Bartenders of NO - Home

INTERVIEWS
O’Neil Broyard
Greg Cowman
Gilberto Eyzaguirre
Paul Gustings
Gertrude Mayfield
Bobby Oakes
Michael Santucci
Martin Sawyer
Michael Smith
John Strickland
Floria Woodard

Cheers!
Drink Recipes

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This project was sponsored by a grant from Southern Comfort.

Interviews and photographs by Amy Evans

O'Neil Broyard

“When I was coming up I worked bar at…different places. When I was thirteen years old I used to work at Cousin’s Restaurant and Bar on Bartholomew and Rampart [streets]. And I worked there in the bar room. You know, broiled crab, crawfish, shrimp and all that stuff like that. Delivery. In those days, it was six beers for ninety-nine cents."

– O'Neil Broyard

East of the French Quarter, the Bywater neighborhood is home to the Saturn Bar. Here, owner and barkeep O’Neil Broyard has been holding court amongst his collection of baseball caps and garage sale paintings for over forty years. The many cocktails that New Orleans is famous for aren’t served here, but O’Neil will be happy to shake up a Whiskey Sour or stir a Martini for you, if that’s what you have a taste for. As he puts it, he likes to keep things simple. If you want a fancy drink, you can go to the Quarter; if you head to the Saturn bar, you can get what you like. You can even get a peek at some of the many plants O’Neil keeps in his urban garden or hear tales of naked boxing. Yep, naked boxing. While you’re there, put a little Eartha Kitt on the jukebox, settle into a leopard print booth, and plan on staying for a while to take it all in.

It is with great sadness that the SFA shares news that O'Neil Broyard passed away December 22, 2005. The Saturn Bar reopened in June 2006, with Broyard's family at the helm.

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What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

SUBJECT: O’Neil Broyard, owner & bartender
DATE: March 30, 2005
LOCATION: Saturn Bar
INTERVIEWER: Amy Evans

Amy Evans: This is Amy Evans for the Southern Foodways Alliance, and it’s Wednesday, March thirtieth. And I’m at the Saturn Bar with owner [O’]Neil Broyard. Um, [O’]Neil, if you don’t mind, saying your name for the record.

O’Neil Broyard: O’Neil Broyard

And, um, your birthdate, too, if you wouldn’t mind. So we can get you—

Twelve twenty-seven, thirty-seven. [December, 27, 1937]

[H]ow long have you been the proprietor here at the Saturn?

Since nineteen sixty.

And I understand that it was, um, another bar—

Oh, yeah.

—before it was called the Saturn, is that right?

Originally, it used to be a gro—it was Campo’s Grocery Store. And Buster Morant opened it up in 1947. And they named it, uh, Buster’s Bar. He stood here until 1958. And a few guys had it off and on: Ruth’s Bar and, uh, Bob’s Bar. Bob took it over right after he worked for, uh, Thrift Store Novelties. His brother worked for Thrift Store Nov—Thrift Store Novelties put, you know—put the music box and the pinball machines in here in those days. And Bob ran the bar almost about a year, then he gave it up. And this guy Frankie Bean took it over, named it Ruth’s Bar. He came off of Tulane Avenue. [Clears throat] Then after that, this guy, Noel Caruso, took it over. [Sniffs] And I got it from Noel Caruso in 1960.

What made you want to get into the bar business?

By accident. I said I’m gonna try it out for six months, and I got stuck here. I’m still here.

[Laughs] Had you tended bar or worked in the service industry anywhere else before that?

Yeah. When I was coming up I worked bar at—different pl—places. When I was thirteen years old I used to work at Cousin’s Restaurant and Bar on Bartholomew and Rampart [streets]. [Short pause] And I worked there in the bar room. You know, broiled crab, crawfish, shrimp and all that stuff like that. Delivery. In those days, it was six beers for ninety-nine cents. And you’re lucky if you had a penny tip when you made a delivery. [Laughs]

And you were thirteen when you were doing that?

Yeah. Well, in them days you could, you know—

It didn’t matter.

It was a restaurant, you know, just delivered sandwiches, soft drinks. And then once in a while we delivered beer in those days, but they didn’t—they wasn’t too strict on—on underage people. Uh, then later I worked in different bars all over. Back there, back there, [pointing to his right and then his left] Coconut Grove. And then I got to this place here. Well, I worked here, too, before I took it over.

Yeah?

Yeah. [Short pause] Like the same guy had—Noel, you know—I used to work at that corner bar [inside The Saturn]. Help him out, you know, [at] different times.

So what do you like about being in the bar business [and] tending bar?

