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Sep 14, 2023

Going with the Flow at Deep Eddy Cabaret

Photos by Bryan C. Parker. In 1951, Walt Disney’s animated Alice in Wonderland

Photos by Bryan C. Parker.

In 1951, Walt Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland premiered; J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was published; Harry Truman was president; and husband and wife Raymond and Mickey Hickman opened a beer joint in Austin called Deep Eddy Cafe. Seventy-two years later, it remains one of the oldest—and most beloved—bars in the city.

Located a couple hundred yards up the hill from Austin's legendary Deep Eddy Pool, the original beer joint prided itself on serving truly cold suds. Yet it didn't serve food, so the name was quickly changed to Deep Eddy Cabaret. Since then, little has changed within the bar—which is exactly as everyone there likes it.

For one thing, it's still much bigger than its exterior on Lake Austin Boulevard would lead you to believe. The barroom remains dark as a dungeon, with almost no natural light inside. It's sparingly illuminated by a network of crisscrossing strings of colorful twinkle lights, the accumulated glow from a dozen or so beer neons, light fixtures above both pool tables, and the soft blush coming from the cigarette machine and jukebox. The walls are dutifully coated with yellowed newspaper clips, faded photographs, and the de rigueur selection of street signs and vingtage Longhorn football posters.

Behind the bar, a similar collage of memorabilia covers nearly every inch of the mirror. Bartender Zachery "Zaddy" Boger runs his hand through two dozen receipts taped to the mirror ("These are all the walked tabs," he explains, shaking his head) then points to a circular frame with a sepia-toned photograph of a young, fetching Mickey Hickman. "She took over when her husband passed away," he says. That was in 1963.

In 1996 Deep Eddy passed to the Hickmans’ son Butch and his wife, Patti. Unremarkably, little changed during their tenure. It wasn't until 2014, when the father-and-son duo of Robert and Will Bridges became the new (and current) owners, that the bar underwent a little modernizing: namely, acquiring a liquor license and a credit card machine, bucking more than 60 years of tradition.

Neither the beginning of cocktail service nor the end of the "cash only" rule doomed the bar. The liquor selection is quite limited, with only about a dozen bottles offered. This ensures that Deep Eddy's reputation as a beer joint—where Lone Star and Miller Lite are typically the top sellers—remains solidly intact. The refrigerator full of chilled mugs helps too.

Most importantly, the regulars have kept showing up, including the "Gunsmoke guys," so named because they command a round table near the front door on weekday afternoons to watch their favorite show.

"It's still a neighborhood bar," says general manager Inger Olson, one of three bartenders who’ve worked at Deep Eddy for at least 20 years. "It's popular with Austin High School alumni and golfers from nearby Lions [Municipal Golf Course]. A lot of people still walk here. Lots of regulars live nearby. They’re part of what makes the bar what it is. If you just had random strangers in here all the time, it would be a totally different kind of place."

Yet, plenty of strangers still find their way to Deep Eddy, Olson continues. "Tons of people who come here from the Midwest say the same kind of thing: ‘It looks like the bars back home,’" alluding to the drop ceiling and basement-quality wood paneling.

Despite all the sameness that exists within Deep Eddy, a few changes have left their mark. The bar still doesn't serve food outside of snacks like chips, peanuts, and Slim Jims. But a tropical-style bar from MML Hospitality (Clark's, Perla's), Pool Burger, opened behind it five years ago, allowing customers to move back and forth between the properties with their booze and burgers.

Even more recently, a brand new elbow pad stretching the length of the 14-seat wooden bar was installed in January. "It's just fixing something that was broken," Olson says reassuringly, "not changing the bar's character."

One more thing—something not likely to change anytime soon: "We’re not connected to Deep Eddy Vodka," says Boger. "We don't serve it. We’re a Tito's bar."

2315 Lake Austin Blvd. Open daily noon to 2 a.m.

The Deep End regularly spotlights the dive bars that keep Austin feeling historic. Anthony Head co-authored 2022's bestselling Texas Dives: Enduring Neighborhood Bars of the Lone Star State with photographer Kirk Weddle and has been documenting Texas’ neighborhood hangouts for 16 years—and always appreciates suggestions.