San Antonio, TX

Posted October 11, 200816 yr

October 11, 200816 yr

San Antonio is great along the Riverwalk, but on street level, downtown is mostly dead. Also, while the Riverwalk is certainly beautiful, and vibrant, it seems a bit too corporate and commercialized. The part of San Antonio that I love is the Mercado. It feels like Mexico, and the food is amazing! The rest of San Antonio...ghetto!

October 11, 200816 yr

I agree. San Antonio's strength is the Mexican culture that's NOT commercialized (i.e. Riverwalk) but the little markets around town. Downtown San Antonio probably has Texas' best architecture yet agreed, it's mostly dead outside of the Riverwalk.

"You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers

October 11, 200816 yr

Yeah, I noticed that too, but the architecture was a surprise. It seemed like a nice compact downtown, but other than near the Alamo all of the action is on the river.

October 11, 200816 yr

Excellent photos. They make San Antonio's downtown look more urban than any other pics of the city I've seen. Visitors tend to concentrate on the Riverwalk even with their cameras.

October 11, 200816 yr

I spent the summer of 05 there in basic training. The heat kinda sucked and i didnt get to go downtown as much as I wanted but I still loved it. The only thing I didn't like about it was the military was pretty much everywhere. Every time I'd turn around i'd see someone walking around with their uniform on. That may not bother anyone else too much but when you're in the military its nice to get away from it every now and then. I almost took a civilian job down there a couple weeks ago but decided to stay around here. I definitely recommend a strip club called XTC...it was pretty awesome! :-D

October 12, 200816 yr

I did basic there too. It rained about one hour our of the 7 weeks I was there. People were falling out and busting their face and jaw on the ground. It was so hot, they made us drind two glasses of water before they would let us eat.

That riverwalk gives me ideas of how Akron's downtown revitalization of the Ohio Canal could turn out.

October 12, 200816 yr

Me, too - I went through basic training at Lackland in January and February of 1962, and my experience was just the opposite of yours. It was chilly/rainy/drizzly/damp and we rarely saw sunshine, and our days started well before daylight. Our barracks were ones that were built as "temporary" before World War II from white pine with exposed wall studs, and you could see light through the cracks between the wide planks that were the only things between us and the outdoors. They were awful firetraps, and we had frequent fire drills in the middle of the night; it was amazing how fast we could get 60 guys from a dead sleep to outdoors.

Our enemy wasn't heat. It was the combination of damp and chill, and I think about one-third of the guys on base (including me) got an awful deep chest cough with night sweats that lasted a week or two. At night the barracks sounded like a TB ward. I only knew of a couple of guys who got full-blown pneumonia, though, and had to be hospitalized.

I was a cocky little bastard then, anal as all hell about rules and procedures, and before long I was squad leader over a squad with some guys who didn't give a sh!t and kept dragging the rest of us down. I whipped things into shape. The sloppy guys thought I was a SOB, and I kept getting yelled at by the TI - he literally kicked my ass once - but he didn't replace me so I figured I was doing the job right. :whip:

After basic, I was at Lackland on casual status until late April waiting for my school to open up. That was pretty good duty; I had a permanent-party room in one of the barracks and supervised work details, mostly cleaning classrooms. I had a fair amount of free time and nobody bothered me much.

October 12, 200816 yr

i cant believe how much of a dump hemisphair park is. you would think a place with one of the few tourist attractions would be well maintained.

there is some nice architecture (i love crockett hotel) but the street life is completely dead unless you count the ripleys across from the alamo.

i went to the river walk on a friday night and felt like i was hearded cattle. it was nice but was soooooo packed it was hardly worth it. and it is unreal that it is so detached from the city, you have to look for signs because you can hardly even get a glimpse from the street. but i guess that happens when your river is a narrow canal.

October 13, 200816 yr

I caught the flu in basic. My choices were to either deal with it or sit it out in the hospital and re-do basic. Well, you know what my choice had to be. I dealt with it. I started as a Squad Leader and got fired and recycled after 1 bad day of getting caught eating M&M's, stuffing my laundry down my All Weather Coat, someone tossed a penny on my bead (You AF Vets know what a problem that is) and I was so pissed, I kicked and bent an ironing board. That was a bad day. I got recycled 4 days, which was like 4 extra weeks. Town pass in San Antonio was nice, though. Didn't get any, but did plenty of looking and flirting.

October 13, 200816 yr

Nice!

October 13, 200816 yr

very nice work.

downtown outside of the alamo/riverwalk may not be the livelist place, but certainly san antonio does not lack for interesting activity surrounding downtown. actually, i'd say all the non-tourist local action is off the riverwalk.

as mentioned, just the west is the mercado, which is ok. although it can be pretty dead sometimes, when its very active its a good place to stroll around for tchochkes, chow and free entertainment.

on the opposite side of of downtown is the sunset station square, another neighborhood that has not only the beautiful old train station, but lots of interesting rehabs, new developments and yes streetlife.

the northern alamo heights neighborhood has the fancy restaurants, is full of businesses and has nice density, even if is only sorta interesting. i usually stay around there as you can find hotels and b&b's that are a better bargain than along the riverwalk.

and finally, the best neighborhood in sa that i know of is right there just south of the riverwalk downtown. its called king william/southtown. its on the way to the mission trail and is the local funky arts district. there are some lively stretches. also just south is the old pearl brewery area, where lots of interesting redevelopment is going on.

anyhoo, despite its impressive, if quiet downtown, there is no lack of stuff to see or do or even -- considering the heat -- streetlife.

