Cowboy Wine Country
The Salinas, hot springs, el
Camino Real, outlaws
a piano player and the Pine Street
Saloon
As story tells it and rumors has
it the history of Paso Robles
By Buffalo Standley

After two years on the road with
Merle Haggard working with him on his documentary
and his work with me on my documentary on the Father of Country
Music, I needed to leave the road and hang with my kids in Paso Robles. When I mentioned to Merle
that I was
going to live in Paso back in 2006, he said, "Hey...What is the name of the
old Saloon there?" I said, "Hmmmm,
Pine Street Saloon." He said, "Yep
that's
it...I remember it from my days traveling
out of Bakersfield and all musicians know
of the Mid-state Fair, which is famous of
the weeks of big name acts.
Hag was always complaining that there are
so few Saloons left, now's there only
theaters and big concert arenas. He
would say, "I'm a bar band and I am running
out of places to play." Down
the road I got Merle to cut a TV commercial for the
Pine Street Saloon.
On the Department of Parks and Recreation
Historic Resources Inventory regarding
the Pine Street Saloon building it says,
"This two story structure is one of the oldest buildings in
down town Paso."
Rumor has it that
in the late 1800's saw a raw wild west section of town down Pine
Street, where
cattle men drove herds into town,
where cowboys partook of refresh-
ments in one of the 15 saloons. There were 3 banks in
town during these times.
On Pine Street, also known as "skid row" every Saturday there
were horse races
as entertainment for cattlemen, ranchers and town folks. It is said that these
were
going on during the days that Jesse and Frank James were hanging out in town,
unknown to most people... |

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Jesse and Frank James
taken in the mid 1870's
CLICK FOR MORE
on the James Gang |
With all the
movies, dime novels, articles and books written about Jesse James and his now
famous James
Gang from back in his day to now, have all created a great and legendary tale
and
makes Jesse and Frank James two of the most famous outlaws in American history.
Jesse and
Frank's uncle
Drury James, is one of the founders of Paso Robles, and bought into the town and
ended up owning
the hot springs, in that he thought the town would make a great health resort.
The
story goes Drury
was passing through on a cattle drive to sell cattle to the gold miners in
San
Francisco and
stopped off the rest and lay in the hot springs on Spring Street, and was so amaze
at how it healed him from
his saddle sores that the idea begin to develop in his mind.
It is said that
Jesse James took shelter with his Uncle, who hid the outlaw under the alias
“Scotty”
from the militia,
sheriffs and bounty hunters at his Paso Robles hotel and his ranch where Jesse
and Frank worked
as Vaqueros, and later on started hanging in the Pine Street Saloons...the time
recorded in a
number of tales is in 1868 to 1869.
A number of
stories tell of Jesse and Frank James coming to town to attend dances and
horse races...
we can only assume
and take the "dime novel liberty" to imagine that Frank and Jesse James did in
fact come into the
bar at the present location of Pine Street if not for a beer or a shot of
something a
little stronger,
or even to frolic with one of the girls in the brothel upstairs,
and substantiate the rumor
that they had come to this saloon that has been
passed down for decades. In 1885, Jesse is shot in
Nashville.
After a gun fight with the militia that had come to his mom's house he decided
to head to
the West Coast to
hide out. Brother Frank James, his brother, took the train, and Jesse took
a
steamer around the
Horn from New York, because of his gun shot to the lungs the train or horse
back would have
been too hard on the ailing outlaw. |
His Uncle hid out the outlaw Jesse and his brother Frank, and
story goes that Jesse came a few times a week to the hot springs
from his uncle's ranch, and healed his gunshot wound in the hot
sulfur waters that had been healing springs for thousands of
years to the Salinan
Indian Nation who lived near. Then came the Spanish and the
Catholic Church and established Casa del Paso de Robles.
In 1813, after
running the Indians off, they built a shelter over the springs.
After a year or so in Paso Robles it is told that
Jesse and Frank were getting a little wild around town, and there was some
saying they
had figured out who
Jesse was and because of Drury's status in the town no one did anything, but he
thought best to get them
out of town...
so he
personally took them to San Francisco where he bought them both steamer tickets around
Cape Horn to New York, before it was
discovered he was hiding the famous outlaw James brothers.
A
number of articles on the saloon action on Pine Street during these
late 1800s, which was the exact time that Jesse
James and his
brother Frank were hanging out in Paso Robles.
In 1888 J.
Campbell operated a saloon at 1236-1238, the original site of the Pine Street Saloon before
the 2003 San Simeon Earth-quake. For many years back then it served as a saloon, a billiard parlor and a card
room. It was one of the oldest
brick structures in Paso Robles. South and right next to the building at
1234 Pine St. where now the famed Pine Street Saloon is kicking up dust
nightly, the brick building that housed the first Pine Street Saloon
was completed in 1865, if not sooner.
"In 1971
Pat French bought the bar, when it had the only beer license and was
called the Red Door. Ms. French and Jim Johnson, the local sheriff's
deputy, began collecting the mirrors, beer signs and other memorabilia that
now cover the walls of this popular landmark and civic treasure."
In 1980 Pine
Street went through a remodeling session and at a time the name was changed
from the Red Door to what is now known as "The Pine Street Saloon".
In 1996, the Saloon started serving liquor from a full bar. In
2001 the Saloon moved next door to its current location at 1234 Pine Street.
|

