LaVillita & the Riverwalk Boat Tour 4/29/2010

This morning we headed into San Antonio again, this time to walk through LaVillita and to take the Riverwalk Boat Cruise and Tour. LaVillita is a one square block area of shops and restaurants located in the heart of San Antonio. Located on the south bank of the San Antonio River, La Villita was San Antonio's first neighborhood. It was originally a settlement of primitive huts for the Spanish soldiers stationed at the Mission San Antonio Valero (the Alamo). After a flood in 1819, brick, stone and adobe houses replaced the earlier structures. In 1836, La Villita was the site of General Santa Ana's cannon line in the Battle of the Alamo and a map from early that year showed the village to be of considerable size.
Late in the 19th century European immigrants from Germany and France moved into the area. These pioneers became San Antonio's business leaders, bankers, educators, and craftsmen. The cultural mix that occurred at this time is best illustrated by the variety of architectural styles reflected in La Villita's buildings. The architecture portrays the evolution of buildings from palisado to Victorian Houses.
The first part of the 20th century saw La Villita decline into a slum area. In 1939, as ground broke on the San Antonio River Walk development, city fathers led by Mayor Maury Maverick acted to preserve this colorful part of San Antonio's history. Today La Villita is a thriving art community that stands as a monument to San Antonio's past.
We also saw The Little Church at LaVillita. The cornerstone was laid for the church on March 2, 1879. Several denominations have held services here. It is now an active non-denominational church and a favorite site for weddings. It was a lovely small church as you can see by the pictures. We also walked in and saw Mustang Grey's a distinct blend of Texas clothing, hats, art and leather and the Guadalajara Grill which serves traditional food of Old Mexico.


After we were done walking through LaVillita we walked down and got tickets for the Riverwalk Boat Tour. The San Antonio River Walk (also known as Paseo del Río) is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath downtown San Antonio, Texas. Lined by bars, shops and restaurants, the River Walk is an important part of the city's urban fabric and a tourist attraction in its own right.
Today, the River Walk is an enormously successful special-case pedestrian street, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws from the Alamo to Rivercenter mall, to the Arneson River Theatre close to La Villita, to HemisFair Park, to the Tower Life Building, to the San Antonio Museum of Art, and the Pearl Brewery. During the annual springtime Fiesta San Antonio, the River Parade features flowery floats that literally float.
In September 1921, a disastrous flood along the San Antonio River took fifty lives. Plans were then developed for flood control of the river. Among the plans was to build an upstream dam (Olmos Dam) and bypass a prominent bend of the river in the downtown area (between current day Houston Street and Villita Parkway), then to pave over the bend, and create a storm sewer.
Work began on the Olmos Dam and bypass channel in 1926; however, the San Antonio Conservation Society successfully protested the paved sewer option. No major plans came into play until 1929, when San Antonio native and architect Robert Hugman submitted his plans for what would become the River Walk.
Hugman endorsed the bypass channel idea (which would be completed later that year) but, instead of paving over the bend, Hugman suggested 1) a flood gate at the northern (upstream) end of the bend, 2) a small dam at the southern (downstream) end of the bend, and 3) a tainter gate in the channel to regulate flow. The bend would then be surrounded by commercial development, which he titled "The Shops of Aragon and Romula". Hugman went as far as to maintain his architect's office along the bend.
Casa Rio restaurant
Hugman's plan was initially not well-received – the area was noted for being extremely dangerous (at one point, it was declared off-limits to military personnel) and he was repeatedly warned that he would be "drowned like a rat" the next time the river flooded. However, over the next decade support for commercial development of the river bend grew, and crucial funding came in 1939 under the WPA which resulted in the initial construction of a network of some 17,000 feet of walkways, about 20 bridges, and extensive plantings including some of the bald cypress (others are several hundred years old) whose branches stretch up to 10 stories and are visible from street level.
Hugman's persistence paid off; he was named project architect. His plan would be put to the test in 1946, when another major flood threatened the downtown San Antonio area, but the Olmos Dam and bypass channel would minimize the area damage. Casa Rio, a landmark River Walk restaurant, would become the first restaurant in the area in 1946, opening next door to Hugman's office.
Through the following decades the network has been improved and extended. One major extension of the River Walk was performed by the joint venture of two general contractors Darragh & Lyda Inc. and H. A. Lott Inc. to Tower of the Americas as part of HemisFair '68. That was also the year the Hilton Palacio del Rio was built, the first of many downtown hotels that leverage their slice of urban "riverfront."
In 1981 the Hyatt Regency San Antonio opened with a new pedestrian connector that linked Alamo Plaza to the River Walk with concrete waterfalls, waterways and indigenous landscaping. Known as the Paseo del Alamo, this river "extension" actually flows from Alamo Plaza into the San Antonio River through the atrium of the hotel. This connector not only allows the hotel to market itself as being on Alamo Plaza and on the River Walk, but it provides the city with an urban park that connects the city's two largest tourist attractions.
Many downtown buildings like the Casino Club Building have street entrances and separate river entrances one level below. This separates the automotive service grid (for delivery and emergency vehicles) and pedestrian traffic below, and creating an intricate network of bridges, walkways, and old staircases. The San Antonio Spurs had their four NBA Championship victory parades/cruises along the river.
Expansion plans are underway for areas of the river north and south of downtown. As chain restaurants and establishments have begun to flourish, now taking up about a third of commercial space, talk has begun at City Hall about limiting their existence on the River Walk and keeping a distinctively local flair. On May 30, 2009 the city opened the $72 million Museum Reach.
After years of murmuring from locals and tourists about the water's quality, talk has also begun about cleaning up the water, although the muddy bottom and silt deposits make this difficult. The muddy bottom does receive an annual cleaning during the Mud Festival.
The tour was wonderful and it really is amazing how beautiful it is. Our guide was very informative and has lived in San Antonio all his life. The restaurants were spectacular as were the hotels and our guide said you could come to the Riverwalk and and have a different kind of food each night for 2 weeks. As you can see by the pictures they also have a mall, River Center Mall. If you notice the pictures of the mural along the convention center wall all the colors in that inlaid tile mural are natural except the darker blue. At the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, this mural is visible from The Riverwalk, on the facade of the Lila Cockrell Theater. The mural, Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas, was created by Juan O'Gorman as part of the 1968 HemisFair (the World's Fair). The mural symbolizes the progress made by the confluence of civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. Adam and Eve are in the middle; European civilization is depicted on the right, and indigenous meso-American civilization on the left. The Tower of the Americas (built for the HemisFair in 1968) also symbolizes the confluence of civilizations. After we were done the tour, which lasted about 35 minutes, we did do 2 caches located on the Riverwalk close to where we boarded the boat. One was a virtual and the other a traditional near a iron sculpture. After we were done it was early after noon so we headed back to the coach for the day.

The pictures I posted of the little bars and businesses are what we see as we drive into San Antonio from the campgrounds everyday. The section of town we drive through is located in a strictly Spanish-Mexican area of the city. Rather seedy looking to say the least.

Also we went to a local butcher shop the other day and got what they call a bundle of beef. It was 3lbs of boneless sirloin, 3lbs of NY strip steak, 3 lbs of boneless ribeye and 3 lbs of T-bone for only $76.00 and it was out of this world.....must be that Texas beef.

Well that's about all for today so until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick