103-year-old World War II veteran still runs a basement bar in Maryland that would be illegal to open today

At the age of 103, Irvin Koch is considered to be the world's oldest bartender. His establishment, Irv's Basement Bar, is quite literally in the basement beneath his home in Anne Arundel County, on the outskirts of Baltimore. Irv Koch worked as a carpenter at Beth Steel. He went into the Navy and served in the Pacific. “I am very proud of that and very proud that I made it back alive,” Irv told WMar2 News. After retirement, he found a palace in Pasadena, right on the Patapsco River.

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However, what makes Irvin Koch, a World War II veteran's story different and unique is not simply his age or the fact that he has been serving drinks for more than six decades. His basement bar is the kind of establishment that, under modern zoning rules, could not simply open today. Irv’s Basement Bar was already operating before many of today’s zoning and business rules came into effect. Because it existed earlier, authorities have allowed it to continue operating even though a new bar in the same residential location would likely not be approved today.

A bar that came with the house

Irvin Koch purchased the Pasadena property in 1963 and the house itself dates back to 1912. It was previously been used as an inn. Most importantly, a bar was already operating in its basement when Koch purchased the property. “This was up for sale. We needed a house, so we bought the house - and guess what? The bar came with it,” Koch told The Washington Post.

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Koch decided that he would continue the operations of the bar rather than shutting it down. More than six decades later, the basement remains a cash-only watering hole with a jukebox, pool table, old cash register and walls covered with messages from generations of visitors. “When the first one gets here, that’s when it opens up,” he said. The bar closes when customers leave or when Koch gets tired.


So why can’t anyone open a bar like this today? The answer to this question is zoning. According to media reports, the Irv's Basement Bar is located in an R-2 zone under Anne Arundel County's current zoning code. That designation is intended for low- to medium-density residential areas, and taverns are not permitted uses there.

The fact that the bar is located inside Koch's home creates another hurdle. The county's rules restrict home-based businesses, and a bar is not among the businesses that can simply operate from a residence. There are also requirements involving parking, building standards and fire codes that a newly established tavern would have to meet.

A county liquor-board lawyer who put the situation rather bluntly in a 2014 profile of Koch: “You can't do it these days. No one could come in now and do the same thing.”

How Irv’s bar survived

The answer is grandfathered. The primary reason is that the bar existed before many of the modern zoning and building requirements were introduced. So, it was allowed to operate rather than being forced to comply with every rule that would apply to a new business.

Anne Arundel County adopted its first comprehensive zoning ordinance in 1952. Koch did not buy the property until 1963, but the basement bar had already existed before his purchase, when the property had been used as an inn. That history is what makes Irv’s establishment so unusual today.

Visitors have written their names and messages on walls, ceiling tiles and furniture. Police patches decorate the interior, a jukebox plays old music and bras hang from the ceiling. There is no website, no cellphone and no regular published schedule.

Customers pay in cash, and the old-fashioned atmosphere has become part of the attraction. For some visitors, going to Irv’s Basement Bar has become something of a bucket-list experience.

“This is a thing that people put on their bucket list,” one visitor told The Washington Post. “We just felt like we had to do it before we didn’t have the chance. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”