Longtime downtown San Antonio dive My Brother's Bar has apparently closed

Selena, fideo, serious pool action and top-notch hospitality were the norm at My Brother’s Bar. Credit: Jaime Monzon

Yet another San Antonio drinking spot appears to have closed its doors for good, and this one was an institution.

Without fanfare or letting us know it was having a forever-last call, beloved downtown dive My Brother’s Bar seems to have suddenly shut its doors, according to a post on the r/SanAntonio subreddit.

Online news outlet MySA also stopped by the business, 845 N. St. Mary’s St., during posted business hours only to find it closed.

My Brother’s Bar hasn’t posted anything on its meager and outdated social media and website to indicate its closure. Indeed, the business doesn’t have an Instagram, it hasn’t posted to Facebook since 2020 and its website says it’s scanning your device for a virus.

But isn’t that exactly what one wants from a true old-school dive? Rather than nightlife newcomers who have the gritty patina of a dive but are too self-aware and savvy to eschew social media entirely, My Brother’s Bar was a remnant of a bygone era that somehow persisted for decades despite a lack of self-promotion.

With My Brother’s Bar, you got what you got. No frills, no frippery, no bullshit. But the establishment’s staying power also spoke to the strong community it cultivated.

The bar had been a fixture of its downtown stretch of North St. Mary’s for almost 35 years, according to a prior feature in the Current.

The unassuming watering hole adorned with tchotchkes and posters of Selena was a home base for serious pool players, including a league that hosted tournaments there several times a week.

Owner Sal Guerrero’s wife was also known to feed patrons with her homemade fideo loco, a signature San Antonio dish.

Much like Cheers, where “everyone knows your name,” My Brother’s Bar was a cozy neighborhood spot full of familiar faces, where one could watch the Spurs surrounded by silver-and-black jerseys and hear the celebratory clinks of beer bottles.

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Longtime downtown San Antonio dive My Brother’s Bar has apparently closed

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