San Antonio's River Walk: Walking the Walk
Bring your walking and boating shoes to the 2001 SLA Annual Conference next June in San Antonio. The conference will be held in downtown San Antonio, near the famous River Walk or Paseo del Rio. Whether you decide to stroll or take a river tour boat, this is one attraction you won't want to miss.
San Antonio's River Walk is one of the city's most popular sites. It consists of roughly twenty-one blocks of interconnecting paths and bridges beside the San Antonio River. The Walk is approximately twenty feet below street level and can be reached by stairs, ramps, elevators -- and boats. Although the street noise is dampened, the River Walk's shops, restaurants, bars, theaters, and boats provide a lively ambience all their own. Much has been done with the landscaping, which in the warm lush climate includes many kinds of lovingly maintained flora that create garden-like vistas and delight the eye. The Walk can be accessed from the Alamo Plaza, Rivercenter Mall, and many central downtown city streets and hotels. But the River Walk isn't just a way to get from one part of San Antonio to another, it is a destination in itself.
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the original River Walk in the 1930s. The project was designed by architect Robert Hugman. Like Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York City's Central Park, Hugman was a visionary. Both men successfully designed public spaces that are beautiful, relaxing, entertaining, and enduring. Previous to this project, the San Antonio River was so capricious and prone to flooding, the local Indians referred to it by a name meaning "drunken old man going home at night." The San Antonio River was successfully dammed, channeled, and tamed to create the River Walk. The original Walk included over two miles of walks, thirty-one stairways, and thirty-five bridges built throughout central downtown San Antonio. The Walk was extensively renovated for the 1968 World's Fair. Many changes and improvements have been made since then, meaning those SLA members who attended the 1991 Annual Conference held in San Antonio will find new reasons to visit and enjoy the River Walk.
Day and night, there are attractions to visit on the River Walk. San Antonio's vibrant Hispanic culture is on display with publicly performing mariachi musicians, numerous Mexican restaurants and shops, and the Fiesta Noche del Rio, a musical revue, held during the summer nights at the Arneson Theater right on the Walk. The core downtown area of the Walk is well lit after sunset, making strolling or power-walking the perfect end or beginning to your day. There are various night spots for those who want to burn that midnight oil (think ‘networking,' which is a work-related activity). River tour boats, barges, and taxis are available throughout the core downtown area of the Walk. And don't forget to do some people watching, which can be quite a spectacle, as everyone in San Antonio seems to walk the Walk.
The SLA Texas Chapter is honored to be hosting the 2001 Annual Conference. Preparations are well underway to make this an enjoyable and memorable event. San Antonio, the Fiesta (that's Spanish for "party") City, is a gracious town and should provide an entertaining backdrop for the conference events. For more information about San Antonio, including the River Walk, please check the Texas Chapter web site at http://www.txsla.org/2001/index.htm. Chapter members will be refreshing this information, so check back or bookmark this site for updates.
Ann Griffith works for Ernst & Young, is the SLA Texas Chapter Second Vice President Elect, and is a member of the Conference 2001 Public Relations Committee.
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