It was a gray and humid Monday afternoon in Bolinas as Blair Harris and Chelsea Maissen-Kahn, the newest owners of Smiley’s Schooner Saloon, marched around the bar, tending to a full house on the eve of the Fourth of July. Halibut ceviche, chips and salsa, burritos and quesabirria decorated the tables of a crowd evenly spread with locals and tourists. SF Giants flat brims mixed with fading Bo-Gas T-shirts and Bolinas Hardware trucker caps, a fitting scene for a Bolinas institution all about tradition. The two driven Bo women intend to keep it that way as they assume ownership of West Marin’s oldest watering hole.
“The community’s been super supportive because they know us,” Ms. Harris said. “We’re not putting in an Ace Hotel or anything. We want to keep this place as is—a community space and a safe space, a hub for the community and a music venue.”
In November, Leila Monroe, who has owned Smiley’s with her husband, Simon Dunne, since 2015, asked Ms. Blair and Ms. Maissen-Kahn if they would be interested in taking on partial ownership of the business come summertime. The women were ecstatic.
Three weeks into their new roles, the women are adjusting well, having worked at Smiley’s for a decade already. Once the summer rush subsides, they plan to adjust the menu and make small renovations to the hotel and bar, while still maintaining its character—from the surf stickers that line the window to the duct-taped bullet hole.
“We want to get through the summer keeping things the way they are,” Ms. Maissen-Kahn said. “After the summer when we have some downtime, we’ll think of some small changes like in the rooms or on the menu.”
Bolinas resident Nina Venezia has tended bar at Smiley’s for just nine months but has been in the service industry for roughly a decade. She welcomes the transition, saying the manager team of Ms. Harris and Ms. Maissen-Kahn makes Smiley’s feel like a one-of-a-kind family.
“Being here—it’s the best, really,” she said. “Chelsea has been working here for over 10 years and they’re both locals, you know? And when Blair came in, [she] had the same energy so I feel like they should be operating this bar. It feels like the right thing.”
Claims that Smiley’s was established in 1851—which would make it the oldest bar on the West Coast—are unproven, said historians Dewey Livingston and Elia Haworth. Records do show it was in operation in the late 1800s and managed to stay in business through the 1906 earthquake and Prohibition. When Ms. Monroe and Mr. Dunne bought it from Don Deane, who had owned and run the bar for 25 years, they spent six years restoring the building and brought the staff from roughly 15 up to 35. During the pandemic, they added a full kitchen and changed the type of liquor license, opening the establishment to children.
Ms. Monroe and Mr. Dunn will stay on as partial owners for the next two years to help with the transition and will continue to own the land and buildings.
Ms. Maissen-Kahn has been a bartender and co-manager for 12 years and Ms. Harris, who knew Ms. Monroe through mutual friends, moved to Bolinas in 2015 to work at Smiley’s. There she met her husband, Zack Fuller, who was a bartender at the time.
As the Light spoke with the two women, their husbands arrived separately but at the same time, carrying supplies for the holiday. The men, both born and raised in Bolinas, sat at the bar with wide smiles as their wives poured hibiscus tea and took orders from eager customers. At their feet roamed Kahuna, the seven-year-old English bulldog whose job as bar dog will remain unchanged.