The origin of the Margarita is problematical. It has been attributed to the Garcia Crespo Hotel in Puebla, Bertita’s Bar in Taxco, a San Antonio party girl in Alcapulco, the Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, and even places in Los Angeles and San Diego. Wherever it was invented, it had gained popularity by the 1930’s in both Mexico and the United States. My parents spoke of enjoying Margaritas in the ‘30s in Guaymas. The Hussong family, who have owned Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada, Baja California, since the 1860’s, did not claim to have invented the Margarita, but they have served them since the 30’s and claimed their recipe to be as original as exists. Hussong’s was a favorite watering hole of the fishing and hunting crowd out of Southern California in the 40’s and 50’s, and I had my first taste of a Margarita there around 1948 or 49. Before he died in the early 1960’s, Dick Hussong gave me their origional Margarita recipe, seldom used by then for tourists, and I have preserved it. Hussong’s has changed over the years, and is now one hell of a fall-down-on-your-face tourist and surfer bar, but sadly, with tourist-surfer Margaritas. Here, though, is Dick Hussong’s recipe as he gave it to me: