Entry No. 12 — the San Francisco file — filed under: haunted

Old Ship Saloon

This corner bar is built directly on top of a buried Gold Rush ship: the Arkansas, a 1833 New York-built schooner that ran aground near Alcatraz in 1849, was towed into Yerba Buena Cove, and got permanently entombed as the cove was filled in around it — by 1859 a hotel rose over its hull while the bar kept pouring on the ground floor. A 15-foot chunk of the ship's false keel turned up 25 feet underground during nearby construction in 2016, then was reburied.

The move: Order a drink at the same spot where sailors once climbed a gangplank through a hole cut in the ship's bow, and talk about the dozens of other Gold Rush vessels (the Niantic, the Apollo, the Rome) still entombed somewhere under the Financial District's sidewalks.

• 📍 Jackson Square, San Francisco
• 💸 $$
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 298 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94111

Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Wikipedia

last checked: 2026-07-20