THE HO-HUM OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHING
Gil Felts got his college degree in history from the Southwest Texas State Teaching College in San Marcos.
He volunteered for the draft to get it over with (1956-7). After basic training in Ft. Carlson, Colorado Springs, he
was stationed in Germany at a cushy desk job for 18 months. After the army, Gil taught social studies in Sabinal, TX
1958-9.
He taught in Knippa, TX for a while, then gave up on the mundane life of teaching.
THERE’S MERCURY IN THEM THAR HILLS!
In ’62 Gil went into ‘mercury exploration’ in Terlingua with buddy Glenn Pepper, purchasing patented mining claims
from some codger named “old man Duncan”. They practically starved to death down here, finding no mercury. Down
and out! Penniless! They lived in huts that were between the Perry mansion and what’s now the Trading Company.
Gilbert was the closest thing to a real-life Yosemite Sam, but could charm an Eskimo into buying a freezer, and
somehow conned cash out of someone to buy the old Waldron mine. He and Pepper fixed up the old ruins there,
called it “Casas de las Minas” (which is now Villa de la Mina), and Pepper gave tours and offered float trips using 2-
man rubber rafts.
BIRTH OF LA KIVA
Gil’s short attention span urged him to move on, and Pepper bought out Gil’s half of the Minas business.
Buying the property where la Kiva stands, Gil started building the now infamous cave bar in ’79, planting trees and
setting up an RV park transporting water from across the highway at Ben’s Hole.
Rocks were gathered from the South County road area. Redwood was trucked in from the Russian River Valley in
California to create the bar top and tables. Gil had a vision! According to the late Wanda & Robert Stovall and Jim
Smith, all 3 were there the first night the Kiva opened on Thanksgiving of 1980. The building was not finished, and it
was freezing in this hole in the ground! Gil’s house across the lot from Kiva was also built around this time, but
strangely he never lived in it.
Being practical, Gil realized folks in the area needed food, a drink, and a shower, not necessarily in that order.
There was a health craze at the time, with folks trying to lose weight, so Gil tried to fashion la Kiva as a “fat farm” as
he called it, putting in a hot tub (location of the patio Scorpion bar now) and a weight room full of mirrors and weight
training equipment. (This room later had a pool table, and is now used for storage). The cave room was supposed to
be for the hot tub originally (a “bath house”) with a maiden hair fern-ensconced fountain trickling from a hanging
boulder in the ceiling. The dungeon (underground storage room now) was supposed to house a water storage unit to
supply the cave room. The current “Greenhouse” had the Big Table in it (now housed in the main dining area) as a sort
of dining/conference room. Why all the glass in this heat? Gil simply wanted a view of the creek.
THE BIRDS
The plan was to acquire a breeding pair of macaws, but Gil ended up with 2 females by some blunder (one named
“Antilles”, pictured above.)
“Wakamaya” was another of Gil’s birds, a green Amazon parrot. It’s rumored that former local Lonnie Glasscock still
has this beauty.
THE URINAL & THE PENISAURUS ERECTUS
“Don’t have a pot to piss in! And nowhere to throw it out!”
Apparently this was a much beloved phrase of Gil’s, so much so it inspired him to steal a giant iron pot from his
mother’s garden and install it as the men’s urinal at la Kiva.
Gil’s brother Milton gave him the old cow bones that created the Kiva mascot, Penisaurus Erectus, without knowing
what in tarnation Gil had in mind for those bones. A Houston friend came up with its ridiculous title and created the
plaque that’s mounted beneath the sculpture.
A German nuclear physicist who was somehow involved on the Manhattan Project lived in Terlingua and used to hang
out at the bar. “Amel Omo” (phonetic spelling) was instrumental in the creation of the Penisaurus as well.
FAREWELL
Gil owned an apartment in West Hollywood for years, visiting it on short vacations, but moved there permanently
when he became seriously ill (with the AIDS virus, around 1986). We lost Gil in September of 1990. He was only 57.
Thank you kindly to Gilbert’s brother Milton Felts for relaying these details.
Gil Felts got his college degree in history from the Southwest Texas State Teaching College in San Marcos.
