LAKEWOOD LANDING

A PORTRAIT OF LUCILLE MATTHEWS, who worked at the bar for more than 30 years, watches over this watering hole. She used to work for Jack Ruby and her roommate once dated Lee Harvey Oswald, but she is remembered for being the heart and soul of the Landing for decades, her personality standing just a bit taller than her hair.

Owner Bill Rossell bought Lucille a car, complete with a giant bow, for her 30th anniversary of employment at the Landing, which started off as a Goff’s hamburgers around 50 years ago.

“She was shaking and kissing me,” Rossell says.

Lakewood Landing can feel like a series of spheres, each with their own geological formations and character. The sections of the local bar reveal unique social climates, depending on where one wants to sit.

The barstools are somewhat protected by an interior gable separating it from the dining area, where several tables and booths sit, well worn by generations of neighbors enjoying the awardwinning burgers. Small groups huddle around the Bud Light lamps that dimly light the booths.

Around the corner, the bar gives way to a pool table. Billiard players weave their way around patrons who are blowing away beasts at the throwback hunting arcade game Big Buck Safari. Quiet conversations circle the room from the couches hiding along the room’s edges.

Outside, the patio is always packed. There aren’t any pergolas, big screens or space heaters, but neighbors crowd the wooden deck to smoke cigarettes and share laughs.

Lakewood Landing certainly is our neighbor- hood’s most heralded dive bar, claiming awards for its food and ambience which proudly adorns the walls. The bar made Esquire’s list of best bars in the country in 2011, and Thrillist recently named the neighborhood haunt the best dive bar in Texas. It comes by its awards honestly, with great burgers and a vibe that can’t be manufactured.

Jerry Cole, who has done the vending for the bar for decades, comes in nearly every day to banter with Laura Harrell, the bartender who works the day shift when she isn’t playing guitar in her band Party State. When asked if he was into sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, Cole responds, “At my age, the sex is gone, so it’s just drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.”

Harrell says the bar offers an escape for musicians and artists, and it was her hangout before she started working there. She says musicians enjoy being able to relax. “It is like actually having time off,” she says.

Rossell doesn’t drink anymore, after recovering from a liver transplant two years ago. He will celebrate 20 years of ownership on March 4 with a roast pig, fish fry and a crawfish boil at the Landing. “It’s all for Lakewood,” he says.

Rossell and longtime General Manager Roger Nelson want the Landing to feel like home for guests. “Every night is like having cocktail party at our house,” Nelson says. “It is a home away from home for everyone.”

Lakewood Landing

5818 Live Oak

Monday–Saturday, 3 p.m.–2 a.m., Sunday 3 p.m.—midnight.