San Antonio, City Exceptional: Images of Culture & Enterprise
A photography book dedicated to San Antonio, Texas. First published in 2010 by Lammert Incorporated/HPNbooks. I was responsible for coordinating with the photographer and author about the manuscript and photo selection, contracting with a freelance designer for the layout of the photography section of the book and overall art direction, photo color correction/touch-up, prepress operations, and coordinating printing and delivery of the book.
A photography book dedicated to San Antonio, Texas. First published in 2010 by Lammert Incorporated/HPNbooks.
I was responsible for coordinating with the photographer and author about the manuscript and photo selection, contracting with a freelance designer for the layout of the photography section of the book and overall art direction, photo color correction/touch-up, prepress operations, and coordinating printing and delivery of the book.
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Mark Langford, photography<br />
Joe Carroll Rust, narrative<br />
A PUBLICATION OF THE NORTH SAN ANTONIO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
<strong>Images</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Culture</strong> & <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
Mark Langford, photography<br />
Joe Carroll Rust, narrative<br />
A Publication <strong>of</strong> the<br />
North <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce<br />
Historical Publishing Network, a division <strong>of</strong> Lammert Incorporated, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas
Previous page, clockwise from top left:<br />
Concord Park II is a dynamic new <strong>of</strong>fice development in far north <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
A ride on the Brackenridge Eagle in Brackenridge Park is a treat to both townfolk and tourists alike.<br />
The flora <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> area is colorful and varied, including the Texas Bluebonnet, the state flower <strong>of</strong> Texas.<br />
Panning for gold at Natural Bridge Caverns, a tourist facility immediately north <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, always is an exciting activity.<br />
Opposite page: The Texas Longhorn is symbolic <strong>of</strong> the toughness <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> Antonians.<br />
First Edition<br />
Copyright © 2010 Historical Publishing Network<br />
All rights reserved. No part <strong>of</strong> this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing<br />
from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790.<br />
ISBN: 9781935377214<br />
Library <strong>of</strong> Congress Card Catalog Number: 2010932369<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>: <strong>City</strong> <strong>Exceptional</strong><br />
photography: Mark Langford<br />
narrative: Joe Carroll Rust<br />
cover design: Vanessa Lively<br />
interior design: Glenda Tarazon Krouse<br />
North <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce<br />
chairman <strong>of</strong> the board: Howard Baker, Security Service Federal Credit Union<br />
Historical Publishing Network<br />
president: Ron Lammert<br />
project managers: Bruce Barker<br />
Wynn Buck<br />
Joe Neely<br />
Damar <strong>San</strong>tiago<br />
Roger Smith<br />
contributing writers for sharing the the heritage: Joe Goodpasture<br />
Lou Guckien<br />
Eileen Mattei<br />
Brenda Thompson<br />
administration: Donna M. Mata<br />
Melissa Quinn<br />
book sales: Dee Steidle<br />
production: Colin Hart<br />
Evelyn Hart<br />
PRINTED IN CANADA<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
2
4 CHAPTER 1 Heritage<br />
18 CHAPTER 2 <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
32 CHAPTER 3 Civic Pride<br />
46 CHAPTER 4 Special Places<br />
62 CHAPTER 5 Special Faces<br />
71 SAN ANTONIO PARTNERS<br />
125 SPONSORS<br />
126 ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
127 ABOUT THE WRITER<br />
CONTENTS<br />
3
chapter one<br />
Above: Mission <strong>San</strong> Jose is known as<br />
“the queen <strong>of</strong> missions.” It is famous for its<br />
Rose Window.<br />
Opposite page: Mission Concepción until<br />
recently was listed as the oldest unrestored<br />
stone church in the United States. It<br />
currently is undergoing restoration.<br />
It began with a small river, pouring out <strong>of</strong> a spring on the campus <strong>of</strong> the University <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Incarnate Word, joining other waters and flowing at last into the Gulf <strong>of</strong> Mexico.<br />
The Native Americans in the region called it Yanaguana, in English “refreshing waters.” The<br />
Spaniards, on an expedition in 1691 from Mexico <strong>City</strong> into Texas in search <strong>of</strong> the Frenchman<br />
La Salle and the fort he had founded in claiming land for France, arrived at the river and named it<br />
the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, as it was the feast day <strong>of</strong> the Portuguese St. Anthony de Padua.<br />
A great city grew up on the banks <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River. That city now is the seventh largest<br />
metropolis in the United States.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, is an exceptional city in numerous ways, not the least <strong>of</strong> which is that her<br />
glorious past is inextricably intertwined with not only her progressive present but also with her<br />
shining future. <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has an economically and culturally integrated society.<br />
No example <strong>of</strong> how <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has capitalized on the past to enhance today and tomorrow is<br />
more evident than the development <strong>of</strong> that small river. In the 1920s, the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Conservation<br />
Society began an effort to beautify the river in the downtown area. The effort paid <strong>of</strong>f in the 1960s, when<br />
the River Walk, with its shops and restaurants, was developed and the ambiance <strong>of</strong> the tiny river joined<br />
the nearby Alamo to be a focal point <strong>of</strong> the more than 26 million tourists visiting <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> each year.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
4
Heritage<br />
The river which had given the city its life<br />
now became a commercial vehicle to give<br />
it income. The story, however, was only at<br />
its beginning. The river was destined for<br />
even greater importance in carving out a new<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
The determination <strong>of</strong> progressive city and<br />
county leaders bore fruit shortly before<br />
halfway through 2009, when a major portion<br />
<strong>of</strong> the river from the River Walk to near the<br />
river’s headwaters opened in a major new<br />
development, the Museum Reach.<br />
CHAPTER 1 - Heritage<br />
5
The river section is so named because it<br />
allows tourists and homefolk alike to traverse<br />
the river by barge from the downtown<br />
River Walk past the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Museum <strong>of</strong><br />
Art, itself a magnificent example <strong>of</strong> historic<br />
adaptation <strong>of</strong> an abandoned brewery. Museum<br />
Reach incorporates not only a Panama Canallike<br />
lock to allow the travel <strong>of</strong> the barges, but<br />
also a river grotto, fish mobiles dangling<br />
below bridges and the excitement <strong>of</strong> the daily<br />
migration <strong>of</strong> bats that find their home along<br />
the river.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
6
Opposite page, clockwise from bottom, left:<br />
Mission <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> de Valero, known as<br />
the Alamo, the “cradle <strong>of</strong> Texas liberty,” is<br />
in downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The first Alamo<br />
was built near <strong>San</strong> Pedro Springs in 1718,<br />
but the current Alamo, the scene <strong>of</strong> the<br />
famous battle <strong>of</strong> 1836, was not constructed<br />
until 1744. The parapet, <strong>of</strong>ten used as the<br />
symbol <strong>of</strong> the Alamo, was not added until<br />
1849, by the United States Army. The<br />
Alamo is one <strong>of</strong> five Spanish colonial<br />
missions in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, with <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
having more such missions than any other<br />
city in the United States.<br />
The Alamo Cenotaph, in front <strong>of</strong> the Alamo<br />
on Alamo Plaza, is themed the Spirit <strong>of</strong><br />
Sacrifice. It was erected in 1939 by the<br />
Texas Centennial Commission to honor the<br />
heroes <strong>of</strong> the Alamo. The memorial was<br />
designed by noted sculptor Pompeo Coppini.<br />
In the background is the Emily<br />
Morgan Hotel.<br />
The Bexar County Courthouse in<br />
downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is the largest and<br />
most continuously used courthouse in Texas.<br />
Above: This is one <strong>of</strong> the elegant Victorian<br />
Age homes in the King William area, just<br />
south <strong>of</strong> downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. King<br />
William, initially carrying the name <strong>of</strong> the<br />
German ruler Kaiser Wilhelm, was the<br />
home <strong>of</strong> many <strong>of</strong> the city’s German<br />
merchants <strong>of</strong> the late nineteenth century.<br />
Left: One <strong>of</strong> the lobbies <strong>of</strong> the historic<br />
Menger Hotel, in downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
across the sidestreet from the Alamo, might<br />
have been the gathering place <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong><br />
the city’s debutante coterie <strong>of</strong> yesteryear.<br />
The hotel also houses the bar where Teddy<br />
Roosevelt mustered the Rough Riders.<br />
CHAPTER 1 - Heritage<br />
7
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
8
Museum Reach finds its end at the former<br />
Pearl Brewery, another excellent example<br />
<strong>of</strong> adaptive reuse into a gigantic complex<br />
<strong>of</strong> shops, restaurants and markets. Redevelopment<br />
<strong>of</strong> the river farther north into<br />
the historic Brackenridge Park and to the<br />
edge <strong>of</strong> the Witte Museum and all the way<br />
to the headwaters and the University <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Incarnate Word campus is restrained because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the construction in the 1990s <strong>of</strong> a flood<br />
control diversion tunnel <strong>of</strong> up to 144 feet<br />
deep below the central business district. The<br />
tunnel stretches from a park entrance near<br />
the end <strong>of</strong> Museum Reach to another closed<br />
brewery, Lone Star, at the southern edge <strong>of</strong><br />
downtown. That brewery also is to undergo<br />
adaptive reuse. The famous Buckhorn Saloon<br />
was moved from that brewery, home <strong>of</strong><br />
what was known as the “National Beer <strong>of</strong><br />
Texas,” to Houston Street, the city’s “main<br />
drag” downtown.<br />
In order for visitors and citizens to<br />
maneuver along the banks <strong>of</strong> the river from<br />
Museum Reach to the headwaters, hike and<br />
bike trails are being built. The next phase<br />
<strong>of</strong> the redevelopment <strong>of</strong> the river, Mission<br />
Reach, already is underway. This river<br />
makeover will incorporate access to four <strong>of</strong><br />
the five Spanish colonial missions in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>—Concepción, <strong>San</strong> Jose, <strong>San</strong> Juan<br />
Capistrano and Espada (the fifth is the Alamo<br />
in downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the city which has<br />
more Spanish colonial missions than any<br />
other city in the United States).<br />
Opposite page: The flower-laden Japanese<br />
Tea Garden in Brackenridge Park recently<br />
has been restored to its grandeur <strong>of</strong> the past,<br />
showing <strong>of</strong>f its shimmering pools. The<br />
gardens are overlooked by an<br />
Oriental pagoda.<br />
Above: A proud peacock struts his stuff in<br />
the Quadrangle <strong>of</strong> Fort Sam Houston, the<br />
home <strong>of</strong> military medicine. The grounds <strong>of</strong><br />
the Quadrangle, whose tower once held<br />
Apache chief Geronimo as captive, features<br />
all sorts <strong>of</strong> wildlife.<br />
Below: Youngsters marvel at a giant<br />
tortoise, one <strong>of</strong> the residents <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Zoo, ranked as one <strong>of</strong> the nation’s<br />
premier animal parks.<br />
CHAPTER 1 - Heritage<br />
9
Right: Trinity University, just north <strong>of</strong><br />
downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, is well-known for<br />
both its educational excellence and its liftslab<br />
architecture. It has Presbyterian ties.<br />
Below: Our Lady <strong>of</strong> the Lake University,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s three Roman Catholic<br />
universities, is operated in west <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> under the tutelage <strong>of</strong> the Sisters<br />
<strong>of</strong> Divine Providence. The school is noted<br />
especially for its education prowess in<br />
social work.<br />
Opposite page, clockwise, starting from<br />
the top:<br />
This is the downtown campus <strong>of</strong> the<br />
University at Texas <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The<br />
main campus is located in northwest <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>. UTSA is one <strong>of</strong> the fastest-growing<br />
segments <strong>of</strong> the University <strong>of</strong> Texas system.<br />
St. Mary’s University, in west <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
is a university under the direction <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Society <strong>of</strong> Mary. Its components include a<br />
highly rated law school.<br />
When completed, the new river redevelopment<br />
will provide a stretch <strong>of</strong> river<br />
access, either by barge or trail, for thirteen<br />
miles. The redevelopment is a collaboration<br />
<strong>of</strong> the city, the county, the U.S. Corps <strong>of</strong><br />
Engineers and the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River Authority.<br />
Just a stone’s throw from the headwaters <strong>of</strong><br />
the river, in the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River Valley, is<br />
evidence <strong>of</strong> another innovative use <strong>of</strong> history<br />
to affect the present and future. There, in the<br />
Olmos Basin, where hunter-gatherers set up<br />
temporary camps 10,000 years ago, is Quarry<br />
This is the library <strong>of</strong> Thomas Jefferson High<br />
School in northwest <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. When<br />
built in the 1930s as a replica <strong>of</strong> Monticello,<br />
the high school was touted as the most<br />
beautiful in the nation.<br />
The University <strong>of</strong> the Incarnate Word is<br />
operated by the Sisters <strong>of</strong> Charity in north<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The building in the foreground<br />
is the Mother House <strong>of</strong> the sisters, with the<br />
inset showing the angelic detail <strong>of</strong> its tower.<br />
Incarnate Word especially is well-known for<br />
its nursing school and is one <strong>of</strong> the fastestgrowing<br />
small universities in the nation.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
10
CHAPTER 1 - Heritage<br />
11
Market, a complex <strong>of</strong> nearly 75 shops and<br />
restaurants constructed in a closed rock<br />
quarry. Stone from that quarry, and cliffs<br />
nearby, at the edge <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Zoo,<br />
was used for the construction <strong>of</strong> the Texas<br />
state capitol in Austin and the Spanish<br />
colonial missions in the southern section <strong>of</strong><br />
the city. The use <strong>of</strong> the smokestacks and<br />
equipment from the old cement plant as<br />
decoration for the new quarry complex<br />
reminds shoppers <strong>of</strong> the days <strong>of</strong> yesteryear.<br />
Also nearby, in yet another quarry, is the<br />
Japanese Tea Garden, now renovated.<br />
The use <strong>of</strong> material from the past to create<br />
the future is almost a mathematical formula<br />
for <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
The basin, now connecting two small<br />
suburban cities surrounded by <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
is spanned by a flood control dam built in the<br />
1920s after downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> suffered a<br />
major blow from floodwaters bursting forth<br />
from the north.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
12
Opposite page, top: Artificial fish “swim”<br />
below a bridge across the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River<br />
just south <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Museum <strong>of</strong><br />
Art just north <strong>of</strong> downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
The fish are part <strong>of</strong> the arts project in the<br />
new Museum Reach section <strong>of</strong> the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> the river. Thousands <strong>of</strong> bats<br />
also fly out from under this same bridge at<br />
dusk each day, returning during the night.<br />
Opposite page, bottom: The newly developed<br />
Museum Reach section <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
River Walk ends at the old Pearl Brewery,<br />
now being renovated into a shops and<br />
culinary institute complex.<br />
Left: This is a restored bridge on the newly<br />
developed Museum Reach section <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> River.<br />
Below: A river barge travels along the newly<br />
developed Museum Reach section <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> River below the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Museum <strong>of</strong> Art.<br />
The University <strong>of</strong> the Incarnate Word has<br />
developed the land below the dam into a<br />
sports complex.<br />
Today, development in the basin is a<br />
striking reminder <strong>of</strong> how <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> uses its<br />
colorful past to give new and progressive hues<br />
to its colorful days to come.<br />
All over <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, one sees how the<br />
projects <strong>of</strong> the past have become fodder for<br />
projects <strong>of</strong> the future—an auto dealership<br />
property converted into condominiums, an<br />
historic <strong>of</strong>fice structure and a former candy<br />
company also developed into places <strong>of</strong> modern<br />
dwellings, entire historic neighborhoods<br />
upgraded to twenty-first century standards<br />
with retention <strong>of</strong> the décor <strong>of</strong> the past, a<br />
federal arsenal converted into the headquarters<br />
<strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the largest grocery operations in<br />
the Southwest.<br />
CHAPTER 1 - Heritage<br />
13
Top, left: Visitors on a river barge seem not<br />
to notice other visitors enjoying Mexican<br />
food at a restaurant on the River Walk in<br />
downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Using the past to benefit the future is<br />
an everyday occurrence in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. For,<br />
you see, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is more than a place.<br />
It is an attitude.<br />
Top, right: Mariachis entertain on the<br />
River Walk.<br />
Right: The Alamo celebrates Christmas as<br />
its plaza is the site <strong>of</strong> the annual huge Yule<br />
tree sponsored by HEB, one <strong>of</strong> the nation’s<br />
grocery chains headquartered in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Opposite page: The River Walk is ablaze<br />
with the lights <strong>of</strong> Christmas, including<br />
diners watching from the restaurant atop<br />
the Tower <strong>of</strong> the Americas. Yule lights are lit<br />
on the river as the Holiday River Parade is<br />
held the day after Thanksgiving.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
14
CHAPTER 1 - Heritage<br />
15
chapter two<br />
Right: A symbol <strong>of</strong> the long-standing good<br />
feelings between <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and the nation<br />
<strong>of</strong> Mexico is “La Antorcha de la Amistad”<br />
(the Torch <strong>of</strong> Friendship), a large piece<br />
designed by renowned Mexican sculptor<br />
Sebastián and presented to the Alamo <strong>City</strong><br />
by the Asociación de Empresarios<br />
Mexicanos en <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the Mexican<br />
consul general, the Instituto Cultural<br />
Mexicano and other leaders <strong>of</strong> the Hispanic<br />
community. It is at a major intersection in<br />
downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Opposite page: This is one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
spectacularly designed Sterling Banks, in far<br />
north <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
16
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> long has been considered one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the bastions <strong>of</strong> history in the United States.<br />
The city was the site <strong>of</strong> a Spanish presidio<br />
in the early 1700s, the new home <strong>of</strong> Canary<br />
Islanders who were among the founding<br />
fathers <strong>of</strong> the city a few years later, a key<br />
outpost for the Confederacy in the Civil War, a<br />
defender <strong>of</strong> the frontier, the place where the<br />
Mexican Revolution <strong>of</strong> 1910 was planned and<br />
the location <strong>of</strong> an international fair, HemisFair,<br />
in the twentieth century, bringing together all<br />
the cultures which had made the city a mecca<br />
for many nationalities.<br />
<strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
CHAPTER 2 - <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
17
It was the center <strong>of</strong> a South Texas ranching<br />
industry which drove cattle and shipped<br />
beef East to provide meat for the Continental<br />
Army and a leader in a massive agricultural<br />
community which still retains some <strong>of</strong> the<br />
noted family farms <strong>of</strong> the past.<br />
Early in the city’s development, it became<br />
a major tourist destination, given impetus by<br />
the world’s fair.<br />
It became a linchpin for the U.S. military,<br />
for both land and air forces, as well as<br />
military maintenance, and played a key role<br />
in defense during World War II. It became the<br />
home <strong>of</strong> military medicine, today even a<br />
massively growing industry for the city.<br />
In the past decade, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has found<br />
even greater greatness in becoming a hub<br />
for technology, especially in the field <strong>of</strong><br />
biomedicine. One in seven new jobs in<br />
the city now has a direct connection to the<br />
biomedical industry.<br />
New technology has become so much the<br />
new byword for <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> that—just as<br />
the cry “Remember the Alamo” became a<br />
motto for those driving the development <strong>of</strong><br />
the nation in “Manifest Destiny” a little more<br />
than 150 years ago—the city is gaining a new<br />
reputation as the Silicon Valley <strong>of</strong> the eastern<br />
edge <strong>of</strong> the West.<br />
With an added identity to match the city’s<br />
prowess as a tourism and military mecca, the<br />
coming decade will be the new golden age for<br />
economic development in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. With<br />
its newfound identity, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> soon will<br />
become a technopolis.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
18
Opposite page, top: This is the entrance to<br />
HemisFair Park, the attraction which was<br />
the site <strong>of</strong> the 1968 world’s fair, with the<br />
Tower <strong>of</strong> the Americans peaking over<br />
the top.<br />
Opposite page, bottom: This is the main<br />
<strong>of</strong>fices <strong>of</strong> Frost Bank, a financial institution<br />
founded by one <strong>of</strong> the city’s leading families,<br />
in downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Left: The Northwest Center is a striking<br />
14-story building at the intersection <strong>of</strong> Loop<br />
410 and Interstate 10.<br />
In 2008, a Pew Research Center survey<br />
ranked <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> tenth among U.S. cities<br />
where Americans want to live. Former <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Mayor Henry Cisneros, writing in<br />
the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Express-News, said <strong>of</strong> this: “The<br />
significance <strong>of</strong> this ranking for <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is<br />
that it suggests we are becoming increasingly<br />
known as a city where talented, entrepreneurial<br />
and talented pr<strong>of</strong>essionals can make a good<br />
life. Our complaint used to be that we couldn’t<br />
keep our own best and brightest. Now we are<br />
doing that.”<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has not only a young, readily<br />
available and willingly trained workforce to<br />
support the city’s daily growing service<br />
economy, topped by the biosciences, but<br />
also a growing populace <strong>of</strong> what Cisneros<br />
calls the “creative class,” those among the<br />
high salaried.<br />
The new inpouring <strong>of</strong> the talented to be<br />
melded with that <strong>of</strong> the home-grown means<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has a new vibrant and forwardlooking<br />
population. Tourists and the men<br />
and women <strong>of</strong> the military may come and go,<br />
but those who have found a progressive new<br />
home in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> stay. That is a major<br />
reason the Alamo <strong>City</strong> has become the<br />
seventh largest city in the nation.<br />
CHAPTER 2 - <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
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Right: This Wells Fargo bank is on U.S. 281,<br />
near the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Zoo.<br />
Bottom, left: The Weston Centre is the second<br />
tallest building in downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Bottom, right: This Amegy Bank is at Union<br />
Square II near the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
International Airport.<br />
Opposite page: With the Torch <strong>of</strong> Friendship<br />
sculpture in the foreground, looking east<br />
from the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River, one can see the<br />
Rivercenter shopping center on the left, the<br />
Marriott Rivercenter Hotel on the far left,<br />
the Marriott River Walk Hotel in the far<br />
center and the new Grand Hyatt Hotel on<br />
the far right.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
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21
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
22
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> retains its glorious history,<br />
but <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has become much more than<br />
the Alamo.<br />
As a backdrop for the city’s new-found role<br />
as a major center <strong>of</strong> the bioscience industry<br />
employing nearly 125,000, with a payroll <strong>of</strong><br />
more than $16 billion, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has:<br />
• The headquarters <strong>of</strong> five Fortune 500<br />
companies, a large insurance conglomerate<br />
which is the only fully integrated financial<br />
services company in America; a gas<br />
refining and retail company which is the<br />
largest refiner in North America; a second<br />
refiner and marketer <strong>of</strong> petroleum<br />
products, which also is among the<br />
nation’s largest refiners; a communications<br />
giant in the radio and outdoor advertising<br />
industries; and a major asphalt refiner<br />
and owner <strong>of</strong> pipelines. Also, the city<br />
is headquarters <strong>of</strong> a huge grocery<br />
retailing operation, among the largest<br />
in the American Southwest and<br />
Northern Mexico.<br />
• The University <strong>of</strong> Texas at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Health Science Center, in the South Texas<br />
Medical Center whichhas more than 45<br />
medical institutions, has an annual operating<br />
budget <strong>of</strong> $68 million and employs a faculty<br />
and staff <strong>of</strong> 5,000 and has 3,000 students.<br />
This operation is the education impetus for<br />
the growth <strong>of</strong> the bioscience industry in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>, spurring collateral education<br />
programs at area institutions <strong>of</strong> higher<br />
education, including a curricula which is<br />
making the University <strong>of</strong> Texas at <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>, one <strong>of</strong> the fastest growing<br />
institutions <strong>of</strong> higher learning in the nation,<br />
a center for biomedical education.<br />
• The headquarters <strong>of</strong> a construction firm<br />
which not only has contracting operations<br />
around the world, but also is a major<br />
continuing presence in the building <strong>of</strong><br />
an expanded road network surrounding<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. In 2008 this firm had $1.6<br />
billion in in-state revenue, more than any<br />
other contractor in Texas.<br />
Opposite page: The smokestacks <strong>of</strong> the<br />
former Alamo Cement Company, a complex<br />
which now is the Quarry shopping center,<br />
dominate the landscape. The Quarry<br />
Market is a prime example <strong>of</strong> adaptive<br />
reuse <strong>of</strong> property, as it is in a former<br />
rock quarry.<br />
Above: A vendor sells his wares on the<br />
River Walk.<br />
CHAPTER 2 - <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
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Right: Stinson Municipal Airport is the<br />
second oldest general aviation airport in<br />
continuous operation in the United States.<br />
Below: <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> International Airport is<br />
a major gateway to Mexico.<br />
Opposite page: The interchange between<br />
Interstate 10 and Loop 410 is one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
major traffic connections in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Armed with pluses as those above,<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has been poised to get<br />
the new words <strong>of</strong> the day—that almost<br />
daily citizens awake from news in the<br />
press that a new biomedical or other<br />
service-related firm has opted to began<br />
operations locally:<br />
• The second largest manufacturer <strong>of</strong> medical<br />
products in the United States will have<br />
1,400 new jobs in its new diabetes therapy<br />
management center in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. Already,<br />
the Alamo <strong>City</strong> was the home <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
nation’s major manufacturers <strong>of</strong> hospital<br />
beds and wound vacs.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
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CHAPTER 2 - <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
25
year. While this airport is the international<br />
air gateway to Mexico, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> itself<br />
also is the major road transportation path<br />
not only to South Texas and the huge truck<br />
farming industry <strong>of</strong> the Rio Grande Valley,<br />
but also the highway gateway to our<br />
neighboring nation stretching along the<br />
southern border <strong>of</strong> Texas.<br />
• There is the opening <strong>of</strong> a new state-<strong>of</strong>-the<br />
art hospital in the Stoneoak area in far<br />
north <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and the announcement<br />
that the county hospital district will build<br />
a new huge hospital to supplement part<br />
<strong>of</strong> the current University Hospital and to<br />
replace some <strong>of</strong> that large complex.<br />
Above: Medical Center Tower I is one <strong>of</strong><br />
more than 45 medical facilities in the South<br />
Texas Medical Center.<br />
Right: Research at the University <strong>of</strong> Texas<br />
Health Science Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
is paramount.<br />
Opposite page, top: Expert medical care<br />
with the latest in equipment is a hallmark in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Opposite page, bottom: AirCare, the airlift<br />
operation for the Methodist Hospital at the<br />
South Texas Medical Center, is a model<br />
<strong>of</strong> efficiency.<br />
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF METHODIST HOSPITAL.<br />
• A major national market research firm<br />
recognizes a medical instrument company<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> as one <strong>of</strong> the top emerging<br />
medical companies in the nation. This firm<br />
has a new form <strong>of</strong> noninvasive medical<br />
diagnostic opto-accustic technology for<br />
breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.<br />
• One <strong>of</strong> the fastest-growing computer<br />
hosting firms in the United States<br />
announces a major move to take over<br />
an abandoned mall and create 140,000<br />
square feet <strong>of</strong> new <strong>of</strong>fice space housing<br />
1,600 employees.<br />
• <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is recognized by the Brookings<br />
Institution as one <strong>of</strong> the few major U.S. cities<br />
outperforming a lagging national economy.<br />
• There will be yet another expansion <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> International Airport, which is<br />
serving more than 8.5 million passengers a<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
26
CHAPTER 2 - <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
27
Below: A worker at Cox Manufacturing<br />
Company addresses a screw machine,<br />
precision-turned product, the specialty <strong>of</strong><br />
his firm.<br />
Opposite page: Woodlawn Lake is in the<br />
foreground <strong>of</strong> this shot <strong>of</strong> the skyline <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s physical growth is mainly<br />
to the north, including the development<br />
<strong>of</strong> large suburban communities and the<br />
commercial development to match that<br />
development. One <strong>of</strong> the major expansions in<br />
the southern part <strong>of</strong> the city in recent<br />
years has been the construction <strong>of</strong> the Toyota<br />
large truck manufacturing facility and a<br />
smaller truck component has just been<br />
announced there.<br />
The emergence <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> as a<br />
beacon in new technology, especially in the<br />
biosciences, seems to be another case <strong>of</strong> growing<br />
like Topsy, but it is part <strong>of</strong> planned economic<br />
development which has included growing new<br />
businesses, attracting new businesses to move<br />
into the area and retaining existing businesses.<br />
Among those teaming up in this threepronged<br />
effort has been the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Economic Development Foundation and the<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Technology Accelerator<br />
Initiative (SATAI). The latter was<br />
formed in 1999 after the city funded a<br />
national study which earmarked<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> as the future home <strong>of</strong> a<br />
new technology revolution, especially<br />
in biomedicine.<br />
More than a small part <strong>of</strong> the growth<br />
<strong>of</strong> the new technological savvy <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> has been the determination <strong>of</strong><br />
political leaders <strong>of</strong> recent years to<br />
catapult the city into a new area <strong>of</strong><br />
progress, built on diversification <strong>of</strong><br />
both business and population.<br />
Long before the city’s newfound<br />
dedication to the biosciences was<br />
found, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten made the<br />
national news in new developments<br />
at the Texas Research Park, at the<br />
Southwest Research Institute and<br />
at the Southwest Foundation for<br />
Biomedical Research.<br />
In the early part <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth<br />
century, the note posted on the<br />
doors <strong>of</strong> many failing businesses in<br />
the Northeast was “Gone to Texas.”<br />
Now, in the early part <strong>of</strong> the twentyfirst<br />
century, the note has been revised<br />
and expanded.<br />
It reads:<br />
“Gone to<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.”<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
28
CHAPTER 2 - <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
29
chapter three<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
30<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is an exceptional city in numerous ways:<br />
• Climatewise, she is a gentle lady, warm, sometimes even saucy, in the summer, cozy, sometimes<br />
chilly, but seldom really cold, in the winter, giving her the reputation <strong>of</strong> the city “where the<br />
sunshine spends the winter.”<br />
• Geographically, she is well-situated in the south center <strong>of</strong> the United States, giving her easy<br />
access to the Gulf Coast, Mexico and the gentility <strong>of</strong> the Old South, and the ruggedness <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Southwest. This allows <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> the ability to claim a society which captures the best<br />
qualities <strong>of</strong> the latter two regions. Is <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> a Southern city? Is <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> a Southwestern<br />
city? The answer: Both.
