Summary Saloons were the social place for men in the west providing liquor, gambling, music, sex, and other entertainment. Saloons often started as tents with a wood slab across a couple of barrels for a bar. As towns became established the saloons moved into permanent structures with all types of enticements to drawn in the customers. A bar in Portland, Oregon had a 684 foot bar but also trap doors to aid in shanghaiing men to be sailors. It also featured a female band with an electric barrier around it. Fights were common and every weapon and tool available was used in them. Saloons were decorated with pictures of horses and especially nude women. In one case a picture was fitted with balloons that could be inflated to make parts of the woman move. Kalidoscopes and early forms of jukeboxes were available in the later years. Gambling including card and table games plus bets on anything. Boxing starting initially with bare-knuckle boxing was a major and bloody form of entertainment. Many types of alcohol were served and one change was the addition of cold beer first via ice houses and then mechanical chilling systems. Saloons disappeared as more women moved into the west and pushed for a more civilized life style.

• Documentary
• History
• Western