HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Built from whaling ship lumber in 1880 and still open, this tilted Jack London Square bar reports footsteps and shadows from a 140-year operating history.
48 Webster St, Oakland, CA 94607
Research updated August 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$
Bar pricing; no cover charge
Access
Limited Access
The floor tilts visibly from 1906 earthquake damage; uneven footing throughout the bar
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · California Historical Landmark · Jack London Association · Oldest Continually Operating Bar in Oakland · Whaling Ship Lumber Construction
Johnny Heinold constructed the bar in 1880, using salvaged lumber from a dismantled whaling vessel — a practical choice in a waterfront neighborhood where ship timber was cheap and plentiful. By 1883 it was operating as a saloon at the edge of the Oakland Estuary, serving longshoremen, sailors, and the general population of what was then a rough waterfront district.
Jack London grew up nearby and came to the saloon as a teenager. He used the bar as a base during his time as an oyster pirate on the Bay, later as a legitimate fish patroller. Heinold, according to accounts London himself recorded, lent the young man money to attend the University of California when London's tuition came due — a loan that shaped his subsequent literary career. London's collected works reference the bar directly, and the building has traded on that association ever since.
The April 1906 earthquake damaged the foundation enough to tilt the entire floor visibly — several degrees from level, pronounced enough to notice immediately when standing inside. The owners, then and since, have declined to correct it. What started as structural damage became the bar's signature physical characteristic. You can feel the tilt as soon as you step through the door.
The bar turned 140 years old in 2023. The building is a California Historical Landmark and sits within the Jack London Square development. The interior retains its original bar, original fixtures, and decades of accumulated photographs, newspaper clippings, and London memorabilia. The Heinold family operated it through multiple generations; the current owners have maintained the preservation approach the family established.
Sources
The haunted reputation at Heinold's comes from the people who work there rather than from investigators or visitors. The current owner — per coverage of the bar's 140th anniversary in 2023 — has described footsteps from the area above the bar when no one is upstairs, shadows seen moving at the edge of vision behind the bar, and doors that are found open after being closed and checked.
These are the kind of low-key reports that accumulate in very old buildings where the same people work the same space for decades. No specific named individual is identified as the source of the activity. The Brokeassstuart piece covering the anniversary recorded the owner's accounts without dramatizing them — which gives them a slightly different quality than the typical haunted-bar listicle.
The building's physical history provides context: 140-plus years of continuous operation, construction from reclaimed ship wood, earthquake-shifted floors, generations of owners who each added their own layer of objects to the walls. Whether the phenomena are paranormal or the product of an old building settling and the power of suggestion in a place with that much accumulated history is a question Heinold's doesn't try to answer. The bar serves drinks; the ghosts, if present, keep to the upper floor.
Walk into a bar that has operated continuously since 1883, built from the salvaged lumber of a whaling ship. The floor still lists to one side from the 1906 earthquake — the owners elected not to level it. Jack London drank here as a teenager and the memorabilia on the walls documents his visits. The building is small, the bar is original, and the atmosphere is produced by 140-plus years of use rather than renovation.
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