It’s not the idea of liking it. The—I just formed a habit of being here.

Yeah? [Laughs]

It’s not the likes and dislikes, believe me. Sometime you get some nice—very nice people, sometimes you get a few oddballs.

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So what—you, you know, came up working in the [French] Quarter and stuff, and then you got this place out here. We’re in the Bywater, right?

Yeah, Bywater.

So what’s the difference in being out here in this neighborhood?

No difference. Why?

I don’t know. Just wondering. Fewer tourists, more locals, different scene—

Well, I guess everything changes. Thirt—forty-five years ago and now. You understand? Which—anyway, everything’s all right. It’s a little slow right now. People—I think we are in a depression right now. But it wasn’t said in—in the newspaper, it wasn’t said on television, but money’s so tight. We—what costs us, money being tight. Get—get—we’re all going up. You think back—way back when—what was it? [Whispers] The Depression. So—well, you got to live with it. You know, you got taste the bitters as well before you enjoy the sweets… Some people—and today, everybody enjoys sweets. Shit. You think back, say, sixty years—not sixty years. Well, yeah, you could say sixty years, people didn’t even own a television, they didn’t own an air-conditioning unit, they—no microwave, you know?

Yeah.

But they got by. Today these girls coming up today, they even hate to try to put something in the microwave. They don’t want to cook. They want to go out and eat. They don’t know what washing clothes are. Have to wring ‘em out and all that stuff like that, you know. [Laughs] Go hand ‘em out in the backyard? They got washeterias and dryers. They got it made…They don’t know what hard times are.

How has the bar business changed since then? Besides just like prices of things.

People in general. Their attitude. People today—[short pause] Not all of them, now. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not speaking in general, everyone. But some that walk around, they just don’t know how to say, “Hi. Hello.” Smile? They look like they’re walking around with a chip on their shoulder. You know? And—I don’t know. [Sound of O’Neil adjusting his watch] People are not nice. You know, you could walk down the street, you know, you got gesture like that [nods head up] and they might turn the other way, you know, never try to [say] “Hi. Hello” and all that stuff. They just don’t have it anymore. “Pardon me. Pardon me.” [Short pause] They don’t have it. Really! Some do. Not all of them.

Do you get many tourists over this way?

Oh, yeah, yeah. I get a lot of tourists from all over.

Yeah? How do they hear about you?

Well, it’s on the Internet. You know, travel guides and stuff like that. Word of mouth. [Sniffs] New York—had some people in from New York the other day. Atlanta, Chicago, Frisco, uh, [short pause] w—no. I think it was Wisconsin. Colorado. All over the continent. Well, you know, you ask everybody, you can tell a tourist when they come in that they—they’re not regulars. [Laughs]

[Laughs] Yeah. You have a lot of regulars?

No, not as many as I used to. They—it—well, you’ve got to look at it this way. I don’t open up until four o’clock in the evening. Now years ago, I used to open at nine—nine o’clock in the morning. We still got—the old-timers still living in the neighborhood before used to come wait for you to open up in the morning. They come over there, they’d sit down and play a little Knock Rummy [card game] or something all day long, you know, to pass the time away. They all died or moved off, when everybody moved out of the neighborhood. So you don’t have too many regulars.

What did those regulars like to drink?

Mostly beer. Ah, you get to the college kids and all that come in and want—they get a beer with a straight shot or something. “I want Jagermeister,” or something like that, which I don’t handle anymore. Because they get too stupid on that stuff. You know, they want to throw their glasses up against the wall and all that stuff, you know. [Clears throat] And I just don’t put up with it. I just don’t. If they say, “Jagermeister,” I say, “I don’t have any.” [They’ll say,] “Well, what you got? Can you make a B-51?” I say I don’t make none of that stuff. They want the layers, you know?

Yeah, for shots?

Oh, what the hell. Like the—I can’t even think of half the stuff I have over there to make it but, uh, I quit handling it. Irish—Irish cream—what the—Bailey’s Irish Cream, you know? They used to order three layers, you know, in this shot.

Do you mix many cocktails?

Oh, yeah, a few. Yeah. The regular ones. You know, I make like a Bloody Mary or a Whiskey Sour, uh, Tequila Sunrise or vodka orange juice, you know. Uh, [if they] want cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, you know. Little Martinis once in a while. Manhattans, you know. Something plain and simple like that. All them shake drinks and all that stuff like that. Phew. I used to make the—like a, uh, Black Russian, you know, with the milk, the vodka, and the Kahlua. I tell them you got to go uptown if you want a fancy drink.

