A few minutes before the University of Texas men’s basketball team faces off against Iowa State, the crowd at the back patio at Scholz Garten thins out and makes its way to the Erwin Center nearby. Not even the stragglers have a clue what’s going on behind the unmarked door in the southeast corner of the biergarten at the storied joint.

What the 10 or so people behind the door are doing, and what people have been doing there for more than 100 years, is bowling. This is the bowling wing of Austin Saengerrunde, a private group founded 134 years ago this month by German immigrants to promote and preserve the German language and traditional songs and to promote fellowship among its members. They’ve been bowling here since the 1890s. The group bought Scholz in 1908 and scrapped the existing two lanes, went to four lanes and in 1927 expanded to six, which remain today.

How, in one of the busiest parts of downtown Austin, can this operation remain more or less underground? It’s a question even the guy who manages the place struggles to answer.

“It’s kind of an open secret,” says Milton Lindsay, who has set errant pins and generally taken care of business there since 2005 and has been a member since 1998. Lindsay grew up working in bowling centers and lived mere blocks away while going to UT. He says he went to Scholz pretty much every day and, like most, had no idea the bowling spot was there until a member invited him.

“That’s why they call it a social club,” Lindsay said. “We don’t necessarily want it to be open to the public. We want it to be pristine.”

Gretchen Jones, the daughter of Herman Bohn, whose portrait still hangs in the building and who helped found the ladies’ choir there, basically grew up around Saengerrunde.

“We came down one night and they asked me what I wanted to drink, and I said a beer and they gave it to me,” Jones said. “I was maybe 5.”

Jones rolled a strike, but she wasn’t overjoyed with her performance.

“Yeah, but in the beginning I went in the gutter twice,” she said. “I like it. It’s good exercise. And this is a good group to bowl with. We’re not serious.”

Members also played poker for small change — earning one card for a spare or a strike.

“I think I just won, like, $3,” said Lauren Schaefer, a recent college graduate who was there with her dad, Ken, a dentist with a practice at 16th and Nueces streets.

Interest from younger people such as Schaefer is keenly encouraged, but a successful strategy for growing membership is elusive.

“You tell me and we’ll both be happy,” said longtime member Paul Mettke. “It seems like our membership is waning. Years ago we had 44 active singers. Now we only have about 20 or 24 who show up (to practice) on Monday nights.”

It’s certainly not the cost — just $50 a year. There are currently 248 dues-paying members. Members also can enjoy tailgating at UT games on a private deck overlooking Scholz.

They keep coming back for the fellowship, for a palpable connection to a history that stretches back more than five generations, said Arlon Bindseil, a member with his wife since about 1965.

“I like the people,” said Bindseil, 76. “There are a lot of good people, old and young. People don’t have to wear a different face there. I always thought there were some wealthy people in that club, but you wouldn’t know it.”