Murphy St. Raspa Co.

Unlike San Anto, West Texas tends to get (and stay) a bit chilly during the winter. The plus? Snow! The not-so-plus? Our bread and butter is shaved ice and ice cream.

And while we do offer many other items, business loses steam after New Year’s Day and starts picking up a month later.

Hurry and tell us why we should care

Murphy St. Raspa Co. will be closed for a while in January. Starting tomorrow, January 1st, you we’ll be cerrado, planning to re-open near the end of the month.

We’ll be heading down to Mexico to pick up stuff for the shop, and it gives the ice maker a break.

Sooooo….

Please stay tuned to Facebook and this site for an exact date AND new items n’ stuff.

AY MIJO, WHAS THAT?

Well, Murphy St. Raspa Co.’s backyard area—or La Yarda, as we colloquially refer to it—is going to have food and drinks and seating for our customers. We see it as a mashup of a playground, a beer garden and a culinary extension of our store. We’re currently working on a beer and wine retailer’s license to give the moms and dads and their friends something to do while their kids are playing in the lil’ playground or gulping down shaved ice.

We’ll be open, working out the kinks and figuring out how to do this starting today (Saturday) at 6pm. We’ll be having a grand opening later in the month, and hopefully by the end of the month have our beer n’ wine license and make a big deal out of that.

And in case you were wondering or waiting for me to not mention it, no, Yarda is not correct Spanish. Our vernacular is vulgar but fun, a homage to where we grew up (read: San Anto).

Just be glad I’m not telling you where to parquear yr carro.

PUES, WHY DIDDED YOU INVITE ME!?!?

La Yarda will be opening September 2011, three can-you-believe-it years after the opening of Murphy St. Raspa Co.

And we didn’t invite you because you said you couldn’t go anywhere this month.

PUES, I WAS JUST BEING CAREFUL IN CASE A DEBUT CAME UP.

Ah, yes. So, as we get our act together, we’ll be offering selling set-ups for anyone who wants to bring some drinks.

When we first landed in West Texas, we acted like the new gentry around plants, pretending we’d always grown up with the wealth of information on flora that everyone out here has.

“Goatheads? Why, yes, they make such lovely Christmas wreaths!”

However, after a few years, we’re quite certain we know what a “cactus” is.

If you think yr so chingon about green stuff that grows out of the ground, then you’ll want to see some of the region’s incredible flora here at Murphy St. Raspa Co.

Jeff Keeling’s show, Wildflowers of the Chihuahuan Desert, is an incredible collection of desert plants presented in a revealing and stunningly still way.

We’re proud to host this show; it’s like nothing we’ve ever had here at the store before. The reception is tonight, Friday, August 19, 2011 from 6 to 9. There’ll be refreshments and the artist at arm’s length to explain his creations. Come on over, Mr. Smartyplants!*

(Now, for everyone who can’t read words in sentences anymore…)

TONIGHT FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2011

Reception for Jeff Keeling’s Wildflowers of the Chihuahuan Desert

6pm to 9pm

100 W Murphy in Alpine, Texas

*see what we did there? ZING!

So, you stand behind yr grandma’s (or yr tia’s) arm barricade while the piñata breaks and the ferocious pack of salivating kids pounces on the still-spilling candy. Yes, all the other adults are screaming, trying to get that little monster to stop swinging. Yes, yr primo did lose three teeth and an eyebrow because he was a pendejo and went out when Optimus Prime’s leg was barely just a little torn. But you missed out, vato. They already took all the SweeTarts and the cherry Jolly Ranchers. You’re getting two handfuls of smooshed Tootsie Rolls and half a Blow-Pop, tops.

Well, you don’t have to let that be the last memory of piñatas you’ll ever have. Head over here and rescue this Not-A-Dallas Cowboy piñata before we have to sell it to some clever border hipsters who’ll fill it with Barca (srsly!?!) and Chivas stickers.