Valentin (also spelled Valentine) 'Val' Bildner was born on December 6, 1857, in Maudach, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, and immigrated to the United States in 1859. He married Clara H. Valentin on July 29, 1886, in Baker, Oregon. Together, they had three children: Julia Lonica Bildner (1887–1935), Clara Eugenia Bildner (1889–1974), and Veta Rosa Bildner (1894–1975). According to the 1900 census, the Bildner family resided in Baker, Oregon.

The 1905 Spokane directory lists Val Bildner as the proprietor of a saloon at 516 Main Avenue in Spokane (R.L. Polk and Company's Spokane City Directory, 1905, page 175). He continued operating the saloon at the same address in 1906 (Spokane City Directory, 1906, page 175). By 1907, Bildner was listed as running saloons at 516 Main Avenue, 205 Riverside Avenue, and 708 Monroe (Spokane City Directory, 1907, page 193). In 1908, he was noted as running a saloon at 111 Howard (Spokane City Directory, 1908, page 212). Val Bildner passed away on September 28, 1908, in Spokane from cirrhosis of the liver.

The location of Bildner's saloon at 516 Main Avenue in 1905 was on the north side of West Main Avenue, between North Howard and North Stevens streets (Sanborn fire insurance map, 1910, Volume 4, Sheet 428). This building no longer exists.

One particularly intriguing detail from a photo is a sign attached to the side of a 'barn' housing the toilets. The sign seems to read, 'This is the Old Western Saloon, not the Log Cabin Saloon.' This was likely to avoid confusion with the Log Cabin Saloon at 8 Lincoln in Spokane (Spokane City Directory, 1905, page 891).