SMALL BARS DOWNTOWN GET GREEN LIGHT TO OPEN

ERNIE AVALOS TENDS BAR AT AT THE SPORTSMAN CLUB

QUEREN AND CHRIS OPENING AT LA MOVIDITA 

LETI AND HER FAITHFUL AT LA RULETA

VICKY WAITS FOR CUSTOMERS AT EL TENAMPA

(Ed.'s Note: There's no pretense in places like these. People come in dressed as they are and trade chismes with other customers. Just about everyone knows each other. And with bars being closed and on and off for months there is plenty to talk about. Brewskies are just $2. Can't beat it with a stick. Who died? Who's still around? How did you make it without lights?

Ernie Avalos, tending bar at the Sportman Club, is now in his 80s and spent a lifetime in the U.S. Army since being assigned to a Special Forces Military Advisory Group in Vietnam. His brother Albert was the first Brownsville casualty in that war and all his brothers served in the military. 

Life has a way of working in circles and the Avalos story and the Sportsman are no different. Ernie used to sneak into the bar as a shoeshine boy when it was frequented by Snowbirds from the Midwest because they tipped well. And they had to watch out for the cop Oliveira because he would run them off if he caught them inside. Now he's running the joint. Go figure.

Queren and Chris over at La Movidita still have Christmas lights on the bar showing how long it has been since the state and county shut bars down. He's into grunge and she likes karaoke, which is operated by DJ Memo. A pool table draws a small group of avid billiard fans and a juke box that is still a quarter a song keep people coming in.

La Movidita was once run by Limon, who died. La Movidita is just a play on the name. At one time Limon had La Movida in Market Square.

Her mother Lety runs La Ruleta in the third picture and when the bars closed made and sold tamales to her customers. This past holiday season – Christmas, New Years, Los Reyes Magos, La Rosca, Los Inocentes – has kept her busy.

Whoever finds the monito in la rosca has to pay for a tamalada, and she was there to provide it. Her husband also has a crop of nopales de castilla which he harvests and sells in pound bags. She also has a juke box for a quarter a song. They are hoping the cacti will survive the freeze.

At El Tenampa, Vicky, who has been a fixture there with Willy for years, patiently awaits customers who have just heard that the 14th Street beer joints are finally open, although at 50 percent business capacity.

There is no question that these small businesses work on a different rhythm that will undoubtedly begin to get back on track as time goes on. Right now they are just glad to be back working.)