VAYO CON DIOS
Veteran nightlife team scraps tropical San Antonio bar
La Ruina's final day is September 28.
The sun is setting on one of San Antonio’s most lauded bars. After two years in business, East Side cocktail lounge La Ruina will shutter permanently on September 28.
The team declined to explain the reasoning behind the closure in a social media statement. Instead, the post thanked the bar’s regular patrons and “everyone who helped build up [the] establishment. It signed off — in Spanish — hoping to see its supporters soon.
“From the day this historic Austin Street building was purchased in 2019, through the blood, sweat, and tears of pandemic renovation, to opening the doors just two years later, serving countless customers, and throwing memorable parties, La Ruina has surely been a labor of love,” wrote a La Ruina rep.
Nightlife vets Gerry Shirley and Olaf Harmel purchased the historic Robitzsch Brothers building in 2019 and undertook a painstaking renovation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The building once served as a neighborhood grocer but has been vacant for many years.
After selling Grayson Street mainstay The Modernist to Luis Muñoz and Eric Hanken, the pair opened La Ruina in September 2022. It soon became an anchor of the growing nightlife district at the edge of downtown.
Bucking the trend of casual hangouts, La Ruina was decorated with lush plants, botanical wallpaper, and massive brass chandeliers — evoking the atmosphere of an island resort. The drink menu followed suit with tropical classics, daring originals, and hard-to-find rums.
Although La Ruina is moving out, the building won't be empty long. Muñoz is set to transform the space into a new concept called Louie’s Icehouse. Although an exact opening date has not been announced, its Instagram account promises an October debut.
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