At first, reformers thought that if they could separate ward politicians from their constituents by removing saloons from residential neighborhoods, then the cities would develop into more moral places.
These open-air neighborhood bars are so much a part of the city's fabric that the mayor's office sponsors a hotly disputed annual competition to designate the best one, in which hundreds of saloons, from the humble to the elaborate, take part.
Shotwell's is one of San Francisco's few remaining saloons from the late 19th century (it first opened in 1891) and features the original wooden back bar, which was shipped from Maine to California in 1906, and still has gunshot holes from an unknown incident … leaving patrons to imagine the skirmishes that once occurred there.
The current owner, Larry Wendt, bought the 60-year-old saloon from McGee in 1998.
Sterling Hayden, an actor who wasn't exactly a major star but certainly had an unforgettable screen presence, is Johnny Guitar, a gunslinger who is summoned by his ex-lover Vienna (Joan Crawford) to protect her saloon from the violent opposition of the locals, who fear her plans to build a rail station.
Maserati's Quattroporte, redesigned for 2013 to better compete with luxo-saloons from Germany and England, has retained its titular four doors, but has evolved dramatically since 1963.
An Arts District pizzeria, located next door to Tony's Saloon, from partners including skateboarder Salman Agah, with 18-inch pies such as the Meat Jesus with pepperoni, sausage and bacon, Max Chow's Meaty Balls with house-made meatballs, and Vegan Veggie.
Cosmo III noted Althorp's "spacious staircase of the wood of the walnut tree, stained, constructed with great magnificence; this staircase, dividing itself into two equal branches, leads to the grand saloon, from which is the passage into the chambers, all of them regularly disposed after the Italian manner, to which country the Earl was indented for a model of the design".
Mercenaries are not trained like standard units; instead they can be shipped from the Home City or hired from saloons for much coin, so that only economically powerful players can employ them.
In an introduction to a collection of McNulty's stories, his wife and fellow New Yorker writer, Faith, said that "what made Costello's different from other Irish saloons stemmed from Tim himself, whose presence had somehow made the place a into a salon as well as a saloon".
Does one smile politely while peering at the saloon car from J Stalin, the massage chairs from Japan, and the cut glass decanters from foreign shipping agents hoping for a contract?
