Formerly: Livingston's Exchange (1853–1884) · Fettic's Exchange (1884–1933) · Old Genoa Bar (1963–2000)
Genoa, Nevada · Founded 1853 · Building: 1853
Nevada's best-supported oldest-saloon claim: an 1853 Genoa bar, run by Willy and Cindy Webb since 2000.
The Genoa Bar & Saloon began as Livingston's Exchange in 1853, eleven years before Nevada became a state. It later operated as Fettic's Exchange and the Old Genoa Bar before Willy and Cindy Webb purchased it in 2000. Its basic business chronology is unusually well developed for a frontier saloon, while some of its presidential, celebrity, and ghost stories remain stronger as local tradition than as documentary history.
The building opened as Livingston's Exchange, beginning the business history now claimed by the Genoa Bar & Saloon.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Genoa Bar and Saloon in Genoa, Nevada,” February 4, 2016; Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Movie stars, presidents had a drink at state's oldest saloon”
Frank Fettic purchased Livingston's Exchange and renamed it Fettic's Exchange.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Movie stars, presidents had a drink at state's oldest saloon”; Visit Carson Valley, “Genoa Bar | Nevada's Oldest Bar”
Frank Fettic began a nearly five-decade tenure operating the bar, selling wines, liquors, and cigars.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Movie stars, presidents had a drink at state's oldest saloon”
Frank Fettic died, ending his long ownership of the bar.
Source: Visit Carson Valley, “Genoa Bar | Nevada's Oldest Bar”
Robert and Betty Carver purchased the original 1853 bar structure and renamed the business the Old Genoa Bar.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Movie stars, presidents had a drink at state's oldest saloon”; Sierra Nevada Geotourism, “Genoa Bar and Saloon”
John Wayne rented the Genoa Bar for three days while filming The Shootist in Nevada. Separately, reporting places one filming sequence for the movie on a ranch near Genoa's David Walley's hot springs resort, part of the film's largely Carson City–based production.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Movie stars, presidents had a drink at state's oldest saloon”; Nevada Appeal, “John Wayne's legacy lives on in Carson City”
Willy and Cindy Webb purchased the bar from the Carver family.
Source: This Is Reno, “Nevada's oldest bar: Genoa Bar and Saloon,” November 24, 2013; Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Movie stars, presidents had a drink at state's oldest saloon”
Willy Webb told This Is Reno that daughters Ellie and Lindsey Webb were working as bartenders and that he hoped they would eventually take over the family business.
Source: This Is Reno, “Nevada's oldest bar: Genoa Bar and Saloon,” November 24, 2013
Owner Willy Webb was quoted describing the saloon's 1853 opening and the visitor custom associated with the building's historic diamond-dust mirror.
Source: Kathryn Reed, “A final visit to Nevada's oldest saloon—Genoa Bar,” December 23, 2024
The domain genoabarandsaloon.com no longer belongs to the saloon. It resolves to an unrelated Australian online-casino affiliate site with no connection to the business; the saloon's actual web presence is limited to a Facebook page linked from Travel Nevada.
Source: Verified directly by researcher Ed Donovan, August 2026
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Multiple Nevada tourism, preservation, and news sources identify the Genoa Bar as the state's oldest saloon and trace its business history to Livingston's Exchange in 1853. This research did not locate a complete primary-source chain of liquor licenses, directories, or tax records proving uninterrupted operation through every ownership change, so the continuous-operation component remains plausible rather than fully documented.
Travel Nevada repeats the soda-fountain account, but this research found no local newspaper, business-license record, court case, prohibition-enforcement record, or city directory verifying that the establishment remained open and served alcohol under that guise between 1920 and 1933.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that John Wayne rented the bar for three days during production of The Shootist in 1976. That establishes a substantial connection to the saloon, although the source does not document the specific drinks or conversations commonly attributed to him.
The Nevada Appeal reported that scenes for The Shootist were shot near Genoa, including on a ranch near David Walley's hot springs resort, during the film's largely Carson City–based 1976 production. This documents filming activity in the town of Genoa; it does not establish that any scene was filmed inside the Genoa Bar & Saloon building itself.
Tourism and preservation accounts list Twain and the two presidents among famous patrons. This research did not locate contemporary correspondence, press reports, photographs, diaries, or bar records establishing visits by any of the three, and independent bar-history research has questioned the presidential claims.
Nevada tourism material documents a local haunted reputation and identifies Red as the alleged spirit associated with the bar. This research did not locate a named paranormal investigation, aired television episode, published evidence review, or independently corroborated account establishing paranormal activity.
The brassiere is displayed as part of the bar's decor and is widely attributed to Raquel Welch, but this research found no contemporary account, photograph, statement from Welch, film-production record, or newspaper report verifying its origin.
