ONLY ARTIFACTS REMAIN OF PLACES, PEOPLE NOW GONE

(Ed.'s Note: You'd have to be a Brownsville resident to identify the place by the bars on the door of this downtown locale. No, it's not "Euros" misspelled. It is actually what remains of Arturo's Bar in Market Square. The name refers to Arturo Gonzalez, a longtime constable whose sister is none other than former Cameron County District Clerk Aurora de la Garza. Gonzalez, who held the position for more than 15 years, was challenged in 1996 by Conrado Cantu, who then went on to become Cameron County Sheriff. Gonzalez and Cantu had faced each other before. Gonzalez beat Cantu by 539 votes in the 1992 Democratic primary. A third candidate, Ray Ortiz, also ran in that primary. Ortiz has since passed on as well. Those  of us who remember being in Arturo's remember that the floor of the bathroom tilted dangerously when one went to do his business. On the other hand, Arturo was a good host. Just ask the likes of Tony Gray, a former Herald reporter and now administrative assistant to Texas Rep. Rene Oliveira. Those were the days when roving conjuntos played for the patrons of the little joints on the square, among them Mi Tejanita Bar, Las Guitarras, Chatos, El Palomino, etc. Nowadays, the city administration is bent on "gentrifying" the area and trying to bring upper-scale commercial anchors to the area. But to those of us who frequented places lie Arturo's it is a piece of history that has long vanished but whose memories still remain.