 Hussongs Cantina is a must stop while visiting Ensenada. It is not really a nightclub but old-school bar or watering hole. It is located in the tourist zone on Ave Ruiz. Hussong's is Baja's oldest bar still in use, established in 1892 by a German, Johan Hussong. It was first used as a stage coach stop and is now a historic landmark. Whether during the day or at night, you'll get a feeling of Old Mexico. Famous for it's original margaritas that were said to be invented, back in October, 1941 by bartender Don Carlos Orozco. It was a special drink that he devised for Margarita Henkel, daughter of the German Ambassador to Mexico. Hussongs hasn’t changed much in all these years. The dark green interior, wooden floors covered in sawdust and kitsch art on the wall never change. Popular for the laid-back atmosphere and strolling mariachis, both Mexicans and tourists enjoy this cantina from another age.
HUSSONG'S! The bar that built a town! The name evokes images of gunfights and back room stud poker, political maneuvering, and even revolutions. HUSSONG'S is to Baja as Maxims is to Paris, Birdland is to New York, or Raffles is to Singapore. Is it true until you have been to Hussongs, you haven't been to Mexico?
There does not seem to be any evidence of gunfights or revolutions. There have been thousands of games of dominos and a few fisticuffs encounters, which are quickly broken up and cleared out."
Johan Hussong and two of his brothers departed Forsham Germany in 1880 and headed for New York. They remained together until 1890 when Johan decided that 10 years of big city life were about all he cared for and proceeded in a somewhat westerly and a bit southerly direction to a sleepy fishing village of 5,000, mostly North American and European inhabitants, called Ensenada. Johan soon became John and in May of 1892 he opened a little restaurant and stage coach stop that served a limited menu enhanced by nickel beer and bonded dime whiskey. At john Hussong's Agency and diligence he would welcome the Sutherland Stage company which fed and watered customers and horses alike. Horseshoeing was smartly done out back where the parking lot now sits.
John returned to Germany for his promised bride Louisa, whom he married and some how convinced to return to the Wild West. They lived in a comfortable nice home between 8th & 9th streets near the Ensenada arroyo and raised four sons, Ricardo, John, Percy and Walter, along with a lovely daughter, Estella. John received and the Hussong's still hold liquor license number 002. With the exception of some paint, a little neon, and of course the stickers on the front window not much has changed during the past 108 years even considering the multitude of the famous and otherwise that have trod through the sawdust and diesel oil carpeting which lends a special aroma to this incredible unadorned and yet magically magnetic watering hole.
Phil Harris has tended bar and sold five-cent autographs, Bing Crosby has crooned a cerveza or two and Steve McQueen has sauntered up to the long bar for a cool brew.
Even Marilyn Monroe is reputed to have cleaved her way through the gawking throng to launch a frosty Margarita, which by the way seems to have been invented in Hussong's (the Margarita, not Marilyn).
On a night 200 people of average stature have, and do, uncomfortably stand within the four rather plain walls, excepting one supporting a large horned, fuzzy head which has overlooked the goings-on for these many years. Hussongs has closed only in the event of a family death.
Three generations of Hussong's have maintained the uniqueness that perpetuates the mystic, although there actually were no stickers on the front windows for the seventy or so years. Once again, today the windows are devoid of stickers in beginning of the second century.
The modern world has only minimally caught up by incorporating the legend in 1974 when John's name off the facacade; becoming simply "Hussong's Cantina" The name Hussong's has attached itself to chili cook-offs, Tee-shirts, bumper stickers, beer, and wine of which all come from the Ensenada area. They also export an excellent Tequila, (Hussong's Tequila, of course) to the United States. One important point, in case you missed it early on is that the Hussong's are not now nor ever have been Chinese; other than that probably all of the stories you have heard about Hussong's are true, more or lees, statement of why the current generation of Hussong's is expanding and creating new restaurants & cantinas so that more people can experience the mystic of Hussong's on this side of the border.
Source History of Hussongs Official Website Click Here
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| Front of Hussongs |
Posting Up Hussongs Cantina |
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| Front Window at Hussongs Cantina |
Inside of Hussongs Cantina |
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