Yeah? [Laughs]

[Laughs]

How do you think times have changed? Maybe you did some more of that a couple decades ago? Did some more cocktails or, no?

Ah, well you get different people, baby. You know, people come in and ask you—want a, uh, uh, what the hell are those—about four drinks—what—what do you call—a sting—not a stinger. A Long Island Iced Tea. You know, you got to put your white rum, white gin, and vodka and all that stuff in it, you know. I make that once in a while. Got to have a tall glass and all that shit, you know. But, uh, I—I like everything plain and simple. You know, come in—like I mean, like—“What kind of beers do you have here?” Just like asking me, “What kind of cigarettes do you have?” I said, “What kind do you smoke?” And see, he was going to tell me that—that one brand. And me naming all fifteen, twenty brands, you know?...Same thing with the beer. I got thirty-five, forty beers. You want to kind what kind of beers we have? I say, “What kind do you normally drink? You just starting to drink or what?”

[Laughing]

[Laughing] You know? You had to drink something somewhere.

What do you think about those fancy drinks that they serve down in the Quarter?

It’s a gimmick to get—that’s a—that’s a drawing card, that’s all. You—like the—the Hand Grenade, you know? Now they got four different places—it’s all one clique, you know? [Sniffs]

Well, people come to New Orleans to drink.

Oh, I hear they’re partiers. They stay open all night, but I’ll close it down. But I don’t like to stay open all night.

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Do you know about the—the history of cocktails in New Orleans?

Uh, like the Sazerac come from the, uh, [coughs] I can’t even think of the bar’s name right now. Uh, uptown there. I don’t know, shit.

[Laughs]

They make them fancy drinks with the—like you go to Pat O’Brien’s, you get the Hurricane. Come to Saturn Bar, you get what you like. [Laughs]

So how would you describe your bar here?

Well, you wouldn’t—well, years ago you’d call it a neighborhood bar. It’s a regular—a regular bar room. You know, it’s not—not—not—well, the only difference from all the other bars is all the murals on the wall, you know. That’s the only attraction I have.

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Well, when you first got here, did the place, you know, have all this character and all these—this whole collection?

Nah.

It’s been added on to over the years?

The ceiling—all painted. Well, the first thing I did, I paint—we painted the ceiling, me and Mike Frolich. Mike Frolich did all the murals and all. Him and I took the roller over—blew up there, we marked it off everything and put the—put the Earth, the sun, Saturn up there and that stuff like that. That’s what we did in the beginning. Then he started painting these murals.

What about all your collections of stuff? Your [baseball] caps and paintings and different knick-knacks?

I buy a few things at garage sales. I used to. I don’t go to garage sales anymore. Because I ain’t got no place to put half the shit.

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Yeah, what about your little garden you have back there? What is all that?

That’s my little—I got, uh, I stuff and I just started fooling around, you know. Like I eat an orange or something, put a couple seeds back there, ku—uh, kumquats, lemons, maybe a navel orange, Satsumas, all that shit like that, you know. And I let it start to come up…And one year back there I had fifty-one tomato plants. I used to pick the tomatoes in the morning, and put ‘em in a beer box to share like that [points to a cardboard box] Put ‘em in a box, let people take ‘em. But you’d be surprised. Instead of just grabbing a couple, they got to pick up each one and look at it [pretends to be holding a tomatoes up for close inspection]. [Laughs] Especially the melatons [squash plants]—the melatons, I used to pick them and put them up there and let them take what they want. That’s all melaton plants I got back there. And I go plant ‘em over there. I’m gonna go plant some on the side there. I got a—I got a lemon tree outside. I got a grapefruit tree outside. I got a peach tree. Japanese plum tree. And, uh, Satsuma tree, yeah.

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So what do you think makes a good bartender?

Well, you have personality, control. You can’t be hot tempered. That’s a—that’s a no-no. Because today—especially today. Especially the drunks. You got the—you got to have control. You can’t let them tell you what to do. You know what I mean? And to tell you—“Take a walk. Go ahead. That’s it. Get out.” Like I usually tell them, “You got two ways to get out: by yourself or with some help.”

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How much longer are you going to be at it you think?

A couple of years…Maybe this might be my last year. I got to get my license—I’m debating whether up there to get them or not.

Are you just worn out? Time to retire?

Yeah. It’s a—it’s—it’s not like it used to be. But like I told you before, people are not the same. Different class of people. I’d rather lock it up before the joint takes a nosedive, and these people with the rings in their noses and their eyebrows and their—on their tongue and all that shit. Forget it, man…That’s what it is. People are different. And before the place goes to the dogs, I mean, I’m gone.

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To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.