Open every day since 1937, California Bar was founded by brothers Joe and Tony Hill. They were born in Omaha and raised in Pender by parents who had immigrated to the United States from Southern Italy. Like many Italian immigrants, they likely fled due to poverty and lack of opportunities. Their father, who changed his name from Angelo Di Liello to Charles Hill, opened a fruit and confectionery store. The brothers would take this entrepreneurial spirit with them after they returned to Omaha as adults.
While they moved to the Italian enclave near 24th and Pierce Street, they would actually open a bar in the Gifford Park neighborhood in the northwest part of town. Located at 510 N. 33rd Street, the building was originally constructed in 1926 for Paul Kazakes, who operated a dry-cleaning business called California Cleaners. The Hill brothers remodeled the building into a tavern and installed an impressive mahogany bar from the Alfred Bloom Company. It should also be pointed out that its name, California Bar, derives from the street which sits about a half block north, not the state.
Opened in 1937, the bar became a popular meeting place in the Gifford Park neighborhood. As the U.S. entered World War II and gas rationing went into effect, there was a lack of things to do or places to go. This caused many in the neighborhood to gather at the bar to watch television and socialize. By that time Joe and his family were living in the apartment upstairs.
After Tony passed away in 1948, Joe continued to run the bar with the help of his son Wayne, who started helping while he was attending nearby Tech High School. Wayne would go on to serve in the Army during the early 1970s before he returned to Omaha to work at his father’s bar. The second of its two founders and Wayne’s father, Joe, passed away in 1976.
California Bar remained in the hands of the Hill family as Wayne and his wife Peggy took over. Like his parents, they moved into the apartment upstairs. Realizing the importance of the bar as a community space, they kept the bar open every day including holidays. Cali Bar became a place for the jazz musicians performing in the auditorium at Tech High School to visit during their breaks. When that ceased, it was a popular place for politicians to gather. It even became a rite of passage for students at nearby Creighton University.
As the bar approached its 50th anniversary in 1987, Wayne and Peggy sent letters to as many of its old customers as they could find, inviting them to the celebration. When that date finally arrived, hundreds of customers arrived, both new and old. By the time Wayne had passed away in 2001, the neighborhood around it was plagued by crime, which occasionally seeped into the bar, which had been robbed a few times over the years.
Both the bar and the neighborhood surrounding it began to improve slowly over time. Residents reclaimed their historic neighborhood by starting both a neighborhood association and watch. They cleaned broken glass and trash from its namesake park. As the Melrose Apartments were renovated, they replaced out-of-town landlords with local homeowners who took pride in their homes by painting them and keeping the yards well kept. An estimated 700 households also remodeled their homes with help from the city. The efforts were so successful that Gifford Park was named the best neighborhood in Omaha in addition to being the greenest neighborhood.
Like the neighborhood surrounding it, Cali Bar has shed its rough reputation. In 2020, it was recognized by readers of The Reader for its beer selection, great happy hour specials, karaoke nights, and outdoor beer garden, which is heated in the winter, and was named one of the best neighborhood taverns. This transformation also allowed it to return to its roots as a social hub for the neighborhood, as it is strategically located next to the neighborhood market. The market hosts farmers markets as well as Porchfest, a community event that invites musicians and other artists to perform on front porches and stages throughout the neighborhood.
If you’d prefer to remain indoors, you can mosey on up to the antique mahogany bar that was installed when the Hill brothers first opened their doors. You’ll also find a variety of entertainment options including a pool table, which is free to play on Monday, dartboards, jukebox, television, and karaoke.
California Bar opens at 6 PM until 2 AM every day, never closes early, and according to its website, is “open every day since 1937.” For those of us doing the math, that is more than 31,000 days in a row. Baseball’s iron man, Cal Ripken Jr., by comparison, only played a record 2,632 consecutive games during a 16-year career.
Among the city’s oldest bars, it sits in one of the most diverse, not to mention greenest, neighborhoods in the city. A hidden gem of a dive bar, you will find yourself drinking alongside college students, immigrants, working class folks, and professionals alike. If that were not enough, it has also been said that Cali’s bartenders are among the nicest around. Joe and Tony Hill had no idea what they were starting in 1937. Somehow, it is still going.
Content written by Omaha Exploration. Feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion. Until then, keep exploring!
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Sources
- Omaha World-Herald archives
- http://giffordparkomaha.org/History_California_Bar.html
- http://giffordparkomaha.com/files/gpnl_2016_02.pdf
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/235356540/charles-hill
- https://medium.com/east-of-72nd/damn-gifford-park-youre-liveable-af-bda20971e57b
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