The domain no longer belongs to the business. It now hosts unrelated Australian online-casino affiliate content with no reference to the saloon. The Genoa Bar's actual online presence is a Facebook page linked through Travel Nevada, not a standalone website.
The Genoa Bar's 1853 opening proves uninterrupted bar operation for more than 170 years.
The 1853 founding and succession of named proprietors are well supported by secondary historical sources, but this research did not locate a complete run of primary licenses, tax records, or directories proving uninterrupted operation in every year.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, February 4, 2016; Las Vegas Review-Journal; Visit Carson Valley
The bar served alcohol through Prohibition while operating as a soda fountain.
The claim appears in tourism promotion, but no supporting prohibition-era license, newspaper, enforcement record, or business directory was located.
Source: Travel Nevada, “Genoa Bar & Saloon | Oldest Bar in Nevada”; no primary source found
Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt all drank at the Genoa Bar.
The names are repeated in tourism and preservation accounts, but this research found no contemporaneous documentation for the visits. The claims should remain attributed to local tradition.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation; Travel Nevada; Rotgut.org, June 29, 2018
The Raquel Welch brassiere on display was left by Raquel Welch herself.
The artifact is displayed and attributed to Welch, but this research located no direct evidence establishing that she left it at the bar.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation; no primary source found
genoabarandsaloon.com is the Genoa Bar's website.
That domain now hosts unrelated Australian online-casino affiliate content and has no connection to the saloon. The business has no standalone website; its web presence is a Facebook page.
Source: Verified directly by researcher Ed Donovan, August 2026
The Shootist was filmed inside the Genoa Bar & Saloon.
Reporting places Shootist filming activity in and around the town of Genoa, including a ranch near David Walley's hot springs, as part of a production based mainly in Carson City. John Wayne separately rented the Genoa Bar & Saloon for three days during the Nevada shoot, but no source located establishes that any scene was filmed inside the bar itself.
Source: Nevada Appeal, “John Wayne's legacy lives on in Carson City”; Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Movie stars, presidents had a drink at state's oldest saloon”
The Genoa Bar has survived because it remained useful to the town after the frontier era ended: first as a commercial drinking house, later as a community institution, and eventually as a carefully maintained historical destination. Its continuity is tied to successive long-term proprietors—Frank Fettic, the Carver family, and the Webbs—rather than one owner or one unchanged name. The building's distinctive bar, diamond-dust mirror, film appearances, and proprietor-led preservation have turned a working saloon into an enduring piece of Nevada cultural infrastructure.
The Genoa Bar & Saloon traces its opening to Livingston's Exchange in 1853. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Las Vegas Review-Journal both identify 1853 as the beginning of the business history at 2282 Main Street.
The Genoa Bar has the strongest located claim to be Nevada's oldest saloon: multiple preservation, tourism, and news sources trace it to 1853. This research did not locate a complete primary record proving uninterrupted operation through every ownership change, so the continuity claim should be described as plausible rather than absolute.
Willy and Cindy Webb are the most recently confirmed owners located in this research. The Las Vegas Review-Journal, This Is Reno, Visit Carson Valley, and a 2024 account by Kathryn Reed all identify the Webbs as owners after their September 2000 purchase from the Carver family.
John Wayne had a documented connection to the Genoa Bar when he rented it for three days while filming The Shootist in 1976, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The source does not establish the specific drinking stories commonly repeated about his visit.
The Shootist (1976), John Wayne's final film, included scenes filmed in and around Genoa during a production based largely in Carson City — reporting places one sequence on a ranch near Genoa's David Walley's hot springs, about ten miles from the film's main locations. Wayne separately rented the Genoa Bar & Saloon for three days during that Nevada shoot, though no source located confirms any scene was filmed inside the bar itself.
Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt are regularly named as Genoa Bar patrons, but this research found no contemporary account proving either visit. Tourism and preservation sources repeat the claim, while independent bar-history research has questioned the presidential-as-patron stories.
The Genoa Bar has a local haunted reputation centered on a playful spirit called Red, who is said to disturb the jukebox and throw straws. Nevada Tourism Association material reports the story, but this research found no qualifying published paranormal investigation or independently corroborated evidence.
No functioning business website. The domain genoabarandsaloon.com now hosts unrelated Australian online-casino affiliate content. The saloon's only located web presence is a Facebook page linked from Travel Nevada's listing.
2282 Main Street, Genoa, NV 89411
(775) 782-3870
None on file
Go for Nevada's strongest oldest-saloon claim, the historic bar interior, and the Webb family's stewardship; treat the celebrity wall and ghost stories as a prompt for questions, not settled proof.