This is not your average, longtime bar along St. Mary’s. I became aware of that the moment I walked into the Hermann Sons Rathskeller Bar on a sleepy Thursday afternoon. That’s partly because Rathskeller isn’t really on the St. Mary’s Strip at all, separated from San Antonio’s nightlife district not just by I-35 but also by a century of history.
Suppose you stop in some time between Thursday and Saturday, when Rathskeller opens for service. In that case, you’re almost guaranteed to meet Chris Naughton, building manager and “volunteer bartender,” a life-long lodge member of the Hermann Sons lodge. That’s who walked me through the peculiar odds and ends of the bar, from its original wooden tables and a phone booth with the bottom of the door sawn off to make way for a karaoke stage, to the fallout shelter sign above the door (not purely decorative – a relic of the 1940s, when the building was a designated location that could shelter 175 San Antonians in the event of a nuclear blast).
Built in 1911 as a gathering place for German immigrants, the three-story Hermann Sons is full of such intrigue. Rathskeller (which is just German for a basement-level bar) holds the longest-running beer and wine license in Texas, issued in September of 1937. The long-defunct bowling alley on the third floor, which opened in 1949, was the first in Texas to use automated pin-setting machines, according to Naughton. Those 70-something-year-old contraptions still lie behind the wall and can even be coaxed into operation for a few rounds before they start grumbling and cannibalizing the pins.
Opened in 1949, the bowling alley hasn’t been in regular use since the 2000s. (Emma Weidmann/MySA)
The haunted side of Rathskeller Bar in S.A.
One of the stories Naughton tells me is that bar patrons will sometimes hear through the floor the distinctive roll of a bowling ball followed by the crash of pins. They’ll ask him if the lanes are still open, though they’ve been shuttered since 2005.
I’m not such a big believer in the paranormal myself. But San Antonio is full of stories of communication from the other side, especially in older parts of downtown, so I’m never surprised to hear that a building as old as this one creaks and groans at odd hours, or that orbs take mysterious paths through the air when caught on security cam footage. But I did find myself a little bit spooked when Naughton, who often stays in the building alone overnight, showed me his best evidence for the building’s ghostly occupants – a door slowly opening itself around 3 a.m. in a part of the building with no air conditioning and no running ceiling fans.
He says he’s even had things fly off the walls of the bar without being touched. Even for a skeptic, that’s a little chilling. But for Naughton, it’s all pretty benign.
“The desk I sit at in my office is the exact desk my grandfather used to sit at [in] 1961 when he managed the building. And my wife, her grandfather used to manage the bar back in the day, so we just think it’s our ancestors messing with us,” Naughton says.
Naughton tells me part of the building’s haunting is the sound of creaking bowling lanes at night, as if someone is walking across them. (Emma Weidmann/MySA)
Rathskeller Bar in S.A. endures the test of time by standing still
As for its place among San Antonio’s nightlife scene, Rathskeller Bar is one of those “if you know, you know” places. Situated between the trendy Southtown and the iconic St. Mary’s Strip, it’s a place you’d miss if you didn’t know it was there. They’re not trying to bring in club crowds or book trendy, underground artists. They don’t even sell mixed drinks. Just $3 beers in a place that, “like Cheers,” knows your name, Naughton says. It would seem the bar has stood the test of time by standing still.
Naughton, who’ll open it early if a regular wants to watch the Cowboys game or has folks traveling in, compares the Rathskeller to “a small-town auto parts store, where just the owner’s number is on the door, and when you need a part, you just call him at home.”
“He comes up there and gets it for you, and then goes back home, you know? And we always, always cater to that kind of stuff,” Naughton says. “We’re here for the community … We’ve never tried to so-called ‘keep up with the time.’ We are who we are.”
Find it: 525 S. St. Mary’s St., San Antonio, TX 78205
Hermann Sons is located at 525 S. St. Mary’s St., San Antonio, TX 78205. (Emma Weidmann/MySA)
This article originally published at The oldest bar in San Antonio is a fallout bunker buzzing with spooky secrets.