Amid the din, an elderly couple sits quietly at the bar. The man, dressed in a blazer and dress shirt, nurses his drink. His white-haired companion, dignified in her gold jewels, clutches his hand. They look like they're in a world of their own and seem out of place at the Feed & Fuel, but as soon as manager Tommy Oldknow heads their way, they give him a hug. The bartender and other patrons shout their greetings to them over the music. When the couple sees towering bouncer T.J., the woman is buried in his embrace but treats him affectionately, like she would her grandson.

Such is life at the historic Feed & Fuel—where, as the song goes, "everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came"—but here, it's nicknames that everyone goes by.

"I love this place, I really do," says Almaden resident Steve "Big Daddy" Wilkinson, a regular at the bar since 1990. According to Wilkinson, those who frequent the bar become friends and have a genuine respect for each other, no matter their walks of life.

"It don't matter who you are," says Rich "Red Baron" Barron, who started coming to Feed & Fuel about seven years ago. "They accept you here. The people here, they take care of each other, they take care of the bar. You can't ask for a place with more character."

"Full of character" and "eclectic" seem to be the best descriptions of the Feed & Fuel's regulars and the place itself. The building, which was built in the 1800s, sits on the strip bordered by Almaden Road and Almaden Expressway. The lot is dotted with vintage farm equipment including a Ford tractor, a hay baler, manure spreader and old water pump, purchased by former owners Blondie Barnd and Doug Avery.

Inside, the restaurant and bar areas still resemble the old-fashioned saloon the Feed & Fuel once was. There is wood everywhere—hardwood floors, a wood bar and wood dining booths. In the dining room, a random collection of antique-looking brick-a-brack line the bright-yellow walls. A painting of a younger Clint Eastwood hangs in a corner, next to a historic cash register. On the opposite corner, there's a mural symbolizing the past and present, painted by local artist John Pugh two decades ago.

And the prime rib there is one of the best cuts of meat around, says Wilkinson, who has his own barbecue catering company. Served au jus and with horseradish, the prime rib is a customer favorite and highly recommended by the regulars, despite it only being offered on Fridays and Saturdays.

Oldknow took over operations of the Feed & Fuel in September 2002 and made several changes to the place, including adding seafood to the menu. But he made sure to keep the New York steak and prime rib, the most popular dishes. "I'd be a fool to try and change that," Oldknow says.

With additions such as a rich salmon pasta, Cajun shrimp cocktail appetizer and grilled chicken Caesar salad, Oldknow aims to bring the quality of food at the Feed & Fuel to "somewhere between Outback Steakhouse and a Fish Market, but on a smaller scale. I've always tried to make better ribs than the Outback Steakhouse."

The Feed & Fuel is commonly known as a "biker bar" by the general public and online, but Oldknow disputes that reputation. "My job was to come in and really get a feel for the demographic, get a new demographic. Clean it up a little," he says. Not alienate anyone, he adds, but make the restaurant more family-oriented while welcoming bikers into the bar.

In fact, the Feed & Fuel's motto is "Old Almaden spirit, new Almaden image."

One thing that Oldknow did was hire and train a professional staff. "They're all people friendly," he says. "We advertise by treating people right—advertising while they're in here."

Oldknow also shifted the emphasis of the music scene at the Feed & Fuel. Along with the popular Thursday-night karaoke, he says, "we raised the level of entertainment" on Friday and Saturday nights. Instead of "real rock & roll, real loud, local bands," Oldknow carefully listens to demo tapes of and chooses bands of different genres, such as Latin funk (the grammy-nominated Pete Escovedo, who may play another show at the Feed & Fuel), blues and rock (Jorge Santana) and country (Leland High School's David Osborn).

"Tommy's done a great job of turning that place around," says Peter Robinson, guitarist of band Surf Cinema, which recently played a show at the Feed & Fuel.

Robinson says when he first moved to Almaden in 2000, he noticed the Feed & Fuel. "I figured it was a country-western biker bar," he says. "But it wasn't the bar that I thought it was. It was much more than that."

John Lane, pastor of the Almaden Neighborhood Church, comes by for lunch on weekdays and dinner with his wife. As soon as he walks into the bar at lunchtime, Lane says, "Boy, the conversations change." Since the regulars know that he's a pastor, they clean up their language. "Usually, two or three come around and we'll pray there."

"I go there for the ambiance and the food. I don't drink, so I don't go there for that," Lane says. "It's a mix of people like nothing I've seen before. A pastor can walk in there and feel everybody's friendly."

