Overview
Old Ironsides is Sacramento's oldest continuously operating bar and a 150-capacity live-music room at 1901 10th Street (10th and S). Opened in 1934 by William "Bill" Bordisso — who held the first liquor license issued in Sacramento County after the repeal of Prohibition — it was owned and operated by the Bordisso-Kanelos family for 90 years, with its modern identity as a music venue established in 1993 when the Kanelos generation remodeled the space to add a stage. In 2024 the business was sold to Bret Bair and Eric Rushing, the founders of Ace of Spades. [1][2][3]
Origins (1934–1960s)
William "Bill" Bordisso was issued the first post-Prohibition Sacramento County liquor license and opened Old Ironsides — named for the U.S. frigate Constitution — at 10th and S in 1934. He ran the bar with his brother Lou Bordisso and their wives, Lena and Sunny Bordisso. In 1949 the family opened a back-room bottle shop and game room operated by the wives. [1][2]
Through the 1960s the bar became a daytime fixture for the Capitol district's political and state-worker class, known for its long cocktail lunches. Billee Jean Bordisso — daughter of Bill and Lena — and her husband Sam Kanelos joined the business in the 1960s, beginning the generational transition that would eventually run Old Ironsides through 2024. [1][3]
Music-venue era (1993–present)
In the early 1990s, Kim Kanelos — Billee Jean and Sam's daughter — convinced her parents to convert the back of the bar into a music room. The bottle shop closed in 1993 and the space was remodeled to accommodate a stage and nightclub business. Kim initially drew a younger audience with a dance night called The Voodoo Hut; her sister Marla Kanelos joined to book national touring acts; brother Sam Kanelos Jr. has been general manager for roughly 37 years. [1][3]
The venue's 150-cap scale made it the room where Sacramento acts played their earliest sets and where nationally touring indie bands played under-the-radar Sacramento stops. Notable acts through the '90s and 2000s included Cake (John McCrea reportedly played solo shows there before Cake took off), Sublime, Death Cab for Cutie, and Everclear. [2][4]
Recurring nights
- LIPSTICK — indie/rock dance party on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month, DJ'd by Shaun Slaughter and Roger Carpio. Running for ~16 years as of 2024, and one of the most durable dance nights in Sacramento. [5]
- Wednesday Open Mic — long-running, a Sacramento singer-songwriter and stand-up rite of passage. [5]
- Tuesday Karaoke. [5]
2024 sale
In 2024, the Kanelos family sold Old Ironsides to Bret Bair and Eric Rushing, the founders of Ace of Spades (and the shared-ownership group behind Ace of Spades, Goldfield Trading Post, and Holy Diver). The sale ended 90 years of continuous Bordisso-Kanelos family ownership. Bair and Rushing have publicly committed to preserving Old Ironsides' programming and character; at time of writing (April 2026) the venue continues to operate under its historic name with its established booking cadence. [3]
Key people
- William "Bill" Bordisso — founder, first post-Prohibition Sacramento liquor-license holder (1934). [1]
- Billee Jean Bordisso Kanelos & Sam Kanelos — second-generation owners, joined in the 1960s. [1]
- Kim Kanelos — initiated the 1993 nightclub conversion, booker of the Voodoo Hut era. [1][3]
- Marla Kanelos — booker of national touring acts through the 1990s–2020s. [1]
- Sam Kanelos Jr. — general manager for ~37 years. [3]
- Bret Bair & Eric Rushing — 2024 buyers; founders of Ace of Spades. [3]
- Shaun Slaughter & Roger Carpio — LIPSTICK DJs, 16+ year residency. [5]
Why it matters for Sacramento music
Old Ironsides is the institutional memory of Sacramento nightlife. It predates the modern Sacramento music scene by more than half a century — the room has been serving drinks continuously since FDR's first term — and since 1993 it has been the small-cap room where Sacramento artists get their first real stages and where touring indie acts stop when they're too big for a house show and too small for Harlow's. The 2024 sale to Ace of Spades' founders consolidates an unusual amount of Sacramento's live-music infrastructure (Ace of Spades / Goldfield / Holy Diver / Old Ironsides) under a single ownership group — a development worth watching closely.
Sources
- Old Ironsides — History, official site. https://theoldironsides.com/about/
- Old Ironsides (bar), Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Ironsides_(bar)
- The Iron 88: After almost nine decades…, Sacramento News & Review, March 24, 2022. https://sacramento.newsreview.com/2022/03/24/the-iron-88-after-almost-nine-decades-music-fans-in-sacramento-appreciate-the-past-and-ponder-the-future-of-old-ironsides/
- The Unsinkable — Celebrating 80 Years of Old Ironsides, Submerge Magazine. https://submergemag.com/music/celebrating-80-years-of-old-ironsides/
- Old Ironsides — Calendar & Events, official site. https://theoldironsides.com/