• Culturally, she is quite cosmopolitan.<br />
While 57 percent <strong>of</strong> the white population<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is Hispanic, accompanied<br />
by a rich culture which gives special<br />
quality to the Alamo <strong>City</strong>, the white<br />
population also includes large numbers <strong>of</strong><br />
descendants from a variety <strong>of</strong> European<br />
nations, especially Germany, bringing the<br />
city a tapestry <strong>of</strong> cultures, each with its<br />
uniqueness. During the last half <strong>of</strong> the<br />
nineteenth century, between the Texas<br />
Civic Pride<br />
Opposite page: Riders in the Battle <strong>of</strong><br />
Flowers Parade bring out the rodeo spirit.<br />
Left: A couple performs a Mexican folk<br />
dance, popular among nearly all<br />
<strong>San</strong> Antonians.<br />
CHAPTER 3 - Civic Pride<br />
31
Revolution and a revolution in Mexico in<br />
the early twentieth century, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
was a German, rather than Hispanic, city.<br />
Many <strong>of</strong> the small towns around <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> are German, Polish or Czech. A<br />
thriving Chinese population was brought<br />
to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> by General John Pershing<br />
in the early part <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century,<br />
as they escaped Pancho Villa.<br />
• Economically, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has had a<br />
special knack in the early part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
twenty-first century <strong>of</strong> escaping much <strong>of</strong><br />
the harsh depression faced by many other<br />
major American cities.<br />
• With all <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s exceptional traits,<br />
by far the most impressive are the people<br />
themselves, and their special ways <strong>of</strong><br />
transforming the blessings <strong>of</strong> their<br />
community into sincere civic pride.<br />
While many major American cities have<br />
relied on corporate power to generate<br />
progress in their communities, everyday<br />
<strong>San</strong> Antonians have taken on that task<br />
themselves. Voluntarism in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is<br />
not the exception; it is the rule. From the<br />
largest <strong>of</strong> public galas to the smallest <strong>of</strong><br />
neighborhood gatherings, one will find the<br />
commonality <strong>of</strong> volunteer help. That is<br />
because <strong>San</strong> Antonians are caring—from<br />
providing help to a poor family bury their<br />
dead following a tragedy, to cooperatively<br />
and peacefully integrating <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
society fifty years ago.<br />
Central to progress in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> society<br />
is the concept <strong>of</strong> familia, the belief that<br />
nothing can be achieved without family<br />
involvement. Families make up nearly 69<br />
percent <strong>of</strong> the households in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
and those families can be seen in every aspect<br />
<strong>of</strong> community life in the city. Whether it is<br />
a visit to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s nationally honored<br />
zoo or one <strong>of</strong> the city’s special museums, a<br />
campout at Easter in Brackenridge Park, one<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s many parks, a trip to a public<br />
swimming pool, taking in a movie or a play, or<br />
enjoying a barge ride on the newly developed<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River extension, it is the family<br />
which nearly always is the audience.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
32
No celebration perhaps more clearly<br />
salutes the unity <strong>of</strong> family as the quinceanera,<br />
the dedication <strong>of</strong> families to the young as a<br />
young lady is honored on her fifteenth<br />
birthday in coming <strong>of</strong> age in society. It is a<br />
celebration which had its origin in the<br />
Aztecan culture, adopted by Spanish<br />
conquerors as they came to the New World.<br />
Family also is omnipresent as <strong>San</strong><br />
Antonians celebrate the Fourth <strong>of</strong> July<br />
with multiple community independence<br />
parades. Moms and dads pushing baby<br />
carriages in a neighborhood parade, with<br />
the family pooch walking alongside, is the<br />
order <strong>of</strong> the day, in a colorful and blatant<br />
outpouring <strong>of</strong> civic pride in community<br />
and nation.<br />
<strong>San</strong> Antonians have great civic pride<br />
in all their public facilities and they give<br />
generously in support <strong>of</strong> them. <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
even has The Fund, a special way in which<br />
citizens can make collaborative financial<br />
contributions to arts in the community, and<br />
they give voluntarily.<br />
Too, <strong>San</strong> Antonians readily have formed<br />
nonpr<strong>of</strong>it foundations to promote special<br />
efforts for the community. Among the latest is<br />
a foundation dedicated to the adaptation <strong>of</strong><br />
the Municipal Auditorium, built in 1926 as a<br />
memorial to the veterans <strong>of</strong> World War I, into<br />
a modern performing arts complex.<br />
Also, the devotion <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> Antonians to the<br />
military once again is shown in the willingness<br />
<strong>of</strong> citizens to dedicate private funds to a new<br />
wound care center built for those young men<br />
returning from wars in foreign lands, sacrificing<br />
their bodies so that we might remain free.<br />
Dedication to continued civil rights is<br />
shown in civic pride by <strong>San</strong> Antonians each<br />
January, when the nation’s largest freedom<br />
march is held to honor the memory <strong>of</strong><br />
Martin Luther King. This becomes especially<br />
poignant when one realizes that only slightly<br />
more than 7 percent <strong>of</strong> the population is black.<br />
Even though civic pride is exhibited in<br />
just about every element <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> life,<br />
there are certain situations which call for<br />
special mention:<br />
Opposite page: Bulldogging is just one <strong>of</strong><br />
many events at the annual <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Stock Show and Rodeo.<br />
Above: Patriotism is prevalent at the Stock<br />
Show and Rodeo.<br />
CHAPTER 3 - Civic Pride<br />
33
Below: <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s annual Martin Luther<br />
King march is the largest in the nation.<br />
Opposite page: The annual Folklife Festival<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is aflame with the<br />
contributions <strong>of</strong> the nearly thirty cultures<br />
making up the ambiance <strong>of</strong> the Lone<br />
Star State.<br />
• <strong>San</strong> Antonians are madly in love with the<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Spurs, a National Basketball<br />
Association team which has won four league<br />
championships and come close on several<br />
others. Citizens <strong>of</strong> the Alamo <strong>City</strong> support<br />
the Spurs not only financially, but have<br />
shown their deep respect for the team in<br />
orderly massive community celebrations<br />
after each Spurs championship. The<br />
community also has civic pride in the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Rampage American Hockey League<br />
team, the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Missions baseball<br />
team, the Double-A Minor League affiliate<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> Diego Padres which has won<br />
11 league championships, the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Silver Stars <strong>of</strong> the WNBA and two rugby<br />
union teams, the Alamo <strong>City</strong> Rugby Football<br />
Club and the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Rugby Football<br />
Club. And, each December, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
hosts the NCAA football Alamo Bowl.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
34
CHAPTER 3 - Civic Pride<br />
35
• And, even though <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has no<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional football team, <strong>San</strong> Antonians<br />
uphold the tradition <strong>of</strong> football being sports<br />
king in Texas by supporting numerous<br />
trophy-winning high school, middle school<br />
and elementary school football teams, even<br />
more neighborhood “Y” football and soccer<br />
teams and the football Tigers <strong>of</strong> Trinity<br />
University. Added to that is the University<br />
<strong>of</strong> Texas at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and the University<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Incarnate Word, fielding their first<br />
football teams this season.<br />
• When groups interested in highlighting<br />
the contributions <strong>of</strong> the many ethnic<br />
groups that have developed Texas were<br />
seeking a venue, it was logical that <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>’s Institute <strong>of</strong> Texan <strong>Culture</strong>s,<br />
which had been the Texas pavilion <strong>of</strong><br />
the 1968 world’s fair, would be selected.<br />
Each summer, the Texas Folklife Festival<br />
is held there, saluting nearly thirty<br />
cultures which have built the Lone Star<br />
State. <strong>San</strong> Antonians turn out in heavy<br />
numbers to join the salute.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
36
Opposite page: Cascarones, emptied-out<br />
eggs filled with confetti, are all the rage at<br />
Night in Old <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> during the city’s<br />
annual Fiesta.<br />
Above and left: Friendly people, crowded<br />
together in merriment, are a key ingredient<br />
to the fun <strong>of</strong> Night in Old <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
during Fiesta.<br />
CHAPTER 3 - Civic Pride<br />
37
• Each February, <strong>San</strong> Antonians celebrate the<br />
ranching and agriculture heritage <strong>of</strong> the<br />
area in the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Stock Show and<br />
Rodeo, one <strong>of</strong> the largest such celebrations<br />
in the nation. The event <strong>of</strong> nearly two<br />
weeks not only testifies to the fascination <strong>of</strong><br />
the American cowboy, but also spotlights<br />
the newest in cattle development and<br />
provides an outlet for young people not<br />
only to show their animals, but also to gain<br />
scholarships. The annual show, which<br />
brings strong corporate support from the<br />
community, hosts 1.3 million visitors each<br />
year and brings $25 million to the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> economy.<br />
• Also cornering key corporate support from<br />
more than 250 companies is the annual<br />
Valero Texas Open, a PGA tournament<br />
bringing in more than $8 million a year for<br />
local charities.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
38
Opposite page, left: “Show us your shoes”<br />
is a familiar crowd request to duchesses <strong>of</strong><br />
the Order <strong>of</strong> the Alamo as they ride on<br />
their floats in the annual Battle <strong>of</strong><br />
Flowers Parade.<br />
Opposite page, right: Even the gendarmes<br />
get in the spirit at the annual Battle <strong>of</strong><br />
Flowers Parade.<br />
Left: Pretty girls always are part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Battle <strong>of</strong> Flowers Parade.<br />
CHAPTER 3 - Civic Pride<br />
39
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
40
• When all is said and done, no public event<br />
more captures the sense <strong>of</strong> civic pride by<br />
<strong>San</strong> Antonians than the granddaddy and<br />
grandmother <strong>of</strong> them all, Fiesta <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>. This annual 10-day celebration in<br />
April commemorates the independence <strong>of</strong><br />
Texas and honors all heroes <strong>of</strong> the battles<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Alamo and <strong>San</strong> Jacinto. It shows<br />
how civic pride in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is melded<br />
into recreation and good times, salutes<br />
voluntarism at its highest level, pinpoints<br />
the generosity, adventurous nature,<br />
philanthropy, good humor, public<br />
integration, patriotism and the spirit <strong>of</strong> the<br />
land <strong>of</strong> merriment and make believe<br />
among all <strong>San</strong> Antonians. Featuring<br />
parades (one, the Battle <strong>of</strong> Flowers, is the<br />
largest parade in the nation organized<br />
wholly by women and another is the<br />
nation’s leading river parade, where the<br />
floats actually do, while another parade in<br />
November heralds the beginning <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Yule holidays), kings, queens, duchesses<br />
and dukes and all sorts <strong>of</strong> special fairs and<br />
colorful parties. Fiesta hosts 3.5 million <strong>of</strong><br />
the 27 million visitors who come to <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> each year, and it puts a whopping<br />
$280 million into the pockets <strong>of</strong> citizens<br />
annually. In addition, two organizations<br />
that sponsor Fiesta kings raise hundreds<br />
<strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong> dollars each year for<br />
children’s charities and scholarships.<br />
It’s <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, a city which retains its<br />
small town atmosphere while supporting<br />
exemplary pride with big town projects, ideas<br />
and dreams, with a seventh in the nation<br />
population <strong>of</strong> 1.350 million people. It’s not<br />
paradise, but it’s pretty darn close to it.<br />
Opposite page: Gird up your appetite for the<br />
many varieties <strong>of</strong> Mexican food one can find<br />
on almost every occasion, especially during<br />
Fiesta, in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Below: The Texas Cavaliers’ River Parade<br />
during Fiesta features floats which<br />
actually do.<br />
CHAPTER 3 - Civic Pride<br />
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SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
42
Opposite page: Tim Duncan, a forward for<br />
the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Spurs, in a river parade,<br />
shows <strong>of</strong>f the 2005 National Basketball<br />
Association championship trophy his team<br />
won that year. The Spurs have been NBA<br />
champs four times.<br />
Top left insert: Spurs guard Manu Ginobili<br />
is proud <strong>of</strong> his team’s NBA championship<br />
trophy in a 2005 parade on the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> River.<br />
Top right insert: The <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Missions<br />
are the city’s minor league baseball team.<br />
Left: It’s a sunny afternoon on the links <strong>of</strong><br />
the Quarry Golf Club.<br />
CHAPTER 3 - Civic Pride<br />
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chapter four<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
44
Special Places<br />
Opposite page: This work <strong>of</strong> stylized aircraft<br />
with exhaust trailing behind is the Missing<br />
Man Monument at Randolph Air Force<br />
Base, a few miles northeast <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
The monument, paid for by the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Chapter <strong>of</strong> the Red River Valley Fighter<br />
Pilots Association, is a memorial to the<br />
47,000 Americans lost in Southeast<br />
Asian combat.<br />
Left: The sailing is smooth on Canyon Lake,<br />
about thirty miles northeast <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
There is an old story about a newspaper editor who asked his readers to suggest what might<br />
be the ten least-maintained streets in town. One reader wrote in with this note: “Listing the ten<br />
worst streets in our town would be like listing the ten hungriest people in India.”<br />
That’s the same kind <strong>of</strong> dilemma just about any citizen <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> would encounter in<br />
listing the most special places in the Alamo <strong>City</strong>. There are so many special places in the city that<br />
one would find difficulty narrowing down a list.<br />
CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
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So, related here are but several handfuls <strong>of</strong><br />
the most special places one might find in<br />
living in or visiting <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Always winners as special places are the<br />
Spanish colonial missions and the River Walk,<br />
along with the excitement <strong>of</strong> Six Flags Fiesta<br />
Texas and SeaWorld. There are trips to the city’s<br />
many colorful and unique shopping malls,<br />
including the Quarry Market and The Rim,<br />
which, like Quarry Market, is an adaptation <strong>of</strong><br />
a rock quarry into a shopping experience.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has 26 <strong>of</strong>ficially recognized<br />
museums, ranging from the Alamo to the<br />
one dedicated to the contributions <strong>of</strong><br />
the wooden nickel. Museo Alameda, part <strong>of</strong><br />
the Smithsonian Institution, highlights the<br />
special legacy <strong>of</strong> the Latin culture to America.<br />
Hangar 9/Edward H. White Museum is the<br />
oldest museum for the Air Force, while the<br />
Fort Sam Houston Museum explains how that<br />
military post gained the reputation for <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> as the “mother-in-law <strong>of</strong> the Army.”<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
46
The McNay Art Museum is the oldest<br />
museum <strong>of</strong> modern art in Texas, while the<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Art League Museum houses<br />
some <strong>of</strong> the most-famous paintings <strong>of</strong> early<br />
Texas. The Witte Museum spotlights the<br />
frontier life <strong>of</strong> Texas and focuses on many<br />
new scientific developments in the state.<br />
The museum’s Science Treehouse is a favorite<br />
place for visiting and hometown youngsters.<br />
The Children’s Museum also draws large<br />
crowds <strong>of</strong> curious young people. The <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Museum <strong>of</strong> Art is home to the<br />
Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin<br />
American Art, featuring one <strong>of</strong> the largest<br />
Opposite page: The AT&T Center, in the<br />
foreground, is the home <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Spurs. In the background left is the<br />
Alamodome, former home <strong>of</strong> the Spurs, and<br />
the Tower <strong>of</strong> the Americas is to the<br />
background right.<br />
Above: The Tower <strong>of</strong> the Americas is<br />
highlighted by flags.<br />
Below: The SeaWorld amusement park is<br />
located at the western edge <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Pictured is the Lost Lagoon.<br />
CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
47
Right: Trail riders come in for the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Stock Show and Rodeo.<br />
Below: John T. Floore’s Country Store is a<br />
favorite venue for country-western dancing,<br />
a few miles west <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, at Helotes.<br />
Opposite page: The Cornyval in Helotes<br />
celebrates both civic pride and the historical<br />
corn harvest. Helotes is a Spanish word for<br />
green maize, or corn.<br />
collections <strong>of</strong> Mexican folk art in the world.<br />
The Old Trail Drivers Museum tells the story<br />
<strong>of</strong> the legendary cattle drives from Texas to<br />
Midwestern railheads.<br />
The Alamo <strong>City</strong> has more than its share<br />
<strong>of</strong> famous old moviehouses, many <strong>of</strong> them<br />
restored to the golden era <strong>of</strong> the golden screen.<br />
Visitors and citizens alike continue to look in<br />
awe at the elaborate decors <strong>of</strong> the Majestic,<br />
Aztec and Empire Theaters, for instance, with<br />
the three now used as performing arts palaces<br />
for such organizations as the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Symphony. <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> long has had a love<br />
affair with the silver screen, beginning with the<br />
filming <strong>of</strong> “Wings,” the first motion picture to<br />
win an Academy Award as the best picture <strong>of</strong><br />
the year, and the making <strong>of</strong> movies continues<br />
to be a thriving art in the city.<br />
Special places in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> include<br />
neighborhoods tracing the history <strong>of</strong> the city,<br />
from La Villita, the original city, where the<br />
soldiers <strong>of</strong> the Spanish garrison lived, to<br />
the King William District, where the German<br />
merchants <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth century<br />
maintained their Victorian mansions (the area<br />
initially carried the name <strong>of</strong> Wilhelm, the<br />
German kaiser, but was Anglicized at the<br />
outbreak <strong>of</strong> World War I), to Monte Vista,<br />
where the cattle barons lived.<br />
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Architecture in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> takes many<br />
turns, with the design <strong>of</strong> the Mexican<br />
hacienda, especially in the décor <strong>of</strong> the city’s<br />
more than 500 Mexican food restaurants, and<br />
the Texas ranchhouse remaining perennial<br />
favorites. Those decors are accentuated in<br />
daily diets, with the enchilada, fajitas, chalupas,<br />
tacos and the tortilla, along with Texas<br />
barbecued brisket, <strong>of</strong>ten seen on the dining<br />
room table. (<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> also claims to be the<br />
hometown <strong>of</strong> chili, but discussion along that<br />
line <strong>of</strong>ten creates conversation as hot as the<br />
many Mexican hot sauces manufactured in<br />
the city.)<br />
CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
49
Right: This memorial honors the soldiers <strong>of</strong><br />
the war in Vietnam. It is in front <strong>of</strong><br />
Municipal Auditorium, in downtown<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Opposite page, clockwise, from the left top:<br />
<strong>San</strong> Fernando Cathedral in downtown <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> is the oldest building in Texas and<br />
the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in<br />
continuous use in the United States.<br />
Schoolchildren exit the “red enchilada,” the<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Central Library. The bottom is<br />
a side view <strong>of</strong> the building, a converted<br />
department store.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
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CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
51
Religion finds numerous special places in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. <strong>San</strong> Fernando Cathedral, initially<br />
designated as the center <strong>of</strong> a city which was to<br />
span out six miles in each direction from its<br />
cupola, is the oldest cathedral <strong>of</strong> continuous<br />
use in the United States. It faces onto a plaza<br />
which is just one <strong>of</strong> many such plazas in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, and that plaza also is shared by<br />
the Bexar County Courthouse, the largest and<br />
oldest courthouse <strong>of</strong> continuous use in Texas.<br />
The city has three Roman Catholic institutions<br />
<strong>of</strong> higher learning and many parochial schools.<br />
(<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> also hosts a highly-ranked<br />
Presbyterian university, is the only Texas city to<br />
have branches <strong>of</strong> both <strong>of</strong> the state university<br />
systems and has one <strong>of</strong> the most-noted junior<br />
college systems in the nation.) The oldest<br />
Protestant congregation in the city is First<br />
Presbyterian Church, a downtown facility<br />
which forms a partnership with St. Mark’s<br />
Episcopal Church, which was the church <strong>of</strong><br />
Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the<br />
marriage altar <strong>of</strong> President Lyndon Johnson<br />
and his famous “Bird,” Lady Bird, and Travis<br />
Park Methodist Church, the second oldest<br />
Protestant sanctuary in the city. On the West<br />
Side <strong>of</strong> the city is the Basilica <strong>of</strong> the National<br />
Shrine <strong>of</strong> the Little Flower, with a claim as<br />
the “most beautiful church in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.”<br />
Above: Color is a major theme in Market<br />
Square (El Mercado) in downtown <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>, where shops <strong>of</strong> many trinkets rest<br />
side by side.<br />
Right: Everyone in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> enjoys<br />
merriment, year round.<br />
Opposite page, top: The Little Church <strong>of</strong><br />
La Villita is a place <strong>of</strong> peace in the middle<br />
<strong>of</strong> a busy city.<br />
Opposite page, bottom: Tourists enter<br />
La Villita, the original city, in downtown<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
52
A recent religious addition, on the far North<br />
Side, is a spectacular temple <strong>of</strong> the Church <strong>of</strong><br />
Jesus Christ <strong>of</strong> Latter Day Saints.<br />
The military long has been part <strong>of</strong> the daily<br />
lives <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> Antonians, from the building <strong>of</strong><br />
the first Spanish presidio in the early part <strong>of</strong><br />
the eighteenth century to the current multimillion<br />
dollar construction project which will<br />
catapult Fort Sam Houston into the role as<br />
the home <strong>of</strong> military medicine in the United<br />
States. Fort Sam already is the home <strong>of</strong> the<br />
most-famous burn unit in the nation, <strong>of</strong> a new<br />
warrior center and a favorite tourist spot, the<br />
Quadrangle, where deer today roam as free as<br />
they did the day the Native American chief<br />
Geronimo was held captive there. It also is the<br />
headquarters <strong>of</strong> Army South. The nation’s first<br />
military flight also took to the air at Fort Sam<br />
a century ago. <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> also is the home <strong>of</strong><br />
Lackland Air Force Base, the Air Force’s basic<br />
training facility; Randolph Air Force Base,<br />
a keystone in pilot training and education<br />
(which became well-known, along with <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>’s Kelly Air Force Base, now privatized<br />
as Port <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, when such actors as<br />
John Wayne, Robert Taylor and Van Johnson<br />
starred in those multiple World War II films),<br />
and Brooks <strong>City</strong>-Base, a current militarybusiness<br />
partnership facility which was a key<br />
element in the development <strong>of</strong> the manned<br />
U.S. space program. Now, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> also<br />
will become home <strong>of</strong> the nation’s new cyber<br />
security command.<br />
CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
53
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is well-situated in a valley<br />
carved out between the Texas Hill Country and<br />
the Coastal Plains, edged by the Gulf <strong>of</strong> Mexico<br />
on one side and Mexico on the other. That<br />
makes it the headquarters for tourist visits to<br />
many <strong>of</strong> the small German towns <strong>of</strong> the rolling<br />
Hill Country and especially to wine making, a<br />
new industry which has been stomped out <strong>of</strong><br />
the Texas economy in recent years. An <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
wine tour loops out <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> to many <strong>of</strong><br />
the small wineries <strong>of</strong> the Texas hills.<br />
The Alamo <strong>City</strong> is home to many cultures.<br />
The Hispanic culture not only is highlighted<br />
in the people, song and the customs, but also<br />
in facilities. Market Square in downtown <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>, for instance, is the largest Mexican<br />
market in the United States. But, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
also boasts <strong>of</strong> many other cultures, each with<br />
its own special places and festivals—an<br />
annual Asian Festival and a yearly Greek<br />
Festival, for instance.<br />
All <strong>of</strong> these many cultures and these many<br />
special places make <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> not only a<br />
fantastic place to do business and live, but also<br />
a special place <strong>of</strong> make believe where civic<br />
pride merges into recreational service, where<br />
visits to historical spots and theme parks are<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
54
daily occurrences, and where one can see the<br />
glories <strong>of</strong> the past in Sunset Station, a restored<br />
rail facility out <strong>of</strong> which modern locomotives<br />
now run. It also is a place where one can, on<br />
one stretch <strong>of</strong> freeway, drive past, or right next<br />
to, the strange architecture <strong>of</strong> the Alamodome,<br />
the former home <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Spurs and<br />
the training facility for the Dallas Cowboys,<br />
the AT&T Center, the current home <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Spurs, and the Freeman Coliseum, the<br />
centerpiece <strong>of</strong> the annual show and rodeo.<br />
As one travels through, or near, all these<br />
special places, it certainly will become<br />
evident that the advice <strong>of</strong> many <strong>San</strong><br />
Antonians is “go north, young man.” With<br />
general development <strong>of</strong> the Alamo <strong>City</strong> in all<br />
geographic directions in recent years, the<br />
move toward the top <strong>of</strong> the map continues to<br />
be the most concentrated.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has many parks <strong>of</strong> varying<br />
sizes and more than twenty public and private<br />
golf courses, all well-used.<br />
Opposite page top: The Marion Koogler<br />
McNay Art Museum, a former regal<br />
residential estate in north <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
houses one <strong>of</strong> the nation’s most-impressive<br />
collections <strong>of</strong> nineteenth and twentieth<br />
century European and American artworks.<br />
Opposite page bottom: Municipal<br />
Auditorium in downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, built<br />
to honor the heroes <strong>of</strong> World War I, is the<br />
venue for many social and civic events.<br />
Left: The ornate Majestic Theater in<br />
downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, once a favorite<br />
movie palace, now is a unique performing<br />
arts theater.<br />
CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
55
Clockwise, from left top:<br />
The Rim is a three-million-square-foot retail<br />
center nestled in a former rock quarry in<br />
northwest <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> in an outstanding<br />
example <strong>of</strong> redaptive reuse.<br />
Concord Plaza, in north <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> near<br />
the airport, houses a major stock brokerage,<br />
a popular steakhouse and a major physical<br />
workout center, among other businesses.<br />
The Palladium is a 19-screen movie house<br />
in the Rim, featuring the only community<br />
IMAX screen in the nation. Six Flags Fiesta<br />
Texas is across Interstate 10.<br />
Opposite page: The gigantic cowboy boots<br />
on the grounds <strong>of</strong> North Star Mall in north<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> fit right in with the unique<br />
flavor <strong>of</strong> the Alamo <strong>City</strong>.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
56
The most-spectacular move in this<br />
area <strong>of</strong> community development<br />
today, however, is what is<br />
happening in one section<br />
<strong>of</strong> far north <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
the creation <strong>of</strong> the new<br />
36-hole, 2,800-acre TPC <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> PGA tournament<br />
golf course and its accompanying<br />
Hill Country resort and<br />
spa, the world’s largest such<br />
facility for JW Marriott. Even<br />
though this development is private,<br />
it is a shining example <strong>of</strong><br />
the kind <strong>of</strong> gutsy progress now<br />
so prevalent in a growing and<br />
vibrant <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
57
Right: The Taj Mahal at Randolph Air Force<br />
Base, a few miles northeast <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
houses the 902nd Mission Support Group<br />
and the 12th Training Wing headquarters.<br />
It is one <strong>of</strong> the United States Air Force’s<br />
most-recognizable buildings.<br />
Opposite page, clockwise from the left:<br />
Recruits at the Air Force’s only basic<br />
military training installation, at Lackland<br />
Air Force Base in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, go through<br />
their paces at boot camp.<br />
Units <strong>of</strong> the Reserve Officers Training Corps<br />
(ROTC) are featured in many <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> schools.<br />
Airshows are popular in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
especially on Armed Forces Day weekend.<br />
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CHAPTER 4 - Special Places<br />
59
chapter five<br />
Above: This youngster’s show animal has his<br />
goat at the Junior Stock Show in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Opposite page: <strong>San</strong> Antonians love to be in<br />
a clownish mood all year around.<br />
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60
If a visitor to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> were asked to<br />
list the most special faces associated with<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the results might be varied.<br />
The historian might suggest Davy<br />
Crockett, William Barret Travis and/or Jim<br />
Bowie, maybe even John Wayne, all relating<br />
to the Battle <strong>of</strong> the Alamo. Or, perhaps Henry<br />
Cisneros, the former <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> mayor who<br />
was a presidential cabinet member.<br />
The music, television and/or movie buff<br />
may suggest Carol Burnett, Selena or Pedro<br />
Gonzalez-Gonzalez.<br />
The sports fan may evoke the name <strong>of</strong><br />
Tobin Rote or Tommy Nobis or Tim Duncan.<br />
Special<br />
Faces<br />
CHAPTER 5 - Special Faces<br />
61
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
62
The businessman may call forth the name<br />
<strong>of</strong> Ed Whitacre, the former head <strong>of</strong> AT&T<br />
who was called out <strong>of</strong> retirement in an effort<br />
to save General Motors.<br />
Ask the average <strong>San</strong> Antonian to list the<br />
special faces in her or his vocabulary, she or<br />
he most likely would suggest the family next<br />
door. That’s because the most special faces are<br />
everyday citizens, working together for the<br />
betterment <strong>of</strong> neighbor and the city.<br />
Walk down any <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> street any day<br />
<strong>of</strong> the week, or drive to a special place, or<br />
just look at the house on the corner. You will<br />
see the strength <strong>of</strong> a great city at work, its<br />
people, at work or at play.<br />
There may be a young couple kissing on a<br />
park bench, an older couple holding hands<br />
while strolling through the park, youngsters<br />
playing soccer or football in a park or just in<br />
a vacant lot. There may be a young adult<br />
showing <strong>of</strong>f a champion steer at the stock<br />
show, the member <strong>of</strong> a high school sports<br />
team in practice, fans attending a Spurs game,<br />
a crowd coming out <strong>of</strong> a movie theater, the<br />
brave exiting a roller coaster at a theme park,<br />
a golfer teeing <strong>of</strong>f on a local course, a teenager<br />
texting his girl friend or a beautiful young<br />
lady adorned in a colorful and twirling skirt,<br />
riding a horse in the charreada.<br />
Opposite page: Is love in the air as this<br />
young couple strolls along the street in front<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Museum <strong>of</strong> Art?<br />
Above: Another couple finds the Tower Life<br />
Building in downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> a<br />
suitable background for their rendezvous.<br />
Left: There are even special faces in the<br />
Latin Wing <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Museum<br />
<strong>of</strong> Art.<br />
CHAPTER 5 - Special Faces<br />
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SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
64
Opposite page: A youngster contemplates<br />
his heritage at the Texas Folklife Festival in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Clockwise, starting from the top:<br />
Members <strong>of</strong> Fiesta royalty enjoy life during<br />
the King William Fair parade.<br />
Whose face is it behind that piñata?<br />
A military man <strong>of</strong> past victories enjoys the<br />
King William Fair parade.<br />
During Fiesta in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, everyone is a<br />
king. This young man rules his realm while<br />
wearing Fiesta beads and a medal from the<br />
Texas Cavaliers’ King <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
CHAPTER 5 - Special Faces<br />
65
In short, the special faces <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
are not those <strong>of</strong> the famous, but those <strong>of</strong><br />
the average homeowner or renter and her<br />
or his family. People, that is what is making<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the fastest-growing cities<br />
in America.<br />
With the talent, determination and<br />
farsightedness from those special faces, it<br />
is not beyond imagination that within our<br />
lifetime, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and Austin will be one<br />
large metroplex, with such smaller towns as<br />
New Braunfels, <strong>San</strong> Marcos, Buda and Kyle<br />
as valued suburbs. Whatever does happen<br />
in the tremendous growth <strong>of</strong> the region and<br />
the state, however, one can be assured that<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> will remain the exceptional city,<br />
with its cosmopolitan attitudes and its history<br />
and the use <strong>of</strong> it to benefit the future.<br />
And then there are the people, each one <strong>of</strong><br />
them extraordinary in his or her own right.<br />
<strong>Exceptional</strong>?<br />
Yes, yes, and, yes.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
66
Opposite page, top: Music is a part <strong>of</strong><br />
everyday life in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, as exhibited<br />
by these young mariachis.<br />
Opposite page, bottom: Fancy horseback<br />
riding is a favorite at the charreada, a<br />
Mexican rodeo.<br />
Left: Mexican folk dances are a delight in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
CHAPTER 5 - Special Faces<br />
67
Above: Whether at running or passing, high<br />
school football is a major pastime not only<br />
among <strong>San</strong> Antonians, but also<br />
among Texans.<br />
Right: For the older folk—and some<br />
youngsters, too—a round on the links at<br />
one <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s many golf courses is<br />
a pleasure.<br />
Opposite page: Ride ‘em Cowgirl!<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
68
CHAPTER 5 - Special Faces<br />
69
Not all special faces in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> are<br />
those <strong>of</strong> human beings. Animals and plants<br />
get a glance, also.<br />
Clockwise, from the bottom:<br />
The armadillo is a strange creature.<br />
The Texas Bluebonnet, the Texas state<br />
flower, has a face <strong>of</strong> beauty.<br />
Leaping lizards? Well, maybe not, but this<br />
Texas spiney lizard has a look, too.<br />
And, the jackrabbit always is a welcome<br />
visitor. Coming to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>?<br />
Then, hop to it!<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
70
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
Historic pr<strong>of</strong>iles <strong>of</strong> businesses, organizations, and<br />
families that have contributed to the development<br />
and economic base <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Ariel Texas Star Inc.....................................................................72<br />
Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse ..............................................75<br />
ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> ....................................................................76<br />
Cox Manufacturing ......................................................................78<br />
Hill Country Bakery.....................................................................80<br />
Neuromuscular Pain and Nutrition Center LLC.................................82<br />
North Star Mall ..........................................................................84<br />
World’s Largest Cowboy Boots at North Star Mall .............................85<br />
Our Lady <strong>of</strong> the Lake University ....................................................86<br />
Quality Inn & Suites TM Bandera Pointe ............................................88<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River Authority..........................................................90<br />
Texas A&M University-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>................................................92<br />
South Texas Blood & Tissue Center.................................................94<br />
The University <strong>of</strong> Texas Health Science Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>............96<br />
North <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce........................................98<br />
<strong>San</strong>tikos Theatres ........................................................................99<br />
CNG Engineering, PLLC..............................................................100<br />
CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa Health System............................................101<br />
Elegant Furs .............................................................................102<br />
Guillermo’s Deli & Catering ........................................................103<br />
Greene and Associates, Inc. .........................................................104<br />
Sabinal Group ...........................................................................105<br />
Consultants in Women’s Health.....................................................106<br />
The Orsatti Dental Group ...........................................................107<br />
<strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>–Development Services .....................................108<br />
Bear Audio Visual, Inc................................................................109<br />
LifeCare Hospitals <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> ................................................110<br />
Meson European Dining ..............................................................111<br />
Mark Langford Photography.........................................................112<br />
Southwest Research Institute ® (SwRI ® ) ...........................................113<br />
SWBC ......................................................................................114<br />
Timber Tech Texas, Inc. ..............................................................115<br />
USAA Real Estate Company .........................................................116<br />
The Westin La Cantera Resort......................................................117<br />
Senator Judith Zaffirini ..............................................................118<br />
The Towers on Park Lane ............................................................119<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Stock Show & Rodeo .................................................120<br />
Texas Pride Barbeque .................................................................121<br />
Trotter & Morton Facilities Services <strong>of</strong> Texas .................................122<br />
The University <strong>of</strong> Texas at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> .........................................123<br />
Maureen Reeves Tarazon .............................................................124<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
71
ARIEL TEXAS<br />
STAR INC.<br />
poured-in-place concrete techniques. Returning<br />
to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> in 1971, he launched what<br />
became a series <strong>of</strong> rapidly growing companies<br />
named after his wife, Orah, around which<br />
current Ariel Texas Star Inc. would form<br />
in 1994. Orah Wall Construction was a general<br />
contracting company followed by Orah Wall<br />
Investments which focused on real estate<br />
and development.<br />
✧<br />
Clockwise, from top:<br />
Energy Plaza and Petroleum Club, 1980. At<br />
8618-8620 North New Braunfels Avenue,<br />
these twin seven-story buildings totaling<br />
168,000 square feet feature post-tensioned<br />
cast-in-place concrete frames with concrete<br />
spandrel panels separating bands <strong>of</strong> glass.<br />
Efraim Abram<strong>of</strong>f, president, Ariel Texas<br />
Star, Inc.<br />
Edan Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Building, 2008. Inspired<br />
by Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs <strong>of</strong> the early<br />
1900s, this two-story, 31,134-square-foot<br />
building in a suburban setting at 15310<br />
Huebner Road, features masonry exterior,<br />
standing seam metal ro<strong>of</strong> and a landmark<br />
tower above the atrium entrance.<br />
In 1967, Efraim Abram<strong>of</strong>f arrived in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> from Israel seeking opportunities in a<br />
much larger world.<br />
Four decades later, Efraim Abram<strong>of</strong>f’s<br />
buildings have indelibly graced the city’s<br />
landscape with numerous buildings including<br />
some distinctive designs. There is more than one<br />
million square feet <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fice space to his credit.<br />
Driven by a desire to build, Abram<strong>of</strong>f<br />
dreamed <strong>of</strong> becoming an architect. At thirty-five,<br />
he came to America to pursue that dream. With<br />
him, he brought experience acquired with<br />
global Solel Boneh International, Ltd. (the<br />
largest construction group in the Middle East at<br />
the time) and an enviable knowledge <strong>of</strong> how to<br />
build efficiently with creativity and innovation.<br />
Upon completing studies at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
College in 1970, Abram<strong>of</strong>f participated in<br />
a Mexican Government Housing Program<br />
and for nine months trained and supervised<br />
locals to build their own housing utilizing<br />
Initially, the budding developer built<br />
warehouses and did commercial remodeling.<br />
He introduced a reusable forming system for<br />
pouring concrete walls, which he compares<br />
to “baking a layered cake.” With this castin-place<br />
system, Abram<strong>of</strong>f was able to<br />
competitively produce concrete warehouses<br />
on a fast track to completion.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
72
The boyhood dream quickly grew teeth.<br />
Abram<strong>of</strong>f’s construction business gained ground<br />
parallel to his uncompromising commitment to<br />
old-world integrity, contemporary design, and<br />
pioneering spirit. By 1974, a mere three years<br />
after he started, the general-contractor-turneddeveloper<br />
was conceiving, owning, building and<br />
managing projects across <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
A signature <strong>of</strong> Abram<strong>of</strong>f’s visionary brilliance<br />
is Energy Plaza on which he commenced<br />
development in 1980 with partner Sam Girgus.<br />
It was one <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s first multi-storied<br />
suburban business centers <strong>of</strong> the 1980s. To<br />
ensure the complex would attract geologists and<br />
oil company executives, they purchased the<br />
Petroleum Club name and installed a log library<br />
and executive <strong>of</strong>fice suite in the Plaza Building.<br />
What is more, the site for Energy Plaza near<br />
the international airport allowed easy access by<br />
world travelers associated with the oil industry.<br />
Energy Plaza was cutting-edge then and remains<br />
today a standing tribute to Abram<strong>of</strong>f’s reputation<br />
for timeless development. Energy Plaza now<br />
boasts <strong>of</strong> the most continually successful<br />
Petroleum Club in the nation, which continues<br />
to occupy the top floor <strong>of</strong> the Energy Building.<br />
Notably, the developer’s instincts proved<br />
repeatedly precise. In 1979, Abram<strong>of</strong>f had the<br />
foresight to purchase the 168 acre Strauder<br />
Nelson Estate along IH-10 West and Callaghan<br />
Road. This acquisition initiated a rezoning plan,<br />
Horizon Hill Subdivision, which accommodated<br />
commercial/<strong>of</strong>fice, multi-family and residential<br />
development while conforming to surrounding<br />
neighborhoods and preserving antique oaks.<br />
Most importantly, Horizon Hill filled a gap in<br />
development along the IH 10 West corridor<br />
outside loop 410.<br />
On that sprawling acreage, Abram<strong>of</strong>f<br />
commenced plans in 1985 for “Horizon View”<br />
which he marketed overseas as “The European<br />
Economic Community Center” to attract new<br />
business and trade to the Alamo city. Abram<strong>of</strong>f’s<br />
monument to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> was then an unheard<br />
<strong>of</strong> high-rise towering forty-two stories above<br />
Callaghan Road in four columns and encasing<br />
1.8 million square feet. But the market collapse<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1986 reduced investors’ perception <strong>of</strong> his<br />
masterpiece to a “grandiose plan.” Even so,<br />
illustrations <strong>of</strong> it appeared in architectural<br />
magazines around the world, so that today other<br />
world-renowned buildings<br />
emulate its design.<br />
Not easily discouraged by<br />
economic shifts, Abram<strong>of</strong>f<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten turned to preserving<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s rich architectural<br />
heritage. In 1975 he<br />
acquired the International<br />
and Great Northern Railway<br />
Depot built in 1907 west <strong>of</strong><br />
downtown—once a major<br />
gateway to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
He salvaged the property,<br />
held it for nearly twelve<br />
years, then sold it to <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Employees (renamed<br />
Generations) Federal Credit<br />
Union who renovated the<br />
depot in 1986.<br />
Another <strong>of</strong> Abram<strong>of</strong>f’s<br />
rescues was the Hunter-<br />
Knowlton Estate (former<br />
1908 Knowlton Milk Farm<br />
out Fredericksburg Road)<br />
purchase in 1985 as part <strong>of</strong><br />
the Ashford Oaks Executive<br />
Office Tower development.<br />
He preserved much <strong>of</strong> the<br />
natural terrain and enlarged<br />
and renovated the homestead as <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
prestigious, former Ariel House Dining Club.<br />
In a bold departure from traditional<br />
development also during the economic<br />
upheaval <strong>of</strong> the 1980s, Abram<strong>of</strong>f again<br />
diversified. He introduced Orah Wall Research<br />
& Technologies Corp., opened <strong>of</strong>fices in<br />
Europe & Israel, and was promoting <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> internationally to grow the <strong>City</strong>’s hightech<br />
talent and facilities. M & S Imaging Center<br />
in the Medical Center is but one stellar<br />
example <strong>of</strong> this successful farsighted strategy.<br />
From humble beginnings as general<br />
contractor to multimillion dollar entity, the<br />
group <strong>of</strong> Orah Wall companies at its peak<br />
employed about 1,100 people; operated<br />
multiple construction sites and managed and<br />
leased its buildings and more than 1,550<br />
apartment units. With its current standing as a<br />
leading real estate investment, development and<br />
construction firm in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Ariel Texas<br />
Star today remains a leading light in its industry.<br />
✧<br />
Top: Ashford Oaks Executive Office Tower<br />
and Ariel House, 1985. At 8122 and 8118<br />
Datapoint Drive, the 13-story, 219,000-<br />
square-foot building with three below grade<br />
parking levels features ro<strong>of</strong>top patios and<br />
corner balconies in a concrete structural<br />
frame clad in imported green granite and<br />
reflective glass.<br />
Above: International and Great Northern<br />
Railway Depot. The former railway depot<br />
constructed in 1907 on Medina at West<br />
Houston Street in Cattlemen’s Square<br />
features rose windows, a balconysurrounded<br />
rotunda and dome-top copper<br />
Indian statue.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
73
✧<br />
Joshua Building. The twenty story, 300,000-<br />
square-foot <strong>of</strong>fice building with shopping<br />
arcade, featuring contemporary glass design<br />
with a sweeping east wall topped by a<br />
penthouse and clock tower reminiscent <strong>of</strong><br />
early New York high-rises, is planned for<br />
construction at Loop 410 and Cherry Ridge.<br />
If Ariel Texas Star has a slogan, it is “Take<br />
risks but achieve the exceptional!” says<br />
Abram<strong>of</strong>f, who “followed his gut” and still<br />
does. “In the early years, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> was<br />
unknown compared to Houston or Dallas,” he<br />
says. “Despite others’ caution and <strong>of</strong>fers from<br />
bigger cities, I stayed in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>; put my<br />
money, effort and time into the <strong>City</strong>. Now, <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> is the seventh largest city in the<br />
nation and recognized the world over. I like to<br />
think I brought new insights and took<br />
worthwhile risks.”<br />
When dreams come true, Abram<strong>of</strong>f looks<br />
up to find new ones. “I am an optimist; I must<br />
create,” he says. “I don’t do it only to ‘succeed’<br />
