Latin nights are held every Thursday at 12 Rooftop Bar and Lounge and every Saturday at The Corner Bar and Rooftop Grill, along with other Latin-themed bars in Bryan. These ongoing Northgate Latin nights are coordinated by TAMU ACTIVO, a promoter who helps with marketing and booking DJs for Latin nights.
Latin nights started in 2019 at 12 Rooftop Bar and Lounge and have expanded to several locations with different organizers. Exito Latino, Knight Club, El Jefe and others also host Latin nights. However, El Jefe is now permanently closed according to their Facebook page.
TAMU ACTIVO got its start in 2019 when Juan Diego Gonzalez ’21, now Media Director for TAMU ACTIVO, co-founder Nicolas Alferez Hanszer ’22 and Gabriel Fula ’21, co-founder and DJ manager, organized a Brazilian-themed party to raise funds for the now inactive TAMU Colombian Student Association, or COLSA.
“I missed the Latino music and there wasn’t anywhere where we could go do that so I was like ‘Why don’t we do it ourselves?’” Godinez said.
TAMU ACTIVO hosted several events at its first venue with a capacity of around 1,000 people and started gaining recognition.
“Our following grew until we finally got a chance on Draconian [Lounge],” Gonzalez said. “Draconian let us do our night there, and then since then we’ve been hopping around, we’ve worked with quite a few bars.”
TAMU ACTIVO had issues with venue space during the start of its company. Their venues were even fined $5,000 on multiple occasions for going over capacity.
“It was a very small bar, I think the capacity was 99 people, it was very limited, you had a lot of space issues,” Gonzalez said.
Word of the Draconian’s success with Latin nights spread quickly.
“At first, the bar owners were very hesitant on giving us anything big because they’d be like ‘I don’t think that would work in College Station,’ and now everyone wants a Latin night because it makes so much money for them,” Fula said.
The Corner Bar and Rooftop Grill has been working with TAMU ACTIVO since 2020 to host Latin nights, and the event has expanded since then.
“[TAMU ACTIVO] have a huge following, so it’s definitely a bigger night,” David Godinez, general manager at The Corner Bar and Rooftop Grill said.
The Corner Bar and Rooftop Grill added Latin night to their schedule on a weekly basis after they saw the profit and crowd they were gaining.
“For the most part, when people come out to Latin night, they’ll stick to that floor, maybe like 10 percent of people will pop in…and then go to another bar or another floor,” Godinez said.
TAMU ACTIVO has had several opportunities to work with other businesses to promote Latin night, including the Bacardi Party at Shiner Park with Bacardi in 2021 and an event at 12 Rooftop Bar and Lounge with popular dating app Bumbl.
“Right now, we’re working on [establishing] tequila Tuesdays at Good Bull [Icehouse] and then potentially a Friday [Latin] night at Knight Club,” Fulo said.
Before Latin nights were held, 12 Rooftop Bar and Lounge would close in the summer but is open now because of the crowds over the summer, Gonzalez said.
“There’s really not a bad Thursday, Northgate can be dead as hell, but 12 [Rooftop Bar and Lounge] is going to be poppin’ and we’re really proud of that,” Fula said.
TAMU ACTIVO is grateful for the support of the Latin community and hopes incoming freshmen can also look to Latin Night for a sense of community, Fula said.
“Overall, we’ve been growing a lot but I think it’s because we’ve been growing this community for people that didn’t have that Latino place to be,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez also encourages everyone to come out to Latin night, he said.
“It’s also the most diverse scene in College Station for sure, like you will meet frat guys next to people that like Norteña and that doesn’t happen at any other bar,” Hanzser said.