He volunteered for the draft to get it over with (1956-7). After basic training in Ft. Carlson, Colorado Springs, he
was stationed in Germany at a cushy desk job for 18 months. After the army, Gil taught social studies in Sabinal, TX
1958-9.
He taught in Knippa, TX for a while, then gave up on the mundane life of teaching.
THERE’S MERCURY IN THEM THAR HILLS!
In ’62 Gil went into ‘mercury exploration’ in Terlingua with buddy Glenn Pepper, purchasing patented mining claims
from some codger named “old man Duncan”. They practically starved to death down here, finding no mercury. Down
and out! Penniless! They lived in huts that were between the Perry mansion and what’s now the Trading Company.
Gilbert was the closest thing to a real-life Yosemite Sam, but could charm an Eskimo into buying a freezer, and
somehow conned cash out of someone to buy the old Waldron mine. He and Pepper fixed up the old ruins there,
called it “Casas de las Minas” (which is now Villa de la Mina), and Pepper gave tours and offered float trips using 2-
man rubber rafts.
BIRTH OF LA KIVA
Gil’s short attention span urged him to move on, and Pepper bought out Gil’s half of the Minas business.
Buying the property where la Kiva stands, Gil started building the now infamous cave bar in ’79, planting trees and
setting up an RV park transporting water from across the highway at Ben’s Hole.
Rocks were gathered from the South County road area. Redwood was trucked in from the Russian River Valley in
California to create the bar top and tables. Gil had a vision! According to the late Wanda & Robert Stovall and Jim
Smith, all 3 were there the first night the Kiva opened on Thanksgiving of 1980. The building was not finished, and it
was freezing in this hole in the ground! Gil’s house across the lot from Kiva was also built around this time, but
strangely he never lived in it.
Being practical, Gil realized folks in the area needed food, a drink, and a shower, not necessarily in that order.
There was a health craze at the time, with folks trying to lose weight, so Gil tried to fashion la Kiva as a “fat farm” as
he called it, putting in a hot tub (location of the patio Scorpion bar now) and a weight room full of mirrors and weight
training equipment. (This room later had a pool table, and is now used for storage). The cave room was supposed to
be for the hot tub originally (a “bath house”) with a maiden hair fern-ensconced fountain trickling from a hanging
boulder in the ceiling. The dungeon (underground storage room now) was supposed to house a water storage unit to
supply the cave room. The current “Greenhouse” had the Big Table in it (now housed in the main dining area) as a sort
of dining/conference room. Why all the glass in this heat? Gil simply wanted a view of the creek.
THE BIRDS
The plan was to acquire a breeding pair of macaws, but Gil ended up with 2 females by some blunder (one named
“Antilles”, pictured above.)
“Wakamaya” was another of Gil’s birds, a green Amazon parrot. It’s rumored that former local Lonnie Glasscock still
has this beauty.
THE URINAL & THE PENISAURUS ERECTUS
“Don’t have a pot to piss in! And nowhere to throw it out!”
Apparently this was a much beloved phrase of Gil’s, so much so it inspired him to steal a giant iron pot from his
mother’s garden and install it as the men’s urinal at la Kiva.
Gil’s brother Milton gave him the old cow bones that created the Kiva mascot, Penisaurus Erectus, without knowing
what in tarnation Gil had in mind for those bones. A Houston friend came up with its ridiculous title and created the
plaque that’s mounted beneath the sculpture.
A German nuclear physicist who was somehow involved on the Manhattan Project lived in Terlingua and used to hang
out at the bar. “Amel Omo” (phonetic spelling) was instrumental in the creation of the Penisaurus as well.
FAREWELL
Gil owned an apartment in West Hollywood for years, visiting it on short vacations, but moved there permanently
when he became seriously ill (with the AIDS virus, around 1986). We lost Gil in September of 1990. He was only 57.
Thank you kindly to Gilbert’s brother Milton Felts for relaying these details.
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Gil, in 1984. His hats live on.
Date unknown, with his "gambler's hat" as he
called it [recently acquired by la Kiva] and
pet macaw, Antilles.
called it [recently acquired by la Kiva] and
pet macaw, Antilles.
| GILBERT FELTS 1933 - 1990 An adventurous free spirit, "ole Gib" did all the things everyone else wanted to do - but were afraid to do. |
Date unknown.