802 S. West has a century-old history as a tavern. Whether it was called a tavern, a bar, or a saloon, the venerable edifice four blocks south of the original city plat has been selling spirits and beer for 117 of the 143  years there has been a building on that site. For 117 years of its 143  year existence the building at 802 S. West has housed a bar. So it’s strange that the only old picture we have is from the nineteen years it was a drug store. The first mention of a frame building at what was then 402-404 S. West (the buildings were renumbered in 1898) came in 1875; it was only five years later that the first saloon took up residence. That bar was run by George J. Kenzel, a former wheelwright at the Woodburn Sevrin wheel Company here in Indianapolis. He worked for that company for several years while he lived upstairs at 402 S. West, including the period of time when the famous naturalist John Muir was employed by Osgood-Sevrin and was temporarily blinded by a flying shard of metal.