HAPPY HOUR EL PASO

Text and photograph by Bruce Berman

 

El Paso is in transition. It was always complicated. There was the whole “Southwest” thing and then again, there was the whole Chicanismo thing, and then again there was the cowboy thing, and then again there was a certain ex Pat vibe for 60s and 70s refugees who never went home.

And there was the growing suburban thing, the Ohio is too cold and El Paso is affordable tilt.

Viva complication!

Now El Paso is getting more simple. It is trying to spruce itself up and become a destination. They have a baseball team downtown now, and a restored fancy movie theater within walking distance of it and there are bicycle riders and bicycle lanes everywhere ( a sure sign that the “texture days” are done).

It’s still El Paso but some (real estate developers and those that are young that can’t quite make it out) hunger for it to be Cincinnati. Good luck.

For those who have known El Paso for many decades, to see court jester-dressed bicyclists pedaling through downtown is jarring. It is a pure contrast to the bruised authenticity that has been El Paso’s greatest strength (for me), for those of us who have been hiding here.

Court jesters and restaurants whose names start with “Le” is a sure sign of decline and simplification. They say, in advertising, the message needs to be as simple as the consumer (which they presume are morons).

I guess it’s true.

So, out there in the ‘hood of El Paso where most live, it is a (increasingly rare) delight to find authentic Funk.

The Toro and the Truck are a shining visual that it El Paso may be buffed up into an unrecognizably bland shadow of its old self, but that there’s still a little time left.

It’s still a little complicated.

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