In September 1959, country star Marty Robbins released his song “El Paso,” which by early the next year hit No. 1 on both the country and pop charts. The song introduced the world to a restaurant in El Paso, Texas, called Rosa’s Cantina, and the tragic tale of a jealous, gun-happy cowboy and his love, Feleena, that played out there. In the song, the gunslinger kills a man, goes on the run, and then returns to Rosa’s Cantina to see Feleena one more time, even though it means his death. The song may have come from Robbins’ imagination, but Rosa’s Cantina was, and is, an actual place.
The small restaurant opened in 1957 as a bar with a limited menu and has grown over the years into a full-fledged Mexican restaurant, in part thanks to Robbins’ song. In fact, its current owner, Patricia Teyes, bought Rosa’s Cantina in 2007 for that very reason. So while country singer and actor Roy Rogers is still associated with his titular drink and Elvis with his fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, Robbins and Rosa’s are forever linked. And the connection continues to draw fans from across the world to the restaurant’s doors.
Rosa’s Cantina is still around after nearly 70 years
In the late 1950s, Marty Robbins and his family were driving home to Phoenix, Arizona, from Nashville, Tennessee, when he came across the little cantina in El Paso with the hills of nearby New Mexico just behind it. The scene inspired him to write “El Paso,” which would become his best-known hit and earn him the first Grammy Award for a country and western song in 1961. The album “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,” from which the single came, would go on to sell more than a million records. While Robbins was making hits, Rosa’s Cantina was serving drinks and food to locals in El Paso, and over the decades, the connection between the song and the cantina grew.
Robbins died of a heart attack in 1982 after a long and successful music career that included two Grammy Awards, a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and even a racing career on the NASCAR circuit. With his passing, Rosa’s became even more of a destination for his fans. Today, Rosa’s is still located at 3454 Doniphan Drive on the outskirts of El Paso. It was renovated during the COVID-19 pandemic, but retains its original look. So stop in, enjoy a cheap but tasty Lone Star beer, chow down on Martha’s Famous Burrito or beef stew with red or green chiles, buy a souvenir hat or shot glass, and be sure to sign the guestbook. But please, no gunslinging…