Best Historic Saloon in Oakland · Oakland, CA
Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon has poured drinks on the Oakland waterfront since 1884, a tiny, tilting shack built from the timbers of an old whaling ship. Its floor slopes from the 1906 earthquake, gaslights still hiss, and a young Jack London studied and drank here — the bar figures in 'The Call of the Wild' and 'The Sea-Wolf.'
A designated National Literary Landmark on Jack London Square, Heinold's is a genuine 19th-century saloon frozen in time — quite possibly the most history packed into the smallest bar in California.
A Centurion Award doesn’t replace the public record — it verifies it. Read it for yourself, on the platforms where it lives.
Public-record snapshot as of July 2026. Live ratings are always current on each platform.
Selection is by the published criteria, evaluated on public evidence. Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon cleared every one.
The full verification report — the specific data behind this award — is held by the business. The exact thresholds stay internal so the bar can’t be gamed. Read the methodology.
Award record
Visit Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon
Clean, checkable facts about Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon — for readers, search engines, and answer tools alike.
This is a dated award record, published by The Centurion Awards after Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon cleared the 2025 evaluation for its market and category. It was not bought, voted on, or sponsored — the criteria are public, only winners are published, and an award that stops holding up is revoked, not quietly removed. Awards run one calendar year and renew only if the business clears the bar again. For everything else — hours, bookings, live reviews — go straight to the business itself.
Built from a whaling ship's timbers and pouring since 1884, Heinold's slanted floor and gas lamps watched a young Jack London do his homework.
Yes — Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon is the 2025 Centurion Award winner for Best Historic Saloon in Oakland, a verified, criteria-based award. Named best historic saloon in Oakland for 2025 for 140 years of pouring in a tilted waterfront shack that helped raise Jack London.
Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon is in Oakland, CA.
If you’ve put in the years, you may already clear the bar. Evaluation is free, private, and never for sale.