Right next to Ray's Card Room is the original Pine Street
Saloon, just
to
the right is the wood structure that is now the Pine Street
Saloon
where you see the truck on the far right parked in front of
the Saloon. |
 |
The two story redwood building, with the "Western False Front",
which at the time, was for sure not "False" in that it was built
during the
true days of the
wild west. The exact date is not known
but figurin' right now might have
been the present day location
of the Pine Street
Saloon was built 1857 circa.
Back in those early days it had a narrow balcony at the second floor level.
"Old records give some indication that the first floor was used as a saloon,
and
the second floor a boarding house, and as story again tells... a
Bordello. You can just see the ladies of the night out on the balcony
luring the cowboys and ranchers up to their rooms...sometime in
those early days it housed the Cosmopolitan Hotel and a saloon.
In
the 1890tys it was known as the Young Hotel. It was a
popular hotel where delicious food was served at reasonable
rates.
In 1960 it
became the Estrada Bar. But, now and maybe forever known as
the
Pine Street Saloon.
|

Now
this is a old timey Saloon buckaroos
 |
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Ron French
Proprietor of the famous Pine Street Saloon
 |
Pine Street
Saloon has had a very interesting list
of pickers and grinners, actors and
characters
belly up
to the bar, shake a leg, pick
and grin,
or actually
ride their horse into the Saloon...
Jesse James rumor has it and hear
say
Frank James visited Paso several
times
Merle Haggard great memories of
Pine St Saloon
Nicolas Escarpio rode with Poncho
Villa
Mel Gibson actor/producer/director
Sam Elliot actor
Robert Mitchum actor
Glen Campbell songwriter, music
star, session guitar
Sandy Koufax baseball star
Ramblin' Jack Elliott the
legendary
Gary Busey the one and only
Robert Carradine of the Carradine
dynasty
Kacey Musgraves huge present
rising country star
|
Bernie Taupin
songwriter
partner with Elton John
Chris Felver
author/photographer/filmmaker
Amaya Rose
songwriter/singer/fiddle player
Jack Tempchin Eagle's song writer
Louie Ortega
Grammy Award winner
Paula Nelson Willie Nelson's daughter
Connie Nelson - ex wife of Willie
Nelson
Kenny Lee Lewis Steve Miller
Band's lead guitar
Nick St. Nicholas bass player for
Steppenwolf
John Andrew Parks
songwriter/performer
Tennessee Jimmy Harrell local country performer
Tony James tv and music star
Norm Sancho from Jack Tempchin's
band
Rick Rosa bass player Neil Young
K.M. Williams legendary blues
player
Travis Howard Miranda Lambert
songwriter
Greg Kinnear movie actor
Lauren Francisca Internet star
Bryan Lloyd great one man show on keyboards
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Rising fast Country Star
Kacey
Musgraves at Pine Street
Saloon |

Travis Howard, hit song
writer for
County Mega star Miranda Lambert |

Kenny Lee Lewis lead
guitar for Steve
Miller Band for 30 + years, and Internet
sensation Laura Francisca |

Jesse James
as he looked when hiding out in
Paso in 1868-69,
or thereabouts |
Called
the last of the "old-time beverage-purveying establishments of a
bygone era in a town that once
boasted dozens of such places."

