Arneson River Theater

Acequia Madre de Valero is an 18th-century agricultural irrigation canal built by the Spanish and located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. When Martín de Alarcón founded San Antonio for Spain by establishing San Antonio de Valero Mission in 1718, Franciscan priest Antonio de Olivares and the Payaya people dug Acequia Madre de Valero by hand. It was vital to the missions to be able to divert and control water from the San Antonio River, in order to grow crops and to supply water to the people in the area. This particular acequia was the beginning of a much wider acequia system. Acequia Madre de Valero ran from the area currently known as Brackenridge Park and southward to what is now Hemisfair Plaza and South Alamo Street. Part of it that is not viewable by the public runs beneath the Menger Hotel. The acequia was restored in 1968 and that year was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.Acequia Madre de Valero was the initial phase of what became a 45-mile acequia network put in place by the Franciscan priests to provide water for the missions and their agricultural endeavors. The location of part of this acequia is adjacent to the Johann and Anna Heidgen House at 121 Star Street, and was a contributing factor in placing the house on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Bexar County, Texas in 2004. The acequia is lined with native limestone, a facet of Spanish engineering techniques. Some of the later stonework in the overall network was added by German immigrants. The full system involved placement of dams, canals and sluice gates. The complete network served residents of San Antonio until late in the 19th century. The Texas Historical Commission placed the historic landmark plaque on a limestone block at the Hemisfair Plaza section of Acequia Madre de Valero.

Fiesta Noche del Rio is a seasonal outdoor performance in San Antonio, Texas which features the songs and dances of Mexico, Spain, Argentina, and the U.S. states of California and Texas. The performance venue is the Arneson River Theater in the San Antonio River Walk. The festival has been in operation since 1957, making it the oldest outdoor performance in the United States. The current director and choreographer of the seven act flamenco and folklorico performance is Kathleen Rodriguez Hall. Elizabeth Sanchez-Lopez, who was the dance coordinator for the 1993 US Olympic Festival was the director and choreographer from 1991-2018.

Rosita's Bridge, formerly the Arneson River Theater Bridge, is a 37 ft (11 m) bridge on the San Antonio River Walk in San Antonio, Texas. It is named after singer Rosita Fernández and leads to the Arneson River Theater.

The Otto Bombach House is a contributing structure in the La Villita Historic District of the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. The one-and-two-story native limestone structure was built by German immigrant Bombach in the mid-19th century. It was acquired and restored by the San Antonio Conservation Society (SACS), which still owns the property. Over the decades, SACS has leased the property to a variety of tenants, including the San Antonio Press Club. Currently, the building houses the Little Rhein Steak House.

Marriage Island in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, is an islet in the middle of the San Antonio River on the San Antonio River Walk that is used for weddings. River guides claim that it brings good luck to new marriages and that it is heart-shaped. It is located in front of the Hotel Contessa on the widest part of the river, and is host to about 225 weddings a year. The island is located between the Navarro Street Bridge and Presa Street Bridge along the River Walk. San Antonio River tourist barges pass by the island on every tour along the river. Over the years, it has come to be known as Marriage Island due to the many wedding ceremonies performed there.

The Hilton Palacio del Rio is a 485-room, 21-story hacienda-style hotel in San Antonio, Texas that opened in 1968. The hotel was constructed for the 1968 World's Fair, HemisFair '68, and was designed by Cerna & Garza Architects. The structure is notable for being a milestone in the use of Modular building construction techniques. Traditional construction methods would not allow the hotel to be completed in the short timeframe available before for the opening of the fair on April 6, 1968, so alternative methods were explored. H.B. Zachry Company utilized traditional construction to build the first 4 floors, slip form construction for the services/elevator core of the building and all guest rooms of the hotel were constructed as modular units in a location 7 miles from the construction site. Modular units were built complete with plumbing fixtures, lighting, art work, furnishings and even ash trays. In a nationally televised event, H.B. Zachry and his wife Molly were the first people to check into and "ride" their hotel room, Room No. 522, into the hotel. All rooms were placed in 46 days and the structure was completed in a record 202 working days with crews working around the clock in staggered shifts. The hotel opened 5 days early on April 1, 1968. The hotel features rich South Texas stylings and original art with the room interiors consisting of five different decor designs executed with custom built furniture and rich fabrics in harmony with the overall theme of royal Spanish living.