or ‘close a deal.’ I do it to leave a legacy to<br />
future generations.”<br />
Ariel (Hebrew for “lion <strong>of</strong> God”) Texas<br />
Star unapologetically continues to create.<br />
What the future may hold is the manifestation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the European Economic Community<br />
Center. Two additional designs are in the<br />
<strong>of</strong>fing. One is the Joshua Building, an<br />
$80-million, 20-story, 300,000-square-foot<br />
business center, including a 15,000-squarefoot,<br />
top-story club and restaurant, planned<br />
to grace high ground at Loop 410 and IH-10<br />
West. The DOR (Hebrew for “generation”)<br />
Building, is an $85-million, 15-story,<br />
300,000-square-foot pr<strong>of</strong>essional building<br />
that also includes a penthouse club and<br />
restaurant and is earmarked for construction<br />
on IH-10 West along with the new generation<br />
<strong>of</strong> development outside Loop 1604.<br />
A vision made real by a boy from Israel, the<br />
spirit and life blood <strong>of</strong> Ariel Texas Star is<br />
Efraim Abram<strong>of</strong>f. Property Manager Simon<br />
Abram<strong>of</strong>f, Construction Manager L. B. Feiner,<br />
Real Estate Consultant Robert D. Adams, and<br />
Administrative Assistant Kameron Yarbrough<br />
complete the company’s core. Abram<strong>of</strong>f’s<br />
nephews, Rami and Jeff Kotel, have assisted<br />
with various projects over the years.<br />
Represented by Abram<strong>of</strong>f, Ariel Texas Star<br />
is designated an “Outstanding Member <strong>of</strong> the<br />
North <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce.”<br />
Ariel Texas Star Inc., is located in north<br />
central <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, at 40 Northeast<br />
Loop 410 in Suite 415. Contact Abram<strong>of</strong>f by<br />
telephone at (210) 344-1699, by email at<br />
arieltexasstar@sbcglobal.net or through the<br />
company’s website at www.arieltexasstar.com.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
74
Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse is far<br />
from an ordinary restaurant. In fact, it is far<br />
more than even an extraordinary restaurant.<br />
It is an experience—a true taste <strong>of</strong> Southern<br />
Brazil right in the suburbs <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
After working in similar-style steakhouses<br />
in both Brazil and the United States for more<br />
than two decades, owner and president Joao<br />
Ongaratto decided it was time to carve a niche<br />
for himself. That niche turned out to be an<br />
authentic Brazilian steakhouse that has not only<br />
thrilled the taste buds <strong>of</strong> thousands since<br />
opening in October 2008, but has also earned<br />
rave reviews from customers and critics alike. Its<br />
success has been so great, in fact, that it inspired<br />
a second location in Chicago in November 2009.<br />
According to General Manager Long Phu,<br />
everything about Chama Gaucha has been<br />
carefully designed, starting with its name. For<br />
example, chama means flame in Portuguese<br />
and is the very essence <strong>of</strong> the Brazilian<br />
steakhouse. It also describes the great passion<br />
that Brazilian Cowboys—or gauchos—have<br />
for their culture and tradition. Brazilian<br />
gauchos tend to large herds <strong>of</strong> cattle as they<br />
roam through the vast plains <strong>of</strong> Southern<br />
Brazil and, at the end <strong>of</strong> the day, gather<br />
around the churrasco—the fire pit or grill—to<br />
eat and share stories.<br />
“It’s that authentic churrasco experience<br />
that we strive to recreate,” says Phu. “From our<br />
cascading waterfall to the charcoal grill, guests<br />
are transported to the homeland <strong>of</strong> the gauchos.”<br />
Upon arrival, a bountiful salad bar with a<br />
host <strong>of</strong> fresh veggies and exotic cheeses greet<br />
guests and proves the perfect compliment to<br />
what really makes the restaurant unique–the<br />
main course. Guests simply turn a card on<br />
their table from red to green and chefs<br />
outfitted in authentic gaucho attire arrive at<br />
the table with skewers <strong>of</strong> fifteen different<br />
succulent cuts <strong>of</strong> meat, all perfectly grilled<br />
and seasoned. Guests are served tableside<br />
until all appetites have been contented.<br />
Chama Gaucha started out in October 2008<br />
with just twenty-two employees, but today<br />
has a combined payroll <strong>of</strong> more than 110<br />
employees in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and Chicago. The<br />
restaurants have been purposefully located in<br />
populated suburban centers so as to target<br />
local businesses and families. In 2009 the <strong>San</strong><br />
CHAMA GAUCHA BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE<br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> restaurant not only earned the “Best<br />
Steakhouse” Critic’s Choice Award from the<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>-Express News, but was also named<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the “Top Ten Best New Restaurants”<br />
by <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Magazine. <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Express-<br />
News’ Food critic Bonnie Walker gave the<br />
restaurant the ultimate “Four-Star” rating in<br />
December 2008, and Phu and others from<br />
the restaurant appear frequently on KENS<br />
Channel 5’s Great Day SA morning talk show<br />
as the show’s proclaimed “Meat Specialists.”<br />
For additional information on Chama<br />
Gaucha, visit www.chamagaucha.com.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
75
ITEX IN<br />
SAN ANTONIO<br />
✧<br />
Barron Perales.<br />
Bartering—the mutual exchange <strong>of</strong> goods or<br />
services—actually heralded the beginning <strong>of</strong><br />
business, thousands <strong>of</strong> years ago. A surplus <strong>of</strong><br />
apples could be traded for a stone ax. Today<br />
bartering choices are more sophisticated and<br />
provide greater choices for cashless transactions.<br />
Bartering through ITEX helps businesses stay<br />
competitive in a tough economy.<br />
ITEX’s goal is to help members develop a<br />
more successful business using ITEX as a<br />
business tool. Barter dollars free up cash dollars<br />
to run a business. Bartering creates new business<br />
relationships and brings in new customers<br />
through participation in the business-tobusiness<br />
marketplace. As a nationwide bartering<br />
community, ITEX Corp provides an<br />
unparalleled networking opportunity with its<br />
twenty-six thousand members. It also supplies a<br />
proven way to grow a small business, as<br />
members ‘sell’ their services, products, excess<br />
capacity or inventory to each other.<br />
ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, founded in 1995,<br />
is a part <strong>of</strong> an established network <strong>of</strong> small<br />
businesses trading for what they need. The<br />
modern barter system does not involve direct<br />
trade matches, but instead uses ITEX barter<br />
dollars. The auto repair shop owner, for<br />
example, whose bartered services are selected<br />
by the owner <strong>of</strong> a furniture store or by an<br />
orthodontist does not end up with a roomful<br />
<strong>of</strong> s<strong>of</strong>as or a voucher for dental braces and<br />
retainers. His repair work is translated into<br />
ITEX dollars, which he can apply to get<br />
whatever his business needs or what his<br />
family wants from any other ITEX member.<br />
ITEX, in fact, is the largest cashless<br />
transaction network in the United States.<br />
Its member businesses range from A to Z:<br />
accommodations, advertising, computer<br />
services, education, industrial, printing, retail<br />
stores and veterinary supplies. ITEX handles<br />
all the record keeping for transactions—the<br />
ITEX dollars earned by selling goods or<br />
services—so members do not have to track<br />
details. The ITEX website lets members access<br />
their accounts anytime, anywhere.<br />
When the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> ITEX franchise came<br />
under new ownership in 2005, transactions for<br />
local members rapidly increased to $2.3 million.<br />
New owner Barron Perales, motivated by the art<br />
<strong>of</strong> the deal, adopted bartering as a way <strong>of</strong> life<br />
and developed customer service and customer<br />
retention programs for ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Following a business plan that places greater<br />
importance on quality rather than volume, he<br />
prefers that ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> under-promise<br />
and over-deliver. In 2006, Perales, the youngest<br />
broker in the ITEX system, was named Rookie<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Year. The same year ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
handled $3 million in trades, a record for the<br />
franchise. That achievement brought the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> operation the ITEX Circle <strong>of</strong> Excellence<br />
Award. In recognition <strong>of</strong> his achievement in<br />
building such a successful company, the<br />
Minority Business Development Agency selected<br />
Perales as a “Young Minority Entrepreneur,” one<br />
<strong>of</strong> six in the nation.<br />
By 2009, ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> was<br />
growing at an unprecedented rate with record<br />
trades that totaled over $587,000 in one<br />
month. The growth in ITEX trading,<br />
nationwide and in Texas, is possible only<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
76
ecause ITEX helps its members grow their<br />
own businesses. ITEX’s success directly<br />
reflects the success <strong>of</strong> its bartering members,<br />
who have become more competitive through<br />
cashless transactions. Trade Directors at ITEX<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> assist members in locating<br />
items that they want for their business,<br />
from plumbing services to advertising. Trade<br />
Directors become part <strong>of</strong> the member’s<br />
sales forces, promoting the products and<br />
services to new customers, online and<br />
<strong>of</strong>fline. Customer support includes assisting<br />
members find the best place to spend the<br />
barter dollars they have earned.<br />
Most business owners agree that sales are<br />
the toughest part <strong>of</strong> running a company. Even<br />
with a great product, connecting with new<br />
customers is time-consuming and expensive.<br />
ITEX provides the opportunity to sell to<br />
people who want to do business with a fellow<br />
ITEX member.<br />
The ITEX Membership Trading Community<br />
is narrowly focused on small business owners.<br />
New members who may have joined to move<br />
excess product soon realize the power <strong>of</strong> the<br />
distribution system that has been opened to<br />
them. They discover that bartering creates<br />
ongoing value. Others who have joined for<br />
the marketplace access discover the friendly<br />
community <strong>of</strong> bartering and fellowship.<br />
ITEX’s networking and bartering reach far<br />
beyond the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> region to build<br />
a broader customer base and options<br />
for transactions. The ITEX website lists an<br />
incredible range <strong>of</strong> potential exchanges and a<br />
directory <strong>of</strong> all the businesses ready to barter<br />
their goods for another’s services. The ITEX<br />
Executive Privileges Program leverages the<br />
group’s buying power to negotiate discounts<br />
for its members. Keeping costs down enables<br />
the small business community to stand on<br />
level ground with Big Box stores and<br />
international corporations.<br />
As a concerned corporate citizen, ITEX in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> participates in bettering the<br />
community, particularly through informing and<br />
motivating tomorrow’s young entrepreneurs<br />
and leaders.<br />
A nationwide community <strong>of</strong> small business<br />
has discovered the benefits <strong>of</strong> trading for what<br />
they need rather than spending cash. Before<br />
there was money, there was barter. Now<br />
there is ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and a better<br />
barter marketplace.<br />
✧<br />
Left to right: Xavier Hernandez, Jenni<br />
Casias, Barron Perales, Melanie Balboa,<br />
Blake Perales.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
77
COX<br />
MANUFACTURING<br />
✧<br />
Above: William T. Cox, Sr., president<br />
1956-1968.<br />
Below: 1977 Management team (left to<br />
right): Robert Flores, Bill Cox, Lillian Cox<br />
(president 1968-1980), Simon Garces, and<br />
Shep Kohler.<br />
One could say that Bill Cox was born to run<br />
a manufacturing company.<br />
In fact, a letter his father, William Cox, Sr.,<br />
wrote in 1956 projected that his new business,<br />
Cox Manufacturing in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, would be<br />
open on March 7. That turned out to be the day<br />
that “Bill” Cox, Jr., was born into the family.<br />
“Actually, I don’t know if the business<br />
really opened that day,” Bill Cox said in a<br />
recent interview. “But I do know the business<br />
was born about that time.”<br />
Though the company—today a manufacturer<br />
<strong>of</strong> production machined precision turned<br />
products and precision screw machine<br />
products—was his father’s dream. Cox said it<br />
was the hard work and dedication <strong>of</strong> both <strong>of</strong> his<br />
parents that made it happen. They began with a<br />
single Swiss-type automatic screw machine that<br />
Cox, Sr., borrowed money to purchase at an<br />
auction. At first it was just a parttime venture that<br />
Cox, Sr., built from his vision to create a<br />
manufacturing company that could supply<br />
precision components that no shop down the<br />
street could match. With that one Swiss screw<br />
machine and an early opportunity to supply<br />
critical micro components for a customer in the<br />
burgeoning electronics industry, the company<br />
was born.<br />
“But, the business grew quickly and it<br />
wasn’t long before my parents worked fulltime<br />
in the business and employed people<br />
running two shifts,” Cox reminisces. “The<br />
company was producing a variety <strong>of</strong> Swiss<br />
screw machine products and precision turned<br />
products for not only the electronics industry<br />
but also the auto industry.”<br />
Two years into the business, however, the<br />
demanding hours <strong>of</strong> starting a company took<br />
its toll on Cox, Sr., and he had a heart attack.<br />
Lillian, his wife and partner, helped Cox, Sr.,<br />
make some major lifestyle changes that allowed<br />
him to continue running the family business<br />
for another ten years. A final massive heart<br />
attack, though, did claim his life in 1968.<br />
“Losing Dad was really tough, but Mom<br />
stepped right into the leadership role <strong>of</strong> the<br />
company,” Cox said, obviously proud <strong>of</strong> his<br />
mother’s strength. “She could have easily sold<br />
the company. In fact, shortly after my father’s<br />
passing, one <strong>of</strong> our customers asked about<br />
buying the business. I was only twelve at the<br />
time, and mom asked me if I wanted to run<br />
the business some day or should she sell. I<br />
assured her I was interested in the business<br />
and discouraged her from considering selling.<br />
From that day forward I was groomed for my<br />
future role and that very evening got my first<br />
lesson on reading financial statements.”<br />
Over the next decade Lillian Cox sat at the<br />
company’s helm and earned the respect <strong>of</strong><br />
employees, customers, and suppliers. Her<br />
business acumen and tenacity for prudent<br />
management, intertwined with her ladylike<br />
compassion established her own reputation<br />
for perseverance, integrity, and excellence.<br />
Bill Cox grew up in an environment<br />
focused on customer service and fondly<br />
recalls having to fill in for his mother and<br />
even taking long-distance phone calls from<br />
customers placing orders when he was still in<br />
grade school. As soon as he was old enough to<br />
work in the shop, he began learning about<br />
precision measuring instruments and<br />
machine tools. Like his dad, he had a gift for<br />
mathematics and problem solving and took<br />
engineering and technology classes in high<br />
school and college to prepare him for his<br />
future role. In 1980, at the age <strong>of</strong> twenty-four,<br />
he <strong>of</strong>ficially became company president.<br />
“With a natural love and aptitude for<br />
manufacturing and machining, I soon became<br />
immersed in process engineering and job<br />
costing,” said Cox. “We expanded the<br />
company into new technologies <strong>of</strong> multispindle<br />
screw machines and programmable<br />
bar automatics, and later, introduced CNC<br />
technology. We went into many new markets<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
78
and were one <strong>of</strong> the first in our industry<br />
to adopt Statistical Process Controls<br />
or SPC.”<br />
Today, Cox Manufacturing is not only<br />
equipped with a vast array <strong>of</strong> state-<strong>of</strong>-theart<br />
precision machines, but also staffed<br />
with a highly skilled workforce. The<br />
company machines a wide assortment <strong>of</strong><br />
precision products such as gears, fittings,<br />
pins, shafts, threaded parts, specialty<br />
nuts, and inserts using a broad spectrum<br />
<strong>of</strong> materials from brass and aluminum to<br />
exotic stainless steels, titanium, and even<br />
some plastics.<br />
“There is no doubt that our technology<br />
is state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art.” Cox said. “But, while<br />
leading edge technology is essential, it is<br />
only a tool for achieving the same goal<br />
we’ve pursued single-mindedly for the<br />
past half century: to perform so reliably<br />
that customers confidently choose us as<br />
their preferred supplier.”<br />
And, over the years, the company has, in<br />
fact, established quite the track record <strong>of</strong><br />
producing parts where other companies have<br />
failed. Few, says Cox, can match the company’s<br />
capability <strong>of</strong> developing reliable processes that<br />
are capable <strong>of</strong> delivering consistently exact<br />
specifications in complex geometries <strong>of</strong>fered in<br />
a broad range <strong>of</strong> materials.<br />
“It’s all about the customization,” he said.<br />
“We work hard to learn each <strong>of</strong> our client’s<br />
businesses and to help them by being a<br />
reliable supplier they know will support<br />
them in delivering what they need, when they<br />
need it.”<br />
Today, Cox Manufacturing Company’s ISO<br />
certified plant supplies production machining<br />
<strong>of</strong> precision turned products, Swiss screw<br />
machine products, and multi-spindle screw<br />
machine products to a broad range <strong>of</strong><br />
customers and industries. With customers in<br />
Mexico and across the United States, thousands<br />
<strong>of</strong> precision components are shipped from<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> to fill the numerous repeat orders<br />
for industries ranging from aerospace and<br />
automotive to medical and electronics.<br />
For more information on Cox Manufacturing<br />
Company, contact us at 5500 North Loop 1604<br />
East in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, 78247 or online at<br />
www.coxmanufacturing.com.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Shown here is Bill Cox with some <strong>of</strong><br />
the precision components for applications<br />
ranging from Aerospace and Automotive to<br />
Medical and Electronics that are produced in<br />
their highly automated three shift operation.<br />
Below: The 27,000-square-foot<br />
manufacturing facility located at 5500<br />
North Loop 1604 East was built in 1980.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
79
HILL COUNTRY<br />
BAKERY<br />
By blending their skills, expertise and<br />
talents, accomplished Chef David Nolan and<br />
manufacturing veteran Steve O’Donnell have<br />
cooked up one sweet company in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Established by the duo along with Lea<br />
Crump in 1997 after meeting at an industry<br />
trade show, Hill Country Bakery has come a<br />
long way in its just over one dozen years.<br />
In fact, by 2010 this frozen-to-thaw wholesale<br />
bakery was customizing, developing and<br />
manufacturing scrumptious freshly-baked<br />
and frozen desserts for many <strong>of</strong> the top 100<br />
restaurants and top thirty grocery chains<br />
in the United States, not to mention the<br />
U.S. Department <strong>of</strong> Defense and scores <strong>of</strong><br />
premium c<strong>of</strong>fee houses, warehouse clubs, food<br />
service companies, bakery distributors as<br />
well as food exporters and<br />
importers throughout the<br />
United States and Canada.<br />
The company’s workforce<br />
<strong>of</strong> approximately 400<br />
operates out <strong>of</strong> three state<strong>of</strong>-the-art<br />
plants located<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> as well as<br />
support facilities including<br />
storage warehouses and<br />
an engineering-fabrication<br />
building encompassing a<br />
total <strong>of</strong> 220,000 square feet<br />
<strong>of</strong> space. These facilities are<br />
the development, production<br />
and distribution sites<br />
for more than 1.5 million<br />
pounds <strong>of</strong> cake products<br />
every week and over 225<br />
million servings <strong>of</strong> dessert<br />
every year. Delivery is<br />
done exclusively by truck<br />
to approximately 100<br />
distribution centers in<br />
the United States. Gross<br />
revenues continue to top $150 million<br />
every year and the company is in<br />
the midst <strong>of</strong> executing a major<br />
expansion plan. In fact, as the first<br />
decade <strong>of</strong> 2000 ended, negotiations<br />
were in full swing for the purchase <strong>of</strong><br />
another 100,000-square-foot property<br />
to convert into manufacturing and<br />
warehousing space.<br />
When asked what has made their<br />
operation so successful, Nolan and O’Donnell<br />
point to just the right mixture <strong>of</strong> several<br />
ingredients—a skilled and knowledgeable<br />
workforce, an unyielding commitment to<br />
customer service and customization, state-<strong>of</strong>the-art<br />
technology, fresh ingredients and a<br />
very successful fresh-to-frozen process.<br />
“We are not and have never been a cookiecutter<br />
operation,” Nolan says. “We’re not<br />
running a product and selling it across the<br />
country. Instead, our products are specifically<br />
created and produced for our clients with the<br />
flavors and pr<strong>of</strong>iles they want; cut and<br />
packaged in the way they desire. It does not<br />
matter if they are a small chain restaurant, a<br />
large chain or an international company; we<br />
strive to be partners with our clients. And we<br />
work together to create products exclusive to<br />
them; products that appeal to their clients.”<br />
“We then take yet another step as our inhouse<br />
fabrication team actually designs and<br />
builds the equipment necessary to produce<br />
these unique products in the necessary<br />
quantities and at the most efficient price,”<br />
adds O’Donnell. “We’ve spent much time<br />
perfecting a freezing process that not only<br />
traps in moisture and flavor, but that also<br />
extends the shelf life <strong>of</strong> a typical battercake<br />
up to a year or more. Our method <strong>of</strong> flash<br />
freezing additionally keeps the company from<br />
having to use preservatives.”<br />
Service to its client partners—the term it<br />
prefers to use for its customers—is yet<br />
another one <strong>of</strong> the company’s crucial<br />
ingredients and is the difference between<br />
being just another vendor and being a great<br />
partner. The company’s goal is to strive for<br />
one hundred percent satisfaction through<br />
quality and service—two areas in which it<br />
consistently does quite well. In fact, out <strong>of</strong> the<br />
225 million servings <strong>of</strong> dessert it serves every<br />
year, customer complaints are well below the<br />
industry average <strong>of</strong> just ten per one million<br />
servings. The company’s facilities receive<br />
consistently high inspection ratings, whether<br />
it is an annual inspection by the city <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> or the State <strong>of</strong> Texas, and has<br />
continually received the American Institute <strong>of</strong><br />
Baking’s highest Superior rating each year<br />
since 2001.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
80
Even though their end products<br />
are frozen, O’Donnell and Nolan<br />
have always been sure that Hill<br />
Country Bakery uses only the<br />
freshest ingredients. Company<br />
bakers, for example, use whole eggs<br />
and shred fresh zucchini and<br />
carrots on-site just hours before<br />
they are baked into cakes.<br />
Furthermore, most <strong>of</strong> the company’s<br />
ingredients are ordered from<br />
businesses from within the Lone Star<br />
state. The company orders locally,<br />
not just to ensure freshness and save<br />
on distribution costs, but also to<br />
support local businesses—an action<br />
very important to this company so<br />
steadfastly entwined into the fabrics<br />
<strong>of</strong> both <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and Texas.<br />
The ties to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> are so<br />
strong that the company supports<br />
many worthwhile community<br />
activities. Nolan and O’Donnell<br />
were two <strong>of</strong> the original supporters <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Achievers School, a teaching organization<br />
dedicated to educating children with special<br />
needs. Each year the company donates cakes<br />
free <strong>of</strong> charge to the school and it uses one<br />
hundred percent <strong>of</strong> the money collected to<br />
fund educational programs. The school<br />
purchased their entire library this way and<br />
this year raised $23,890 by the sale. Hill<br />
Country Bakery routinely donates in kind<br />
product to the Girl Scouts, youth groups and<br />
is a longtime supporter <strong>of</strong> the MS Bike to the<br />
Beach fundraiser as well as many others.<br />
As for the future, in addition to continuing<br />
to develop custom-manufactured bakery<br />
items for client partners nationwide, the<br />
company has positioned and prepped itself to<br />
begin creating, producing and delivering its<br />
client partners with products made with meat,<br />
cheese and vegetables as well and is preparing<br />
to roll out a new retail line <strong>of</strong> wholesome<br />
bakery goods.<br />
“We don’t see ourselves as a mid-sized<br />
bakery anymore,” Nolan told Snack Food and<br />
Wholesale Bakery Magazine after being named<br />
the 2008 Intermediate Wholesale Baker <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Year. “We have become a big manufacturing<br />
player and are still growing.”<br />
For more information on Hill Country<br />
Bakery, visit www.hillcountrybakery.com.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
81
NEUROMUSCULAR<br />
PAIN AND<br />
NUTRITION<br />
CENTER LLC<br />
✧<br />
Dr. Paul and Savitri Frizzell.<br />
While touring with a rock and roll band,<br />
Paul Frizzell was so seriously injured in a car<br />
crash that doctors told him he would never<br />
walk again. Determined to become mobile,<br />
Frizzell discovered holistic medicine and the<br />
