The origins of the margarita cocktail, a beloved staple of American bars, trace back to a complex interplay of cross-border cultural exchange during the early 20th century. Today, the drink is typically made with tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur, but its history is more nuanced and contested. Different accounts suggest various places and people as the creators of the drink, highlighting the shared influences of American and Mexican culture. One popular story credits Danny Herrera, a bartender in San Diego, with inventing the margarita in the late 1940s. This claim was mentioned in obituaries from the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times after Herrera’s death in 1992. However, the San Diego Reader later questioned this, pointing to an earlier claim that the drink was invented in 1940 at Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada, Baja California, by bartender Don Carlos Orozco. This theory was supported by a 1992 report from the Baja California History Seminar, titled Memorias. Cocktail historian David Wondrich proposed an even earlier origin, citing a 1936 article from an Iowa newspaper that mentioned a "tequila daisy" served in a Mexican bar run by an Irishman. He noted that the tequila daisy, which uses tequila, citrus juice, and a sweet liqueur, is closely related to the Spanish word margarita, meaning "daisy." This suggests the name may have been applied to the drink later, even as its form had already existed. The Prohibition era (1920–1933) played a significant role in the spread of tequila cocktails across the U.S. During this time, American patrons flocked to Mexican border towns like Tijuana, Mexicali, and Ciudad Juárez to legally enjoy alcohol. This led to the rise of Mexican bars and clubs catering to American tastes, such as the Kentucky Club and the Aloha Club. These interactions helped popularize tequila cocktails like the tequila sour and daisy, which were likely the precursors to the modern margarita. The cultural exchange between the U.S. and Mexico during this time also influenced other aspects of dining and drinking. For example, the Caesar salad was invented in Tijuana in 1924 by Caesar Cardini, who later moved to San Diego after Prohibition ended. The margarita, like the Caesar salad, reflects the blending of American and Mexican culinary traditions. While the exact origins of the margarita remain debated, the drink stands as a symbol of the dynamic cross-cultural influences that shaped the borderlands during the early 20th century.