Macs Old House is one of Northern California’s most recognisable historic properties, a century-old building on East 18th Street in Antioch that started as a private family home, became a bar, ran as a beloved Italian restaurant for decades, and is now mid-way through a full gut renovation set to reopen in June 2026. Few buildings in Contra Costa County can claim that kind of layered, lived-in history. This one genuinely earns every word of it.
The story behind Mac’s Old House stretches back to 1925, when a man named Floyd “Mac” McKinney built the property from scratch alongside his father. What began as a simple family residence eventually became a neighbourhood institution. And now, after closing its doors in June 2025, the building is getting a second life under new ownership. Here’s everything you need to know about this remarkable place.
Who Is Floyd “Mac” McKinney?
Floyd McKinney, known simply as Mac, was an Antioch local who built his family home on East 18th Street with his father around 1925. He is best remembered for converting part of that home into a bar on St. Patrick’s Day, 1956, creating what would become one of the longest-running hospitality venues in Contra Costa County. Mac wasn’t just the founder. He was a fixture.
After selling the business in the early 1970s and retiring, Mac built a small house in the backyard of the property and lived there quietly until his passing in 1994. For years after the restaurant changed hands, he remained a daily visitor, always sitting at the same table, always ordering a cocktail and dinner. His picture and obituary still hang above that very spot.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Floyd “Mac” McKinney |
| Known As | Mac |
| Property Built | c. 1925 |
| Bar Opened | St. Patrick’s Day, 1956 |
| Location | 3100 E. 18th Street, Antioch, CA 94509 |
| Business Sold | Early 1970s |
| Retirement Residence | Small house built behind the restaurant |
| Passed Away | 1994 |
| Legacy | Over three million meals served over the decades |
| Notable Achievement | Founded what became one of Contra Costa County’s most enduring dining institutions |
Mac’s Old House Location
3100 E. 18th Street in Antioch, California sits in the eastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly a 45-minute drive from Berkeley. The surrounding neighbourhood is part of Contra Costa County’s Eastern Waterfront district, a working-class community with deep roots and a strong sense of local identity. According to Redfin, properties on 18th Street carry an average lot size of 12,943 sq ft, and the wider Antioch market currently sits at a median sale price of around $639,000 as of 2026.
The area around Mac’s is what locals call downtown Antioch, or the Rivertown corridor. It’s a stretch the new owner Joe Martinez has been investing in for over 20 years, buying and restoring properties with the goal of pulling foot traffic back into the neighbourhood. That context matters. Mac’s Old House didn’t just survive in this location. It helped define it. The building looks, from the outside, like a house your grandparents might have owned. That’s the whole point.
Mac’s Old House: A Walkthrough of the Building
Stepping through the entrance of Mac’s Old House, the first thing you notice is that it genuinely doesn’t look like a restaurant. That’s not a design choice. It’s just history. The structure was built as a private family residence in 1925, and the bones of it have never been disguised.
Walking in, you get low ceilings, warm lighting, and the kind of spatial intimacy that newer venues spend a fortune trying to fake. The layout is snug by design, a cluster of dining rooms carved out of rooms that once served entirely different domestic purposes. Original supporting columns run through the space. The neon sign outside is the only real visual signal to the outside world that something is happening inside.
The Dining Rooms and Interior Layout
The interior of Mac’s Old House is unpretentious in the best possible way. Tables sit close together, covered in the kind of simple cloths that tell you the food is the priority, not the staging. Family-style service is baked into the layout. You don’t get your own individual plate and disappear into a corner. You share, pass dishes, and actually talk to the people you came with.
The original neon sign, the one that convinced Gary Noe not to rename the place “Bertola’s” when he took over in 1983, still anchors the identity of the building. That sign is practically an architectural feature at this point. The walls carry photographs, a framed obituary above Mac McKinney’s favourite table, and decades of visual memory. Every inch of the place has a reference point to something real that happened there.
Kitchen and Service Areas
The kitchen at Mac’s Old House has been the engine behind a signature menu that barely changed across four decades. Head chef Rick Cook joined Gary Noe before the restaurant even officially opened in 1983, and together they sourced classic recipes from the legendary Bertola’s restaurant group, including the now-famous minestrone soup passed directly from Bertola’s founder Louie Pasquinelli. That soup has been on the menu every single day since.
The current renovation is bringing the kitchen entirely up to 2025 code standards. New equipment is going in. The service areas are being reconfigured to allow for DoorDash pickup. Yes, really. Mac’s is getting a delivery lane. The new owners made clear, though, that the original recipes aren’t going anywhere.
