HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Nevada's oldest continuously operating saloon, open since 1853, with a resident ghost the regulars call Red
2282 Main Street, Genoa, NV 89411
Research updated June 2026
Age
21+
Cost
Free
No cover charge; pay for drinks. The saloon operates as a working bar.
Access
Limited Access
Historic single-story building with a raised wooden floor and a step at the entrance.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1853 · Oldest continuously operating bar in Nevada · Comstock-era diamond-dust mirror · Survived Prohibition (1920-1933)
Genoa was Nevada's first permanent non-native settlement, and its saloon dates almost to the town's founding. The bar opened in 1853 as Livingston's Exchange, billed as a gentleman's saloon, eleven years before Nevada achieved statehood. In 1884 it was renamed Fettic's Exchange after a later owner, and it has operated more or less continuously since.
The interior is the draw. A diamond-dust mirror hangs behind the bar, one of only two known to survive from the Comstock era; the other is in Virginia City. Much of the woodwork, fixtures, and bric-a-brac date back generations, and the saloon leans into its own dustiness as part of the appeal.
When national Prohibition closed legal bars between 1920 and 1933, the Genoa Bar stayed in business under the guise of a soda fountain, a common dodge for saloons that had no intention of actually closing. It emerged from Prohibition intact and continued operating through the twentieth century.
The bar sits on Main Street in the heart of historic Genoa, a few doors from the old Douglas County Courthouse and Mormon Station, both preserved as part of the town's deep frontier history. Its claim as Nevada's oldest thirst parlor is repeated across state tourism and local history sources.
Sources
The Genoa Bar's ghost story is light by the standards of Nevada's mining-camp lore. The resident spirit goes by Red, described in local accounts as playful rather than menacing. Red is associated with the bar's old jukebox and is most often blamed for small mischief, like straws turning up tossed or moved when no one was near.
The story circulates mainly through the staff and regulars who pass it along, and the Carson Valley Visitors Authority includes the Genoa Bar on its roundup of haunted Carson Valley stops. There is no claim of a documented investigation or recorded phenomena here; the haunting is the kind of low-key, repeated bar legend that attaches to old rooms where generations of people have come and gone.
For most visitors the appeal is the building itself, a saloon that has poured drinks since before statehood, with Red as a side note the bartenders are happy to recount over a glass.
Notable Entities
The Genoa Bar operates as a working saloon, open to anyone of legal drinking age. The interior has changed little in over a century, down to a diamond-dust mirror behind the bar and bras hanging from the ceiling rafters left by past patrons. Order a drink, take in the room, and ask the staff about Red, the bar's long-running ghost story.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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The Bucket of Blood Saloon has operated on C Street in Virginia City since 1876, rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1875 destroyed the previous structure. The name is attributed to the frequency of violent altercations during the Comstock mining boom. Archaeological work beginning in 1997 established that the modern building sits above the site of the Boston Saloon, owned from 1864 by William Brown — documented as the only saloon in the 19th-century Old West owned by an African American.