Truckee’s Bar of America sports a name that sounds like it would be shared with establishments across the country. Not so. Situated in a brick building that dates back to the late 1800s, the former Bank of America location is a one and only, with a name that was trademarked shortly after new ownership took over in 2012, according to principal owner Tom Turner.

“It’s a great story, where (when) we went to get the name, they kept rejecting our trademark because of the name ‘bar,’” Turner says. “We said we’re not asking for the name ‘bar,’ we’re asking for the phrase ‘Bar of America.’ They finally acquiesced and said yes, and we laughed. They didn’t care about the name ‘America.’ They only cared about the name ‘bar.’”

Turner, who grew up in Modesto and is a graduate of UC Berkeley, learned the business working at Bay Area restaurants while in college.

Bar of America (purchased along with the adjacent Pacific Crest Grill) was the fourth restaurant/bar his group obtained in the past 36 years, beginning with Gar Woods in Carnelian Bay in 1988. Riva Grill in South Lake Tahoe was acquired 10 years later, then came Caliente! in Kings Beach (which was recently closed), Bar of America and, lastly, the Sparks Water Bar in Sparks, Nevada, where the group’s corporate headquarters is located, in 2021.

Bar of America — open daily for lunch at 11 a.m. — has anchored one of the busiest corners of the very walkable and historic half-mile stretch along Donner Pass Road in Old Town Truckee since 1974, when it was opened by Reno’s Jack Leonesio, going through several owners before Turner’s group took it over. 

The building is across the street from the Truckee Hotel and a few blocks from the train station, and was a stove and tinware shop before a fire destroyed most of it in 1890. A Victorian-style hotel was built on the site, and it housed several restaurants, a bus station and the aforementioned bank before becoming its current incarnation.

Truckee, in the middle of the Sierra Nevada mountains about 100 miles from Sacramento, is known as a four-season recreation destination.

Bar of America is popular with both locals and out-of-town visitors, and during events such as the Oct. 5 Downtown Truckee Wine, Walk & Shop event, thousands descend on the incorporated city with a population of almost 17,000.

After the wine walk, a steady Saturday night crowd filled the restaurant and bar, with many watching baseball playoffs and a Cal football game on three TVs. A father/son duo from Roseville (Nick and Rich Matteis), called the Acoustic Two Man Jam, played tunes in a corner to the left of the bar. It was a good crowd during the time of the year manager Nick Muzik calls the “shoulder season,” in between the busy summer and winter months. 

In time for the upcoming holiday and ski seasons, Bar of America, with about 75 employees year-round, is finishing an expansion that should be done around Dec. 1, Turner says. When the business was acquired, he explains, it was divided into thirds, and his group purchased the bar and unaffiliated restaurant next door and turned it into one business.

Now, the recently acquired real estate office next door will be incorporated into the restaurant, adding about 50 seats to the restaurant and doubling the kitchen’s size.

Not including the building’s basements, the BOA currently has about 5,000 square feet, with the expansion adding another 2,000 square feet, perfect for bigger gatherings, Turner says.

“It’ll also make the kitchen a lot bigger, which is what we need,” Turner says. “We’ll be able to do larger parties because there’ll be a 12-foot door between the two rooms now that you can open up.”

Bar of America, “where drinking is a tradition,” is more of a whiskey-themed bar compared to his other restaurants, Turner says. Known for its “campfire cuisine” that includes blackened fish and char-grilled burgers alongside specialty cocktails, the iconic bar occupies a unique role in the mountain town’s rich history, which Turner says has evolved from its early days. 

“It was kind of a rough-and-tumble spot when it first opened,” Turner says. “It’s in a great corner of town, and it’s a busy spot.”  

Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.