Mac’s Old House Key Features
- Century-old building, originally constructed around 1925 as a private residence by Floyd McKinney and his father
- Listed at 3100 E. 18th Street, Antioch, CA 94509, in the downtown Rivertown corridor
- Full interior gut renovation underway in 2025 and 2026, including new bathrooms, expanded dining areas, and modern kitchen installation
- Signature neon sign preserved as a focal point of the exterior and brand identity
- Historic columns maintained throughout the dining space as original structural features
- Louie Pasquinelli’s minestrone soup recipe incorporated into the menu since 1983, sourced from the original Bertola’s restaurant chain
- Mac McKinney’s personal table, marked with his photograph and obituary, preserved as a dedicated memorial within the dining room
- Over three million meals served across the lifetime of the restaurant operation
- DoorDash pickup lane being added as part of the 2026 renovation, the first modern delivery infrastructure in the building’s history
- Credit card payment system being installed for the first time, replacing the cash-only tradition
- Expanded parking included in the renovation plan to address long-standing capacity issues
- Code compliance overhaul bringing the building up to 2025 California standards
Personal Touches That Make the Building Unique
What sets Mac’s Old House apart from most historic properties isn’t the architecture. It’s the human residue. Every corner holds a reference to someone real. Mac McKinney’s table is still there. His photograph watches over it. The soup on the menu came from a friend’s family recipe passed down by hand. A couple got engaged in one of those small dining rooms. A customer named Holly Johnson remembered Mac himself waving her daughter over and pressing a dollar into her small hand.
Joe Martinez described it plainly when he explained why he bought the place the day after it closed: “I loved the food, I loved the people and I thought it had a good vibe.” That sentiment sounds simple. It isn’t. It takes decades to build the kind of atmosphere that makes a new buyer move that fast.
The renovation team is working to keep those personal marks intact. The columns stay. The sign stays. The menu stays. What’s changing is the plumbing and the parking.
Famous Neighbours Near Downtown Antioch
Gary Noe spent 42 years building his life around Mac’s Old House, running the restaurant from August 5, 1983 until the final service on June 22, 2025. Though not a celebrity in the conventional sense, Noe is exactly the kind of community figure that shapes a neighbourhood’s identity. At 86 years old at the time of closing, he handed the keys to new owners while ensuring the recipes would survive. That’s legacy ownership.
Rick Cook, who began his restaurant career at Bertola’s in Oakland at the age of 15 in 1969 and managed the kitchen there by the time he was 22, brought Bay Area Italian food culture with him to Antioch when he joined Noe before 1983. Cook has been described as the keeper of Mac’s culinary DNA. He’s still involved in the 2026 transition, passing recipes and knowledge to the incoming team so nothing gets lost in the handover.
Market Value and Property Comparisons
The building at 3100 E. 18th Street is a commercial-use historic property in Antioch’s Eastern Waterfront neighbourhood. Residential properties on the same street carry an average lot size of 12,943 sq ft and average annual property taxes of $4,000, according to Redfin. The wider Antioch market shows a current median sale price of $639,000 for residential listings, though Mac’s Old House is a commercial asset and follows a different valuation model.
For context, here’s how the immediate area compares across verified data points from Redfin:
| Property Type | Location | Median Price | Avg Days on Market | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential, E. 18th St | Antioch, CA | $639,000 | 66 days | Per Redfin, Antioch market, 2026 |
| Eastern Waterfront district | Antioch, CA | $450,000 | 13 days | Redfin neighbourhood data |
| Contra Costa County (avg) | Bay Area East | Varies | 40-60 days | Comparable suburban market |
The sale price of the Mac’s Old House property itself has not been publicly disclosed. The new owners confirmed the purchase took place in 2025, and renovation costs are described as significant given the full interior gut and code compliance work required.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mac’s Old House
Why did Mac’s Old House close? Owner Gary Noe, aged 86, and head chef Rick Cook, aged 71, made the decision to retire after running the restaurant together for 42 years. Cook explained: “There is no one to take my place. It is just time.” The building also needed significant structural updates.
When is Mac’s Old House reopening? The targeted reopening date is June 23, 2026, exactly one year after the final service. New owners Joe Martinez and Ron Harrison confirmed this timeline, though it depends on permits and construction progress.
What changes are being made during the renovation? The renovation covers a full interior gut, new bathrooms, an expanded dining area, more parking, a brand-new kitchen, and full compliance with 2025 California building codes. A DoorDash pickup lane and credit card payment system are also being added for the first time.
Will the original menu be kept? Yes. The new owners have committed to keeping the original recipes, including the famous minestrone soup sourced from Bertola’s. Former head chef Rick Cook is personally helping the new team learn and preserve every dish.
How old is the Mac’s Old House building? The main building was constructed around 1925 by Floyd “Mac” McKinney and his father. One source from Contra Costa News puts the original construction date at 1908, with the building costing approximately $1,500 to build. Either way, it is at least a century old.
How many meals has Mac’s Old House served over its lifetime? The restaurant served over three million meals across the decades it operated, according to figures reported by multiple local news outlets including the Antioch Herald.
Who is running Mac’s Old House after it reopens? Joe Martinez and Ron Harrison are the new owners. Day-to-day operations will be managed by Sherry, who currently runs Mel’s Diner in Antioch, as confirmed by Martinez in a statement to the Antioch Herald.
Conclusion
There is something rare about a building that outlasts every trend thrown at it. Mac’s Old House has been a family home, a bar, a restaurant, a community anchor, and now a renovation project. Every one of those chapters is part of the same story. What makes it worth paying attention to isn’t nostalgia. It’s the fact that real people kept choosing this place, for a hundred years running, and a new set of real people chose it again.
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