Iron Door Saloon

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION

Step out onto Groveland's Main Street and you're already in Gold Rush California. This is one of the few Sierra foothill towns where the 1850s commercial district has survived largely intact — original stone and brick buildings lining a single block, most dating from the mining boom through the Hetch Hetchy dam era. The anchor is the Iron Door Saloon, which claims to be the oldest continuously operating saloon in California: open since 1852, with original stone walls, a bullet-pocked tin ceiling, and a back bar shipped from Germany in the 1890s. The whole street takes about 20 minutes to walk end to end and is best done early, before the Yosemite-bound traffic picks up on Highway 120.

OPERATOR STORY

Groveland's Main Street has been the commercial and social center of this Sierra foothill community since the Gold Rush era. The Iron Door Saloon was built in 1852 to serve the mining and trading community at what was then known as Garrote, and has operated continuously for over 170 years through the mining boom, the Hetch Hetchy dam construction, and the era of Yosemite tourism that defines the region today. It is the anchor of a Main Street that remains one of the most intact Gold Rush commercial strips in California.