They have "cleaned up" the bar a bit since taking over, but they aren't changing its funky ambiance, Jess Montooth said this week, which includes pool tables, a taqueria, a stuffed gorilla in a cage where patrons can scoop up peanuts and a giant mural on an outside wall with scenes from the bar and a dominating likeness of Tony Montooth.

Montooth's estate emerged from probate in Santa Clara County Superior Court in late October, according to court records. The bar passed from his wife, Aloha Montooth, to his children, William "Jess" Montooth, Ginger Atherton and Joseph Montooth, a December 2019 filing with the California Secretary of State shows.

Now Montooth's family is exploring strategies to either purchase the land or find another nearby location, which, they acknowledge, isn't an easy feat in the current Palo Alto commercial real estate market.

Ownership of the bar has passed into the hands of late proprietor Tony Montooth 's children, according to a posting updating the establishment's liquor license. But the Nut House's landlord does not want to renew the lease and has said he plans to sell the land, one of Montooth's sons said.

Three years after its colorful owner passed away, Antonio's Nut House, Palo Alto's last authentic dive bar, is still open, but its new owners worry their landlord might have other plans for the California Avenue property.

Kelley Gorman, the general manager of Antonio's Nut House, said she hopes that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who frequented the bar during the company's early days, will help her save the dive bar before its lease ends in December. Photo by Sammy Dallal.

The owners of Antonio's Nut House, which has been a California Avenue mainstay for decades, are looking to purchase the property to preserve the bar, which will see its lease end in December. Photo by Sammy Dallal.

Nut House manager Kelley Gorman, who has been there for 20 years and was trained by Tony Montooth, will remain in charge of day-to-day operations, Jess Montooth said. On Wednesday, she said she was also concerned about the potential sale of the property.

"We've been here 49 years. We don't have the money to try to make a deal with the owner," but they'll do anything they can to try to preserve the bar, Jess Montooth said. "We're starting a fundraising campaign to fund possibly buying the property. We're looking to our kids to start a media campaign."

He's cautious about the bar's future, however, having heard from the landlord, Stanley Gross, that he doesn't want to renew the lease when it's up in December. In response, the children of Tony Montooth are gearing up to save the beloved bar — and their father's legacy.

Gorman is hoping that a well-heeled patron who has frequented the bar will step up. Like the Montooth children, she would do anything to save the bar. "We're a dying breed. I've heard so many people say 'You can't let it go.'"

"It's a dive, but it's the last of its kind," he said in July 2017.

Three years ago, Gross told the Weekly that he and the property's other owners, through the entity DH & MA Edwards Co., were happy having Montooth's son Jess and employees run the bar. Gross said at the time that he hoped that Antonio's Nut House could remain.

"There's been so much change. It's inevitable," she said related to high costs of property and leases in Palo Alto.

"Can you buy the building and make it historical?" she said she would ask Zuckerberg now.

He doesn't come in anymore, but his company's success has contributed to the predicament the Nut House finds itself in today: Skyrocketing real estate values, boosted by demand from tech and social media firms, that are putting the squeeze on mom-and-pop businesses like Antonio's Nut House.

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg frequented the Nut House in his business's early days, Gorman said the Nut House shielded him from the multiple daily phone calls and letters that came to the bar from people asking for money from the famed social media mogul. Now to save the Nut House, Gorman finds herself wishing she could ask for Zuckerberg's help.

Palo Alto's last dive bar faces uncertain future

Children of Antonio's Nut House's late owner take over but worry landlord wants to sell the property