rehabilitation therapy which enabled him to<br />
walk and resume a normal life.<br />
“They put me back together again, but a<br />
surgeon at Methodist Hospital in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
doubted I would ever walk again,” Frizzell<br />
explains. “He wanted to go in surgically and<br />
re-break all the bones and wire them together,<br />
but he doubted I’d be able to walk.”<br />
Searching for some alternative to the grim<br />
prognosis, Frizzell had his mother contact a<br />
surgeon who was also a doctor <strong>of</strong> osteopathic<br />
medicine. After examining Frizzell, the doctor<br />
suggested a regimen <strong>of</strong> traction and holistic<br />
medicine. “The doctor said if I could lift my leg,<br />
I could learn to walk again,” Frizzell recalls.<br />
“While I was in the hospital, I started<br />
studying everything I could find on holistic<br />
medicine because I was determined to get<br />
myself back together,” he says. “I started<br />
reading about Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilates and all the<br />
other nontraditional stuff that was out there. I<br />
did all my rehab myself.”<br />
That introduction to alternative medicine<br />
started Frizzell on a lifelong journey <strong>of</strong><br />
research, study and service. He became a<br />
Board-certified doctor <strong>of</strong> naturopathy and a<br />
doctor <strong>of</strong> Oriental medicine. A Texas-licensed<br />
acupuncturist, he holds a Ph.D. in nutritional<br />
research and in biomechanics. He is also a<br />
clinical nutritionist certified by the Linus<br />
Pauling Institute.<br />
“When I studied in school, I started seeing<br />
that ayurvedic medicine is the oldest form <strong>of</strong><br />
medicine known on earth,” Frizzell explains.<br />
“This is because it has a complete structure,<br />
taking care <strong>of</strong> the spiritual, emotional, mental<br />
and physical body. It treats all aspects <strong>of</strong> the<br />
human body, and that’s a good definition <strong>of</strong><br />
holistic medicine.”<br />
In 1981, Frizzell established the Neuromuscular<br />
Pain and Nutrition Center LLC in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The Center provides integrated<br />
health practices and nutritional treatments<br />
that have been effective in resolving a wide<br />
range <strong>of</strong> health problems. The Center <strong>of</strong>fers<br />
workshops for the public.<br />
The field <strong>of</strong> massage therapies has long<br />
absorbed Frizzell. From 1985 to 1991, he<br />
served on the Texas Massage Therapy Board<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
82
where he was instrumental in having Massage<br />
Therapy become a licensed pr<strong>of</strong>ession in Texas.<br />
As a certified Texas independent massage<br />
therapy instructor, Frizzell founded the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Institute <strong>of</strong> Neuromuscular Therapy<br />
(MS #1011). The state approved massage<br />
therapy school <strong>of</strong>fers a five-hundred-hour<br />
basic program as well as advanced training.<br />
Twice a year, in February and August,<br />
Neuromuscular Pain Center <strong>of</strong>fers student<br />
massages from graduating students.<br />
Frizzell, a certified sports massage therapist,<br />
has served on the National AMTA Sports<br />
Massage Team and is again education director<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Texas chapter after serving as president<br />
for three terms. He is also certified in<br />
therapeutic massage and bodywork (NCTMB).<br />
Always open to innovations, Frizzell<br />
continues to investigate and explore healing<br />
therapies. Increasing his knowledge <strong>of</strong> holistic<br />
procedures and treatments is an essential part<br />
<strong>of</strong> his pr<strong>of</strong>essional and personal philosophy.<br />
“To stay alive and to stay healthy is a lot<br />
<strong>of</strong> work,” Frizzell believes. “A lot <strong>of</strong> people<br />
think good health is going to happen<br />
naturally. But if you let everything happen<br />
naturally, before too long you’re going to see<br />
some abnormal tissue growing. If it goes<br />
amok, it becomes anything from heart<br />
disease or tuberculosis, to some kind<br />
<strong>of</strong> cancer.”<br />
Savitri Frizzell brought her broad<br />
spectrum massage skills to Neuromuscular<br />
Pain and Nutrition Center in 1995. She<br />
studied massage therapy to help her<br />
mother, who had been in constant pain<br />
from a back injury.<br />
Once Savitri graduated from the New<br />
York Swedish Institute <strong>of</strong> Massage and<br />
Allied Arts in 1977, she applied her<br />
skills on her mother, whose rapid<br />
recovery through massage validated<br />
Savitri’s commitment. She went on to<br />
become a certified yoga instructor and<br />
receive certification in neuromuscular<br />
massage therapy and therapeutic<br />
massage and bodywork (NCTMB).<br />
She earned a diploma as a certified<br />
ayurvedic practitioner and developed a<br />
bodywork style called ACE (Access<br />
Correct to Eliminate Pain). ACE is<br />
designed to structurally align one’s body in it’s<br />
relationship to gravity.<br />
Treatment techniques <strong>of</strong>fered by Neuromuscular<br />
Pain and Nutrition Center include<br />
herbology, massage therapy, and ayurvedic<br />
and naturopathic medicine. The Center’s areas<br />
<strong>of</strong> expertise include cosmetic acupuncture,<br />
fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders,<br />
headaches/migraines, musculoskeletal disorders,<br />
neurological disorders, nutrition, pain<br />
management, sexual dysfunction, stress/<br />
anxiety and others.<br />
For occasions such as Valentine’s Day,<br />
birthdays, Mother’s or Father’s Day, or<br />
anniversaries, a gift certificate for any<br />
<strong>of</strong> the therapeutic services <strong>of</strong>fered by<br />
Neuromuscular Pain and Nutrition Center is<br />
a welcome gift for friends or family members.<br />
For more information, contact the Center at<br />
210-558-2112.<br />
Healthy and rejuvenated clients continue<br />
to refer their friends to the Neuromuscular<br />
Pain Center, located at 8607 Wurzbach Road<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. Its integrated health sessions<br />
include nutritional suggestions and three<br />
styles <strong>of</strong> acupuncture: Japanese, Korean, and<br />
traditional Chinese. For more information visit<br />
their website at www.frizzellwellness.com.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
83
NORTH STAR<br />
MALL<br />
✧<br />
Top: Early North Star Mall signage <strong>of</strong>f <strong>San</strong><br />
Pedro Avenue.<br />
Above: Wolff & Marx, one <strong>of</strong> North Star’s<br />
first anchor tenants, acquired by Joske’s<br />
in 1965.<br />
Bottom, left: Frost Brothers opening<br />
day 1963.<br />
Bottom, right: An aerial shot <strong>of</strong> North Star<br />
taken in the early 1960s.<br />
When it opened on September 23, 1960,<br />
North Star was <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s first enclosed<br />
mall and only the fourth such enterprise in<br />
the country. Fifty years later, it is a study in<br />
evolution. By incorporating changing social<br />
mores and fashions, North Star continues to<br />
operate as one <strong>of</strong> the most successful entities<br />
<strong>of</strong> its kind against some powerful odds and<br />
has mirrored its home city’s expansion.<br />
Boasting 51 stores and 310,000 square feet<br />
when it opened, the mall was developed by<br />
The Rouse Company and was built at the<br />
intersection <strong>of</strong> what was known at the time as<br />
Loop 13 and <strong>San</strong> Pedro Avenue in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>’s relatively undeveloped north side.<br />
The $14-million development featured bird<br />
cages that reached heights <strong>of</strong> sixteen feet and<br />
included among its original merchants<br />
H-E-B Grocery, Wolff & Marx department<br />
store, as well as Zales and Luby’s—the latter<br />
two still remain occupants in the mall.<br />
The concept <strong>of</strong> multiple stores housed in<br />
one enclosed area was such a new one that the<br />
ad which ran for the grand opening had to<br />
explain: “You’ll walk from one wonderful store<br />
to another on a completely air conditioned<br />
street, amid tropical flowers, trees, and lovely<br />
fountains, providing you with an atmosphere<br />
that is forever springtime.”<br />
More important than introducing this novel<br />
form <strong>of</strong> shopping, North Star ushered in a new<br />
era for <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, impacting the city in some<br />
significant but not so obvious ways. On<br />
January 23, 1961, for example, Mexicana<br />
Airlines announced new direct flights from <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> to Mexico <strong>City</strong> as a direct result <strong>of</strong> the<br />
mall. Two years later, a European delegation<br />
visited specifically to determine whether the<br />
mall concept could take <strong>of</strong>f in Europe.<br />
Not only has the mall withstood changes in<br />
fashion, it has weathered severe economic<br />
downturns and social turmoil. At North<br />
Star’s twenty-fifth anniversary in 1985, the<br />
changing times were illustrated when Mary<br />
Alice Cisneros—wife <strong>of</strong> then-Mayor Henry<br />
Cisneros—opened a time capsule that had<br />
been buried at its grand opening. Among the<br />
items, the capsule contained a copy <strong>of</strong> the<br />
September 23, 1963 <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> News which<br />
headline read, “Ike Hurls Dare at Nik,” referencing<br />
former President Dwight D. Eisenhower<br />
and Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev.<br />
In 1983 the mall became home to the<br />
world’s largest pair <strong>of</strong> cowboy boots—a<br />
sculpture by artist Bob Wade. Located on the<br />
property’s north side adjacent to Loop 410,<br />
the 40-foot-tall, 30-foot-long, and 10,000-<br />
pound boots have become a must-see for<br />
Alamo <strong>City</strong> visitors.<br />
As the city has grown, so has North Star,<br />
having expanded to nearly 1.3 million square<br />
feet—more than four times larger than the<br />
original structure. Currently, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
internationally acclaimed shopping destination<br />
boasts more than 200 specialty stores and<br />
eateries. North Star is located just five minutes<br />
from the airport and twelve minutes from<br />
downtown; most Airport Area hotels provide<br />
courtesy shuttle service to the mall.<br />
Such a history is testament to the city’s<br />
continued love <strong>of</strong> fashion and shopping, <strong>of</strong><br />
course, but also to the shopping center’s<br />
unique position as one <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
longstanding cultural icons.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
84
World’s Largest Cowboy Boots at North<br />
Star symbolizes the universal interest in<br />
Cowboy phenomena.<br />
The adage that everything is bigger in Texas<br />
was never better illustrated than with the<br />
massive cowboy boot sculpture that adorns<br />
North Star’s northern face. The “World’s Largest<br />
Cowboy Boots” sculpture stands an impressive<br />
40 feet tall, 30 feet long, 8 feet wide, and<br />
weighs in at 10,000 pounds. According to the<br />
sculpture’s creator, Bob “Daddy-O” Wade, each<br />
boot could hold upwards <strong>of</strong> three hundred<br />
thousand gallons <strong>of</strong> Lone Star beer, just in case<br />
anyone was inclined to fill them.<br />
Designed in 1979 for the Washington<br />
Project for the Arts—a Washington, D.C. arts<br />
initiative—the boots were created primarily<br />
from donated materials. Steel skeletons were<br />
covered with urethane foam that was textured<br />
and painted to look like ostrich skin. Erected in<br />
an empty lot near the White House, the boots<br />
were bought in 1980 by North Star Mall’s thenowner,<br />
The Rouse Company, for a cool $20,000.<br />
Since that time, the boots have enjoyed a<br />
rather colorful history. Moving the sculpture<br />
from Washington, D.C. to the Alamo <strong>City</strong><br />
proved to be an adventure in itself. After getting<br />
un-stuck from an overpass in D.C., the<br />
enormous boots required three trailers and three<br />
days to move. Once they arrived, a telescoping<br />
crane was necessary to put them in place.<br />
The infamous forty foot tall cowboy boots<br />
at North Star have definitely kicked up a little<br />
<strong>of</strong> dust over the years. It was rumored that in<br />
the early 1970s Wade was asked to cement<br />
over a hole in the heel <strong>of</strong> the left boot after a<br />
vagrant created quite a stir when fire from a<br />
can sterno stove sent smoke through the top<br />
<strong>of</strong> the boot. In the eighties, the boots housed<br />
a radio station that broadcast from the site<br />
during the rodeo and served as a beacon for<br />
trail riders making their way to the annual<br />
Cowboy Breakfast.<br />
Symbolizing the universal interest in<br />
Cowboy phenomena, North Star’s Boots were<br />
featured on “Good Morning America” and<br />
are frequently showcased in international<br />
advertising campaigns, books, and film. During<br />
the Holidays, more than 3,000 twinkling white<br />
lights set the grandiose boots aglow, helping<br />
<strong>San</strong>ta find his way to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
WORLD’S LARGEST COWBOY BOOTS<br />
But, even a little more than thirty years in<br />
the south Texas sun will wreak havoc on the<br />
most durable <strong>of</strong> footwear and these boots<br />
are no exception. In 2007 the sculpture’s<br />
paint was flaking and fading, so NASA<br />
stepped up and provided a sealant that was<br />
applied to prevent further deterioration.<br />
It has been estimated that more than<br />
180,000 cars pass the sculpture daily, no<br />
doubt reminding commuters not only<br />
that bigger is better in Texas, but so is a<br />
little humor.<br />
AT NORTH STAR MALL<br />
✧<br />
Top, left: Artist Bob Wade and crew install<br />
world famous boots.<br />
Top, right: World’s Largest Cowboy Boots<br />
under construction.<br />
Bottom, left: North Star Cowboy Boots as<br />
seen from Interstate Loop 410.<br />
Bottom, right: More than three thousand<br />
white lights adorn the Boots for the holidays.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
85
OUR LADY OF THE LAKE UNIVERSITY<br />
Our Lady <strong>of</strong> the Lake University, founded<br />
in 1895, is a coeducational liberal arts and<br />
sciences institution <strong>of</strong>fering pre-pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
and pr<strong>of</strong>essional programs to its 2,700 students.<br />
OLLU was founded by the Sisters <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Congregation <strong>of</strong> Divine Providence, a religious<br />
order with origins in eighteenth century<br />
Lorraine, France. The order<br />
still serves as the sponsoring<br />
organization <strong>of</strong> the University.<br />
Members <strong>of</strong> the Congregation<br />
arrived in Texas in 1866 and<br />
established a temporary home<br />
in Austin before settling in<br />
Castroville the following year.<br />
Construction began at the<br />
current site <strong>of</strong> the main campus<br />
<strong>of</strong> OLLU in 1895. A year later,<br />
educational programs were<br />
underway. The first college<br />
program began in 1911 as a<br />
two-year curriculum for women.<br />
In 1919 the curriculum was<br />
expanded to four years and<br />
the institution was admitted<br />
to membership in the<br />
Texas Association <strong>of</strong> Colleges.<br />
Graduate studies began in 1942<br />
and were coeducational from the<br />
inception; all programs became<br />
fully coeducational in 1969.<br />
In 1975 the name <strong>of</strong> the institution was<br />
changed from Our Lady <strong>of</strong> the Lake College to<br />
Our Lady <strong>of</strong> the Lake University <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
The University’s seventy-two acre main<br />
campus is located at 411 Southwest Twenty-<br />
Fourth Street in the heart <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
providing students with ample opportunities<br />
for learning, recreation, and growth.<br />
OLLU works closely with each student and<br />
family to keep private education affordable. As<br />
a result, half <strong>of</strong> last fall’s entering class enrolled<br />
with no out-<strong>of</strong>-pocket expense for tuition or<br />
fees. The school <strong>of</strong>fers scholarships specifically<br />
for Catholic high school students. For instance,<br />
all eligible Catholic high school graduates<br />
receive the $8,000 Mother St. Andrew<br />
Scholarship. For students with a record <strong>of</strong><br />
academic achievement and community service,<br />
the OLLU Providence Scholarship is <strong>of</strong>fered.<br />
Each year, this full-ride scholarship is presented<br />
to top applicants among the freshman class.<br />
The University <strong>of</strong>fers 33 bachelor’s degree<br />
programs, 14 master’s degree programs, and<br />
2 doctoral degree programs. OLLU features<br />
quality programs in the arts and sciences,<br />
business and M.B.A., computer information<br />
systems and security, communication and<br />
learning disorders, education, leadership<br />
studies, psychology and social work.<br />
OLLU has been named a First Tier <strong>of</strong><br />
Master’s Universities (West) in U.S. News &<br />
World Report’s college rankings. In addition,<br />
OLLU has been recognized as one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
top twenty-five universities nationally for<br />
promoting Hispanics in the fields <strong>of</strong> science,<br />
math, and technology. OLLU was the only<br />
Texas four-year university to win a grant from<br />
the U.S. Department <strong>of</strong> Education’s Title V<br />
program for Developing Hispanic-Serving<br />
Institutions in 2010. The $2.4 million grant is<br />
being used to upgrade science and math<br />
facilities. In addition, its Cyber Security Center<br />
has been designated as a National Center <strong>of</strong><br />
Academic Excellence in Information Assurance<br />
Education by the National Security Agency<br />
(NSA), one <strong>of</strong> only a small group <strong>of</strong> universities<br />
nationwide with the NSA designation.<br />
Courses are <strong>of</strong>fered through weekend,<br />
weekday, and online formats. OLLU created the<br />
first weekend college for working pr<strong>of</strong>essionals<br />
in Texas in 1978.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
86
OLLU teams with community partners<br />
to provide paid internship opportunities<br />
with such companies as Citibank, State Farm,<br />
Rackspace and the Westside Development<br />
Corporation. These internships benefit<br />
students by <strong>of</strong>fering real-world experience,<br />
paid stipends and a connection with area<br />
businesses and non-pr<strong>of</strong>it organizations.<br />
Service is deeply ingrained in the culture<br />
<strong>of</strong> OLLU. The University maintains a<br />
counseling center and a speech and hearing<br />
clinic that serve the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> community<br />
while providing students valuable experience<br />
working with real clients. For instance,<br />
majors in social work and psychological<br />
counseling provide services to the homeless<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s Haven for Hope. In addition,<br />
OLLU’s Center for Service-Learning and<br />
Volunteerism coordinates opportunities for<br />
students to make a difference in the nearby<br />
communities while gaining work experience<br />
with area nonpr<strong>of</strong>it organizations.<br />
OLLU has the highest percentage Hispanic<br />
undergraduate and graduate enrollment <strong>of</strong><br />
all U.S. Catholic Universities. With a student/<br />
faculty ratio <strong>of</strong> 12:1, students at OLLU are<br />
ensured an education with individual<br />
attention and small classes. Dedicated faculty<br />
members work closely with students as<br />
mentors to guide them to success.<br />
Undergraduate students can earn a degree<br />
with dual-language certification that will<br />
increase their marketability. Students<br />
earning this certification develop<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional level pr<strong>of</strong>iciency in<br />
Spanish in their major field <strong>of</strong><br />
study. This allows graduates to<br />
work in both English and Spanishspeaking<br />
settings.<br />
OLLU is part <strong>of</strong> the National<br />
Association <strong>of</strong> Intercollegiate Athletics<br />
and fields nationally competitive<br />
teams in men’s and women’s<br />
basketball, cross country, golf, soccer,<br />
and tennis and women’s volleyball and<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tball as a member <strong>of</strong> the Red River<br />
Athletic Conference.<br />
The OLLU Campus Activities<br />
Office sponsors events throughout<br />
the year. Students are encouraged to<br />
join campus organizations to foster<br />
a well-rounded education by developing<br />
leadership skills through out-<strong>of</strong>-theclassroom<br />
involvement.<br />
Campus Ministry serves the entire<br />
University and <strong>of</strong>fers Mass and prayer<br />
services on campus as well as <strong>of</strong>f-campus<br />
retreats, providing students a forum for<br />
spirituality, personal growth and bonding.<br />
Our Lady <strong>of</strong> the Lake University is<br />
accredited by the Southern Association <strong>of</strong><br />
Colleges and Schools. For more information, or<br />
to schedule a campus tour, call 800-436-6558<br />
or visit the website at www.ollusa.edu.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
87
QUALITY<br />
INN & SUITES TM<br />
BANDERA POINTE<br />
When they chose to fly the flag <strong>of</strong> Choice<br />
Hotel International’s Quality Inn & Suites TM ,<br />
Rakesh and Reena Patel were fully committed<br />
to making sure their new property lived<br />
up to its name by always <strong>of</strong>fering quality<br />
accommodations, amenities and service.<br />
And since opening on June 20, 2006, the<br />
Quality Inn & Suites TM Bandera Pointe has<br />
done just that. In fact, the sixty-four room<br />
property located at 9522 Brimhall in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> has been the recipient <strong>of</strong> numerous<br />
awards, the most recent being the 2010<br />
Gold Hotel Award and the 2010 Triple A<br />
Diamond Rating.<br />
“Our goal is to always<br />
give great customer<br />
service,” Rakesh said,<br />
adding that he can<br />
always count on his<br />
property’s general manager,<br />
Jay Patel, as well as<br />
the Inn’s dozen employees<br />
to exceed expectations.<br />
“When we give<br />
great customer service,<br />
our customers become<br />
repeat customers. There<br />
is no greater measure <strong>of</strong><br />
success than that.”<br />
In addition to quality<br />
accommodations and service, the Quality Inn<br />
& Suites TM Bandera Pointe is conveniently<br />
located with easy access to many local<br />
attractions and points <strong>of</strong> interest. The hotel is<br />
five miles from Six Flags Fiesta Texas<br />
amusement park—a two-hundred-acre park<br />
featuring awesome rides, great shows, and<br />
incredible attractions—and SeaWorld <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>, the world’s largest marine life park.<br />
The property is also just miles from the<br />
historic Alamo, Trinity University<br />
and the University <strong>of</strong> Texas at <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> as well as a whole host <strong>of</strong><br />
corporations and businesses.<br />
The nearby <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River<br />
Walk is one <strong>of</strong> the city’s most<br />
popular destinations and features<br />
numerous sidewalk eateries, pubs<br />
and live entertainment. Boat tours<br />
are available for a water-based tour<br />
<strong>of</strong> the area. Nearby shopping is<br />
easily accessible at The Shops at<br />
La Cantera open-air marketplace,<br />
featuring more than 150 shops and<br />
restaurants throughout 1.3 million<br />
square feet <strong>of</strong> space. In addition, a<br />
variety <strong>of</strong> restaurants can be found<br />
in the surrounding area.<br />
Before and after an exciting day <strong>of</strong><br />
sightseeing or a busy day <strong>of</strong> meetings, guests<br />
will enjoy many amenities and features at the<br />
hotel—amenities such as a free hot breakfast<br />
at the Q Corner Café, a Quality Inn exclusive<br />
cafe divided into three stations: Hot, Fresh<br />
and Healthy. Hot includes cooked meat,<br />
choice <strong>of</strong> hot fresh eggs or fresh hot waffles;<br />
while fresh includes freshly brewed regular<br />
and decaffeinated c<strong>of</strong>fee, tea, milk or juices;<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
88
and healthy includes cold<br />
cereal, hot cereal, fresh fruit,<br />
hard boiled eggs, yogurt,<br />
pastries and non-sweet<br />
breads. Sunday though<br />
Thursday afternoons, the<br />
Inn <strong>of</strong>fers a happy hour<br />
during which guests can<br />
enjoy free hot dogs and two<br />
complimentary beers or<br />
glasses <strong>of</strong> wine.<br />
Other complimentary<br />
amenities include free c<strong>of</strong>fee,<br />
free wireless high-speed<br />
Internet access, free local<br />
calls, access to an invigorating<br />
workout room and a beautiful outdoor<br />
pool. There is also an outdoor gazebo on<br />
property for those who want to enjoy an afternoon<br />
or evening barbecue. A children’s play<br />
area is available, and free cookies and<br />
popcorn are <strong>of</strong>fered every evening in the<br />
hotel lobby.<br />
Business travelers staying at the Quality<br />
Inn & Suites TM Bandera Pointe will welcome<br />
additional conveniences as well, such as<br />
access to copy and fax services and tastefully<br />
decorated guest rooms equipped with<br />
refrigerators, microwaves, hair dryers, c<strong>of</strong>fee<br />
makers, irons, ironing boards, work desks<br />
and ergonomic chairs. For those wanting a<br />
little more room or for those with multiple<br />
people in their parties, the one-room suites<br />
have s<strong>of</strong>a sleepers and chairs and the onebedroom<br />
suites have a separate living room.<br />
For added guest convenience, laundry<br />
facilities are located on the property. The<br />
hotel is a 100 percent smoke-free hotel and<br />
supports green practices.<br />
But its guests are not the only ones to<br />
which the Quality Inn & Suites TM Bandera<br />
Pointe is committed. Like the Choice Hotel<br />
Corporation it represents, the hotel fully<br />
believes in being a good corporate citizen<br />
in the communities where its owners,<br />
managers, and employees live and work. It<br />
serves as the host hotel for the Helotes<br />
Cornyval Festival and has <strong>of</strong>fered support<br />
to many civic and nonpr<strong>of</strong>it organizations<br />
such as the Helotes Police Department and<br />
the American Cancer Society.<br />
“A great location, excellent amenities and<br />
affordable rates make the Quality Inn &<br />
Suites TM Bandera Pointe the perfect place to<br />
stay on your next trip to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,” the<br />
hotel’s website declares. “Like all Quality ®<br />
hotels, we are committed to making you<br />
feel understood, welcome, and important. If<br />
you’re not satisfied with our accommodations<br />
or service, all you have to do is let the front<br />
desk know so we can make it right.”<br />
For more information on Quality Inn &<br />
Suites TM Bandera Pointe, call (210) 372-9900 or<br />
visit online at www.qualityinn.com/hotel/txa56.<br />
