Before and After

April 26, 2022 Blog, Intangible Heritage, Texas Comments (0) 249

Well, it has been over a month since my last blog, and that month has included all of Fiesta here in San Antonio, the first real Fiesta in two years and it was a blockbuster! A Night In Old San Antonio(R) our four-night event, was packed as usual for the food, drink, music and more celebrating San Antonio’s diverse cultural inheritance. This was our 73rd presentation of this event, which means it is itself a cultural expression worthy of preservation!

Doing the NIOSA shuffle

In addition to our signature Fiesta traditions, we also have a strong preservation ethic. So here are some buildings that might not make it in another city.

Up for demolition three years ago
The house two years later
Permit violations, stop work orders, what’s next?
Why, a full rehabilitation, of course.
2017
2018
Yes, this is one that relocated – we have at least one a year here
OMG a fire, you gotta tear it down, right??
That would be in second and third-tier places, not here. Preservation ain’t beanbag.

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Things are happening

March 3, 2022 Blog Comments (0) 262

March 2022 and all of a sudden I am doing tours again – Alamo, Missions, the Conservation Society’s historic house museums (Steves Homestead in King William and the Yturri-Edmunds House and Mill) and sites in between. I did a talk and walk with a Houston arts group, and all-day tour with a Houston boys school and a tour with Preservation Action auction winners this week.

Alamo chapel with new palisade and cannon. There are now five cannon on site, five more than a few years ago.

The 186th anniversary of the Alamo battle is in a few days, just as the world watches another hopelessly overmatched people try to repel an invading army, a parallel not lost on the speakers who celebrated the Texas Revolution at the Alamo yesterday.

They all got killed but then the war was won six weeks later. This cannon went in 3 years ago.

On March 16 at lunchtime we will be screening our videos on San Antonio’s historic 1960 lunch counter integration at the Instituto Cultural de Mexico in Hemisfair, followed by a panel discussion led by Sarah Zenaida Gould, PhD, of the Mexican American Civil Rights Initiative. Please join us for this free event!

Outline of the lunch counter still visible inside the San Antonio Woolworth’s, which will be part of new Alamo visitors center

This will be followed the very next night by our biannual Historic Preservation Awards honoring projects and people in and around San Antonio. This paid event has several highlights, including the restoration of City Hall and the incredible dome at Temple Beth-El. Also Texas Preservation Heroes!

Atop the hill!

This is followed by a blizzard of galas the final week of the month, including our own Capital Club event on the 22nd, the Brackenridge Park Conservancy Gala on the 23rd, and the Make It Your Mission gala on the 24th. And then it is less than a week to Fiesta!

NIOSA!!!!!!!!!

NIOSA is April 5-8 this year, so order your tickets now!

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