Gay bars in el paso

They occupied a huge place in the early scene. One of the bartenders that I particularly remember was a drag queen named Moela.

Edit 5/28/2023: The Pet Shop prior to The San Antonio Mining Company, 800 E. San Antonio Avenue

Another bar that started life as a chain and was acquired by Bob Bonaventure, the Mine as it was known always felt like it was aimed at a more upscale crowd, whatever that means.

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El Paso, Texas vacation?

It had a balcony that went around the edge of the dance floor that felt very much like it might collapse. Eventually, it became something that used to be called a “Latin” bar but was really just another El Paso nightclub playing a lot of Juan Gabriel, Rocio Durcal, exitos internacionales, etc. The bar moved several times, having been located at Five Points, out on Dyer almost to the end of the street at that time, and eventually on South Florence (the photo on the left).

and catering to mostly Latina lesbians, many of whom were from Juarez.

Edit 5/17/2023: There was a third iteration of The Whatever Lounge that was opened possibly around 2016 by someone completely unrelated to Floyd Callaway or Bob Bonaventure. If you remember it, I’d love to hear more about it in the comments below.

It was owned by a man named Pepe Acosta, who was old even when Don knew him in the 1960s. Don says Louie told him no. It sloped down from the wall with a metal railing that barely reached waist level. It was located downtown underneath Chico's Bar. The bar began to get so packed that they relocated to the building that is now The San Antonio Mining Company, another longtime gay establishment.

It was full of life and commerce, much of which we have the people of Juarez to thank for pumping life and money directly into our civic veins with their massive cross border traffic. I can't recall the name of it and can’t make out the name in the screenshot. I still wonder whatever happened to her all these years later.

, , Edit 6/4/2024: The Pet Shop (and maybe later, Time Machine?), 207 1/2 E.

San Antonio Ave

As I understand it, The Pet Shop was the predecessor bar of the San Antonio Mining Co., before it moved from this location to where the latter was. It was a tiny little place, according to Don. It catered to a secretive, generally older, possibly mostly out of town clientele, who came to El Paso, to avoid the prying eyes of wherever they came from.

Don once told me that he was open a short time in the original location when another bar owner, Louie Medrano who owned the Pigalle Bar directly across the street, paid someone a $100 to go into his bar and start a fire in the restroom.

The majestic Franklin Mountains State Park is another amazing journey to try out if you are a nature lover.

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