Mariano - The Man and His Machine - Arlington, TX - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

This sign is near the entrance to the Cantina, and it has a vintage photo of Mariano Martínez working his invention. At the bottom of the sign are the emblems of his two restaurants, Mariano's Hacienda and La Hacienda Ranch, along with the margarita named for him, The Mariano. Below "Mariano" and "The Man and His Machine" is:

In 1971, Mariano Martínez, a Mexican-American high school dropout, turned entrepreneur, imagined a unique Mexican restaurant concept which he opened with $500 and an SBA loan. The restaurant was so popular that Mariano had to reimagine how to keep up with the demand for blended margaritas. This led to his invention of the Frozen Margarita Machine, which is such a part of our culture that it now resides in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. Mariano's imagination is still evolving our margaritas to this day. He recently created our handcrafted margarita on the rocks collection.

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Right across the way is a portrait of Mr. Martínez, "The Margarita Revolutionist", captioned "Evolving the Margarita Since 1971". He stands with a serious pose, clad as someone would have dressed during La Revolución in the 19teens.

This is the flagship of Mariano Martínez's restaurants, one of two Mariano's Haciendas along with four La Hacienda Ranches. Martínez opened the original location in 1971 on Greenville Avenue at the Old Town Center, but in 2003, the landlord shifted gears and decided to go with more box stores and chains. His loss is Arlington's gain. When the restaurant first opened, its frozen margaritas were of varying consistency, so after drawing inspiration from a 7-Eleven Slurpee machine one morning, Martínez set to work modifying a soft-serve ice cream machine. It's not in Washington DC: You can see his original frozen margarita machine behind the hostess stand before you enjoy outstanding food and service.

Group that erected the marker: Mariano's Hacienda URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 2614 Majesty Dr Arlington, TX USA 76011

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Date Logged Log   04/14/2022 QuesterMark visited it