The legendary Kentucky Club, supposed birthplace of the Margarita, in Juarez is over 100 years old. However, like most grand old dames, she lies about her age.
The Kentucky Club in Juarez is actually 105 years old and its centennial was actually in 2020. Why did they just now celebrate its 100th anniversary party? Covid.
The pandemic was raging, non – essential businesses were closed, anybody who had to go out wore a mask, hand washing and not touching things, (and stockpiling toilet paper), was everyone’s priority and it was absolutely not “party time”.
5 years later, it IS party time and a major street party just happened in Juarez. According to borderreport.com, the party was to properly celebrate the Kentucky Clubs 100th while also, (hopefully), rekindling interest in visiting Juarez in those who stopped going over there for various reasons.
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The party was originally supposed to happen in 2022 but, for whatever reason, it got pushed back to 2025. The Kentucky Club has been a popular party spot for decades and was a right of passage for a zillion El Paso teens back in the day.
It’s Practically A Museum
Along with a ton of other vintage stuff, it’s rich history includes a wooden bar carved in France in 1932. A tiny little canal made of tile with running water runs along the base of the bar. It’s not a weird, decorative fountain; it’s a reminder of the days when women weren’t allowed in bars and the guys just took care of business right where they sat. No need to have anyone save your spot while you went to the restroom.
Why The Kentucky Club?
Weird name for a bar in Mexico, right? The border got very popular during prohibition as Americans flocked across the border to party it up. Founder Francisco Montes came up with it after an American distillery owner named Mary Dowling mover her operation from Kentucky to Mexico.
A true trailblazer. She did it to dodge the new, anti alcohol law in the USA and continued making bourbon far enough into Mexico to be “legal” but close enough to still sell to American drinkers.
Famous Kentucky Club Visitors
Everybody who was anybody drank at The Kentucky Club. Rock stars, actors, athletes and bigshots galore …
Famous Patrons Of The Kentucky Club In Juarez
Famous Patrons Of The Kentucky Club In Juarez
Gallery Credit: Dubba G
Birthplace Of The Margarita?
A bartender named Lorenzo “Lencho” Hernandez and his compadre Jesús Morales, supposedly invented the Margarita at the Kentucky Club in 1946. “Lencho” named it after his girlfriend.
He worked for the Kentucky Club almost 60 years and mixed up over a million of them before retiring. He died in 2005.
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