You may also make reservations by calling<br />
toll-free 1-877-424-6423.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
89
SAN ANTONIO<br />
RIVER<br />
AUTHORITY<br />
Since prehistoric times, the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
River has attracted human habitation.<br />
Archaeological excavations have produced<br />
evidence that the first human habitation along<br />
the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River occurred as long as<br />
10,000 years ago. The river was, and continues<br />
to be, vital to the community, and it has long<br />
been engineered to meet human needs.<br />
The headwater <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River is<br />
a spring known as the Blue Hole located on<br />
the University <strong>of</strong> the Incarnate Word campus.<br />
This historic water source for the river only<br />
flows when the Edwards Aquifer reaches 665<br />
feet. The 240-mile-long river travels through<br />
five counties before converging with the<br />
Guadalupe River and emptying into the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Bay.<br />
During the 1920s, <strong>City</strong> Architect Robert H.<br />
H. Hugman developed an architectural plan<br />
that included preserving and enhancing<br />
the natural beauty <strong>of</strong> the downtown portion<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River and river loop<br />
area. Hugman’s plan required support<br />
from both public and private interests. In<br />
1938, downtown landowners passed a tax<br />
referendum to improve the river. Later,<br />
voters passed a bond issue and approved<br />
city funding to secure a grant award. From<br />
1939 through 1941, the pilot channel was<br />
deepened, three dams were constructed,<br />
underground drains built, and flood gates<br />
installed at both ends <strong>of</strong> the river loop.<br />
Around the same time, in 1937, the Texas<br />
Legislature created the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River<br />
Authority (SARA). The State <strong>of</strong> Texas<br />
empowered SARA to preserve, protect and<br />
manage the resources and environment <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River and its tributaries. SARA’s<br />
district spans Bexar, Wilson, Karnes and Goliad<br />
Counties, yet concern for the quality and<br />
quantity <strong>of</strong> water extends SARA’s focus beyond<br />
these boundaries, as factors outside the district<br />
contribute to the health and well being <strong>of</strong> the<br />
river and surrounding communities.<br />
As a result <strong>of</strong> the flood <strong>of</strong> 1946, Bexar<br />
County and SARA entered into a partnership<br />
with the U.S. Army Corps <strong>of</strong> Engineers (Corps)<br />
to improve flood control along thirty-one miles<br />
<strong>of</strong> the river and its tributaries. The <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Channel Improvements Project involved<br />
realignment and channelization <strong>of</strong> the river<br />
system and continues to provide an efficient<br />
river channel that moves flood waters quickly<br />
away from urbanized areas.<br />
As part <strong>of</strong> this project, Bexar County and the<br />
Corps funded construction <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
River Tunnel. The tunnel carries floodwater<br />
150 feet beneath downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and<br />
releases it three miles downstream. The <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> River Tunnel became operational in<br />
1997 and was first tested during the October<br />
1998 flood, preventing hundreds <strong>of</strong> millions <strong>of</strong><br />
dollars in damage. SARA served as the local<br />
sponsor for the project and designed the<br />
tunnel’s inlet and outlet park and water quality<br />
enhancing aeration and recirculation systems.<br />
The <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> currently operates and<br />
maintains the tunnel.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
90
Today’s engineering technology <strong>of</strong>fers<br />
methods to restore the previously straightened<br />
and channelized river to a more natural,<br />
meandering condition while maintaining flood<br />
control protection. The <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River<br />
Improvements Project (SARIP), a multiyear,<br />
$384.5 million on-going investment, will<br />
utilize these more environmentally sensitive<br />
methods to restore thirteen miles <strong>of</strong> the<br />
river channel from Brackenridge Park to<br />
Mission Espada.<br />
The project is funded by Bexar County’s<br />
flood control tax and visitor’s tax, the <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the Corps and the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
River Foundation. SARA is providing project<br />
and technical management and is serving<br />
as liaison among the partners—SARA will<br />
also be responsible for the operations<br />
and maintenance <strong>of</strong> the completed project.<br />
A twenty-two member River Oversight<br />
committee, created by Bexar County, the <strong>City</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and SARA, provides a strong<br />
citizens’ voice for the river, guiding design<br />
and construction throughout the project’s<br />
life. The Downtown Segment was completed<br />
in 2002 and the Museum Reach Urban<br />
Segment, north <strong>of</strong> downtown, was opened in<br />
May 2009. Work is currently underway for<br />
the Park, Eagleland and Mission Reach<br />
Segments. The entire project is scheduled for<br />
completion in 2013.<br />
A new generation <strong>of</strong> flood management<br />
emerged in this community in 2002 with<br />
the creation <strong>of</strong> the Bexar Regional Watershed<br />
Management (BRWM) partnership. This<br />
partnership among Bexar County, the <strong>City</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, SARA and twenty suburban<br />
cities takes a holistic, regional approach to<br />
managing flood control, storm water and<br />
water quality. The program will establish<br />
uniform design, operation and maintenance<br />
standards; coordinate local, state and federal<br />
funding; and provide an opportunity to<br />
measure and evaluate the quality <strong>of</strong> service<br />
delivered to citizens <strong>of</strong> Bexar County.<br />
SARA headquarters are located at 100<br />
East Guenther, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, and<br />
the Environmental Center, which houses<br />
SARA’s extensive Environmental Sciences<br />
Department and a NELAC certified<br />
laboratory facility is located at 600 East<br />
Euclid. Interested citizens may call toll free<br />
(866) 345-7272 or log on to the website<br />
www.sara-tx.org and to learn more about the<br />
BRWM, visit www.BexarFloodFacts.org.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
91
✧<br />
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-SAN ANTONIO<br />
Above: Texas A&M-University <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
is set to become the second-largest campus<br />
in the A&M System, with 25,000 students<br />
by 2025.<br />
Below: Texas A&M University-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
is the first upper-division university on <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>’s South Side. It achieved stand-alone<br />
status in May 2009 after nine years as a<br />
system center <strong>of</strong> Texas A&M-Kingsville.<br />
The hallways <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s newest<br />
institution <strong>of</strong> higher education are bustling<br />
with students and faculty as Texas A&M<br />
University-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> establishes itself in<br />
south <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Under the leadership <strong>of</strong> inaugural<br />
President Maria Hernandez Ferrier, A&M-<strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> grew from a system center <strong>of</strong> A&M-<br />
Kingsville to a stand-alone university when<br />
Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 629 in<br />
May 2009.<br />
The community <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> demonstrated<br />
their enthusiasm and support during citywide<br />
elections to choose the school colors and<br />
mascot. Students began showing Jaguar pride<br />
with the <strong>of</strong>ficial university colors: silver, black<br />
and “Madla” maroon. A central tradition in the<br />
Texas A&M University System, the class ring<br />
features the Lone Star <strong>of</strong> Texas, the Mission <strong>San</strong><br />
Jose Rose Window, and other symbols <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> and the university. For students <strong>of</strong> this<br />
institution, many <strong>of</strong> whom are the first in their<br />
family to attend college, the ring symbolizes<br />
their momentous achievement.<br />
The permanent campus is growing as<br />
quickly as its student body. The first building,<br />
slated to open in 2011, will set the tone for the<br />
Spanish mission-style campus to be housed on<br />
640-plus acres in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s South Side.<br />
Architect Kell Muñoz, whose background<br />
includes many university buildings across <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> and South Texas, and construction<br />
management company Bartlett Cocke; have<br />
laid out a dynamic, all-inclusive plan for the<br />
campus, building to green standards with room<br />
for community development. Future growth<br />
will see the establishment <strong>of</strong> a Water Irrigation<br />
and Technology Center, a Center for Agri-<br />
Business Development, and state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art<br />
facilities intended not only to provide valuable<br />
resources for South Texas farmers, but new<br />
generations <strong>of</strong> graduates schooled in the latest<br />
techniques for sustainability—to name a few <strong>of</strong><br />
the proposed programs for the university.<br />
Despite its rapid growth, A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
plans to keep tuition rates low and budgetfriendly.<br />
Many alumni credit their degrees with<br />
the accessibility <strong>of</strong> admission, such as <strong>San</strong>dra<br />
Imery ’06.<br />
“A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> provided me with an<br />
affordable opportunity to finish school in an<br />
adult learning environment. Otherwise, it<br />
would have been difficult [for me]<br />
financially,” she said. Imery now has a<br />
successful career in community service.<br />
Students can take classes from two<br />
academic divisions: The Division <strong>of</strong> Business,<br />
Arts & Sciences covers a variety <strong>of</strong> fields such<br />
as criminology, sociology, and marketing, as<br />
well as several business degrees that include<br />
the highly regarded MBA. A bachelor <strong>of</strong><br />
applied arts and s ciences (BAAS) is also a<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
92
popular and flexible option for students.<br />
The Division <strong>of</strong> Education & Kinesiology<br />
<strong>of</strong>fers several in-demand degrees at the<br />
undergraduate and graduate level, and<br />
features three tracks for teacher certification,<br />
putting A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> on the map for<br />
teacher preparation. The university has<br />
developed an educational initiative working<br />
closely with surrounding school districts and<br />
community colleges to rewrite the educational<br />
curriculum and implement a training program<br />
to better prepare teachers for the realities<br />
<strong>of</strong> today’s classrooms. Graduates are already<br />
working in the classrooms <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
schools.. Jimmy Schwegmann (’09), began<br />
teaching the same year he graduated from the<br />
Alternative Certification Program.<br />
“I took graduate classes concurrent [to<br />
my undergraduate studies] to accelerate my<br />
progress into the teaching pr<strong>of</strong>ession as well<br />
as doing my teaching observations, carrying<br />
a full-time job and being a single parent<br />
<strong>of</strong> a kindergartner,” Schwegmann said <strong>of</strong> his<br />
experiences at A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. “I have<br />
been very thankful and grateful for the<br />
support.” Schwegmann credits the flexibility<br />
<strong>of</strong> classes, close ties with his pr<strong>of</strong>essors,<br />
and low tuition at A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> with<br />
enabling him to graduate with high marks.<br />
Recognizing the needs <strong>of</strong> transfer students,<br />
A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has built close ties with<br />
the Alamo Colleges, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s community<br />
college system, to better serve students<br />
wishing to complete their degree at an upperlevel<br />
institution. In 2008, the institutions<br />
came together to create TEAMSA, a<br />
program designed to streamline the transfer<br />
<strong>of</strong> credit between the institutions as<br />
students work towards both an associate’s<br />
degree at an Alamo College campus and a<br />
bachelor’s degree at A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
TEAMSA <strong>of</strong>fers both traditional transfers<br />
from community college to the university<br />
level as well as a co-enrollment option,<br />
just one example <strong>of</strong> A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
commitment to meeting the specific needs<br />
<strong>of</strong> its community.<br />
A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is the dream <strong>of</strong><br />
the late Senator Frank Madla, who long<br />
worked to bring an institution <strong>of</strong> higher<br />
learning to the Alamo <strong>City</strong>’s South Side,<br />
influencing students who may have thought<br />
an academic degree was too far out <strong>of</strong> reach<br />
by giving them opportunities <strong>of</strong> affordability<br />
and accessibility. In the first two years <strong>of</strong><br />
A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s enrollment, three-fourths<br />
<strong>of</strong> its students were the first in their families<br />
to attend college.<br />
“It is my dream to help bring a<br />
Texas A&M University System<br />
campus to the South Side <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,” Madla once said,<br />
“to provide all children an<br />
opportunity to receive a quality<br />
college education regardless <strong>of</strong><br />
where they live.” Less than three<br />
years after Madla’s untimely death,<br />
A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> was created<br />
as a stand-alone institution <strong>of</strong><br />
higher learning. Dreams really do<br />
become reality at Texas A&M-<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
The university continues to<br />
develop premier academic<br />
programs with top-rate faculty,<br />
low class size and an inclusive<br />
campus atmosphere, producing<br />
exemplary graduates dedicated to<br />
serving their community. A&M-<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is set to become the second-largest<br />
campus in the A&M System, with an enrollment<br />
<strong>of</strong> 25,000 by 2025.<br />
For more information, visit the campus<br />
at 1450 Gillette Boulevard in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas<br />
78224 or online at www.tamuk.edu/<strong>San</strong><strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
The number to call is 210-932-6299.<br />
✧<br />
Left: A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> <strong>of</strong>fers a variety <strong>of</strong><br />
undergraduate and graduate degrees,<br />
including the MBA, BAAS and Alternative<br />
Certification Programs for teachers.<br />
Below: Inaugural President Maria<br />
Hernandez Ferrier hands a student his<br />
diploma during the Texas A&M University-<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Graduation ceremony. In the<br />
first two years <strong>of</strong> A&M-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
enrollment, three-fourths <strong>of</strong> its students<br />
were the first in their families to<br />
attend college.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
93
SOUTH TEXAS<br />
BLOOD &<br />
TISSUE CENTER<br />
✧<br />
Above: In 1994, South Texas Blood &<br />
Tissue Center moved into its current facility<br />
on IH-10 West. A donor pavilion was added<br />
in 2008.<br />
Below: South Texas Regional Blood Bank<br />
Board Members, 1986, at 318 McCullough<br />
location. Back row: Don Beeler, David<br />
Garrett, Oscar Abbott, Rick Donowho and<br />
Jack Costello. Front: Robert Reed,<br />
Chairman Cliff Jefferis, President Norman<br />
Kalmin, and Bill Stone.<br />
In 1970, several <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> hospitals were<br />
operating their own blood banks, each<br />
following different quality standards for testing<br />
blood. The blood supply, which had been<br />
erratic, dropped drastically in 1971 and 1972<br />
when new federal laws restricted and then<br />
prohibited blood centers from paying for blood.<br />
The major hospital systems realized they<br />
had a community-wide challenge that could<br />
be best resolved by collaboration. In 1973,<br />
three <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> physicians—Charles<br />
Robinson, M.D, Robert F. Gossett, M.D., and<br />
Michael H. Sulak M.D.—working with the<br />
Bexar County Medical Society, became the<br />
charter trustees <strong>of</strong> a new locally-owned and<br />
locally-operated, not-for-pr<strong>of</strong>it blood bank,<br />
South Texas Regional Blood Bank (STRBB).<br />
“Everyone wanted an adequate supply <strong>of</strong><br />
quality blood at reasonable prices, generated<br />
by a local reliable source. We needed a<br />
universal blood bank that we could all depend<br />
on,” recalled David Garrett, a charter member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the board. Founding trustee Colonel Robert<br />
Read, the administrator at Nix Memorial<br />
Hospital, opened the first checking account<br />
at Frost Bank for STRBB with a dollar<br />
bill. Operating with twelve employees, two<br />
centrifuges and a Winnebago for mobile<br />
operations, the STRBB opened in January 1974<br />
and was required to perform only two<br />
screening tests: syphilis and Hepatitis B.<br />
The first year the Bank drew approximately<br />
25,000 units and tracked blood shipments by<br />
sticking colored pins on a plywood board.<br />
Blood was shipped to outlying communities<br />
via Greyhound buses. Emergency deliveries<br />
went in police-type cars.<br />
In 1976 the STRBB moved into a building at<br />
7078 <strong>San</strong> Pedro. A local auto dealer donated a<br />
new “Bloodmobile” for mobile blood drives.<br />
The service expanded to twenty-seven counties<br />
and adopted a logo that reflected its life-giving<br />
mission: intertwined double hearts. By 1984,<br />
the STRBB’s donor base had grown steadily,<br />
enabling it to receive and process fiftyeight<br />
thousand units <strong>of</strong> blood.<br />
The FDA-licensed HIV screening was<br />
implemented in 1985 and STRBB started<br />
providing donors with free cholesterol<br />
screening. Dedicated to keeping the<br />
blood supply as safe as possible,<br />
STRBB incorporated new technologies<br />
as they became available and began<br />
irradiating blood components in 1990.<br />
STRBB also opened a registry for the<br />
National Marrow Donor Program<br />
(NMDP) in 1991.<br />
Three years later, the organization<br />
underwent momentous changes.<br />
Moving into a new facility on IH-10<br />
West, it added a tissue bank and adopted a new<br />
name, South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, to<br />
reflect its newly expanded mission.<br />
In 1996, STBTC became the first North<br />
American Blood and Tissue Center to achieve<br />
ISO 9000 Registration, a prestigious international<br />
standards certification. That was followed<br />
by other safety steps, including a new NAT lab<br />
that separated plasma handling, pooling, assay<br />
and post-amplification procedures.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
94
By 2001, South Texas Blood & Tissue<br />
Center had registered the largest number <strong>of</strong><br />
Hispanics into the national registry, and over<br />
sixty-four hundred potential donors had been<br />
registered as potential bone marrow donors.<br />
Under the name “Be the Match,” the NMDP<br />
supports a system <strong>of</strong> transplanting stem cells<br />
from unrelated donors to patients. By 2006,<br />
the NMDP registry had grown to 120,000.<br />
As a full service tissue bank, STBTC is<br />
unique in its breadth <strong>of</strong> services provided to<br />
patients, donor families and the community.<br />
Tissue implants have been provided for over<br />
fifty-three hundred patients.<br />
In 2003 the Texas Legislature approved<br />
funding for the collection <strong>of</strong> umbilical cord<br />
blood. This resulted in the establishment <strong>of</strong><br />
the Texas Cord Blood Bank (TCCB), an<br />
affiliate <strong>of</strong> the South Texas Blood & Tissue<br />
Center. Umbilical cord blood is rich in the<br />
undifferentiated cells that have proved useful<br />
in the treatment <strong>of</strong> certain cancers and blood<br />
disorders. Since 2003, TCBB has collected,<br />
tested, and stored cord blood voluntarily<br />
contributed by new mother-donors at twelve<br />
participating Texas hospitals. With cord blood<br />
representing Texas’ ethnically diverse<br />
population, TCBB is aiding patients needing<br />
transplantation while researching the optimal<br />
uses <strong>of</strong> the resource.<br />
In 2007, QualTex Laboratories was<br />
established as a division <strong>of</strong> STBTC. The<br />
independent, not-for-pr<strong>of</strong>it laboratory already<br />
screens more than seven million blood and<br />
plasma donor samples per year for infectious<br />
diseases markers. With competitive turnaround<br />
times, QualTex provides specialized<br />
testing, along with secure handling <strong>of</strong> regulated<br />
biological products.<br />
The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation was<br />
launched in 2002 to bring awareness <strong>of</strong> STBTC’s<br />
contributions to the regional community and to<br />
request contributions to continue its mission.<br />
The Red & White Ball continues to raise funds<br />
to support programs <strong>of</strong> the center.<br />
South Texas Blood & Tissue Center now<br />
has over seven hundred employees and<br />
numerous volunteers and works closely with<br />
regional hospitals, clinics and plasma centers.<br />
It operates eight donor rooms: at the<br />
headquarters on I-10, Southeast, Westover<br />
Hills, Shavano Park, Methodist Healthcare<br />
and Northeast in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> as well as sites<br />
in New Braunfels and Victoria. With the<br />
cooperation <strong>of</strong> volunteers and staff, in 2008<br />
STBTC collected 148,466 units <strong>of</strong> whole<br />
blood and 27,700 units <strong>of</strong> platelets.<br />
CEO/President and Medical Director <strong>of</strong><br />
the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center<br />
Dr. Kalmin, states, “For the past thirty-five<br />
years, the Center has developed relationships<br />
with donors, customers, elected <strong>of</strong>ficials,<br />
media and other supporters that have made<br />
this lifesaving mission possible. As we have<br />
grown and diversified, we continue to save<br />
and enhance lives by providing the highest<br />
quality biological derivatives and services<br />
to local, regional and international patients<br />
and customers.”<br />
Additional information on South Texas<br />
Blood & Tissue Center is available on the<br />
Internet at www.southtexasblood.org.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Umbilical cord blood has been<br />
processed at the Texas Cord Blood Bank<br />
since 2003.<br />
Left: The single van in 1976 has grown to a<br />
fleet <strong>of</strong> highly sophisticated mobile blood<br />
collection buses.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
95
THE UNIVERSITY<br />
OF TEXAS<br />
HEALTH SCIENCE<br />
CENTER AT<br />
SAN ANTONIO<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> leaders sought a medical<br />
school for many years before it became a<br />
reality, with efforts intensifying after World<br />
War II through authoring <strong>of</strong> legislation,<br />
establishment <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Medical<br />
Foundation and acquisition <strong>of</strong> land for the<br />
South Texas Medical Center.<br />
In the 1950s, Dr. John Smith, Jr., led a<br />
Bexar County Medical Society committee<br />
that conducted a study showing <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
was the largest city in America without a<br />
medical school. Momentum for a school<br />
crested in the fifty-sixth session <strong>of</strong> the Texas<br />
Legislature, when House Bill 9 was passed<br />
by both the House and Senate. Governor<br />
Price Daniel signed the bill into law on April<br />
29, 1959. Dr. Smith and Dr. James Hollers<br />
were two <strong>of</strong> the leaders <strong>of</strong> the community<br />
effort, and were present in the governor’s<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice that day along with legislators and<br />
other physicians.<br />
Federal matching funds for construction <strong>of</strong><br />
the medical school were obtained by 1965.<br />
The medical school’s first classes were held<br />
September 3, 1968. With dental, nursing,<br />
graduate biomedical sciences and health<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essions schools added, The University <strong>of</strong><br />
Texas Health Science Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
was formed in 1972. It is one <strong>of</strong> six academic<br />
health science centers and one <strong>of</strong> fifteen<br />
institutions in The University <strong>of</strong> Texas<br />
System. With an operating budget <strong>of</strong> $753<br />
million, the Health Science Center is <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
called the “crown jewel” <strong>of</strong> the South Texas<br />
Medical Center as it is the chief catalyst for<br />
the $16.3-billion biosciences and healthcare<br />
sector in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s economy. The Health<br />
Science Center, one <strong>of</strong> the country’s leading<br />
health sciences universities, ranks in the top<br />
two percent <strong>of</strong> all U.S. institutions receiving<br />
federal funding and has expanded into two<br />
million square feet <strong>of</strong> education, research,<br />
treatment, and administrative facilities across<br />
six campuses in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Laredo,<br />
Harlingen, and Edinburg.<br />
The five schools <strong>of</strong> the Health Science<br />
Center—the School <strong>of</strong> Medicine, Graduate<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Biomedical Sciences, Dental School,<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Nursing and School <strong>of</strong> Health<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essions—award more than seventy<br />
health-related degree specialties and pre- and<br />
post-baccalaureate certificate programs. The<br />
Health Science Center is deeply proud <strong>of</strong> its<br />
more than twenty-seven thousand<br />
graduates—physicians, dentists, nurses,<br />
scientists, and other health pr<strong>of</strong>essionals—<br />
many <strong>of</strong> whom serve in Texas. Its faculty<br />
members are international leaders in cancer,<br />
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke<br />
prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics,<br />
research imaging, transplant surgery,<br />
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain<br />
management, genetics, nursing, dentistry,<br />
infectious diseases and many other fields.<br />
The purpose <strong>of</strong> The University <strong>of</strong> Texas<br />
Health Science Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is to<br />
provide the best in health careers education,<br />
biomedical research, patient care and<br />
community service to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and the<br />
South Texas/Border Region. Through<br />
undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate<br />
programs, the faculty is committed to<br />
educating health pr<strong>of</strong>essionals who will<br />
provide excellent patient care and research<br />
that can be applied to treat and prevent<br />
disease. The interdisciplinary coordination <strong>of</strong><br />
research and patient care is regarded as one <strong>of</strong><br />
the university’s great strengths.<br />
The Health Science Center is the recipient<br />
<strong>of</strong> more than $250 million annually in<br />
research and other sponsored program activity.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> the innovations that have received<br />
U.S. FDA approval with the university’s help<br />
include the world-famous Palmaz Stent, to<br />
open both peripheral and coronary arteries;<br />
the Titanium Rib, to save children born with<br />
lung-limiting chest wall deformities; and the<br />
EZ-IO, to administer medications via the<br />
bone marrow cavity when traditional IV lines<br />
cannot be established.<br />
Other outstanding accomplishments are<br />
demonstrated through excellence in:<br />
• Cancer research, with the Cancer Therapy<br />
& Research Center at the UT Health Science<br />
Center, the Greehey Children’s Cancer<br />
Research Institute and other collaborative<br />
cancer research and clinical initiatives.<br />
• Aging research, with the Sam and<br />
Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and<br />
Aging Studies praised by the National<br />
Institute on Aging as among “The Best in<br />
the Nation.”<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
96
• Cardiovascular research, highlighted by the<br />
Janey Briscoe Center <strong>of</strong> Excellence in<br />
Cardiovascular Research. Major studies <strong>of</strong> all<br />
aspects <strong>of</strong> cardiovascular health are ongoing.<br />
• Diabetes research, with the worldrenowned<br />
Texas Diabetes Institute, the<br />
largest research-treatment facility in the<br />
nation devoted solely to diabetes in<br />
children and adults.<br />
• Organ transplantation, demonstrated<br />
through the University Transplant Center,<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the nation’s foremost programs in<br />
liver transplantation and other organs,<br />
particularly the lungs.<br />
Medical miracles <strong>of</strong> tomorrow, in some <strong>of</strong><br />
the most exciting areas <strong>of</strong> clinical and scientific<br />
study, will be pursued at the Health<br />
Science Center using innovative technologies<br />
such as:<br />
• Regenerative medicine: Engineering new<br />
body tissue for curing diseases such as<br />
cancer, diabetes, arthritis, congestive heart<br />
failure, spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer’s<br />
disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease.<br />
• Nanomedicine: Inventing small synthetic<br />
biologic devices that <strong>of</strong>fer the hope <strong>of</strong><br />
miraculous, mechanical therapies and<br />
cures such as monitoring heart plaque formation,<br />
blood pressure within arteries,<br />
tumor recurrence in cancer patients and<br />
blood glucose levels <strong>of</strong> diabetic patients.<br />
• Bioinformatics: Supporting research and<br />
clinical programs with high-performance<br />
computational solutions and approaches<br />
that integrate clinical research, medicine,<br />
and population data toward enhancing<br />
research processes, patient care, and community<br />
health.<br />
• Proteomics: Using mass spectrometry, a<br />
powerful analytical tool, to learn minute<br />
details about proteins that will help scientists<br />
better explain basic biomedical processes,<br />
understand disease progression, and determine<br />
the effectiveness <strong>of</strong> new therapies.<br />
• Genomics: Studying an organism’s genome<br />
to detail patterns <strong>of</strong> gene expression in<br />
health and disease, define the genetic basis<br />
<strong>of</strong> inherited disease, and determine how<br />
the environment, microbes and lifestyle<br />
interact with health outcomes to shape<br />
future medical treatments.<br />
• Biomedical imaging: Viewing inside the<br />
human body at the sub-cellular level to<br />
understand biological processes, such as<br />
how the brain works and the progression<br />
<strong>of</strong> tumor development or diseased cells,<br />
with a three-dimensional clarity for discovery<br />
<strong>of</strong> potential cures and preventions.<br />
UT Health Science Center School <strong>of</strong><br />
Medicine faculty members treat patients<br />
through UT Medicine <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, South<br />
Texas’ largest multispecialty practice. In 2009<br />
the Health Science Center opened the<br />
250,000-square-foot Medical Arts & Research<br />
Center (MARC) for state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art patient care<br />
under UT Medicine <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The Cancer<br />
Therapy & Research Center (CTRC)–formerly<br />
a nonpr<strong>of</strong>it, multidisciplinary outpatient clinic<br />
and research center–aligned with the School <strong>of</strong><br />
Medicine in December 2007 and is now part<br />
<strong>of</strong> the UT Health Science Center.<br />
The Health Science Center serves <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> and the fifty-three-thousand-squaremile<br />
area <strong>of</strong> South Texas. The South Texas<br />
practice area covers thirty-nine counties—<br />
most <strong>of</strong> which are underserved by health pr<strong>of</strong>essionals—that<br />
stretch west from <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> to the border, and south to Mexico.<br />
The Health Science Center has affiliation<br />
agreements and partnerships with dozens <strong>of</strong><br />
hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers<br />
including the University Health System; the<br />
South Texas Veterans Health Care System;<br />
CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa Health Care; and many<br />
other military and community facilities<br />
throughout South Texas and the Rio Grande<br />
Valley. Each year UT Medicine <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the<br />
practice plan <strong>of</strong> the Health Science Center’s<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Medicine, contributes more than<br />
$100 million in uncompensated healthcare to<br />
the uninsured and underinsured.<br />
Through programs that advance education,<br />
clinical care, research and community service,<br />
the UT Health Science Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
is fulfilling the needs <strong>of</strong> the citizens <strong>of</strong> Texas,<br />
the nation and the world toward one simple,<br />
yet powerful goal—to make lives better.<br />
The University <strong>of</strong> Texas Health Science<br />
Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is located at 7703 Floyd<br />
Curl Drive, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, 78229-3900. For<br />
more information, please visit www.uthscsa.edu<br />
or call 210-567-7000.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
97
NORTH SAN<br />
ANTONIO<br />
CHAMBER OF<br />
COMMERCE<br />
As Texas’ top destination, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is a<br />
culturally-rich and vibrant metropolitan area<br />
with a demonstrated ability to thrive in just<br />
about any economic climate. The city is a<br />
choice location for many <strong>of</strong> the country’s and<br />
region’s most successful public and private<br />
companies. For those who live, work and play<br />
here—we know why <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is the envy<br />
<strong>of</strong> the nation. And for more than thirty-five<br />
years, the North <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chamber <strong>of</strong><br />
Commerce has supported our citizens and<br />
enterprising business community.<br />
Founded in 1974, the North Chamber had<br />
the foresight to anticipate <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
future growth beyond downtown, and we<br />
have continued to play a major role in<br />
shaping and defining solutions for urban and<br />
quality <strong>of</strong> life issues including transportation<br />
infrastructure, water quality and supply,<br />
energy diversification, economic and workforce<br />
development, health and wellness,<br />
technology and education.<br />
Today, the North Chamber has earned a<br />
reputation as one <strong>of</strong> the state’s most dynamic<br />
and inclusive trade organizations. Resolute<br />
in our efforts to advocate for business<br />
and education, recognize deserving leaders<br />
and provide pr<strong>of</strong>essional development—we<br />
deliver opportunities to make resultsoriented<br />
business-to-business connections.<br />
Representing more than fourteen hundred<br />
member businesses from every quadrant <strong>of</strong><br />
the city and encompassing a range <strong>of</strong> industries<br />
from healthcare and biotechnology to<br />
energy and telecommunications, the North<br />
Chamber is a powerful partnership between<br />
small and large businesses. We are a commanding<br />
collective voice in advocacy at the<br />
local, state and national levels.<br />
No other local chamber does more than we<br />
do to honor leaders at every age and career<br />
stage. We salute regional legends for their<br />
wide-reaching philanthropic endeavors and<br />
public service, and recognize area small<br />
business leaders in multiple categories from<br />
employee relations to business innovation.<br />
In partnership with the national ATHENA<br />
Foundation, we are the exclusive local host<br />
organization for the presentation <strong>of</strong> awards<br />
that credit rising stars, seasoned pr<strong>of</strong>essionals<br />
and model organizations for achievement,<br />
community service and leadership cultivation.<br />
Moreover, the North Chamber delivers<br />
superlative educational programming on a<br />
variety <strong>of</strong> industry- and content-specific<br />
topics to keep our workforce on the cutting<br />
edge <strong>of</strong> specialized skills and best practices.<br />
In fact, the Texas Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce<br />
Executives named our Leadership Lab training<br />
series the “Best New Program <strong>of</strong> the Year”<br />
in 1999, and ever since, more than<br />
seventy pr<strong>of</strong>essionals complete the<br />
nine-month program annually.<br />
The North Chamber has left an<br />
indelible mark on <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> with<br />
our culture <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurialism and<br />
cooperation. Through our 501 (c) (3)<br />
entity, Lead SA, we provide financial<br />
assistance to member small businesses<br />
and nonpr<strong>of</strong>it organizations seeking<br />
career development via North Chamber<br />
programs, and we have awarded<br />
thousands <strong>of</strong> scholarship dollars to<br />
area colleges and universities to<br />
advance higher education.<br />
In the twenty-first century and<br />
beyond, the North Chamber keeps<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> strong and strives to be<br />
the chamber <strong>of</strong> choice for businesses<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and Bexar County.<br />
Join us today, and expect success.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
98
SANTIKOS<br />
THEATRES<br />
Greek entrepreneur Louis <strong>San</strong>tikos could not<br />
have known that when he founded a movie<br />
theatre in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> in 1915, he was<br />
launching an entertainment legacy in Texas.<br />
More than ninety years later, the <strong>San</strong>tikos name<br />
is synonymous with the movie industry. From<br />
humble beginnings to the celebrated opening <strong>of</strong><br />
its $35-million Palladium IMAX Theatre built in<br />
honor <strong>of</strong> the family’s Greek heritage, the<br />
<strong>San</strong>tikos family has earned a reputation as<br />
pioneers in the motion picture industry.<br />
Following in his father’s footsteps, John<br />
<strong>San</strong>tikos joined the family movie business after<br />
graduating from St. Mary’s University. Under his<br />
leadership the company expanded considerably,<br />
adding eight new theatres to the <strong>San</strong>tikos roster,<br />
including the firm’s first theatre built outside <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the Silverado IMAX in Houston.<br />
John remains at the helm <strong>of</strong> the business today,<br />
heading up the largest family-owned theatre<br />
circuit in Texas.<br />
Over the years, <strong>San</strong>tikos Theatres has<br />
established a well-deserved reputation for<br />
bringing the “latest and greatest” in cinema<br />
technology to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. From the first drivein<br />
theatres and multiplex indoor theatres, to<br />
THX and digital sound technology, <strong>San</strong>tikos<br />
Theatres leads the way in innovation. More<br />
recent additions include 3D presentation,<br />
Hollywood IMAX films, HD digital projection,<br />
in-theatre dining and the city’s only art-house.<br />
<strong>San</strong>tikos Theatre patrons enjoy Red<br />
Carpet premiers and exclusive showings<br />
<strong>of</strong> concerts and special attractions.<br />
John, an active arts supporter, believes<br />
in community service. His company<br />
partners with arts organizations, including<br />
the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Symphony, the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Opera and the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Metropolitan Ballet. Thanks to <strong>San</strong>tikos,<br />
patrons enjoy Opera broadcasts from the<br />
top European opera houses in the<br />
comfort <strong>of</strong> their local <strong>San</strong>tikos Theatre.<br />
Known for its work with many charitable<br />
organizations, <strong>San</strong>tikos Theatres <strong>of</strong>fers canned<br />
food drives for the local food bank, helps<br />
with Red Cross donations and encourages<br />
patrons to support fundraisers for<br />
many nonpr<strong>of</strong>it organizations.<br />
In addition to supporting the arts,<br />
<strong>San</strong>tikos Theatres contributes to the<br />
local economy, employing over one<br />
thousand workers ranging from theater<br />
ushers to managers and corporate<br />
employees. Known for being responsive,<br />
the <strong>San</strong>tikos company is always<br />
among the first businesses to help<br />
when there is a need in the community.<br />
Today, the <strong>San</strong>tikos Theatre circuit<br />
includes eight theatres: the Palladium<br />
IMAX, Silverado <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Mayan<br />
Palace, Embassy, Rialto Cinema Bar &<br />
Grill, Bijou at Crossroads, Northwest<br />
14, all in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, and Silverado<br />
19 IMAX in Northwest Houston.<br />
<strong>San</strong>tikos remains the only locallyowned<br />
and operated theatre circuit in<br />
South Texas, and proudly continues<br />
its tradition <strong>of</strong> customer service,<br />
community relations and superior<br />
cinematic presentation.<br />
Additional information on <strong>San</strong>tikos<br />
Theatres is available on the Internet at<br />
www.santikos.com.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
99
CNG<br />
ENGINEERING,<br />
PLLC<br />
✧<br />
Above: Travis E. Wiltshire, P. E.<br />
The Main Plaza <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, five Alamo<br />
Community College District campuses, and<br />
the Central Plant at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Military<br />
Medical Command North, address different<br />
sectors <strong>of</strong> the city’s economy, but they have<br />
one thing in common. The functional brains<br />
<strong>of</strong> these facilities—the mechanical, electrical,<br />
and/or plumbing systems that keep each <strong>of</strong><br />
these complexes operating—were designed<br />
by CNG Engineering, PLLC.<br />
CNG’s application <strong>of</strong> its motto, Attention<br />
to Detail, has enabled the company to win a<br />
reputation for bringing in $1 million to $300<br />
million projects on time and within budget.<br />
CNG Engineering’s teams take the vision<br />
behind an architect’s renderings and create<br />
the reality <strong>of</strong> complex mechanical, electrical,<br />
and plumbing (MEP) plans. They determine<br />
precisely how a building will be ventilated,<br />
illuminated, powered and plumbed for new<br />
construction, expansion, or renovation.<br />
In the process <strong>of</strong> bringing designs to life,<br />
CNG engineering pr<strong>of</strong>essionals call on their<br />
experience working on retail and <strong>of</strong>fice<br />
complexes, educational and government<br />
facilities. They develop clear, concise, and<br />
complete information for architects as well<br />
as contractors. <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s revamped Main<br />
Plaza has become a public gathering space.<br />
Underneath the landscaped plaza is the CNG<br />
designed plumbing that makes the fountains<br />
operate and its electrical designs that control<br />
the light and sound systems.<br />
CNG’s engineer and designers bring more<br />
than their technical expertise to each project.<br />
They build strong relationships and maintain<br />
open communication with both clients and<br />
contractors from site investigations through<br />
the design stage to construction.<br />
Travis E. Wiltshire, P. E., established CNG in<br />
2004 to bring a pr<strong>of</strong>essional problem-solving<br />
approach to MEP projects. His grandfathers<br />
in Guyana, South America, had run businesses,<br />
and he inherited their entrepreneurial spirit.<br />
After graduating from Penn State with a B. S.<br />
in electrical engineering, he worked with<br />
engineering firms in New York <strong>City</strong>, Pittsburgh,<br />
and <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. In <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> everything<br />
began to fall into place, and with divine<br />
guidance, he opened CNG Engineering, which<br />
is named after his children, Caiya and Gavin.<br />
Wiltshire, who has in-depth expertise<br />
in power distribution and uninterruptible<br />
power systems, is a graduate <strong>of</strong> Leadership<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and the African-<br />
American Leadership Institute <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
CNG is committed to developing<br />
the next generation <strong>of</strong> MEP<br />
engineers and designers and<br />
actively recruits high school and<br />
college interns. Wiltshire serves<br />
on the board <strong>of</strong> ACE (Architecture,<br />
Construction, Engineering), which<br />
mentors students from select <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> high schools. The group<br />
stimulates students’ interest in<br />
architecture, construction, and<br />
engineering through regular<br />
mentoring sessions and a final<br />
ACE project presentation. CNG<br />
encourages its employees to work<br />
with elementary to high school<br />
students on engineering projects,<br />
such as coaching robotics teams,<br />
with the Junior Chapter <strong>of</strong> the<br />
National Society <strong>of</strong> Black Engineers<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
100
CHRISTUS<br />
SANTA ROSA<br />
HEALTH SYSTEM<br />
Established in 1869 by the Sisters <strong>of</strong><br />
Charity <strong>of</strong> the Incarnate Word as <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
only nonpr<strong>of</strong>it, Catholic faith-based health<br />
system, CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa has served<br />
generations <strong>of</strong> South Texans and continues to<br />
touch countless lives by extending the healing<br />
ministry <strong>of</strong> Jesus Christ.<br />
During its humble beginnings, CHRISTUS<br />
<strong>San</strong>ta Rosa was a single, two-story stone hospital<br />
erected downtown through community efforts<br />
involving citizens and the Archdiocese.<br />
It is now a system <strong>of</strong>fering five hospitals that<br />
collectively feature more than 1,000 beds<br />
throughout <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and New Braunfels.<br />
The <strong>City</strong> Centre campus houses a 400-plus<br />
bed acute care facility with a Level III Trauma<br />
Center; an 8,000-square-foot emergency department;<br />
physician <strong>of</strong>fice buildings, an imaging<br />
center, and the David Christopher Goldsbury<br />
Center for Children and Families. Within the<br />
<strong>City</strong> Centre campus is CHRSITUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa<br />
Children’s Hospital. Celebrating its fiftieth year<br />
in 2009, this 150-bed hospital was the first<br />
hospital in South Texas designed and built for<br />
children and through its longstanding partnership<br />
with the University <strong>of</strong> Texas Health Science<br />
Center, is <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s only academic children’s<br />
hospital. The Children’s Hospital <strong>of</strong>fers cancer,<br />
cardiac, and solid organ transplantation programs.<br />
It is the founding hospital <strong>of</strong> the titanium<br />
rib procedure, and in 2004 established The<br />
Center for Miracles, an assessment center for<br />
suspected victims <strong>of</strong> child abuse or neglect.<br />
In 1986, CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa opened a<br />
hospital in the South Texas Medical Center.<br />
This facility includes 178 beds, an Ambulatory<br />
Surgical Center, the CHRISTUS Transplant<br />
Institute, the Diabetes and Glandular Disease<br />
Clinic, as well as the Wound Care & Hyperbaric<br />
Center, an emergency department and Center<br />
for Robotic Surgery. In the fall <strong>of</strong> 2008 a<br />
partnership was established with the Cancer<br />
Therapy and Research Center (CTRC) that<br />
would provide CTRC’s patients with access to<br />
inpatient services at CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa<br />
Hospital–Medical Center, creating a comprehensive,<br />
multidisciplinary continuum <strong>of</strong> cancer care<br />
from diagnosis to treatment and follow up care.<br />
That same year, CHRISTUS acquired McKenna<br />
Memorial Hospital in New Braunfels. For more<br />
than fifty years, this 132-bed hospital has met<br />
the healthcare needs <strong>of</strong> New Braunfels and<br />
surrounding communities by providing such<br />
services as outpatient surgery, imaging, rehabilitation,<br />
a cardiac catheterization lab, birthing<br />
center, diabetes education, and emergency care.<br />
The most recent expansion includes a fullservice<br />
hospital in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s fast-growing<br />
community <strong>of</strong> Westover Hills, built in 2009.<br />
Situated on Highway 151 near SeaWorld, it is a<br />
150-bed, 315,000-square-foot facility featuring<br />
such services as an emergency department;<br />
comprehensive women’s services including<br />
obstetrics and newborn care; inpatient and<br />
outpatient surgery; family medicine; and critical<br />
care. Adjacent to the hospital is a three-story<br />
medical <strong>of</strong>fice building that<br />
houses a variety <strong>of</strong> physician<br />
practices and hospital services.<br />
CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa is<br />
one <strong>of</strong> only two hospitals in<br />
Texas and the only one in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> to receive the<br />
Distinguished Hospital Award<br />
for Clinical Excellence six<br />
years in a row and to be named<br />
one <strong>of</strong> “America’s 50 Best<br />
Hospitals” by HealthGrades ® .<br />
For more information, visit<br />
www.christussantarosa.org.<br />
✧<br />
Above: CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa Hospital–<br />
<strong>City</strong> Centre was established in 1869 by the<br />
Sisters <strong>of</strong> Charity <strong>of</strong> the Incarnate Word.<br />
It is a four-hundred-bed facility located in<br />
downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Below: CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa Hospital—<br />
Westover Hills is the newest addition to the<br />
CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa system <strong>of</strong> hospitals.<br />
Opened in 2009, it is located at Highway<br />
151, between Wiseman and Westover<br />
Hills Boulevard.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
101
✧<br />
ELEGANT FURS<br />
Gerardo Zavala.<br />
In the 1960s in Laredo, young Gerardo<br />
Zavala loved going after school to his uncle’s<br />
fur sewing plant where he attached pockets<br />
in garments. By the time he was a teenager,<br />
he was cutting furs. At fourteen, he convinced<br />
his mother to let him go for a semester to<br />
Alaska and a relative’s Anchorage Fur Factory.<br />
Zavala stayed in Alaska for seventeen years,<br />
working part-time and then full time in<br />
the fur industry, including ten years with<br />
noted furrier David Green. There he designed<br />
and custom-made luxurious fur garments,<br />
including many for celebrities. Larry Hagman’s<br />
timber wolf coat and Willie Nelson’s buffalo<br />
coat were among his creations.<br />
In 1985, Gerardo Zavala came to <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> as the protégé <strong>of</strong> Michael Mouratidis.<br />
Mouratidis’ international reputation for couture<br />
design and his renowned salon proved the<br />
ideal setting for Zavala to perfect his design<br />
skills. Mouratidis considered his employees as<br />
his family. When Mouratidis died and the<br />
company was closing, Zavala decided to fulfill<br />
his own dream.He founded Elegant Furs LLC<br />
at 8305 Broadway in June 2005 with the<br />
advice from Helen Noumas, a coworker <strong>of</strong><br />
Mouratidis who had fifty years <strong>of</strong> fur business<br />
experience. Four years later in 2009, Elegant<br />
Furs was relocated when Zavala purchased the<br />
Ram Building at 4434 Blanco Road.<br />
Today while designing exquisite fur garments<br />
for an appreciative clientele, Zavala considers<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s climate and individual preferences.<br />
He creates elegant garments using light weight,<br />
short-haired skins. “When I design for the next<br />
season, I look for what a lady will love to<br />
wear. If you have a garment you like, you are<br />
going to find ways and occasions to wear it,”<br />
says Zavala.<br />
Mink, long an appreciated and enduring<br />
fur, is capturing more admirers as advanced<br />
techniques <strong>of</strong> shearing, dyeing and laser<br />
cutting open new design possibilities. Flower<br />
patterns and logos can be cut into natural and<br />
dyed furs.<br />
Elegant Furs is known for adeptly<br />
transforming beautiful but outdated long<br />
coats into contemporary garments. Customers<br />
who bring long, seldom-worn fur coats to<br />
Elegant Furs for storage are likely to be<br />
advised by Zavala to let him restyle them<br />
into a one-<strong>of</strong>-a-kind garment. Their options<br />
include a fur vest, reversible stroller, or a<br />
jacket, whatever catches their fancy.<br />
