct bullet holes puncture the stamped tin. These are the remnants of a fatal card game on July 3, 1915, when an out-of-work miner named Paul Coski was caught cheating and subsequently shot by the poker dealer, Joe Armstrong. A framed copy of the original coroner's report and the local newspaper headline hang on the wall directly beneath the punctures as proof of the saloon's only recorded homicide. Decades later, on January 16, 1942, the saloon became the tragic waiting room for Hollywood legend Clark Gable. After a commercial flight carrying his wife, actress Carole Lombard, crashed into nearby Mount Potosi, Gable spent three agonizing days at the Pioneer Saloon drinking and pacing while search parties looked for survivors. Patrons can still see the faint cigarette burns on the counter top where Gable allegedly let his cigarettes burn down to the wood in his grief.

Today, the Pioneer Saloon is owned by musician and entrepreneur Stephen Staats, locally known as "Old Man Liver," who maintains the property's historic grit while hosting live music, outdoor barbecues, and the occasional game of "chicken bingo". The saloon has also earned a massive modern following among video game enthusiasts as a central setting in the post-apocalyptic role-playing game Fallout: New Vegas, drawing travelers from around the world who come to see the real-life inspiration for the Mojave Wasteland's virtual watering hole. Visitors can sit at the worn wooden tables, order a signature "Ghost Burger" or a plate of slow-smoked barbecue, and examine the glass cases filled with historical artifacts, mining tools, and pieces of wreckage from Lombard's plane. The saloon remains a living archive of Nevada's frontier era, where the floorboards still creak under the boots of bikers, locals, and travelers seeking a cold beer and a genuine piece of the American West.

Coffee & Craft — Roadside fuel stops curated by Basecamp West. The best coffee shops, craft breweries, diners, and eateries worth the detour on your next Western road trip.