Owner Of World Famous Kentucky Club In Juárez Dies of COVID-19

On Friday, July, 24, family members took to social media confirming the death of Sergio Macedonio Peña Acosta, owner of the internationally-known Kentucky Club.

The world-famous Kentucky Club first opened back in 1920, two years after the American Prohibition, two blocks south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The Kentucky Club was just one of the famed bars visited by both locals in Juárez and El Paso. The popular bar was located on the Juárez Avenue strip, lined with bar after bar straddled next to a 5 lane, one-way street.

The legendary bar which is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year is steeped in history beginning with the claim that it was the original birthplace of the Margarita, after a bartender named Lorenzo Hernandez, created the drink for a patron named “Margarita.”

The Kentucky Club was also a hot spot for many years attracting legendary celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway, Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe. Al Capone was rumored to have stopped by the watering hole once including John Wayne, Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, and even Ronald Reagan.

Sergio Macedonio Peña Acosta, 71, had contracted COVID-19 and was feeling better when his symptoms worsened and had to be hospitalized on Thursday in El Paso for treatment. On Friday, his son confirmed on social media about his father’s passing.

Our deepest condolences go out to the Acosta family and their loved ones during this difficult time.