La Tapatia, Inc.

La Tapatia was originally a tortilla factory that was founded by Marcelino and Felipa Galvan in the early 1950s.^[8] The Galvan's daughter, Santos Garcia, worked as a tamalera at the restaurant, and continued to do so into her 70s.^[1]

In 1970, the factory was sold to Gus and Ted Rallis, who later moved the restaurant to its final location.^[8] In July 1971, a request was made to the city to rezone 61,008 square feet of land for commercial use for the new spot^[9] In July 1972, the permits were approved for building at the new location.^[10] During a corn husk shortage in 1973, Ted Rallis had to temporarily substitute parchment wrappings for their tamales.^[11][12]

El Paso politician, Alicia R. Chacón, looked into buying La Tapatia in 1979.^[13] Chacón eventually used her retirement funds and winnings from raffle tickets at a church event in San Antonio to purchase the restaurant in March of that year.^[14][15] She went into business with Edward Alvarez and his wife.^[16] When Chacón worked as an alderman in the early 1980s, her husband, Joe Chacón, ran the restaurant.^[17][18] In 1989, the restaurant was selling around 300 dozen tamales every day.^[1] In the early 90s, Chacon sold her interest in the restaurant to her sister.^[19] Esther Rosencrans was the owner of the restaurant in 1994.^[20]

In 2021, La Tapatia was featured with author, Sergio Troncoso, on La Frontera with Pati Jinich which airs on PBS.^[3]

La Tapatia sponsored a softball team in the 1970s.^[8][21] The team was part of the El Paso Major Softball League and the players were known as "The Tamale Kings."^[22][23] One player for the Tapatia team, Paul "Hoss" Lopez, was nominated for the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972.^[24]

• Tamales: Visit El Paso