It was 1934, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had just repealed prohibition at the close of 1933, and a year later, Mexican president Lázaro Cárdenas would outlaw gambling and close Tijuana's world famous Agua Caliente Casino and Hotel. This was the state of things in Tijuana the year Don Angel opened the Club Corona--the party was over, Al Capone was locked up in Alcatraz; Margarita Carmen Cansino, aka, Rita Hayworth was a 16 year old entertainer in Tijuana clubs; and the Hollywood elite returned home the novelty of legal boozing north of the border. 

Sr. Angel's northern style burritos soon became the hot ticket items on the menu, and in 1940 he changed the name to its current, Bol Corona. This was just the right food at the right time when workers started flooding in to Tijuana during WWII to take part in the Bracero program, which had Mexican workers come north to replace American laborers fighting overseas. Hearty stews and braises wrapped in a handmade flour tortilla were affordable and portable--Bol Corona developed a slightly larger burrito than those found in Sonora, and a winning set of fillings that has helped this franchise endure for almost 80 years, and it's still going strong.

Let's face it--New Year's Eve is a rip-off. It's a night of price-gouging and impossible missions to make it safely back home, at least without having to pay for an expensive limo service. As a professional musician, I've spent most of my New Year's Eve's sober and dreading the running-of-the-borrachos, drive home at 1 a.m., but have chosen in recent years to take the night off. A couple of those New Year's Eve's have been in Tijuana--there will be parties from TJ to Cabo, but Tijuana is the preferred destination to get wild.

There's nothing you can't do north of the border to ring in the new year in terms of restaurant packages and clubbing--it's just a whole lot cheaper. Most of the restaurants in the Zona Rio will have four-course meals with champagne for under $100, then it's off to Las Pulgas for la noche paisa to hear some banda, or shaking your ass with the fresas at Classico (this gets my vote), or doing the Mexi-hipster stumble down La 6ta. There are plenty of cabs to drive you to the border, or take you to your hotel--it's an affordable night of traditional New Year's Eve activities, and your breakfast options are plentiful in fighting la cruda. Here are a couple of ways to ring in the New Year in Tijuana.

One of the many generous concessions to foreign investors during the Porfiriato was a 70-year contract granted to the Compagnie du Boleo to mine copper in the town of Santa Rosalia,B.C.S from 1885 until their tax exemption ended in 1954. The venture ended in a state of bankruptcy, and all attempts since then to revive the mine haven't been profitable. The French mining company installed a prefabricated metal church designed by Alexandre Gustav Eiffel, French architecture, and a bakery to give homesick Frenchmen the dignity of fresh baguettes. 

It took a few years for Panaderia El Boleo to arrive(there must of been mutinous talk at the close of the 19th Century),but it was clearly designed to feed an army of workers with its gigantic ovens. I had never lucked out driving to and from Loreto to experience Santa Rosalia by day--at night it almost feels like a ghost town--until a few summers ago when I got to see the Southern Baja California's northernmost outpost on the Sea of Cortez at sunrise. We had to wait for signs of life in the sleepy town that France forgot, but were rewarded with some of the best pan dulce I've ever tasted--this is a required stop for all Baja adventurers road-ripping the peninsula. 

When privates John Winger and Russell Ziskey in the Cold War classic Stripes thought of picking the girls up in West Germany for a joy ride in the EM-50, aka Urban Assault Vehicle, it would have been nice if they'd saved some room in that bad boy for some booze,no? The EM-50, while great for picking up girls in Minsk, is no match for a brilliant, revolutionary RV that has hit the dusty trails of the Valle de Guadalupe. 

Leading Mexican oenologist, and Valle de Guadalupe leader Hugo D'Acosta is always thinking out of the box, and has a mind for aesthetics and design. D'Acosta, his brother Alejandro, and Hugo's wife Claudia Turrent--both architects--have been etching an indelible imprint on wine making and construction in the Valle. In 1992 they began the Estación de Oficios, more well-known as la escuelita (the little school), for local winemakers, which has been instrumental in moving the Valle into the current trend of boutique wineries. Then came La Contra--arguably Mexico's best wine shop--a small chain which brings D'Acosta's wines and the labels produced at la escuelita to the Mexican market. But this past summer they outdid themselves with La Contra Mobil, a converted 1980's model Allegro RV that's been outfitted with wine racks, a wine fridge for whites, and a central cooling system--it's the world's first wine truck!

Things have been picking up lately in Baja. Mexican-Americans, or pochos, from San Diego are getting their drink on at the ever popular La Sexta(La Revu for Tijuanans)--even touristy Puerto Nuevo is reporting visitors coming from all over the US to experience lard-fried lobster with giant flour tortillas, and refried beans. Every where I go I run into blond-haired, blue-eyed San Diegans in the Valle de Guadalupe tasting wine, lining up for a sea urchin tostada from Dona Sabina in Ensenada, or at one of our regular stops in Tijuana--last time I was at El Mazateno, Ryan Seacrest's doppelganger walked up to me and said he was coming down for their famous shrimp taco because he read about it in our articles, and had to have it. Down in Ensenada, Hussong's and Papas and Beer are once again packed full of conga-lining, zarape wearing crazies swimming in tequila and beer.

Having been going down to Baja on a monthly basis since just after the Millennium, and visiting with even more frequency during Tijuana's darkest period(around 2009-2010)through today--I've witnessed it's return to calm. What still remains a complete drain on many people's trip across the border is the oppressive wait to drive back across--usually more than 2 hours. To watch a drop in visitors after the sensationalized tales of drug war violence, the new passport requirement placed on travelers by the WHTI, and then the H1N1 panic of 2009(far more died in the US), you'd think the line would move faster, but no! When it comes to service and efficiency, the US Customs and Border Protection agency makes the US Postal Service look like Chipotle. But there's good news--food and shopping while driving through the San Ysidro gate crossing has never been better--here's a few pointers to pass the time while border agents yawn and dawdle their way through your inspection process.