(Yes, this is the same club that was immortalized in song by the Dead Milkmen's "Tacoland".)
Vianna Davila
Express-News Staff Writer
The owner of Taco Land, a landmark San Antonio night club once immortalized in song, was fatally shot at the bar around 1:21 this morning in an incident that sent two other people to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
Ramiro Albert Ayala, 72, was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m., according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office. Ayala is listed as the bar's owner, the medical examiner said.
Details of the shooting were sketchy, but San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Matt Podwika said two men were inside the bar when words were exchanged and at least one of the men opened fire.
"We don't know exactly what was said between ( the victims) and the suspects," he said.
Ayala was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center with a wound to the left side of the chest. A 40-year-old woman who was shot in her abdomen, and a 54-year-old man shot in the side, were taken to University Hospital, according to Podwika.
It appears the two suspects fled in an unknown vehicle with the money in the bar's cash register, the sergeant said.
A Dec. 12, 2000, article in the San Antonio Express-News said Ayala opened his business, at 103 W. Grayson, in 1965, selling food to workers from the soda bottling plants that once operated in the area. He turned the business into a bar in 1969.
― The Kind and Benevolent Oracle of Dee (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 25 June 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)
(Oh wow. I did my parenthetical statement before reading the article! So I didn't seek to steal "immortalized in song".)
(Anyway. Thought some of you might be interested in this.)
― The Kind and Benevolent Oracle of Dee (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 25 June 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)
i posted over on the Dead Milkmen thread too, but am told that there was a huge wake for Ram last night at Tacoland. there are lots of my friends still reeling from this loss. Tacoland has remained a vital part of SA nightlife for punk-rock for decades and it's definitely lost now. that land on the newly annexed SA river is prime real estate and some dive bar don't exactly pay those dividends anymore...
― the Ergotnaut, Saturday, 25 June 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)
three months pass...
I played a few shows at Taco Land and I knew Ram very well. I think that he won money when the Spurs won the championship due to a bet he made. The people did not want to pay up so they shot him. He will always be remembered as a kind and unusual person. I hope that the punk scene does not die in San Antonio along with Ram. And I miss those taco as now I live in Bumfuck Utah!
― Jonathan Hale, Friday, 7 October 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)
aside from the fact that i was at the NNCK Tacoland show, what is the ever borneo! connection?
and GWAR used to have a stage set that re-created Tacoland, which they would then destroy every single night. not sure what tour that would've been but that's even more a tribute.
and the jukenbox there had LOADS of Tacoland songs, so it's way more than two...
― Beta (abeta), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:35 (twenty years ago)
Although I never set foot in Tacoland and never met the man, I did hear many fine stories about and imitations of him from those that had. RIP.
― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)
I heard a story, and I heard it repeated many times, about a guy who was in a band that was playing there who asked for a glass of water. Ram replied, in that clipped Texas Mexican accent: "Water? You don't drink water, you drink BEER, you fcuking psusy!"
― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 10 October 2005 00:08 (twenty years ago)