October 13, 200816 yr

Love the photos Clevelumbus. The architecture is definitely a surprise coming out of Texas. The riverwalk looks cool no matter how corporate/chainy. Overall it seems like San Antonio is what Indianapolis is striving to become for better or worse.

October 13, 200816 yr

You know, when I was down in San Antonio last year, I kept thinking that the city just felt like Indy. In the downtown portions of the city, it feels like a big mall or sort of fake...and I get those same vibes from Indy. SA is better though because it has a genuine and unique Mexican culture that it adds to the chains to keep the place from feeling too commercialized.

Indy even stole their manufactured "river" walk idea...

October 14, 200816 yr

I agree that it looks too fake but I like the fact that it's at least creative. Personally I was really surprised that San Antonio would do something that outlandish.

I remember someone brought up that canal idea for Over-the-Rhine.

October 14, 200816 yr

I lived in San Antonio from 2000 till 2003 and really liked it. Of course I was a newlywed then, so I'd have been happy anywhere.

Downtown is dead essentially because no one lives there. Most of the people in the area do live in the City though. As people have moved outwards into the sprawl, the city has aquired more and more land to keep its expanding population within the city. While the sprawl is sad to see, it has allowed the city to be in a financial situation where it can afford to rehab a lot of its older neighborhoods. They're still crimeridden old neighborhoods, but at least they're nice enough that some people are willing to live there.

The city is very very auto centric and there's not a significant portion of the population that uses public transit. It doesn't help that VIA, the local transit agency is very poorly run. (I worked there part-time for a little while and know for a fact how poorly it's run. I was one of the only workers in the main office that didn't drive to work if that gives you an idea.)

October 15, 200816 yr

I was born and raised in S.A., until I left for college, moved to Cleveland, and never looked back. Every time I visit, I'm a little more aghast at how much it is sprawling. For example, the tenth photo in the series, taken from the plane, is of Loop 410. Just twenty years ago, it was a six lane highway. The neighborhood that I lived in was on the northwest outskirts of the city, fronted by a two-lane Farm-to-Market road (state highway). It's now six lanes, not including two-lane frontage roads on either side.

Moving to Cleveland, it was a wonder to live someplace where one could actually walk and bike to work or for daily needs. Even in the poorest neighborhoods in S.A. (where sidewalks still don't exist and where flooding takes place at least once a year), folks drive EVERYWHERE.

But, the food is great, the people are really nice, and if you are looking for where the locals hang, head for Southtown or North St. Mary's Street. This is the thing, though: places that look "ghetto" (*ahem*, edale) typically include AMAZING restaurants and bars that the tourists will never get to see unless they're with a local. While the out-of-towners are eating mediocre Tex Mex downtown, folks in the know go to places like Jacala off of I-10 or places that look like dives from the outside but contain beautiful spaces within.

October 15, 200816 yr

I was born and raised in S.A., until I left for college, moved to Cleveland, and never looked back. Every time I visit, I'm a little more aghast at how much it is sprawling. For example, the tenth photo in the series, taken from the plane, is of Loop 410. Just twenty years ago, it was a six lane highway. The neighborhood that I lived in was on the northwest outskirts of the city, fronted by a two-lane Farm-to-Market road (state highway). It's now six lanes, not including two-lane frontage roads on either side.

Moving to Cleveland, it was a wonder to live someplace where one could actually walk and bike to work or for daily needs. Even in the poorest neighborhoods in S.A. (where sidewalks still don't exist and where flooding takes place at least once a year), folks drive EVERYWHERE.

But, the food is great, the people are really nice, and if you are looking for where the locals hang, head for Southtown or North St. Mary's Street. This is the thing, though: places that look "ghetto" (*ahem*, edale) typically include AMAZING restaurants and bars that the tourists will never get to see unless they're with a local. While the out-of-towners are eating mediocre Tex Mex downtown, folks in the know go to places like Jacala off of I-10 or places that look like dives from the outside but contain beautiful spaces within.

Yeah...the area between the AT&T Center and downtown isn't ghetto... :roll:

when even locals working at the AT&T center tell you they wouldn't walk through the area after a game, I don't think I'm being overly critical.

October 15, 200816 yr

as mentioned, just the west is the mercado, which is ok. although it can be pretty dead sometimes, when its very active its a good place to stroll around for tchochkes, chow and free entertainment.

Yeah, one night I was there and it was PACKED and I was literally about one of ten non Mexicans. It was awesome and totally an immersion experience. I asked someone if there was a festival, and they replied that no, it was just a friday night with some bands playing and vendors selling food (which to me signifies festival, but I guess this must be common there?). I went back the next night and the place was DEAD...very stark contrast.

The other thing I noticed about San Antonio is that much of the populace looks to be stuck in the late 80's/early 90's. The way they dressed, the music, cars, hair styles---everything. Much of the city looks like they could have been extras for the movie "Selena" lol

October 15, 200816 yr

The other thing I noticed about San Antonio is that much of the populace looks to be stuck in the late 80's/early 90's. The way they dressed, the music, cars, hair styles---everything. Much of the city looks like they could have been extras for the movie "Selena" lol

Agreed! But its the SouthWest and those MessyKans don't know any better.

October 15, 200816 yr

Nice prejudice, people.

October 15, 200816 yr

Nice prejudice, people.

Naaaaaaaaaaa, its reality! :evil:

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San Antonio, TX

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