Bernie Taupin and Norm
Sancho |

Louie Ortega, Eliza and
Ramblin'
Jack Elliott |

Benedict Cumberbatch actor
The Imitation Game |

Nicolas Escarpio
who rode with
Poncho Villa |

Louie Ortega, Kenny Lee Lewis, who has been playing lead
guitar for the Steve
Miller band for the past 30 years and the great
John Andrew
Parks on the left |

Paula Nelson Band,
and yepper that is the
daughter of the one and only
Willie Nelson |

Jack Tempchin, Eagles' hit songwriter
of
Peaceful Easy Feeling,
Already Gone and more |

Robert Carradine of the
Carradine movie making family,
John Andrew
Parks, Louie Ortega, and
Bryan Lloyd |

James Dean walking down
12th St. with
Pine Street behind him???...start
the rumor |

Connie Nelson (ex Mrs.
Willie Nelson) Paula Nelson, Kerry Swallum, of Willie
Nelson's Luck Films and
filmmaker/author/photographer Chris Felver on right |

Merle Haggard, who told
Benford he hung out some at Pine Street
Saloon years back and his pal
Benford Standley,
producer/writer/carnie |

Ron French owner of Pine
Street and Meg
Linsey from Steel
Magnolica and the Voice |

The one and only Gary Busey
boards the Pine Street Saloon Lemo
for a ride back to
Hollywood...no kiddin'!!!! |

Robert Carradine, actor/musician
of the great Carradine movie
dynasty
|
Matt Kettmann in his article in
Smithsonian Magazine talked about his six-man entourage embarking on what he
called "the most
authentic and
doable old-school tour of the West Coast" and saying, "Our
visits to a handful of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo county’s longest
continually
ale-slinging
establishments would indicate that ghost stories may be
as old as the saloons themselves." A number of times in the Smithsonian
talked about the Pine Street Saloon and stories
owner Ron French told
them "his security cameras were picking up a presence...but was it a
mere
illusion or something more
ghostly," Matt asks...
The Smithsonian Magazine articles goes on to say:
First opened by Ron’s mother, Pat French, in 1971, the Pine Street Saloon
ditched its old location in 2002 to move into the circa 1865 building
next door.
That was just in time to avoid the massive Paso Robles earthquake of 2003, which
knocked down their old brick building but only
tilted their new wooden
structure. French, it turns out, might just be the most hospitable saloonkeeper
on the planet, having refurbished the
upstairs brothel rooms into a
boardinghouse of sorts to accommodate overly inebriated guests and purchasing a
limousine to drive such
patrons home for free, so long as they’re within Paso
Robles’ city limits.
more: smithsonianmag.com/travel/The-Historic-Saloons-of-Central-California.html#ixzz2MG6n24SR

Chris Felver,
filmmaker/photographer/author |

Amy Estrada from A-town,
Chuck Ward |

Mark Sellers |

Tennessee Jimmy Harrell |

Movie shot at Camp Roberts in
2002
and cast and crew stayed in Paso
Robles |

Greg Kinner, in We Were
Soldiers
and hung at Saloon with Mel and
Sam |

Mel Gibson, Sam Elliott
and Greg Kinner hung out at the Pine Street
Saloon while outside of town
filming the movie "We Were Soldiers" |

Chris Kenner also in We
Were Soldiers and at Saloon |

Nick St. Nicholas
bass player for
Steppenwolf
|

Super model Elanie Lee
and Buffalo Benford |

Rick Rosas, Bass for Neil
Young's
Crazy Horse Band |

Norm Stephens, played
lead guitar for Merle Haggard,
Lefty Frizzell and Hank Thompson |

