The Last Legend Standing
Bartender Teodoro Morales mixes the Kentucky Club's famous margarita. The bar in Ciudad Juárez claims to be the birthplace of that cocktail. Photo by Christian Torres Chávez/Puente News Collaborative
In a city shaped by shifting tides, the Kentucky Club has survived it all — from Prohibition to pandemics — by holding fast to its famous margarita and its status as a cross-border sanctuary.
Editor’s note: This story was co-published by KTEP News with Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom, convener, and funder dedicated to high-quality, fact-based news and information from the U.S.-Mexico border.
CIUDAD JUÁREZ – From the outside, it looks like the kind of unassuming watering hole you’d find in many places along the U.S.-Mexico border. But a few steps inside the Kentucky Club reveal an iconic bar that’s served drinks to generations of visitors – and is (maybe) the source of what’s become the margarita.
The club, located in the heart of this busy industrial city, is like other landmarks in Mexican border cities that have claimed culinary firsts, like Caesar’s in Tijuana, where Caesar Cardini surprised patrons in the 1920s with a savory salad that started with a lowly pile of lettuce. In Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, it’s the Drive Inn known for its surf and turf, the surf represented by giant bacon-wrapped and cheese-stuffed Gulf shrimp. In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the famous Cadillac Bar was renowned for its Ramos Gin Fizz. And on the other side of the river from Del Rio in Ciudad Acuña: the dive-ish Mrs. Crosby’s or Ma Crosby’s had a loyal following and was featured in George Strait's song “Blame it on Mexico.”
There’s always been debate over some of the “firsts” and “world famous.” But that did not keep throngs of patrons from filling so many wood and Naugahyde booths and barstools.
The undisputed truth, however, is that the collection of border bars and restaurants, alluring with their invitations to equal parts camaraderie and adventure, are all gone, victims of changing times and tastes.
Except for the Kentucky Club.
As tensions between the U.S. and Mexico percolate, the Kentucky Club is the only legendary bar still standing along the border, and a tempting reminder that even the thorniest of issues can be ironed out over a margarita. Or at least enjoy.
The Kentucky Club is a short walk from the international bridge in downtown Ciudad Juárez, just across from El Paso, Texas. Its proximity to the U.S. has made it a favorite watering hole for generations of customers. Photo by Christian Torres Chávez/Puente News Collaborative
This is especially true during Mexico’s holiday season, which starts in September with Independence Day celebrations. That’s followed by Day of the Dead the first week of November, the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12th, and culminates with Christmas.
“We seem to get more people from across the border looking to celebrate Mexico’s independence celebrations in September,” bartender Teodoro Morales said. “Otherwise, it’s the same curiosity: Looking for the perfect margarita.”
For visitors from neighboring Texas and the United States, the bar remains a must, and at least on the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez border, the welcoming gateway to Mexico.
“We are very delighted to have visitors from Dallas, so we want to show them the place,” said Juárez resident Rafael Hernández, as he and his wife on a Saturday afternoon introduced their friends Stephanie Brancher and Scott Bernardi to the Kentucky Club.
“Beautiful, beautiful place, gorgeous place, excited to be here,” Bernardi added.
“I heard they have the best margaritas. They invented the margarita, right?” Brancher asked with a laugh.
The Kentucky Club has attracted customers from the United States since Prohibition, when people crossed the border to enjoy a drink in Mexico. Photo by Angela Kocherga/Puente News Collaborative
OK, it’s hard to determine 100%, but the club’s owners and staff swear they’re the keepers of the original margarita.
And, really, it doesn’t matter. Diehard patrons insist that it’s the legend that counts, as does a binational feel that goes back to a time when it was easy to cross the border to shop, dine, and share a nightcap.
“The Kentucky Club has soul,” said Rich Wright, an El Pasoan who offers walking tours of Ciudad Juárez – including one guided stroll that features a stop at the historic bar. “You go into the Kentucky Club, and you can sense all the drinks that have been spilled on the bar. You can sense that history. It’s there.”
The place is a short hop from the Paso del Norte International Bridge connecting El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. A bright, green sign at the entrance spares the modesty, announcing the “World famous Kentucky Club.”
Like many historic border bars that catered to Americans in decades past, the Kentucky Club dates back to the 1920s and early 1930s Prohibition era in the United States. Inside, the walls pay homage to Mexico’s Golden Age of film with grainy pictures of the country’s famous screen stars, including María Félix and Jorge Negrete. Photos of iconic American actors and entertainers also line the walls, including Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Jim Morrison, and Mick Jagger.
