In the early nineteenth century, a man named Ferdinand Wagner, son of a liquor merchant migrated to Louisiana in 1836. After opening a saloon located in the Irish Channel of New Orleans, he ventured to San Francisco in 1852 taking the position of a hotel manager. After he acquired a property at the N.E. corner of Dupont Street and Hinckley Alley, business began.
In 1868 Wagner's Beer Hall was operating as a tavern with the address 308 Dupont Street.
When Dupont Street was renamed as Grant Avenue, the tavern's address changed to 1232 Grant Ave.
Wagner and his family lived in the two floors above the bar, which served as the Wagner home until 1884.
Wagner's Beer Hall was eventually renamed as simply the Saloon.[7] The Saloon is owned and operated today by Myron Mu.
The Mu family owns this historic building in the heart of North Beach. Myron celebrated his 40 Year Anniversary as sole proprietor in 2024.