River City Saloon is located in the historic Old Sacramento district. It has had a long history in Old Sacramento. It originally was an early framed wood building that was replaced with brick in 1857. In 1861, River City Saloon was one of the original houses of ill repute owned by Johanna Heigle. Shortly after that it became Parker French’s Saloon. It was owned by Mr. Parker French who was a colorful Old Sacramento Newspaper man that wanted a fun place to go after work. This Old Sacramento saloon was also known as an unruly place at times. Many stories of people being Shanghaied and taken out to sea have been heard . During Prohibition, it would be continually raided as it insisted it was only serving Sarsaparilla and alcohol for medicinal reasons. In the 1960s, Old Sacramento and the saloon had fallen to hard times as the area had become the worst skid row west of the Mississippi. In 2007, the saloon was remodeled to its original grandeur and renamed the River City Saloon.
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