The famous watering hole welcoming patrons at the entrance of the bar. Photo by Christian Torres Chávez/Puente News Collaborative
American icons like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Elvis are pictured on the walls. Monroe is among the stars said to have visited the legendary bar in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Photo by Christian Torres Chávez/Puente News Collaborative
When Kentucky bourbon was banned north of the border, U.S. customers knew they could cross the border and find the drink at the club’s crowded bar.
Business was so good that during Prohibition, a distillery temporarily relocated to Ciudad Juárez to provide a steady supply of bourbon. “Americans came from all over the country to these border towns to enjoy a legal drink in a bar,” said Wright, the tour guide.
Despite the storied history, the club has struggled. After 9/11, Americans became leery of the tight security and long inspection lines at the international bridges and crossings. New crossing requirements caught many off guard, such as the need for a U.S. passport or visa to return home.
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Others were scared off during a wave of drug violence: Cartel members and rival gangs battled for control of lucrative contraband smuggling routes. The widespread bloodshed killed business at iconic border bars that relied on tourists. Gangsters made it worse, demanding protection money from bar owners.
Then, more recently, the pandemic forced the Kentucky Club and other places in Juárez to close temporarily. But when it reopened, the bar became a refuge for El Pasoans and other Americans who were tired of being cooped up at home. Despite precautions, social distancing, and all the masks, COVID-19 claimed the life of Kentucky Club owner Sergio Peña in July 2020 – the year the bar was supposed to celebrate 100 years in business.
Through the hardships, the club has found a way to survive – even thrive. It may be the proximity to an international bridge, but for sure, it’s the famous margaritas.
As he mixed a margarita, Morales, the bartender, said the signature drink was created in 1942, at the request of a customer.
Back then, he remembered, it was not considered ladylike to drink straight tequila.
“That’s why a husband wanted the bartender to make his wife a special drink,” Morales said. She loved it and asked for the name. “‘What’s your name?’’’ the bartender asked. ‘Margarita,’” she replied.
The legend grew from there, spreading on both sides of the border and becoming an international bar staple. While fans can find margaritas pretty much anywhere, they don’t taste quite the same as inside the Kentucky Club.
“Mostly because of tradition and the attention to service,” said Alejandro Acosta, a 45-year-old Juárez native who’s been a club patron for all of his adult life.
Kentucky Club's world-famous margarita. Photo by Christian Torres Chávez/Puente News Collaborative
Newer to the club, El Paso resident Marina Streep says the lure is more than the tequila, made sweet and sour. It’s finding a place where time can stand still for a bit, long enough for family and friends to enjoy a lunch of quesadillas and flautas, and soak in the festive air. “I love it. I love the food. I love the people. I love the music.”
That’s the cue for a favorite on the jukebox: A customer had asked waiter Oscar Chávez for a local favorite. He selected one of the club’s most popular songs – a tune that routinely kicks off a bar-wide sing-along – about Juárez’s long-gone and equally famous Noa Noa bar. Legendary singer Juan Gabriel immortalized that place, where he got his start singing on Avenida Juárez down the street from the Kentucky Club. El Noa Noa has since shut down. Not the Kentucky Club.
“The Kentucky will never die,” Chavez said. “It has a lot of history.”
A couple enjoys a cold beer and a margarita at the legendary Kentucky Club. Photo by Christian Torres Chávez/Puente News Collaborative
Angela Kocherga is an award-winning multimedia journalist who has dedicated her career to reporting about the Southwest border and Mexico. In 2019, she received a Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University for courageous reporting in Latin America. She served as Mexico bureau chief and border correspondent for a group of U.S. television stations. Kocherga is currently the news director for public radio station KTEP in El Paso and contributes stories to the Texas Newsroom and NPR. @AngelaKBorder
Alfredo Corchado is the executive editor for Puente News Collaborative and the former Mexico/Border Correspondent for The Dallas Morning News. He’s the author of “Midnight in Mexico” and “Homelands.” He graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. @ajcorchado
Christian Torres Chávez is a photojournalist born in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. A graduate of the journalism program at the Universidad Mexicana del Norte, he has been a photojournalist for 16 years, and has received awards for best photography at the local and state levels. As a freelance photojournalist, he covers all types of news in Ciudad Juárez for various media outlets and news agencies. In 2024, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News Photography category as part of the Associated Press team, with which he has collaborated as a freelancer for nine years. @christiantorreschavezz
Ricardo Sandoval-Palos is an award-winning investigative journalist and editor whose career has spanned four decades. Earlier this year, he was named Public Editor – ombudsman – at PBS, the nation’s leading public media outlet. @ricsand