La Villita Historic Arts Village is an art community in downtown San Antonio, Texas, United States. There are art galleries, stores selling souvenirs, gifts, custom jewelry, pottery, and imported Mexican folk art, as well as several restaurants in the district. La Villita connects to the San Antonio River Walk and its outdoor venue, the Arneson River Theatre. It is close to the Alamo, the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Rivercenter Mall, and HemisFair Park. It is within walking distance of most downtown hotels. Located on the south bank of the San Antonio River, La Villita was one of San Antonio's first neighborhoods. In 1939, as ground broke on the San Antonio River Walk development, city officials led by Mayor Maury Maverick acted to preserve this part of San Antonio's history. It was a Native American settlement and then a collection of primitive brush huts, called jacales, for the Spanish soldiers (and their Indian wives and children) stationed nearby at the Mission San Antonio de Valero (an active mission from about 1718 to 1793, now better known as the Alamo). After a flood in 1819 washed away most of the huts, more substantial adobe houses replaced them. Late in the 19th century, European immigrants from Germany, France, and Italy moved into the area and soon became active in business and trades: retailers, bankers, educators, and craftsmen. The variety of architectural styles seen in La Villita's buildings reflects the cultural mix, from the one-room homes of the poor to the larger houses of the prosperous.La Villita deteriorated into a slum in the early part of the 20th century. During the Great Depression, work began on the River Walk, a make-work project funded by the Works Progress Administration which came close to La Villita. The project, led by Mayor Maury Maverick, sponsored a companion effort in 1939 by the National Youth Administration to restore and preserve this colorful part of San Antonio's history. The NYA offered classes in arts and crafts as part of its program. Today La Villita is an arts community, and is included in the National Register of Historic Places listings in Bexar County, Texas. The galleries and shops found in one city block offer art by local and regional artists featuring oil paintings, sculptures, watercolors, metal art, rock art, textiles, copperwares, pottery, jewelry, stained glass, and regional folk art. During four nights of the Fiesta San Antonio each April, La Villita is host to a Night in Old San Antonio with dozens of booths grouped to offer fifteen areas for various kinds of food, such as Sauerkraut Bend, China Town, Irish Flat, and the Mexican Market. The outdoor festival, with its narrow streets decorated with paper flowers and papel picado (cut paper banners), typically attracts 85,000 celebrants, many wearing costumes and unusual hats. The event is a major fundraiser for the San Antonio Conservation Society.

The Fairmount Hotel in San Antonio, Texas was built in 1906. It was moved about six blocks through downtown San Antonio in 1985 and was expanded in 1986. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.It is one of few former small "drummer", someone who "drums up" business, hotels in San Antonio used by traveling salesmen, who would stay at the hotel due to its affordable rates.

La Antorcha de la Amistad (Spanish for "The Torch of Friendship") is a monumental abstract sculpture by Mexican sculptor Sebastián, installed in Downtown San Antonio, in the U.S. state of Texas. The work was commissioned by a group of Mexican businessmen living in the United States and friends of Mexico, and presented as a gift from the Mexican government to the City of San Antonio in 2002. It was unveiled on June 27, 2002, by the artist, Mayor Edward D. Garza, and then–Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico and political analyst Jorge Castañeda Gutman.

The Stevens Building is located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. Completed in 1891, architect James Riely Gordon designed the building for local businessman John J. Stevens. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Bexar County, Texas. The structure was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1984.

Downtown San Antonio is the central business district of San Antonio, Texas, United States. It also serves as the urban core of Greater San Antonio, a metropolitan area with nearly 2.5 million people. In addition to being encircled by Loops 1604 and 410, Downtown San Antonio is encircled by three Interstate freeways: I-35, I-37, and I-10. Together, the three highways create a rectangular route around the city's urban core: I-35 to the north and west, I-37 to the east, and I-10 to the south. The rectangular loop has a nine-mile circumference and is known as the "Downtown Loop" or "Central Loop", which encompasses both it and Southtown.

The Tower Life Building is a landmark and historic building in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. Construction of the tower began in 1927 and the building rises 404 feet (123 meters) and has 31 floors. The building, which opened in 1929, was originally named the Smith-Young Tower and is the central component of a partially completed development called the Bowen Island Skyscrapers. The eight sided, neo-gothic brick and Ludowici green terra-cotta tower (complete with gargoyles) was designed by noted local architectural firm Ayres & Ayres (Atlee & Robert M. Ayres). While the exterior uses traditional materials such as brick, the internal structure is reinforced concrete on the lower floors, and steel frame on the upper floors. The building also housed San Antonio's first Sears, Roebuck and Company store in its lowest 6 levels.The other completed building in the development is the former Plaza Hotel (also designed by Ayres & Ayres), which opened in 1927. The property became the local outlet of Hilton Hotels in 1956 and was converted into the Granada Apartments in 1966. Subsequent structures in the development were never built as a direct result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. In the 1940s the building was renamed the Transit Tower for the San Antonio Transit Company, which the Smith Brothers purchased in 1943. In 1953 a television transmission tower was added to the structure. Renovations in 2010 removed the obsolete television mast in favor of the tower's original design, a copper tophouse with a 100 ft tall flagpole. The building is now named for its current owner, Tower Life Insurance Company. In 1991 the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.