Cass Warner, filmmaker
Granddaugher of one of
the founders of Warner Brothers,
Jack Warner |
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PINE STREET
Known as "skid
row" but the reference is from the logging days when
logs were laid down to have horses to
pull the logs along the logs to
move them...it was prior called "skid road", where the road was
a track made of peeled logs half buried in the ground...the term was associated with
loggers, as you might have guessed, such that the part of town
called that was where the
loggers would hang out and spend their free time.
Just down Pine Street at 840 11th and at
the corner of 11th and Pine
was the Municipal Bath House and
was a huge tourist and health attraction. This is now
a candy store, but if those wall could talk...
1244 Pine Street in 1922
originally the Highway Hotel |
800 Pine Street the Paso Railroad
Depot was built in 1887,
after the 1886 arrival of the railroad to
Paso Robles...
1202 Pine Street around 1890, The
Bank Saloon was built
then in 1901, it became the Palm Saloon.
1236-38 Pine Street Campbell/Estrada Buildings known as
two of the oldest buildings in Paso
Robles, and were ran as
a card room and a saloon. In 1971
the Pine Street Saloon
took over the 1238 Pine Street Location
1238 Pine Street Louis C.
Fortini Distributor of beer and spirits
in 1941at 1238 Pine Street and advertising
John Wieland's Extra Pale Larger Beer
Back in 1930tys the Paso Robles Press
was on the Northeast corner of 12th and Pine
|

Alexander Hotel at the northwest corner of 13th and
Pine Street. Main door of
hotel opened on Pine Street and had a popular dining room.
The Artisan Hotel is
now at this location in present day Paso Robles. |

W.S. Lewis Hardware was at 13th and Pine
Street in 1889
notice how similar the
construction to the Pine St. Saloon |

Corner of Pine and 12th Street, coach is loaded to head to
the Rail Road
Station down Pine Street about four blocks... |
PINE
STREET and SKID ROW area Saloons
1901
Business Directory lists 15 Saloons in 1901
The Pine Street
Saloon
Green Dragon
Saloon built in 1887 between 12th & 13th where Crooked Kilt
was
located, later called Busis on
Pine Street
Mr. Campbell's
Saloon
The Plains
Saloon
Ferdes - Rodeo
C & J's
Ray's Card Room
Pine between 12 and 13th
Paso Pub on
Pine between 12 and 13th
R.R. Saloon on Pine near the rail road station
The
Welcome on 10th and Pine
The Exchange
on 13th and Pine
Columbo Cafe
and Coctail Lounge on Pine
|
The Alexander
at 12 and Pine
The Mint
Pine and 13th
The
Cosmopolitan Pine between 12 and 13th
Franks Sparks
Saloon Pine Street
The Lodge
Pine and 13th
L Brenckel
12th near Pine
The Puck
The Bank 12
and Pine
The Palace
The Ideal
The Paso Hotel
Bar
The Plains Bar
and Chuck Wagon Cafe in 1930 on Pine
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Stage coaches, wagon trains, cattle
drives, medicine shows, hucksters,
health seekers, wine drinkers, miners,
travelers, migrant farm workers,
Okies, snake doctors, carpet baggers,
cowboys, travelers on the Camino
Real, people looking for the dream, and
all coming to Paso Robles for the healing hot
springs...coming down ole Spring Street...to what is now
10th
and Spring to bath in the original
Springs, that has now been covered with
a parking lot.
There were a number of drug stores and
other stores selling waters,
tinctures, healing herbs, massages, and
other healing related medicines
and services. Fact is the town was
built on the healing business centering
around the hot springs and the hot mud. |

Corner of 13th and Pine in 1889. Looking east down
13th Street is the
old highway that the stage coach and travelers from Fresno
and Bakersfield
would travel into Paso from this road...and turn left on
Pine to go to hotels
and straight down the street to the train station after it
was built in 1886. |

