EL BARRIL GOES UP IN FLAMES: GAVITO SUSPECTS ARSON

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

A piece of history went up in flames this morning when the Brownsville Fire Dept. responded to a call of a fire that gutted the popular blue-collar bar named El Barril.

Proprietor George Gavito – a former Cameron County Sheriff and D.A. investigator – said he suspected that the fire had been the work of an arsonist.

"Some people have told us that a guy had been kicked out of the bar for rowdy behavior and that he vowed to get even," he said. "We have a pretty good idea who it was."

Gavito and firefighters say that the arsonist(s) had worked loose  aboard covering a window on the alley and had thrown and accelerant and ignited the fire through there.

Photos posted on his Facebook site show the extensive damage done to the establishment by the flames.

The building at one time housed the original Feldman's Liquor Store and some people remember driving through the alley to a drive-through window. Later, the original Barril nightclub extended past the current bar area in the graphic and to an adjoining area up to the wall separating it and the downtown Oyster Bar.

For those who remember El Barril, it was one of the downtown fixtures for dancing to local conjuntos and musica regional. The babes would get all charoleadas and the guys would put on their Sunday best to sweep them across the dance floor.

They might be laboring in manual jobs during the week, but come the weekend, the Stetsons and George Strait western shirts would come out of the closet and the couples would make their way to the Barril on 417 E. 11th Street behind the downtown Oyster Bar.

Gavito has not said whether he is considering rebuilding.