 had slung to their rear the never-failing pair of Colt's, generally with the accompaniment of the bowie knife.Louis Roeder, later a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, who stayed at the Bella Union in 1856, recalled in 1903 that the Bella Union had been

a one-story building, with a dining-room at the rear of the bar, roofed with canvas.Adjoining was a drug store, kept by Dr. [John Strother] Griffin and Dr. Miller.