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Boiler House
The former Pearl Brewery has been transformed into a very nice conglomeration of restaurants, shops, outdoor markets, music events, and so forth. The old boiler house is now home to a restaurant called – this is complicated! – the Boiler House. It has a “casual yet energetic atmosphere” which I think means “loud.” But it also has wine and craft beer, so I guess after a while that atmosphere won’t be bothersome.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.25.2014
Goods
If you are in San Antonio and want to get away from the tourists around the Alamo and the Riverwalk, you could do this:
1. Have breakfast at Ocho, a nice little place at the Hotel Havana. (But the waitress will ask you to not take photos with your camera. You can, she says, take as many as you want with a phone. When asked the difference, she says they don’t allow cameras “with lenses” because of “privacy concerns.” You decide it’s not worth the time to explain to her what a lens actually is. Or how a photo shot with a phone is kind of more likely to instantly show up on Facebook.)
2. Walk north along the Riverwalk. There won’t be any tourists, other than yourself and any companions you may have brought along. But there will be plenty of runners and walkers and dogs. It’s a nice walk. Some of the bridges have art under them, and there’s even a set of locks. It’s a very pleasant place.
3. Take some time at the Pearl Brewery, which hasn’t actually been a brewery in a long time. If it’s a Saturday, the part with the farmers market and retail shops will be pretty crowded, but the part where the sign says GOODS will be quiet. You can sit in the shade and read a book.
4. Or you can take in the stores and do a pretty fair amount of people watching at the market.
5. Or, you can find a chair on a grassy slope above the river and read that same book. (We are Water*, by Wally Lamb, was what I was reading, in case you wondered.)
6. After a while, you could go to La Gloria for some street tacos.
7. And then, you could get the water taxi to take you back toward downtown. The taxi’s only marginally faster than walking, but it does go through the locks, which is something that I don’t get to do in my day-to-day routine.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 1.25.2014
* I agree with the review, and am glad that the book was on sale: it wouldn’t have been worth it otherwise.
In the name of progress
The San Antonio Municipal Auditorium was being torn down to make way for its replacement. Or least part of it was being torn down: it looked like the old main entrance was going to be reused. At any rate, there was a lot going on the construction site, except for our Sunday-morning visit, when wall was quiet.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 11.27.2011
Two things about San Antonio
To me, the Riverwalk generally conjures up images of Mexican food restaurants by the water and about a million sunburned tourists working really hard at having fun.
There’s this other part of the Riverwalk, though, called the Museum Reach. It goes to some museums (weird, I know) and the old Pearl Brewery. There are not that many people on the Museum Reach, so naturally that’s the part I like the best.
The part I like the best, after this very nice shade structure, I mean.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 11.26.2011
*Why, yes, I do have the obligatory Alamo photograph! It’s right here.
Trapezoid sky
Probably anyone who has heard of San Antonio has heard about the Riverwalk; originally designed as a flood control system for the San Antonio River where it goes through downtown, it has become a big tourist attraction, with plenty of bars and restaurants lining the banks.
Lately, the River Walk has been extended to the north; this part is called the Museum Reach and it has completely different character than what the Riverwalk is famous far. It’s quieter, and there aren’t as many bars and restaurants. At the far end of the Museum Reach, is the redeveloping Pearl Brewery.
You can see this building from the Museum Reach; I believe it is still a part of the Pearl Brewery operations.
Also, if you want to walk toward downtown from the Museum Reach and start to get a little thirsty, look for the stairs up to the street at Lexington Avenue. Then when you’re at street level, head over to the bar at the Havana Hotel. It’s a fine place to have a beverage, or several, before you continue onward.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 11.26.2011
PS – The Havana Hotel is a great place to spend the night. It’s part of a group of hotels run by Liz Lambert, whose design sensibilities and touch of whimsy make for very interesting lodging.
PS, part 2
One of my regular commenters, over at LensScaper, wondered what this would look like if it were cropped in portrait format, so here you go:
For reference, here’s the original shot:
One Day | One Image 