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. Note on confidence: The 1934 founding, the 1993 nightclub conversion, and the 2024 sale to Bair/Rushing are all well-documented across the official site and SN&R. The exact chronology of which Kanelos sibling booked what (Kim's Voodoo Hut vs. Marla's touring acts) varies slightly between the official site and Submerge — both are cited. No primary sources directly confirm which Sacramento bands played their earliest Old Ironsides dates; the Cake/Sublime/Death Cab claim originates from the official site and SN&R retrospective reporting.
Submerge archive additions
The following sections draw exclusively on Submerge Magazine's contemporaneous coverage (2008–2018). They add scene-level texture — specific documented shows, the origin of the "Dance Party" / "Church" night, and the venue's role in Sacramento hip-hop — that is not covered by the official site, Wikipedia, or the SN&R retrospective.
The Dance Party / "Church" origin (1997)
Old Ironsides is the documented birthplace of one of Sacramento's longest-running club nights. After DJ Larry Rodriguez played an impromptu set at a New Year's Eve 1996 party, booker Marla Kanelos invited him to launch a weekly Sunday dance night at the venue. That night — later nicknamed "Church" after it relocated to The Press Club — began at Old Ironsides on the first Sunday of 1997. Rodriguez has recounted that Old Ironsides eventually let him go due to persistent graffiti in the bathrooms, prompting the move; he continued to spin occasional nights at the venue afterward. [6]
Hip-hop history: the CUF and Capitol-district circuit
Submerge's coverage of Sacramento hip-hop group the CUF places Old Ironsides within the active local hip-hop circuit of the late 1990s and early 2000s, alongside The Distillery, The Press Club, and the original Capitol Garage — a cluster of rooms that hosted the downtown scene before the mid-2000s dispersal. [7]
Cake's "secret shows"
Submerge's reporting on Cake adds specific framing to the band's connection to Old Ironsides: the venue is named (alongside the Blue Lamp and the old Capitol Garage) as one of the rooms where Cake played intimate "secret shows" as a way of thanking and warming up before Sacramento crowds after their wider success. [8] (The curated entry already notes Cake's early solo-show connection via the official site; this Submerge citation provides the "secret shows" framing directly.)
Release-show venue (2008–2018)
Submerge's decade-long coverage documents Old Ironsides as the go-to release-show room for local and regional acts. Confirmed release events include:
- Walking Spanish, Wishbones album release (Mar. 25, 2011, with Prieta; $7, 21+). [9]
- Der Spazm, 1000 Days EP release (Sept. 24, 2011, with Babs Johnson Gang and Mr. Loveless; $5, 21+). [10]
- Ghostplay, 33 EP debut (July 10, 2015, with Mall Walk, Silver Spoons, Subculture; $6, 21+, doors 8 p.m.). [11]
- The Ghost Town Rebellion, Volume 1 EP release (Aug. 14, 2015, "Ladies Night" format). [12]
- Shotgun Sawyer, debut album release (Aug. 13, 2016, with The Pressure Lounge, Michael Ray; $7, 21+, 9 p.m.). [13]
- Thieves These Days, Silhouettes CD release / farewell show (Apr. 8, 2017, with Vinnie Guidera and the Dead Birds, Streetlight Fire, Odame Sucks; $10, 21+, 8 p.m.). [14]
- Güero, self-titled debut release (Oct. 13, 2018, with Dylan Crawford, André Fylling; $7, 9 p.m.). [15]
Typical documented parameters: $5–$10 cover, 21-and-over, 8–9 p.m. doors.
First-ever shows
The venue also hosted debut live performances. Sacramento duo 20,000 (David Mohr and Meg Larkin) played their very first live show at Old Ironsides in August 2008. [16]
Touring acts documented at Old Ironsides (Submerge coverage)
Beyond the local acts listed above, Submerge coverage documents the following touring-act shows:
- Geographer (San Francisco indie-pop), headlined the Lipstick 12th-anniversary party, May 12, 2012. [17]
- Shai Hulud (Florida hardcore/metalcore), July 27, 2013, with Early Graves, Summit, Soma Ras. [18]
- Sunmonks (Auburn duo), Lipstick New Year's Eve party, Dec. 31, 2014. [19]
Festivals: Punch and Pie Fest (2013)
The second annual Punch and Pie Fest (Aug. 21–25, 2013) used Old Ironsides as one of its stages alongside The Press Club, Midtown Barfly, and Luigi's Fungarden. The Knockoffs played the Old Ironsides stage on Aug. 24, 2013. [20]
LIPSTICK: additional historical detail
Submerge's coverage (predating the 16-year figure cited in the curated entry) documents specific Lipstick milestone events at Old Ironsides: the party's 12th anniversary (May 2012) and multiple New Year's Eve editions (confirmed Dec. 31, 2014; a further NYE party featuring The Good Fortune is also documented). [17][19][21]
Other noted performers
Singer-songwriter Christopher Fairman is described in a 2008 Submerge profile as performing at Old Ironsides with his full rock band The Stilts. [22] Ska/punk group At Both Ends played a documented show July 7, 2017, with The O'Mulligans, Jesus & The Dinosaurs, and Captain 9s and the Knickerbocker Trio. [23]