By Juan Montoya
As he does every morning, Tacho Mendiola was riding his bike to his job at Wilkinson’s Metal Recycling yard when he looked across the street and couldn’t believe his eyes.
“The entire roof of the 123 Lounge was gutted in,” he said. “It looked like someone had burned a hole right in the middle and it dropped in on the bar downstairs.” 
Firefighters were called in during Wednesday morning’s violent northern storm and arrived in time to save the structure, although the roof and living quarters upstairs were beyond help.
Firefighters were called in during Wednesday morning’s violent northern storm and arrived in time to save the structure, although the roof and living quarters upstairs were beyond help.
El Abogado Leopoldo De Leon – a frequent patron at the iconic lounge – said his tour of the inside of the bar left him aghast.
“If there is one silver lining to this is that the bar itself was untouched,” De Leon said. “What hurts me is that Javier’s notebook with our tabs in it was not even singed. I guess the rain from last night’s storm prevented it from being a total loss. Darn it.”
Javier Ruiz, the bar’s owner, was busy this morning cleaning up the mess with his son Juan and other workers. They speculate that someone fell asleep and left something burning upstairs. De Leon said the burn pattern clearly indicates that the fire started upstairs and the burning debris fell into the bar downstairs.
“They’re going to rebuild,” De Leon said. “The good thing is that nobody was hurt. Sometimes I stay in one of the rooms when I don't feel like driving. It wasn't my time, I guess. I gotta have a cold one.”
Many working-class customers frequent the bar, originally established by Javier and his late brother Elias. Elias died in mysterious circumstances in the 70s. The walls were lined with photographs of past patrons and other bar kitsch like photos of Villa and Zapata and framed pages from girlie magazines.
Not long ago, City Commissioner Melissa Zamora, BND Commissioner Ralph Cowen, DPM, RGV, and other media personalities gathered in the front section to admire a Fred Bustinza painting the late artist had donated to Javier.
It is unknown whether the painting survived the fire.
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