John Heinold and His First And Last Chance. Printed by International Press, Oakland, California. 5 1/4" x 7 3/4". 16 page staple bound paper covers. Inscribed on the first blank page, "To/ Bill and Rose Morris/ From George Heinold/ son of the late Johnny Heinold/ benefactor of Jack London/June 28, 1939". Light cover edge wear and bumping. Otherwise, no previous owner markings. No tears, folds or creases to pages. Binding is tight with no looseness to pages. Not ex-library, not remaindered and not a facsimile reprint. For sale by Jon Wobber, bookseller since 1978. sHE01a

"Oakland author Jack London, after spending some time out at sea and traveling throughout the U.S. and Canada, returned to his hometown to complete his high school education. As a schoolboy, London would study at the bar's tables that remain today. At 17, he confessed to Johnny Heinold during his stay at the pub that he was planning to attend University and pursue a career in writing. Heinold lent London the money needed for tuition, and he enrolled at the nearby University of California, Berkeley.

Many of London's evenings were spent at Heinold's pub, gathering ideas for his later works. In his autobiographical novel, John Barleycorn, London mentioned the pub's likeness seventeen times. The pub was the place where London met Alexander McLean, a captain known for his cruelty at sea,[3] on whom the protagonist in London's novel The Sea-Wolf, Wolf Larsen, is based.[4]

John Heinold ran the bar until 1939 when his son, George, took over. George ran the bar until 1969 and then his wife, Margaret, stepped in to run the establishment, continuing the tradition until 1984 when Carol Brookman became the proprietor.[5]

Heinold's is the last commercial establishment in California with its original gas lighting. The tables, which reportedly came from a whaling ship, and other furnishings date back to the days when Johnny Heinold ran the pub. The walls and ceilings are covered with business cards, hats of past patrons and money, often signed by sailors about to deploy so they would have money for a drink waiting for them upon their return.[2]

The bar still holds the original potbellied stove used to warm the room, their only source of heat since 1889. Bob Fitzsimmon's boxing gloves, Jim Jeffries' boxing gloves, and John Heinold's hat remain where they were hung; the original bar glassware and mahogany bar are still in use today.

One of the most notable characteristics of the pub is the very slanted floor. The uneven ground formed in 1906 during the great San Francisco earthquake when a portion of the piles the pub is built on in swampy ground sank. In the corner of Heinold's is a clock that has been stopped since the moment of the 1906 quake, at 5:18.

Some say Heinold's First and Last Chance is haunted. Brookman, the current owner and other saloon employees have reported hearing footsteps and finding doors left open." - Wikipedia