By Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
PHOTO FROM WWW.THETRIDENT.NET
Bobby Lazoff in his element at the Trident
June 19 was National Tequila Sunrise Day, and nowhere was that momentous occasion celebrated more righteously than here in Sausalito, where the modern version of the fruity cocktail was born.
Marin IJ Barfly columnist Jeff Burkhart reported on the origin of the colorful concoction for the National Geographic back in 2012: “The history of that drink is now pretty well documented. The name was invented at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel by Gene Sulit, but it was Billy Rice and Bobby Lozoff, two bartenders at the Trident restaurant in Sausalito, that reinterpreted that name into the drink that we know today.”
Lozoff recently told the website 7x7 how the drink went viral after a party at the Trident to kick off the Rolling Stones' 1972 U.S. tour: “The Stones were really hard to handle, so Bill [Graham] made arrangements to bring them into The Trident for a secure, intimate party. Keith Richards walked up to the bar and asked for a margarita, and I said, ‘Hey, have you ever tried this drink?’ And he went ‘Alcohol? I’ll try it.’ So I poured him the tequila sunrise, and you could sort of see the light go on in his head. Bingo. You don’t need a bartender to travel with you, just buy a bottle of Cuervo, a bottle of orange juice, and grenadine. So they picked it up and took it across the country, and called their tour the ‘cocaine and tequila sunrise tour.’ Then, The Eagles came out with ‘Just Another Tequila Sunrise.’ Tequila caught on, the sunrise caught on, and it was a big deal.”
The Eagles’ 1978 paean to the powers of the sweet-and-sour drink included the classic verse:
Take another shot of courage
Wonder why the right words never come
You just get numb
It's another tequila sunrise
This old world still looks the same
The drink’s cultural status even extended to Hollywood as the title of a 1988 American romantic crime film starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kurt Russell. The flick features a lot of drugs and tequila, and the sunrise cocktail appears to be anti-hero Gibson’s drink of choice, though it’s never mentioned by name. Kind of an uncredited appearance.
To commemorate the roughly 50th anniversary of the Stones’ adoption of the drink, the Trident and the Marin History Museum unveiled a historical marker last month. Members of the Sausalito Historical Society were honored to attend the festivities. SHS President Jerry Taylor commented: “It was an historic and delicious day.”
And what does co-inventor Bobby Lazoff think about his liquid legacy today? He told 7x7: “This is my personal opinion: Candy ass drinks suck. San Francisco is too hard drinking of a town to have silly drinks. The whole idea of this tequila sunrise was to keep it simple. If someone wants a candy ass drink where you can’t taste the alcohol, don’t drink alcohol.”