Bar stools in saloons

[Sam Talley]

In all the movies and photos of the Old West there are no stools at the saloon bar. In the Pac. Northwest this remained true until the 1930s. Surely some saloon owner must have figured out that a person sitting on a barstool would relax and drink more booze than when standing there. Not withstanding the tables, why were there no barstools?

[Eric James]

No one was interested in playing Solitaire.

[anthony martin]

 Sam,

   In every catalogue of 19th and early 20th century bar furniture I've seen there haven't been bar stools depicted amid the bars,back bars,coolers,screens,tables etc.The only time I've seen stools depicted was in store or lunch counter wares and therein lies the clue,I think.Stores that catered to women such as milinery shops and other specialty shops often had stools.Small lunch shops did too and I'll bet that a lunch counter section of some saloon just might have employed this.

    The big reason for bar stools being accepted was the mixed crowd drinking that occured in prohibition and the widespread acceptance of women in what was formerly a male preserve.After repeal in 1933 the newly re established drinking establishments distanced themselves from the old saloon image and introduced bar furniture for the comfort of mixed sex drinkers.Even the word saloon itself became stigmatized so we employed other names after that.

[Stan H]

When I first moved to Washington state in 1961, a woman could not sit at the bar. Also, if a person wanted to move from the bar to another part of the bar or to a table, he had to have the bartender or a waitress carry his drink,,,,

 

some funny laws

[Jim Holden]

Ha! In Oklahoma in the late '50's, they finally eased Prohibition and allowed Spirits to be sold in state-licensed package stores.  Before then we only had 3.2 Beer and illegal booze.  My Aunt was an old-time Teacher in Guthrie, OK, and she was panicked about going into a Package Store and being seen.  Oh the shame!  Actually going to a Bootlegger was more discrete and she continued to use one for some years before "drinking" became a little more accepted.

I think the old-time Saloon owners wanted the drinkers to sit at the card and gaming tables and, like Vegas today, helped them in drinking so that they might gamble a little more recklessly.  You can still get free drinks (if somewhat watered) in Vegas while you are playing cards or slots.  Good business.

[Sue Cauhape]

As with the discussion about tying a horse to a rail with the rein:

After a cowboy came in to town from a long haul on horseback, did he really want to sit again to have a drink. Seems a bit of standing would improve the circulation to the legs and feet some.

I happen to like the word 'saloon' and wish it would re-enter the urban vocabulary again. Then again, I now live in a town where the Buckaroo Saloon still does a brisk business and they don't have stools at their bar either. The Genoa Bar has acquired such furniture, however, and it claims to be the oldest continuously running 'thirst parlor' in Nevada. In Virginia City, the Bucket of Blood Saloon still hosts a rowdy crowd and people still dance the two-step. At least small towns are still enamored of their 'saloons'.

[anthony martin]

 Sue,

   I'm rather fond of the word saloon myself and it certainly rolls off the tongue better.As a word originally sourced from the French language it just sounds better than lounge, another French word.Bar is really old as well but formerly it was most understood to be the counter itself in a Bar room or saloon.

[Stan H]

We still have the Knuckle Saloon, the Iron Horse Saloon, the Side Hack Saloon, the American Saloon, the Buffalo Chip Saloon, and more,,,,

 

Saloon is alive and well up here.

[Sue Cauhape]

I love it. What great names our old west saloons have. They really show the characters of a place. Anybody else have some great saloons in their towns?

[Murray A. Gewirtz]

The word "saloon" briefly re-entered the urban vocabulary about a half block from me here in Brooklyn, NY several years ago. There's a small, one story building there that, I think, was originally a garage for the adjacent house. A photography business was then opened there and, before long, closed. Next, the building became a beauty parlor. The new owners were Russian Immigrants. They put up a new sign over the entrance that read: BEAUTY SALOON. After a few days, the sign was altered to read: BEAUTY SALON, even though it wasn't centered properly, there being too much space to the right of the words.

 

[Sam Talley]

Now that sounds like something that came out of the True West, that watering hole named

 the BEAUTY SALOON.