Formerly: Smokery Club
Virginia City, Nevada · Founded 1865
A reopened Virginia City saloon whose centerpiece is the legendary nineteenth-century Suicide Table.
The Delta Saloon is a Virginia City drinking and dining venue with a disputed nineteenth-century founding chronology and an enduring draw: a faro table associated in local lore with three gambling-related deaths. After a 2019 explosion and fire closed the business, new owner Jim Grimes acquired and revived it in 2024.
The Delta’s own site dates its history to the 1860s, while Virginia City tourism material gives 1865 as an opening year. Other accounts conflict, so the precise opening year remains unresolved.
Source: Historic Delta Saloon, "Our Story"; Visit Virginia City, "Virginia City Saloons"; Reno Gazette Journal, 2019; Carson Now, 2024
Virginia City's Great Fire destroyed more than 2,000 structures. Available sources reviewed do not establish whether it destroyed a specific earlier Delta Saloon building.
Source: Intermountain Histories, "The Virginia City Great Fire of 1875"
According to the Suicide Table legend as reported by the Reno Gazette Journal, the faro table was put away for a time and later returned to use as a blackjack or '21' table.
Source: Reno Gazette Journal, "Suicide Table, 'father of mixology' part of Delta Saloon lore"
Former owner John Zalac later described moving the Delta front from next door into the Smokery Club, renaming the space Delta, and adding antiques to create a visitor-oriented bar-museum experience.
Source: Reno Gazette Journal, quoting John Zalac's 1986 University of Nevada Oral History Project interview
A gas explosion and fire extensively damaged the Delta Saloon and led to its closure.
Source: Reno Gazette Journal; Carson Now
Jim Grimes and VC Delta Saloon, LLC acquired the property. Renovation work began after the sale closed, with plans to reopen the saloon, restaurant, and event space.
Source: Carson Now, "Delta Saloon in Virginia City under new ownership after 2019 fire led to shut down"
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The table and the legend are real parts of Delta lore. Reporting describes a story in which three successive owners died after serious gambling losses, but names, circumstances, and even accounts of at least one death conflict. The story should not be presented as verified history.
The venue, Virginia City tourism materials, and regional reporting consistently place the Delta's origins in the nineteenth century, but the claimed opening year varies among 1862, 1865, the broader 1860s, and 1880. The exact founding date and continuity of the present business require further primary-source research.
The haunting claim is part of local lore built around the Suicide Table narrative. No historical or scientific evidence located establishes paranormal activity.
The Delta's own founding year is unresolved among several conflicting dates (1862, 1865, the 1860s generally, or 1880). Travel Nevada instead identifies the Washoe Club as Virginia City's oldest saloon. This research does not support an oldest-in-Virginia-City claim for the Delta.
Three clearly identified people died by suicide after losing money at the Suicide Table.
The table's three-death narrative is longstanding local lore, but contemporaneous documentation establishing the identities, gambling losses, and causes of death was not located. Reported versions conflict, including the name and fate of the second alleged victim.
Source: Reno Gazette Journal, "Suicide Table, 'father of mixology' part of Delta Saloon lore"
The present Delta Saloon was built in 1876 after the Great Fire of 1875 destroyed its 1865 predecessor.
The Great Fire of October 26, 1875 is documented, but the sources reviewed do not independently establish that it destroyed the Delta's prior structure or that the present building was completed in 1876.
Source: Intermountain Histories, "The Virginia City Great Fire of 1875"
The Delta has remained continuously open since the nineteenth century.
The Delta closed after a 2019 explosion and fire, then changed ownership in 2024. Its operational history is therefore not continuous in the modern period.
Source: Carson Now, "Delta Saloon in Virginia City under new ownership after 2019 fire led to shut down"
The Delta Saloon is Virginia City's oldest saloon.
The Delta's own founding year is unresolved among conflicting dates. Travel Nevada identifies the Washoe Club, not the Delta, as Virginia City's oldest saloon.
Source: Travel Nevada, "The Washoe Club Haunted Museum and Saloon," May 28, 2025
The Delta’s modern appeal combines Virginia City’s Comstock-era setting with the Suicide Table and other historic-themed displays. Its present operation follows substantial disruption: the saloon closed after a 2019 explosion and fire, then was acquired and renovated by Jim Grimes in 2024.
It is a nineteenth-century faro table displayed at the Delta Saloon. Local legend says three owners died after major gambling losses connected to it, but the names and circumstances are inconsistent in surviving retellings and should be treated as folklore.
The Delta Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada, traces its origins to the 1860s: the venue's own materials and Virginia City tourism sources place its opening in 1865, though other accounts give 1862 or 1880, and the exact founding year remains unresolved. Following a 2019 gas explosion and fire that closed the business, Jim Grimes and VC Delta Saloon, LLC acquired and renovated the property, reopening in 2024.
Its exact opening year is not settled by the sources reviewed. The venue and Virginia City tourism material point to the 1860s or 1865, while other reports give 1862 or 1880. The safe description is a claimed nineteenth-century Comstock-era origin.
Yes. Reporting says a 2019 explosion and fire extensively damaged the Delta and led to closure. Jim Grimes and VC Delta Saloon, LLC purchased the property in May 2024 and began repairs and restoration.
Carson Now reported that Jim Grimes, through VC Delta Saloon, LLC, acquired the Delta property in May 2024. The current Delta website also identifies Grimes as its owner.
Travel Nevada identifies the Washoe Club, reopened after Virginia City's 1875 Great Fire, as the town's oldest saloon. The Delta's own founding year is unresolved among several conflicting dates (1862, 1865, the 1860s generally, or 1880), so it cannot be documented as Virginia City's oldest.
The Genoa Bar & Saloon in Genoa, Nevada, holds the strongest documented claim to being the state's oldest saloon, tracing its business history to 1853. The Delta's own origins are placed in the 1860s, decades later, with the exact year unresolved.
18 South C Street, Virginia City, NV 89440
(775) 934-9610
The current venue site lists daily operating hours and identifies the Delta at 18 South C Street. The Suicide Table is promoted as an on-site attraction; confirm hours directly before visiting.