The Story
A revival of a legendary watering hole
The Revival
Cattlemen’s Bar is a revival of a Paso institution — built on history, tradition, and a whole lot of California country.
Legend has it the Chandler family rode their horses upstairs and straight into the bar. The horses are gone, but the spirit remains: a place for good drinks, familiar faces and cowboy comforts.
Equal parts grit and polish, Cattlemen’s serves new takes on old classics in a space where stories linger, rules loosen, and the bar always comes first.
The History
Cattlemen’s Bar traces its roots to the earliest days of Paso Robles, when the town was shaped by ranching, stage routes, and the natural draw of the hot springs long before wine put Paso on the map. Anchored within the Paso Robles Inn, this corner of town has long been a gathering place for travelers and locals alike. Legend has it the Chandler family — the inn’s original owners — rode their horses straight up the stairs and into the bar — a story passed down through generations and still part of Paso lore.
Paso’s frontier history brought more than ranchers through town. Drury James, one of Paso Robles’ early founders, was the uncle of Jesse and Frank James, and local stories say Jesse James himself passed through the area while recovering from a gunshot wound. Over the years, Cattlemen’s earned a reputation as a true watering hole — rumored to have welcomed outlaws, wanderers, and characters moving along California’s early trade and travel routes.
Frontier-era tunnels and hidden passages beneath the old hotel added to the mystique and made it a natural spot for those trying to disappear into the wider world.
While some details remain part of oral history, the spirit is undeniable: a place built on tradition, familiar faces, and cowboy comforts, right at home in Paso.