Olde bar smell

I recently went into a bar that I had not been in for more than 40 years. The bar had been remodeled several times in the 40 years. Totaly remodeled including completely new furnishings.

The bar smelled exactly the way it did 40 years ago when I was a young adult.

I once visited my grandfather's house that I had lived in when I was three years old. The revisit was 30 years later. The house was no longer a home, it had become an architectural office. It's still smelled the same.

The issue to me is not my ability to retain a smell in my memory nor the fact that most bars smell like piss and urinal deodorant but the fact that rooms have a smell that seems almost permanent.

I have often tried to change the smell of an apartment or home using baking soda, incense and ozone and never succeed.

Why is this?