Step inside and hear the stories of Bull’s Tavern, a fixture in downtown SLO for 90 years

Walk into Bull’s Tavern and you might see a college student tossing back a “Bull Sweat” shooter — a fiery blend of Bacardi 151, Wild Turkey whiskey, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.

The drink is a sort of a “right of passage” on a 21st birthday, according to Bull’s Tavern owner Billy Hales.

Or you might find a longtime regular, nursing their favorite cocktail and swapping stories with the bartender.

During graduation season, especially this weekend as crowds descended on San Luis Obispo for two days of Cal Poly commencement ceremonies, you’re sure to see college students and their parents sipping an early-morning toast ahead of the festivities.

Any and all are welcome at the venerable fixture of downtown San Luis Obispo’s bar scene, and even today, after nearly a century, Bull’s Tavern is where the new and old collide.

Bull’s Tavern owner started there as a janitor

Even with twenty-somethings blasting pop songs on the jukebox, the bar looks like it belongs in an old western film.

A bull’s head mounted to the wall watches over the patrons, and a vintage Budweiser sign stained with cigarette smoke reminds them of the building’s history.

Back in the 1930s, ranchers rode their horses into the tavern to order a drink — often trailing dust, cigarette smoke and a string of profanity behind them.

At least that’s how the stories go, Hales said.

While Hales studied history at Cal Poly in the ‘80s, he got a job as a janitor at Bull’s Tavern. He eventually took up bartending and served beers and cocktails to folks who’d been drinking at Bull’s since the 1930s.

“They kinda had that blue-collar, old-timer vibe,” Hales said. “This was the place of their first drink with their dad. It was a working man’s bar back then.”

Even back in the ‘80s, college students swarmed the bar in the evenings, just as they do now. But during the day, the tavern belonged to the longtime regulars.

Hales remembers serving Jack Lucas, a calloused regular who was at the bar almost as often as Hales was.

Every day, Lucas stood in the same place at the end of the bar to order a Budweiser and a shot of well bourbon. He’d drink about five of these over the next five hours, Hales said.

“One day he was standing down there, and the floor had gotten so tired in the bar that he fell through the floor,” Hales said with a chuckle.

Lucas caught himself on the bar, and the bartenders pulled him out of the hole without any issue, Hales said. This was before the building was retrofitted, Hales added. The floor is perfectly sturdy now.

Bull’s Tavern was originally located next door at 1032 Chorro St., which is now home to San Luis Taqueria. Hales moved the bar to 1040 Chorro St. sometime around 2016, he said.

Bull’s Tavern beginnings

The tavern’s namesake, Albert “Bull” Tognazzini, took ownership of the bar after prohibition ended.

According to his obituary, Tognazzini bought the second liquor license in San Luis Obispo County. A 1938 address book lists him as the owner of the bar, back when it was called Budweiser Tavern.

The History Center of San Luis Obispo County has an archive of records on the Tognazzini family, including the address book and Albert Tognazzini’s obituary.

Back in the early 1900s, in an earlier incarnation, the tavern was owned by Budweiser. Anti-trust laws, however, required the company to sell the bar to a local, Hales said.

During prohibition, the bar went dormant for awhile and the space was used as a dress shop, according to Hales.

Legend has it that the original building had an entrance to an underground tunnel network for prohibition-era bootlegging. The tavern has a basement, but Hales never found the tunnel.

Hales said it’s important to him to preserve the tavern’s history. When he moved Bull’s to its new location, he brought the original bar and mounted it to the wall of the new building, he said.

“We took great care to make sure this all came off in one piece,” Hales said, gesturing to the bar behind him. The wooden shelves hold everything from liquor bottles to a bull figurine wearing sunglasses.

“We definitely try to protect the integrity of what the bar was, and the people come back and can still capture that nostalgia either from their days at Cal Poly or when they were a kid,” Hales said.

On a recent afternoon, before the college crowd arrived, Bull’s Tavern played host to a handful of regulars known to the bartender by name.

Among them was local pharmacist Brian DeLorme, who said you can meet all types of people at Bull’s Tavern, from gig workers to tourists to students.

“Expect the unexpected as far as customers go,” DeLorme said. “A group of literally anyone could come walking in. It could go from being as quiet as it is now, you know, four or five patrons, to 50 within moments.”

DeLorme has been a patron of the bar for at least five years, he said. He enjoys the cocktails, the people and the environment, but most of all, he appreciates the bartenders.

“They’re genuine. They bust their ass. The place could literally have 50 people and there’d be one bartender — and they will run the show,” DeLorme said. “Everyone will get a drink in a timely fashion, no matter how crowded. That’s extremely rare.”

DeLorme even invented a cocktail at Bull’s Tavern, known by the bartenders as “The Brian.” The cocktail appears on the menu as a Mandarin Mule, made of Absolut Mandarin Vodka on the rocks with ginger beer and a dash of lime.

DeLorme described the character of Bull’s Tavern as “seasoned but always willing to allow anyone to walk through those doors,” he said. “Everyone’s welcome.”