After 54 years of ownership, the Papermill Creek Saloon in Forest Knolls was put up for sale last Thursday, with a listing price of $2.4 million. The bar was last sold in 1969 to the late Thomasina Wilson and transformed over the next half-century from a seedy hub for Hells Angels to a bustling music venue with the characteristics that define a western dive, while still welcoming guests and tourists. 

Rebecca Moore, one of Ms. Wilson’s 14 children and a Redding resident, has managed the bar’s taxes and bookkeeping for the last 15 years. She credits Jared Litwin, the manager and head bartender, for enlivening the establishment as a five-nights-a-week music venue. Now, Ms. Moore said, it’s time for the family to move on.

“Jared and I have worked really hard to change the complexion of the bar, but we’re not getting any younger,” she said. “At this stage, there’s five of us on the trust and the average age is around 70. It’s family-owned but not family-run so it’s really time to pass it on to the next generation.”

Ms. Wilson and her husband, Woodrow Wilson, lived in Kentfield in their 20s and 30s. He worked at a Larkspur lumberyard while took care of the kids. On weekends, the family would drive through the valley and explore its hidden gems. On one New Year’s, the couple wound up at the Forest Knolls watering hole, then called The Lodge. She wasn’t impressed, calling it “too countrified.” 

Through those weekend trips, Ms. Wilson came to love the valley’s rural charm, and the family moved to Lagunitas in 1948. When the Larkspur lumberyard shut down, the couple bought The Lodge with Mr. Wilson’s pension and a loan from his brother. The couple separated in the ’70s. Under Ms. Wilson’s ownership, the bar blossomed as a venerable music venue with an eclectic crowd. 

Christened with a new name and a décor makeover whose highlight was a nude painting of Pandora that still hangs today, the family spread the word that everyone was welcome at the Papermill Creek Saloon. The bar sponsored school programs, Little League teams and Toys for Tots. When Ms. Wilson’s kids turned 21, they became bartenders. Marsha Vergano was the first of the lot, having come of age just weeks after her parents purchased the saloon. 

“I didn’t know anything about working at a bar. [My parents] didn’t either, but we worked together on it,” Ms. Vergano said. “The first thing they did was take a vacation to Mexico and left me! It was only a couple weeks, but I really had to learn the ropes. In just a day, we had a handful of customers. Cocktails were 65 cents and draft beer was 25 cents—affordable, huh?”

The saloon evolved in step with the changing West Coast culture, and reefer-smoking progressives slowly mixed in with rough-riding bikers. Ms. Vergano recalled getting off the bus on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and seeing crowds of hippies hanging out before that night’s show. In 1966, Janis Joplin and the Big Brother Band lived in Lagunitas, just down the street from the Grateful Dead on Arroyo Road. They later played at the saloon, making history for many of the tourists discovering the valley for the first time. For Ms. Vergano and her siblings, it was just another Friday night with friends coming to play.

In 2015, Ms. Wilson suffered a stroke that affected her sharp mind and ability to walk. Already suffering from glaucoma, she had to step away from her duties at the bar and Ms. Moore took over. She was determined to live her final days at home, so the family hired a full-time caretaker. After putting up a six-year fight, she passed away in May 2021 at 96 years old.

When Mr. Litwin was hired in 1998, he raised the standards for service and music, and both he and Ms. Moore hope to see him stay under new ownership. 

“I’d be grateful for the opportunity to help bring this place to the next level,” he said. “I’m not necessarily stuck in my ways—we’ve already come a long way from when I started, which was a huge step from when this place was bought.”

Ms. Moore said she and the trust will go through a lengthy interview process with potential buyers to ensure they have the best interests of the property in mind. “They should know where we’re from and where we want this place to go,” she said. “We want a local because it’s always been a local bar. It’s a bedroom for a lot of people. It’s a gathering place.”

The property was put on the market privately in the fall, only visible to those looking to buy, but Ms. Moore said they decided to go public given rising interest rates. The property, including the scalene parcel catty-corner to the saloon, is about three-quarters of an acre. There is a two-bedroom apartment upstairs, an adjacent studio apartment and two cottages on the other side of San Geronimo Creek. 

“This is a unique situation to buy real property as opposed to renting out a place,” said Mike Nova, the saloon’s broker. “The Small Business Association is more apt to loan on something like this. If someone has good credit, they could make it happen.” 

Ms. Moore said they have already garnered local interest. But letting go of their prized family property is bittersweet, she said. 

“Almost all of us have been instrumental in the bar, which has been a big part of my family history, but my mother would want this,” she said. “I know that—to move on and have someone else with different ideas and different energy, but to keep the same complexion of the bar.”