It’s not clear where or when the Tequila Sunrise cocktail first saw light of day, but it does date to at least 1940—earlier than the Margarita.
Wikipedia: Tequila Sunrise (cocktail)
The Tequila Sunrise is a cocktail so named for the way it looks when it is poured into a glass. It is made with the following ingredients:
2 oz Tequila
4 oz Orange juice
3/4 oz Grenadine
Stir or shake tequila and orange juice with ice until chilled. Strain into glass half full of ice cubes. Pour in the grenadine and allow it to settle at the bottom of the glass, creating the ‘sunrise’. Stir before drinking.
For a “Tequila Sunset,” substitute Grenadine with blackberry brandy.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
tequila sunrise, a name given to cocktails containing tequila and grenadine.
1965 O. A. MENDELSOHN Dict. Drink & Drinking 336 Tequila Sunrise, mixed drink of tequila, lemon juice, grenadine and cinnamon liqueur.
29 September 1940, Los Angeles Times, pg. I10:
He ordered a Tequila Sunrise and she said she’d have the same because she’d never tried one.
4 May 1941, Helena (MT) Independent, pg. 2, col. 1 ad:
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL…
ZOMBIE…
BOO SNOOKER…
RUM BOOGIE…
CUBAN COOLER…
SEA BREEZE COLLINS…
SCARLETT O’HARA…
TEQUILA SUNRISE:
(Tequila and 4 Other Ingredients)
18 May 1956, Los Angeles Times, pg. B6 ad:
It’s delicious with
Jose Cuervo Tequila
TRY A TEQUILA SUNRISE
Fill glass with crushed ice
One jigger Cuervo Tequila
One teaspoonful grenadine
1/3 teaspoonful creme de cassis
Juice 1/2 lime & sparkling water
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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