Austin – As the holiday season starts across the state of Texas, a popular place for friends, coworkers, and even a few families is the neighborhood bar. But if you happen to live in the Crestview area of north Austin, your local pub celebrates that holiday season all year long. “It’s just been a staple of the neighborhood and it’s always been friendly and welcoming,” said Mike Lavigne, a regular at Lala’s
Sunny Allen is the GM of Lala’s Little Nugget, where Noel’s are sung nightly. “So we’re super regular-based. It’s a neighborhood bar. It’s my go-to bar,” said Sunny. “We get a lot of people in here that just love Christmas.”
Decorated from top to bottom in Christmas cheer, Lala’s is one of those places that never puts away the Christmas décor. There’s even a countdown to Christmas clock! New Years eve, eat your heart out. “Oh, just think gaudy, throwing up Christmas Everything you can think of,” said Sunny. “We live by the Christmas spirit and we love that vibe and that’s what we can offer anybody.”
All of this got started in 1972 by one Francis Lala. “She was the namesake, Francis Lala,” said Sunny. “Lala’s Little Nugget, which some people think it’s Falalalala. It’s Francis Lala. She’s the matriarch.”
Francis ran her bar till 2015 when she retired at the age of 85. She spent her final Christmas on Earth in 2016 but her spirit lives on at Lala’s and from what we’ve heard, she was one tough Texas lady. “Didn’t take no guff from no one,” said Mike, the regular. “I mean, I saw her kick out people 10 times her size. It was always a trip when she was here and she was pretty much always here, just smoking behind the bar and giving you the shortest possible pour within the law. She was terrific. She was a very funny lady.”
But what made Francis so fond of the most festive time of year? That’s sort of a Texas tale depending on who you ask. “There are many theories, and one of them is Kenny Chesney’s song, Jesus and Elvis was actually written in this bar,” said Sunny. “If you turn around, there’s a velvet Elvis, and it’s Jesus and Elvis painted on velvet and it tells a story about how her son went off to Vietnam and she kept the decorations up for whenever he returned. He didn’t return, so they never came down. There is also a theory that her husband left her and she fell into a deep depression and didn’t take them down. And then another theory is she put all the Christmas decorations up and she went through Christmas season, tried to take them down, the walls were too bare. She put them all back up and was like, ‘We’re a Christmas bar now.’ And can’t tell you which one’s true, but yeah. The rumors go around.”
Well I’m not one to ruin a Christmas story, instead I prefer sipping on a Santa Claus Cocktail while enjoying a few holiday hits on the jukebox. “We have a jukebox, a very old school jukebox in the back, and it has Christmas music on it,” said Sunny. “We do play the occasional Christmas song here and there, but let’s get real. The staff would lose their mind. The regulars would lose their mind if we did it all the time. So we usually play non-mainstream stuff, nothing repetitive. And then Christmas season, obviously, we fully embrace the Christmas spirit and go all out.”
Lala’s, if you can imagine, does in fact open on Chrsitmas day, albeit under adjusted hours. “We are open Christmas Day,” said Sunny. “Yeah, we open at 7:00. Get your family time, then you get to relieve yourself from your crazy uncle.”
In the end this is about celebrating the season, lifting up each other spirits, and remembering to appreciate this wonderful life because no man is a failure who has friends. “Loving people all around,” said Sunny. “Christmas just brings joy to everybody. And us being a Christmas bar, everybody kind of gets a little bit of nostalgia every time they walk in, which is really nice. And you can tell people Merry Christmas when they leave every single day of the year.”