Cash Only
A 1961 jukebox that plays nothing but Johnny Cash gave this bar its name and its payment rule. Sazeracs are $7 and the door is open until 2am.
Why go
Cache Bouren owns a jukebox from 1961 with a weathered CASH ONLY sign on the front, and it only plays Johnny Cash.1 He built the bar around it. The room takes cash and nothing else, with two ATMs inside, and it sits in the space Dive Bar held on East Santa Clara from 2004. Bouren also runs Haberdasher up the street, which he opened as singlebarrel in 2010 with Joe Gradillas of Roco's after telling him whiskey and Manhattans would fill the place.
The drinking is cheap and it stays cheap all night. Metro's July 2026 roundup has the bar open 2pm to 2am every day, with $7 Sazeracs, $7 red beers and boilermakers from about $10.2 The boilermaker list is the fun part: Mellow Corn whiskey beside a Street Cultura Corn Kolsch, Mijenta Blanco with a Lagunitas Hoppy Water, Skrewball with a Guinness.3
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Sazerac. Same price at 2pm and at 1am.3
- Order: a boilermaker if you want the joke and the drink together. Children of the Kolsch is Mellow Corn and a corn kolsch, $10.3
- Avoid: arriving with a card. Two ATMs will charge you for the privilege.1
- Avoid: asking to swap a boilermaker. The menu says no subs.3
What locals & experts say
- San José Spotlight, quoting Cache Bouren before he opened it:
I can hear the music, the chairs on the floor, the glasses tinkling.
1 - George Lahlouh of miniBoss, next door:
It's nice to have neighbors that draw in folks that you want at your place, too. High tides raise all ships.
1
Good to know
Verdict
could-visit — No drink here has been judged by anybody with a byline, so the rung rests on the operator and the prices. Cache Bouren has run downtown rooms since singlebarrel in 2010 and Haberdasher after it, which is a real track record in a city where bars keep closing. Cheap and open late earns a stop on the way somewhere. Nobody has judged what is in the glass, so it does not earn a trip.