The Esquire Tavern

Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933, but in its wake the Esquire Tavern was born. It has since amassed a towering reputation, surviving a changing San Antonio, closures, shootouts (supposedly), ghosts (also supposedly), and the steady march of time.

The oldest bar on the Riverwalk, it's also home to the longest bar in Texas, which started at standard length but was extended to 75 and then 100 feet over the years. Ripley’s Believe it or Not dropped by in 1988 for a publicity stunt and placed 5,973 bottles of Lone Star atop the bar.

A local told me the bar used to be a lot more rough-and-tumble, which several sources confirm. I also heard that around 50 pistols used to hang on the wall behind the bar as a memorial to the gunslingers who had lost a shootout there. This claim is a bit more iffy, as the 'San Antonio Express-News' asked about a specific shootout and reported that, "there is no official documentation of the event or noticeable bullet holes in the walls."

Esquire Tavern closed in 2006 but was purchased by now-owner Chris Hill in 2008 and reopened in 2011. Some locals griped about the new, polished version, while others commended the elegant restoration that captured its glory days. Even the pattern of the rococo wallpaper—originally installed in the 1960s—was recreated, albeit in a darker color. The establishment was also nominated for a James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program in 2012 and 2017, a phenomenal accolade.

They just don't make them like this anymore, from the pressed ceilings and terracotta floors to the wooden booths and taxidermied animals. A place where you can come to dwell on the past and plot the future and think of things that were and will never be again. To find something in the bottom of a glass. To dance in light and in shadow and to be a great favorite. To never sleep. To dance, dance and to never die.

A true Texas classic deserving of a Texas Dives Star ⭐, my accolade for exceptionally memorable and authentic establishments in the great state of Texas.