Rosa's Cantina - El Paso, Texas

Rosa's Cantina - Located at 3454 Doniphan Drive on the West Side of El Paso, Texas. "Night time would find me at Rosa's Cantina..." This wonderfully metered line comes from the Marty Robbins' classic Country-Western song, El Paso. The song, about a love struck cowboy who guns down another in a jealous rage, quickly carried Robbins from talented singer to superstar almost overnight. In 1959, the year of the song's release, the United States was watching Gunsmoke, the Duke was starring in Rio Bravo, and Walt Disney had just given us the El Fego Baca mini-series. Clearly, the Old West was on our collective minds. The song quickly took on a life of its own, getting covered by numerous bands including the Grateful Dead, who kept it in their concert lineup until their demise in 1995. It is still a very popular ballad today and has come to be regarded as the quintessential Country-Western song. But that one line about where it took place -- Rosa's Cantina -- that was the line we always wondered about. Did that place exist? Was there such an outpost in the dusty border city of El Paso and did it have anything to do with the tragic tale Robbins put together? As it turns out, there is a Rosa's Cantina, it did have a part in that song and it is so worth your time to go visit this place. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clint-lanier-and-derek-hembree/one-of-the-most-famous-ba_b_4416345.html

Creator: rudy rivera

Area: Upper Valley / Sunland Park

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History