Snake Bite Saloon opens in Marathon
By BARBARA NOVOVITCH
MARATHON – Dark wood all around, peanut shells underfoot, gleaming longhorns over the mirror behind an extended, two-level bar that reaches almost to the player-piano topped with a bicycle dating from the early 20th century. Bright lights over a pool table beyond the bar, and to the right, more tables where a large group are laughing and munching appetizers from the Five & Dime menu of Marathon’s newest eat-and-drinkery.
That’s a visitor’s first glimpse of the Snake Bite Saloon, at 105 N. First St., newest occupant of the building nearly a century old that once housed the town’s leading grocer and store, then arts and gift galleries. Its current owners, Ron Subaba, a California transplant to Marathon, and Michelle Fleming, who grew up in Marathon, then moved to Canyon Lake, Tex., where she owned several businesses, then to California before returning ‘home’ to Marathon, will be decked out in satiny saloon costumes or cowboy attire on weekends and will greet you with a cheery ‘Come on in!’
Ron and Michelle opened Guzzi Pizza, a thriving pizza shop in the same building, just west of the Snake Bite Saloon, in late 2010. It was an immediate success, now open seven days a week from 10am to 11pm. Its customers range from Border Patrol officers to local schoolkids, tourists and their families.
Within the year, entrepreneur Neil Chavigny decided to close the Famous Burro just west of Guzzi Pizza.
“We could see that in a few months there would be fewer places for the community to get together, to have a drink and relax,” recalled Ron. The small gift shop they had started next-door didn’t really take off, so they decided to revamp for a saloon.
“We posted for the licenses in August, and Matt Meyer (a part-time Marathon resident) and I began redoing the interior.”
Night after night, the couple searched for a name that sounded like the Old West — “I thought first of chupacabra, a mythical Mexican creature, but we rejected that,” offered Michelle. Then Ron came up with Snake Bite, and that one stuck.
“We’d thought about an old-time saloon for a long time,” said Michelle, “and this seemed the perfect place. Six months down the road, we expect to be serving dinner as well as drinks and appetizers. And we plan to add a beer garden in back.”
“We concentrated on doing all the construction in the original wood, “ added Ron.
They even built a two-level hardwood bar to make use of the shorter stools that had been in the building since 1927.
For now, along with specialty cocktails such as the Texas Rattler Hiball (tequila, triple sec, orange juice, tabasco & fresh jalapenos) for $7 or the One-Eyed Snake martini (pina colada & white rum martini with a grenadine bottom) for $8 and beer ($3 for domestic and $3.50 for imported), they serve appetizers such as Fried Pickle Chips ($5), Nachos Deluxe ($10), Blackened Tequila Lime Wings ($7) or Deep Fried Broccoli Florets ($5). Pizzas, of course, can be ordered from next door.
And they plan special events– such as a Super Bowl afternoon on Sunday, Feb. 5, so patrons can enjoy the game on the 70-inch hi-def screen TV in the Copperhead Lounge — doors open at 4 p.m., and they offer a Super Bowl party pack with 10 wings, 5 potato skins, basket of rings and 6-pack of domestic beer for $32.99.
The Viper Room in back is equipped for dance music, offering a nightlclub atmosphere for younger adults (all patrons must be 21 or older), where Open Mic comedy hours are planned for two Saturdays in February.
Michelle and Ron met seven years ago in California, in the San Francisco Bay area, when both were working in the mortgage business.
Ron’s mother had immigrated from the Philippines, and he grew up in Vallejo, California. “After 20 years in corporate America,” he said, “I’m happy to have created our own business. Everything we work for, we get right back in satisfaction.”
