Quote:
Originally Posted by bilbao58
I think the most Mexico-looking thing is the big pink public library seen in a couple of my photos. Spanish missions notwithstanding, most of the rest of San Antonio is very American, with a South-Southwestern and Latino or Tejano accent to it. I do feel like I'm more in Capital-T-Texas here than I do back home in Houston. Which, to be honest, is one of the things I like about Houston. I live in a part of S.A. where it starts getting hilly. It reminds me a lot of Austin. It also reminds me of Houston 50 years ago. But suburban, everyday San Antonio can be every bit as ugly as un-zoned Houston at its worst. And the freeways are designed to kill people here!  |
It is definitely clear that most of San Antonio is both modern, and as you say VERY American. We also spent time on our trip in Austin and New Braunfels and a day at Six Flags in the hilly part of San Antonio (shameless amusement park enthusiast here), so I totally get what you're saying about the similar feel to the "hill country" part of Texas.
I guess I'm just always fascinated by the "palimpsest" of cities, and there was something about walking around downtown where I could feel the history dripping from it. Part of this might be from the layout of downtown's street grid, which is not strictly orthogonal and reminded me of Santa Fe. Part of it is probably the presence of historic colonial structures like the Cathedral and the Alamo and their associated tourism. The climate and plant life also plays a role. And of course there are the colorful modern buildings like the pink library you pointed out, but also many other buildings that seem to reference both the city's colonial architecture or sometimes a more modern "Mexican" aesthetic. In any case - the feeling of the city being a historical "layer cake" seemed very real to me (and I loved it).
I also found it interesting to learn that the city's meatpacking industry in the 19th century was closely tied to its Tejano heritage and to the railroads, which meant that the city had a complicated relationship with other parts of the state both before and during the Civil War. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but it feels like this history continues to inform the culture of the city today.