The present bar of the hotel has operated continuously since 1852, when it was known as the Golden Gate Saloon. The wooden building had a back extension called the Exchange Hotel and offered food and lodging by January 1853. After the saloon was destroyed in the fire of 1855, it was rebuilt of fieldstone with a brick front. The Holbrooke, built in 1862, incorporated the adjacent Golden Gate Saloon into the hotel building.