My favorite cantina, Tío Pepe, is a place that has a warm homely environment: most customers go there regularly and are good friends with Don Sebastian, the bartender who has worked there since he was 17.
Tío Pepe is located at Chinatown which, even if it is probably the smallest in the world, at night, when they light up all the red paper lanterns of the alley, turns into one of the most beautiful spots of the city. Tío Pepe is among the oldest cantinas and all this time it has been part of fascinating events. It was, during the Mexican Revolution, the meeting point of a gang known as The Gang of the Gray Car, a group of thieves that dressed up as officers, presented a search warrant to wealthy families to rob them, and ran away in a gray Fiat 1914.
Later on, it became a place frequented by William Burroughs – no wonder, since Chinatown was, during the 50s, the right place to go if you were looking for opium. Tío Pepe also went through the elimination of the ban on women in cantinas, so the sign that you can still read on the wall that says “Entrance is forbidden to minors, women and street vendors”, though it used to be real, nowadays is nothing more that a souvenir. This is why this place is so charming. It makes you get lost in the Mexican 20th century. So go ahead, have a drink, and get lost in time.
