The Liverpool of Mexico

"By 1966, flower power was taking hold. It was live music – rock, blues, Beatles fare – bringing young Americans. The bands, most members sporting Beatles-length hair, were vibrant and loud.
"And at the center of it all was Mike’s Bar, the place that would become a legend among Mexican musicians and American youths, their Mecca, their Whisky A Go Go. Four bands played there 18/7. And when Mike’s Bar opened another Mike’s in the same block on Avenida Revolución, there were eight bands, doubling the audience as well as the fun."

Fernando Romero in Los Angeles City Beat marks the death of Raúl “Socio” Crespo Villardel, kingpin of the 1960s music scene in Tijuana.