After 86 years, this family is ready to part ways with Sacramento’s oldest bar

For sale: Sacramento’s oldest continuously operating bar and grill. Includes the name, all equipment and liquor license with few restrictions. Must not fear ghosts.

The Bordisso family, owners of Old Ironsides since its inception in 1934, are trying to sell their business at 1901 10th St. and retire. A buyer emerged after Old Ironsides was first listed last year, but that group backed out amid the coronavirus pandemic, the family said.

“We want somebody who will basically … take over and operate the same brand on a bigger scale,” said co-owner Billee Jean Kanelos, 85. “We can’t say we know what we’re looking for. But when that person comes, we’ll know.”

A word of caution, though: spirits aren’t confined to the bottles behind the bar.

There was the time the sound man for a solo guitar performance heard the sounds of a violin, but couldn’t find where it came from. A woman alone in the cramped restroom described someone’s hands gripping her shoulders. A psychic once said bartender Art Rodriguez, an Old Ironsides bartender for the last 36 years, held the same job in a past life, and that ghosts of long-gone drinkers make customers order more rounds against their better judgment.

“One time our bartender saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye and he swore he saw someone run across the room,” co-owner Kim Kanelos said. “He said, ‘okay, if you’re a ghost, turn on the jukebox.’ And the jukebox turned on, and he locked up and went home from his shift.”

That’s what happens when a bar hosts dozens if not hundreds of wakes over the decades. The 1940s businessmen who came in for their daily 6 a.m. brandy-spiked coffee, lunchtime beers and post-work shots — always drinking but never drunk, by Billie Jean’s recollection — left their marks on Old Ironsides long after they were gone.

Bill Bordisso opened Old Ironsides in 1934 with what his descendants claim was the first post-Prohibition liquor license in Sacramento. His brother Lou, their wives Lena and Sunny, and a group of characters with nicknames like “Pickles Hank” and “Ironsides Jack” helped keep the bar running in the early days, particularly when Bill served on a Navy destroyer during World War II.

Bars were more communal back then, Billie Jean said. Bill laid out free sandwiches for families on Sundays, filled the back area with shuffleboard tables, claw games and pinball, and opened an adjacent bottle shop where lobbyists and legislators bought alcohol by the caseload as holiday gifts.

“During the 40s and 50s, there was probably a bar on every corner from Broadway to K Street,” Billee Jean said. “I mean, there was no TV. What else were you going to do?”

Bill and Lena’s daughter Billee Jean brought Sam Kanelos into the family, and the couple took over Old Ironsides in the 1970s, when employees stored carafes of premade martinis on ice to keep up with the three-drink lunches. Their best customers, Billee Jean said, were employees from the nearby California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control office.

Big box stores eventually put the bottle shop out of business, and Kim, inspired by clubbier bars around town, set about remodeling the back room into a performance area in the 1990s. It started with a dance floor called “The Voodoo Hut;” soon local bands played for free every Tuesday night.

Kim began soliciting bands on tour for weekends as well, and Death Cab For Cutie, Sublime and Everclear all came through Old Ironsides before making it big, as did Sacramento natives Cake and Deftones.

A wedding at Old Ironsides

Live entertainment became such an integral part of Old Ironsides’ brand that Kim eventually hired Rachel Leibrock, a regular customer for more than a decade, to help book acts. Leibrock was engaged to fellow regular Cory Vick in 1999 when they realized their guest list ran too long for a City Hall wedding. They had already talked about a reception at Old Ironsides — why not hold the ceremony there as well?

Leibrock got ready in Old Ironsides’ upstairs office, the neon beer signs came down and she and Vick walked to the stage to exchange vows in front of 100 friends sitting in folding chairs. A discounted open bar and food from the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op followed, everyone went home, then the “rock’n roll reception” continued that night with a concert by Sacramento punk band The Knockoffs.

“I spent so much time at Old I in my 20s and 30s that it felt like home to me,” Leibrock said. “There are so many friends that I’ve met there and started conversations with and we’re still friends to this day. It just felt like such a natural place to have this party with the people I love the most.”

Kim, 63, and her brother Sam Jr., 66, still run Old Ironsides today with the help of longtime employees like Rodriguez and Kevin Kobayashi, a dishwasher for the last 19 years currently furloughed due to the pandemic. But the siblings have been admittedly slow to adjust to new technology, and they feel deterred by an increasing number of business regulations. They are both ready to retire.

Sam Sr. and Billee Jean’s initial resistance to selling has waned since the kids first brought the idea up five years ago, Billee Jean said. The Kaneloses will maintain ownership of the building, and Billee Jean plans to keep an office above the bar. They’re looking for a long-term tenant and are willing to be flexible during the pandemic.

“I think we’re all burned out,” Billee Jean said. “It’s been many good years, many fun years, many great people we’ve met. And for me, the times have changed and I’ve changed. So it’s time to go out.”

In the meantime, Old Ironsides is seating up to 18 people outside and 25 inside for lunches of classic sandwiches and salads, plus specials that play on the family’s Italian and Greek heritage. Former Highwater and Dad’s Sandwiches co-owner Mick “The Deli Lama” Stevenson will soon pioneer a dinner program centered around appetizers and bar food, Kim said.

Anyone interested in buying Old Ironsides can call Restaurant eXchange CEO Tricia Bernhardt at (916) 482-7979.

This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.