From Grocery to Speakeasy to Neighborhood Dive Bar, DeBorba's Interwoven into Novato's History

For weeks I walked past DeBorba’s Cocktail Lounge in Novato, too intimidated to go in.

Peering in I could see men—and only men— at the bar nursing their drinks, while the TV flickered at a distance. Some wore clothes splattered in paint and others were in workman boots, unwinding to the steady hum of the TV. A couple talked among themselves, while others stared off in space, deep in thought.

When I would look in, all heads swiveled toward the door, as if sensing my newcomer status from yards away. This happened two or three times until one day I finally worked up the courage to go in, and discovered a repository of stories (and a couple of legends) going back to Novato's earliest days.

DeBorba’s has been part of Novato since 1906, the oldest continuously run bar in Marin County and the kind of place where dirty boots and calloused hands earn respect, not scorn. There’s a pool table, plenty of country songs in the jukebox, and photos, old signs and other relics collected over more than a century. There are no fruity drinks with odd names on the menu, just beer, vodka, whiskey and other bar staples.

In its old-timey way, DeBorba's evokes the spirit of a disappearing America, where manufacturing, construction and other trades-related jobs and the men who worked in them, where revered as integral to building a great society. Today, many blue collar workers struggle to stay afloat as a result of outsourcing and an influx of cheap labor that has lowered salaries, decimated unions and increased unemployment.

At DeBorba's the working man can find a sympathetic ear and a respite from the battles outside.

“No one here puts on any airs,” said a patron who would only give his name as Nick. “It’s not a hoytie toytie place. These people are real.”

Eugene Power, 49, a Novato resident who’s been coming to the bar for more than a year, agrees.

“No one judges you for what you drive or the type of clothes you have here. It's the perfect mix of white collar and blue collar. Plus, it’s a good bar to watch Giants games.”

DeBorba's was opened by Antone DeBorba, an immigrant from the Azores (off the coast of mainland Portugal) who became a prominent Marin rancher. According to family lore, it was initially a grocery store, and later a speakeasy that plied a lively trade during the Prohibition years. At that time, the front was a card room and the bar hidden in the back, according to Jim Simantacchi, whose family now owns the business. 

And across the street was an ice cream parlor where the ladies went while their husbands “played cards.”

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, DeBorba’s was a hangout spot for the Hell’s Angels and a motorcycle gang called the Gypsy Jokers. It was a rough and tumble place, the type police get to know quickly. Today, the bar is a lot more tame, more of a fraternal organization where you’re always bound to run into someone you know.

There’s even a group of friends who meet here each morning, then head to Mary's next door for breakfast.

“You talk and people end up getting jobs from one another,” said James West, 47, an emergency medical technician. “It’s like our morning breakfast club.”

The bar opens at 8am Mondays and Tuesdays and 6:30am all other days. (Yes, some people really do start drinking that early.) On Tuesdays, fresh salami from Molinari’s deli in San Francisco is sold. 

Another regular is Randy Thrash, a 55-year-old hot tub repairman—“Just call me the Hot Tub doctor!”— who I met as he was unwinding with a Coors Light on a recent day.

Thrash has been coming to DeBorba’s more than 30 years and has settled into a routine: A drink or two with friends to catch up on the day’s news before heading home for dinner.

“This is the working man’s bar, so my wife doesn’t worry about me being here,” he said.

After an hour at DeBorba's, surrounded by new friends who laughed and smiled and wondered when I was coming back, I ducked back out onto Grant Avenue. The end of the work day was nearing and more and more people were filtering into the bar, men driving trucks with racks on them, and a few women too. 

It felt a bit like a family reunion. I was not part of the family yet, but definitely on my way.

DeBorba’s Cocktail Lounge is located at 819 Grant Ave. in Novato.

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