The happy-hour group is made up of the people Oldknow affectionately calls his "blue-collar crowd." They are the guys such as "Big Daddy" Wilkinson and "Red Baron" Barron, who stop by after work during the week to see their friends and nurse a drink. They view the Feed & Fuel as their second home, and the staff and clientele there as their second family. They pitch in when help is needed: Barron, a contractor by trade, does small fixes; Wilkinson, who rents out the kitchen for his catering business, steps in as substitute manager when Oldknow needs a few days off.

"Some of the guys have been coming in 30 to 40 years during happy hour," Oldknow says.

Gus Fernandez's father moved the family to Almaden in the 1960s. "I've been coming here since I could walk," he says, remember his father hanging out at the bar.

Fernandez recalls the days when there were gas pumps out in front and pool tables instead of booths in the dining area but with the same intimate feel.

"We weren't in there to get you drunk and make lots of money. We were there for people to have a good time," former owner Blondie Barnd says. "I like to see people there enjoying themselves. Everybody knows everybody."

Barnd owned the Feed & Fuel from 1983 to 1999, partnering with Doug Avery for several years and then selling the place to Oldknow's two silent partners. Barnd says the building was constructed in 1865 and was originally one of the 10 carriage stops between what is now downtown San Jose and the Quicksilver Mines. At various points in time, it served as a brothel and a gas station, but was for the most part a bar, with names such as the Andy's, Wagon Wheel and Circus Room.

"This is the last [carriage stop] standing. It's very historical," she says.

So historic, in fact, that some of the regulars aim to have the building added to official national and state registries and designated as a landmark, fearing that it will eventually be torn down to make way for a housing development. Almaden resident Lauren "Hidey Ho" Bowker has, for several months, been meticulously researching the background of the Feed & Fuel, visiting libraries and local centers to gather the two full files of information that he now has.

The establishment became the Feed & Fuel after Barnd and Avery bought it. Along with the addition of the decorative equipment outside, the new owners built a heated patio area for the smokers and commissioned the mural in the dining room.

Pugh, a local artist known for his illusionary trompe l'oeil—"fool the eye"—works, used the three-dimensional technique at the Feed & Fuel. The man in the painting is the legendary Jerry Brown, a regular at the Feed & Fuel, whom Pugh calls a "real cowboy," and who died about a year after the mural was done.

"He was kind of a local fixture, a neat guy, and I got to know him as I was painting the picture," Pugh says. In the mural, Brown is next to an old-fashioned carriage advertisement and has a bottle of beer in his hand. Farther up the "illusionary bar" is the rear view of an unidentified woman, and near her is a bottle of Budweiser and a BART map, showing the transit route to San Jose.

"At that time, I was really into different time things," Pugh says. Brown, a "relic of the past," represents the bar's history, while the woman symbolized the present. "I wanted to tap into that colorful history," he says.

That colorful history includes the ghosts on site. While Barnd ran the Feed & Fuel, she had a handful of experiences with the supernatural, from hearing footsteps one night when she was by herself, to the cash register magically being fixed without any help, to a large tin barrel flying off a shelf toward the head of a bartender who the ghost evidently didn't like.

"I knew it was a ghost, 'cause it got so cold in there," she says.

Once, Barnd was talking to an employee when she saw a man walk behind her. The bar was closed and there was nobody else around, but she swears the man was the ghost. "He had a very gentle, easygoing face. Good-looking face," she says. "Every time I was there by myself, I always got good vibes. To me, it was always a good ghost."

There was also speculation that the ghost had a woman friend; one bartender was alone at the Feed & Fuel one night when he heard a female's laughter at the end of the bar and smelled perfume.

The ghosts didn't leave with Barnd and Avery, however.

"I haven't always been a believer of that kind of thing," Oldknow says. "I had heard about it for months before I got here." But one night early on in his career at the Feed & Fuel, he had finished closing up the place and was standing behind the bar, envisioning the changes he would make.

"I swear, I hadn't had anything to drink. I heard laughter coming from the ladies bathroom, but there was nobody in there," he says. With his own eyes, he saw the door open, he says, "And I smelled and felt a woman walk by me, with perfume. And I stood there and I couldn't believe it."

That one experience has changed the way Oldknow operates the restaurant.

"Every morning before I open up, I always say, 'Good morning,' out loud," he says.

With the success of the Feed & Fuel, it looks like his welcoming approach—to customers and ghosts alike—is working.

Almaden Feed & Fuel is at 18950 Almaden Road, 408.268.8950, http://www.feedandfuel.com.