About Us

1959

from the Sacramento News & Review

The building that is now Jamie's Bar and Grill entered the bar scene at a prosperous and wholesome time in American history. A Portuguese businessman opened Medico's Dog House in the former automotive garage in 1959, before Sacramentans became dispirited by war, riots and racism. Medico's operated for 20 years before a guy named Shanley took over and named it Shanley's.

In 1986, a guy named Jamie Bunnell bought it, renamed it Jamie's, but kept the place pretty much the same, down to the worn wooden floors and the original manual cash register. The bar in the back room—used for Jamie's annual St.Patrick's Day party—is believed to have been salvaged from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The only real nod to modern times is the small television high up in the corner of the bar.

Today, Jamie's is known for its causal and simple ambience, good food made from scratch and Friday night barbecue dinners. Try a gin fizz in deference to the “Fizz Bowl Classic,” a flag-football game that current and former employees of Vic's Ice Cream in nearby Land Park began playing in 1966. The first Fizz Bowl was at the home of Jamie Bunnell's father, and Jamie himself has served as Grand Marshall.