In 1889, the same year that Paso Robles incorporated as a city,
construction began on a magnificent new hotel. The hotel required
over one-million bricks and cost a princely $160,000. The new El
Paso de Robles Hotel opened for business in 1891. Many of
the buildings from that time period were built of these bricks...
|
 |
At 1031 Pine
Street a house built by H.H. Soest, a chemist who studied the
mineral quality of the hot springs
water in Paso Robles, and in fact would boil
the water in large vats and extract minerals
that he bottled and sold to druggist.
In 1953 was used as a physical therapy clinic...
Story tells that there were many
potients, health related elixirs, homeopathic
remedies, parchments, snake doctor
concoctions to cure one's ills in the drug
stores in town, and one can only
imagine the medicine shows that came into
town traveling The Kings Highway
between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
We can just imagine the medicine
shows that might have stopped and where
the huckster sold his elixirs with a
black face singer and some minstrel music.
|

800 Pine Street
is the location for the railroad
depot.
The Southern Pacific Railroad arrived
October 8, 1886 San Miguel
then on October 31, 1886 Paso
Robles and on November 16,1886 it
went as far west as Templeton.
On April 20 1889 the railroad went
to Santa Margarita.
It was years later before made it over the grade
to San Luis Osbio, due to the cost
to build that final distance. |
1886 the Train
comes to Paso Robles

Visitors could stay in touch with the rest of the world, as there
were two daily mails, a Western Union telegraph office, and a Wells
Fargo agency with special rates for guests. As the springs became
more
and more a destination of the well-to-do as a place to go to
socialize, the original purpose of the springs
—to heal—became
peripheral.
|
SPRING STREET led to
the Springs...a historic trail and road, and highway

Spring Street at 3rd looking North toward
the town in 1900 |
Spring Street
was once a ancient trail that came up from the ocean
where Native Americans of the Salinas tribe had settled the
area
around North County and the Salinas River Valley for thousand
and
thousands of years...later called:
Old Spanish Mission Trail
El Camino Real
The Royal Highway
The Kings Highway
California Mission Trail
The 101
The road actually follows part of the San Andreas Fault.
The trail was the main link between the San
Francisco Bay Area and Southern California. When the the S.P
was built in segments in the 1870's and 1880's it followed
the El Camino Real. |

Pioneer Museum where I got some great ideas and information
for the tale...
|

Standing at 12 and Pine
Street looking down 12th towards Spring street in 1880tys
|
Mr. Make My Day seen on
Pine Street
Busis on
Pine between 11th and 12th, which some
years back was the Crooked Kilt
and back in the late
1800's was known as the Green Dragon
Saloon...
When I brought Clint Eastwood to
Paso Robles in 2008,
we had our first event at the Paso Robles
Inn. Later I saw
Clint walking alone toward the Kilt by
himself along the
park sidewalk. I later heard that
he had gone into the bar
to have a beer. That night he told
me that he used to go
there for a beer back in the days he was
shooting Raw
Hide near Paso Robles and hung out here
in Paso on
trips here to visit his friend
James Brolin, who's married
to Barbara Streisand, and dad to Josh
Brolin, who has returned to live in the area... |

Clint Eastwood with rising country star Kacey
Musgraves, who sang at Pine Street Saloon on
her 2 visits
to the Paso Digital Film Festival to
perform...the girl is a super star these days... |
Brothels & Bordellos
Brothels
are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse,
knocking
shop, whorehouse, strumpet
house, sporting
house, house
of ill repute, house
of ill fame, house
of prostitution,
and pleasure
house.

STAY TUNED
FOR MORE ON
THIS
COLORFUL HISTORY OF
PASO ROBLES,
CALIFORNIA,
PINE STREET, SALOONS
AND
THE
"ENTERTAINMENT" BIZ...
|
Research from and Thanks to:
Depart. of Parks & Recreation
Historic Resources Inventory
El Paso Robles Area Historical Society
Many pictures above taken by Richard Bastian
Main Street Association
Pioneer Museum
Self Guided Walking Tour of Historic Buildings
Daniel Blackburn
Paso Robles Business Directory
Thanks for pictures, information and quotes, the
information
is not used for any commercial purpose and is purely
educational and used under the Fair Use Act. |
THE JAMES
GANG
HOT SPRINGS SAGA
SALINAN PEOPLE

HOT SPRINGS COVERUP
or Pave Paradise and
Put Up a Parking Lot |
HELP US WITH MORE
INFORMATION
SEND US MORE PICTURES
LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION
kudsaga@yahoo.com

PIONEER
TROUBADOURS |
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