Elegant Furs has the largest climatecontrolled,<br />
firepro<strong>of</strong> fur cold storage vault<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The experts’ clean, repair and<br />
care for all fur, leather and suede garments.<br />
In addition to exceptional fur garments<br />
and accessories to delight men and women,<br />
Elegant Furs also <strong>of</strong>fers home decorative<br />
accessories such as sumptuous fur pillows,<br />
throws and spreads.<br />
Enthralled by furs since childhood, Gerardo<br />
Zavala is committed to absolute client satisfaction.<br />
He is pleased to share his love <strong>of</strong> furs.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
102
Guillermo’s Eat Here has become one <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s most popular restaurants<br />
because the owner, William Garza, truly<br />
enjoys serving people with delicious food.<br />
The restaurant’s Mission Statement sums up<br />
Garza’s approach in a few simple words: “To<br />
efficiently serve people by creating and selling<br />
exceptional food using the finest products in<br />
a sanitary environment where value for our<br />
staff, customers, and creativity is boundless.”<br />
Customers all agree that the food served at<br />
Guillermo’s is delicious, but the exceptional<br />
service is what keeps them coming back.<br />
“I am in the restaurant business because I<br />
enjoy serving people,” Garza explains. “We<br />
strive hard every day to find better ways to<br />
serve our customers.”<br />
Although his name is William, most people<br />
know Garza as Billy or Guillermo, a nickname<br />
bestowed on him by a college friend. He<br />
started in the restaurant business at the age<br />
<strong>of</strong> twelve working at Luca Pizzas in Windsor<br />
Park Mall. He graduated from Central<br />
Catholic Marianist High School in 1989 and<br />
worked his way through the University <strong>of</strong><br />
Texas at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, earning a degree in<br />
Accounting. He founded Guillermo’s in 1995<br />
after graduating from college. “I liked serving<br />
food and felt I was good at it,” he says.<br />
Located in a distinctive, tin-ro<strong>of</strong>ed<br />
building at 618 McCullough Street, not far<br />
from Museum Reach Riverwalk, Guillermo’s<br />
Eat Here <strong>of</strong>fers pitas, pizza, burgers, calzones,<br />
pasta, steak and a wide variety <strong>of</strong> other<br />
menu items. The restaurant also operates a<br />
busy catering service and Garza has plans to<br />
open an additional catering kitchen to expand<br />
that operation.<br />
Guillermo’s Eat Here has ten employees,<br />
including Tony Don, Jr., who has been with<br />
the restaurant for twelve years.<br />
Garza’s business philosophy is grounded in<br />
a deep belief that he was meant to serve<br />
people. “I believe in fulfilling what I was<br />
meant to be,” he says. “The more people we<br />
can serve, the closer we get to attaining our<br />
goals. To be successful, there has to be<br />
meaning in what you do. If your only goal is<br />
chasing the almighty dollar, you won’t<br />
find fulfillment. But if you serve others,<br />
the money and happiness will follow.”<br />
Garza, who is interested in pursuing<br />
an MBA degree at UTSA, adds that he<br />
understands his responsibility for his<br />
community and embraces the challenges and<br />
needs <strong>of</strong> that community.<br />
For more information about Guillermo’s<br />
Eat Here, including the lunch and<br />
dinner menus, please check the website at<br />
www.guillermosdowntown.com.<br />
GUILLERMO’S<br />
DELI &<br />
✧<br />
Below: William Garza.<br />
CATERING<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
103
GREENE AND<br />
ASSOCIATES,<br />
INC.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Barbara A. F. Greene.<br />
Below: Barbara A. F. Greene being honored<br />
by the Texas Diversity Council, 2009.<br />
Partners in a construction company desperately<br />
needed to work out their differences<br />
so that they could become better leaders and<br />
continue building a successful company.<br />
Greene and Associates, Inc. helped them<br />
do just that.<br />
A high-tech company needed help navigating<br />
through a major facility closure and preparing<br />
its employees for the career transition.<br />
Greene and Associates, Inc. not only<br />
prepared the employees, but motivated them,<br />
allowing the company to enjoy an unexpected<br />
$20-million increase in revenues due to<br />
extraordinary efforts by those departing.<br />
A research organization needed someone<br />
to help one <strong>of</strong> their emerging leaders develop<br />
interpersonal skills.<br />
“The change,” a top executive at that<br />
organization said, “was dynamic.”<br />
These are just a few <strong>of</strong> the success stories <strong>of</strong><br />
Greene and Associates, Inc., an organizational<br />
resilience company established by Barbara<br />
A. F. Greene in 1996.<br />
Headquartered in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and<br />
partnered with Career Partners International,<br />
an organization comprised <strong>of</strong> more than 160<br />
leading human resource partner firms in over<br />
twenty countries, Greene and her diverse<br />
team <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essionals provides a complete<br />
range <strong>of</strong> talent management services to<br />
include attracting, developing, retaining, and<br />
transitioning the pulse <strong>of</strong> an organization—its<br />
workforce. They perform everything from<br />
executive coaching and career transitioning<br />
to corporate mentoring and leadership<br />
development services for organizations <strong>of</strong><br />
all sizes across the globe. They are always<br />
client-centered.<br />
“We are definitely not a cookie-cutter<br />
company,” says Greene. “We specialize in<br />
<strong>of</strong>fering solid, creative, and custom solutions at<br />
every level in every size <strong>of</strong> organization—from<br />
small businesses to universities to Fortune 500<br />
companies and from the executive suites to the<br />
shop floor. Our goal is to provide whatever<br />
services our clients need through completely<br />
customized and flexible approaches.”<br />
Greene, who is both owner and chief executive<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficer <strong>of</strong> the company, holds a master’s<br />
degree in counseling, a bachelor’s in education<br />
and is recognized as a master certified<br />
coach by the International Coach Federation.<br />
She is a published author, having co-authored<br />
the Texas Job Hunter’s Guide, and has received<br />
numerous recognitions including the National<br />
Association <strong>of</strong> Women Business Owners’<br />
Entrepreneurial Spirit Award as Mentor <strong>of</strong><br />
the Year, the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Business Journal’s<br />
Mentoring Leadership <strong>Enterprise</strong><br />
Award and the 2009 DiversityFIRST TM<br />
Leadership Award from the Texas<br />
Diversity Council. She also holds two<br />
<strong>of</strong> the highest chapter awards from<br />
the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chapter <strong>of</strong> American<br />
Society for Training and Development<br />
and was a finalist for the 2007<br />
Athena Award.<br />
In addition to leading her company,<br />
Greene also believes in giving back.<br />
To that end, she has held numerous<br />
leadership roles such as president<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chapter <strong>of</strong><br />
American Society for Training and<br />
Development and the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Chapter <strong>of</strong> the National Association <strong>of</strong><br />
Women Business Owners. She serves<br />
on the Advisory Council for the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Light House for the Blind and<br />
hosts international students through<br />
Trinity University.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
104
With more than forty years <strong>of</strong> electrical,<br />
architectural and general contracting<br />
experience in their tool bags, Mark Wohlfarth<br />
and Danny Benavidez—founders <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Sabinal Group—continue to build a solid<br />
business and a growing list <strong>of</strong> satisfied clients<br />
in the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> area.<br />
A highly skilled general contracting firm,<br />
the Sabinal Group was founded in 2005 to<br />
better serve the area’s real estate and end user<br />
community through pr<strong>of</strong>essional minority<br />
general contracting services. From the<br />
beginning, they have committed themselves<br />
to doing “whatever it takes” to get the job<br />
done. They have also committed to giving<br />
their all to every job, no matter the size.<br />
“Whether our clients want us to paint a<br />
wall or build a new corporate headquarters,<br />
we will do it with pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism, quality<br />
and guaranteed satisfaction,” Wohlfarth and<br />
Benavidez proclaim. “We do not chase<br />
projects, but instead are committed to<br />
providing quality service, which results in<br />
life-long client relationships.”<br />
Because <strong>of</strong> their expertise, pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism<br />
and unyielding client commitment, a whopping<br />
eighty-five percent <strong>of</strong> their clients are repeat<br />
clients. Their portfolio is tremendously diverse<br />
and includes a myriad <strong>of</strong> projects throughout<br />
the area—projects that range in size from the<br />
1,000-square-foot AT&T Conference Center<br />
to the 40,000-square-foot Museo Alameda,<br />
a community Museum and affiliate to the<br />
Smithsonian. Other recognizable projects<br />
include the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum,<br />
Tezel Plaza, Five Star Retail, The Palms Retail<br />
and numerous medical <strong>of</strong>fice buildings, just to<br />
name a few.<br />
The firm <strong>of</strong>fers a full menu <strong>of</strong> general<br />
contracting services—such as project<br />
management, scheduling, estimating, cost<br />
control, material procurement, code<br />
compliance, permitting and evaluations,<br />
quality control and warranty management—<br />
as well as complete design, building,<br />
accounting and administration services.<br />
Co-founder Wohlfarth holds a Bachelor’s <strong>of</strong><br />
Science in Architecture and actually worked in<br />
that field for seven years before joining<br />
Constructors, a large Austin-based construction<br />
firm, in 1992. There he managed projects<br />
entailing millions <strong>of</strong> square feet for nine years<br />
before becoming the company’s vice president<br />
in 2001. His last project in Austin was the<br />
Bob Bullock History Museum where he served<br />
as Senior Project Manager. Wohlfarth, a fourth<br />
generation <strong>San</strong> Antonian, then relocated back<br />
to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> to open a branch <strong>of</strong>fice and,<br />
in just four years, grew that <strong>of</strong>fice to <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>’s fifth largest general contracting<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice with over $50 million in annual revenue<br />
and forty employees.<br />
Benavidez and Wohlfarth went to high<br />
school together at John Marshall. Benavidez<br />
worked as an electrician for eleven years and<br />
later as a general construction superintendent<br />
after attending St. Phillips College. He joined<br />
his soon-to-be business partner in 2001 and<br />
continuously demonstrates strong skills on a<br />
variety <strong>of</strong> projects from the estimating process<br />
through punch-list completion.<br />
Others who have been key in helping along<br />
the way are employees Ron Gonzales, Nick<br />
Bauch, Blake Pearson, Clint Snell, Anna<br />
Counce, Shelly Lugo, and Jorge Gutierrez.<br />
In total, the company now employs twelve<br />
full-time and ten contract employees with<br />
2009 revenues topping $12.8 million.<br />
For more information, call 210-226-3400<br />
or visit online at www.sabinal-group.com.<br />
SABINAL GROUP<br />
✧<br />
Mark Wohlfarth.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
105
CONSULTANTS<br />
IN WOMEN’S<br />
HEALTH<br />
✧<br />
Above: Drs. Garza and Schneider <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Advanced Fertility Center.<br />
Below: Dr. Jose Ruiz with the Institute For<br />
Women’s Health.<br />
Women’s healthcare in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> recently got bigger<br />
and better. Northeast OB/GYN<br />
Associates and the Institute<br />
For Women’s Health—two <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s largest obstetrics<br />
and gynecological practices—<br />
have joined forces.<br />
Consultants in Women’s<br />
Health is the resulting entity<br />
and is now one <strong>of</strong> the largest<br />
non-hospital based specialty<br />
groups in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The<br />
goal <strong>of</strong> the merger was to<br />
preserve and improve women’s<br />
healthcare, quality and convenience in the<br />
Alamo <strong>City</strong>. Women now have access to more<br />
physicians at numerous locations and access<br />
to cutting-edge healthcare services.<br />
Consultants in Women’s Health consists<br />
<strong>of</strong> thirty-eight physicians and one nurse<br />
practitioner who provide obstetric, gynecologic<br />
and fertility care. The practice has 250 total<br />
employees at twelve medical <strong>of</strong>fices throughout<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. Physicians continue to practice<br />
out <strong>of</strong> their existing locations.<br />
“The challenges in the ever-changing<br />
landscape <strong>of</strong> healthcare made it quite clear that<br />
integrating our practices into one would ensure<br />
that we can preserve the quality <strong>of</strong><br />
care our patients deserve and have<br />
come to expect from our practices,”<br />
stated Dr. Kent Sadler, Northeast<br />
OB/GYN Associates Medical Director.<br />
Prior to the merger, the Institute<br />
For Women’s Health was <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>’s largest obstetrics and<br />
gynecology group practice and<br />
Northeast OB/GYN Associates was<br />
the second largest. Northeast<br />
OB/GYN Associates was founded in<br />
1986 and has three medical <strong>of</strong>fices.<br />
The Institute For Women’s Health<br />
was founded in May 1996 and has<br />
nine medical <strong>of</strong>fices.<br />
Institute For Women’s Health<br />
operates the Advanced Fertility<br />
Center, a cutting-edge facility that<br />
helps couples conceive. If a patient<br />
and her partner are having trouble<br />
conceiving, physicians can refer her<br />
to Dr. Joseph R. Garza, who spearheads the<br />
Advanced Fertility Center.<br />
Physicians at Consultants in Women’s<br />
Health, specialize and <strong>of</strong>fer many women’s<br />
healthcare services, including obstetrics,<br />
high-risk pregnancies, urogynecology, robotic<br />
surgery, poly cystic ovarian syndrome and<br />
menopause management, to name a few. The<br />
patient’s health information is stored on the<br />
electronic medical record.<br />
Consultants in Women’s Health is prepared<br />
for the changes in healthcare. Closely following<br />
the latest developments and proposals for<br />
healthcare reform currently in the news and at<br />
the center <strong>of</strong> attention in Washington, DC, the<br />
merged practice is better positioned to take on<br />
the new changes and challenges that may come<br />
in the future <strong>of</strong> healthcare.<br />
“With this partnership, we are consolidating<br />
our resources to help women in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
live healthy and longer lives and to keep the<br />
crucial doctor/patient relationship intact and<br />
free <strong>of</strong> any potential disruption that change<br />
may cause,” says Dr. Carlos Cardenas, president<br />
<strong>of</strong> Institute For Women’s Health.<br />
The current CEO for Consultants in<br />
Women’s Health is Phil Stephens, CMPE.<br />
Stephens also serves as CEO for the Institute<br />
for Women’s Health—an organization he has<br />
lead since its inception.<br />
Consultants in Women’s Health accepts<br />
most insurance carriers and is welcoming<br />
new patients. For more information, call the<br />
Institute For Women’s Health at 210-349-6626<br />
or Northeast OB/GYN at 210-653-5501 or visit<br />
online at www.ifwh.org and www.ne-obgyn.com.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
106
Fully rooted in faith and family and<br />
fueled by a passion for helping people feel<br />
good about themselves, Dr. Louis Orsatti,<br />
DDS, and his wife, Debbie, have definitely<br />
found their calling.<br />
A calling they have steadfastly answered<br />
since 1986 when together they founded<br />
what is now known as The Orsatti Dental<br />
Group—a dental group which not only<br />
provides a wide range <strong>of</strong> routine family dental<br />
care, but also specializes in the latest in<br />
cosmetic dental technologies and techniques.<br />
Among their cosmetic specialties are veneers,<br />
bonding, white fillings, all-porcelain crowns,<br />
Botox and Juvederm treatments, and<br />
Invisalign-a system using clear, removable<br />
aligners to straighten teeth in lieu <strong>of</strong> the<br />
traditional metal wires and brackets.<br />
“A great smile can give the appearance<br />
<strong>of</strong> looking healthier, younger, successful<br />
and greatly increases self-esteem,” Dr. Orsatti<br />
says. “It is simply priceless to see a<br />
person’s life change when they can smile<br />
with confidence.”<br />
From the time they “took a leap <strong>of</strong> faith”<br />
almost a quarter <strong>of</strong> a century ago and opened<br />
their first <strong>of</strong>fice on <strong>San</strong> Pedro Avenue in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>—he as the dentist and she as the<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice manager—they have worked diligently<br />
to treat each patient as an individual and to<br />
provide a caring, pr<strong>of</strong>essional environment.<br />
This formula has catapulted them from a<br />
small practice into an ever-growing, everthriving<br />
dental group consisting <strong>of</strong> three<br />
highly experienced dentists and a superlative<br />
staff <strong>of</strong> hygienists, dental assistants and<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice personnel. Soon, a fourth dentist—the<br />
Orsatti’s son who is planning to attend dental<br />
school—could very well be joining the<br />
group. Explosive growth caused them to<br />
move from <strong>San</strong> Pedro Avenue in the year<br />
2000 when they built their present <strong>of</strong>fice at<br />
15303 Huebner Road.<br />
Dr. Orsatti is a graduate <strong>of</strong> the University<br />
<strong>of</strong> Texas Health Science Center and is the<br />
senior dentist for the group. He is a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Texas and American Dental societies<br />
and was recently named one <strong>of</strong> Texas’ Super<br />
Dentists by Texas Monthly magazine. His <strong>of</strong>fice<br />
was also recently named an Invisalign Premier<br />
Provider, a designation achieved by only five<br />
percent <strong>of</strong> the nation’s dentists who <strong>of</strong>fer the<br />
“invisible” method <strong>of</strong> straightening teeth.<br />
The Orsattis are also faithfully committed<br />
to giving back to the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> community<br />
where they live and work. Dr. Orsatti is a<br />
regular contributor and volunteer at the<br />
Christian Dental Clinic, an organization that<br />
provides dental services to those in need, and<br />
both are active participants in their church.<br />
They always seek to instill “good moral<br />
values” in their family and business as they<br />
say their parents did for them.<br />
“Our roots are deeply rooted in God and<br />
family,” they said.<br />
For more information, please visit<br />
www.orsattidental.com, or visit them in<br />
person at 15303 Huebner Road, Building 14,<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> or call 210-479-8989.<br />
THE ORSATTI<br />
DENTAL GROUP<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
107
CITY OF<br />
SAN ANTONIO–<br />
✧<br />
DEVELOPMENT<br />
Development Services Director<br />
Roderick J. <strong>San</strong>chez.<br />
SERVICES<br />
The Development Services Department <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is responsible for<br />
protecting the health, safety, and quality <strong>of</strong> life<br />
for all the citizens <strong>of</strong> the city.<br />
The Department has three fundamental<br />
goals: improve cycle time for permitting and<br />
inspections; improve consistency and quality<br />
<strong>of</strong> plan review and inspections; and promote a<br />
customer service philosophy <strong>of</strong> facilitation <strong>of</strong><br />
the development process with all customers.<br />
The Department’s focus is to help people<br />
get projects completed in a timely and<br />
safe manner so they can open for business<br />
or move into their new home. Although<br />
the Department must enforce building codes<br />
to ensure buildings are safe, we seek to<br />
help developers and others involved with<br />
construction understand the Unified<br />
Development Code, which relates to land use;<br />
and building codes, which relates to<br />
construction standards.<br />
The Department is responsible for<br />
regulation <strong>of</strong> land and building development.<br />
In addition, the Department seeks to facilitate<br />
an efficient and effective development process<br />
that supports the city’s growth and economic<br />
development. These processes include<br />
consulting, educating, reviewing, permitting,<br />
inspecting, and granting authority to develop<br />
land and occupy buildings within the <strong>City</strong>.<br />
More specifically, the Department is<br />
responsible for master development plans,<br />
vested rights, subdivision mapping/parcel<br />
addressing, zoning and subdivision administration,<br />
building codes administration, landscaping,<br />
tree preservation, and sign regulation.<br />
Since development involves partnerships<br />
with other <strong>City</strong> departments and outside<br />
agencies, the Department seeks to facilitate<br />
the coordination <strong>of</strong> these reviews to provide<br />
responsive customer service throughout the<br />
development process.<br />
The Department also provides administrative<br />
and technical support to boards<br />
and commissions that direct and review<br />
issues on land development and construction<br />
regulations. These boards include the<br />
Board <strong>of</strong> Adjustment, Building and Fire<br />
Codes Board <strong>of</strong> Appeals, Plumbing Appeals<br />
and Advisory Board, Mechanical Appeals<br />
and Advisory Boards, Electrical Supervisory<br />
Board, Zoning Commission, and the<br />
Planning Commission.<br />
Since the Department’s revenues must<br />
cover expenses, the Department’s staffing level<br />
expands and contracts with the local<br />
economy. Currently, the Department has 242<br />
authorized positions and operates on<br />
revenues <strong>of</strong> $22.3 million.<br />
Department employees are involved in a<br />
number <strong>of</strong> community organizations, including<br />
Citizen’s Academy, Building Safety Week,<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Food Bank, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Buddy Walk, Warm Coat Drive, Margil<br />
Elementary Mentor Program, United Way, and<br />
many others.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
108
In 1978, five men and one woman from<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> with experience in the audiovisual<br />
field launched Bear Audio Visual, Inc.<br />
They positioned Bear Audio Visual as the<br />
first full service company to provide sales,<br />
services, installations, and rentals <strong>of</strong> audiovisual<br />
equipment. Until Bear opened, audiovisual<br />
customers were forced to consult<br />
multiple vendors because each handled only a<br />
limited segment <strong>of</strong> the audiovisual business.<br />
At that time new technology was just<br />
beginning to replace film strips, overhead<br />
projectors, and 16mm film. Bear Audio Visual<br />
arrived and led the way from its small<br />
building on Fredericksburg Road, later<br />
known as <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s Deco District. Texas<br />
schools districts were their target market,<br />
although local businesses and organizations<br />
claimed a portion <strong>of</strong> their attention.<br />
Today the technicians <strong>of</strong> Bear Audio Visual<br />
travel all over the United States producing<br />
general conference and convention sessions<br />
for national and international companies<br />
and organizations. Still a full-service industry<br />
provider to schools, Bear has earned a<br />
reputation as an audiovisual production house<br />
that brings projects in on time and on budget.<br />
Tony Lopez, last <strong>of</strong> the original founders,<br />
continues to own and operate Bear Audio<br />
Visual. His company’s survival for over thirty<br />
years in a cutting edge, technology-driven field<br />
is a result <strong>of</strong> adaptability. A willingness to listen<br />
to customers’ needs led to changes in Bear’s<br />
business model. When customers wanted more<br />
services and the opportunity to outsource<br />
audiovisual projects, Bear Audio Visual<br />
listened to those requests and delivered the<br />
products and services.<br />
New customers emerged as next generation<br />
equipment <strong>of</strong>fered innovative applications<br />
and greater flexibility for video conferencing<br />
and dynamic presentations. Businesses began<br />
to realize the advantages <strong>of</strong> training centers<br />
and conference centers pr<strong>of</strong>essionally<br />
equipped with ceiling-mounted projectors,<br />
quality screens, custom audio systems and<br />
lighting. Churches and nonpr<strong>of</strong>its determined<br />
that superior audio and lighting systems<br />
installed by experts could contribute to their<br />
mission’s success. From small meetings to<br />
large conventions, Bear Audio Visual had the<br />
knowledge base and the staff to bring about<br />
the desired results. Steady growth indicates<br />
Bear Audio Visual’s success in satisfying<br />
customers. In 1988, Bear Audio Visual<br />
upgraded to its current location. This 18,000-<br />
square-foot facility in the Deco District is not<br />
far from where the business originated in a<br />
500-square-foot building.<br />
Bear has relied on quality suppliers for<br />
visual and audio equipment ranging from<br />
lecterns, and mobile carts to the latest in hightech<br />
media equipment such as digital audio<br />
and video, DLP, LCD electronic projectors and<br />
Plasma monitors. Whatever technology the<br />
future brings, Bear Audio Visual, Inc., is ready<br />
to lead customers to the best in audiovisual<br />
solutions and other developments <strong>of</strong> the<br />
information age.<br />
Bear Audio Visual is located at 1602 West<br />
Kings Highway. in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, and on<br />
the Internet at www.bearaudiovisual.com.<br />
BEAR AUDIO<br />
VISUAL, INC.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
109
LIFECARE<br />
HOSPITALS OF<br />
SAN ANTONIO<br />
LifeCare Hospitals <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has one<br />
mission: To improve the lives <strong>of</strong> people with<br />
severe illness or injury by focusing on the whole<br />
person—mind, body and soul. The hospital,<br />
part <strong>of</strong> a network <strong>of</strong> twenty LifeCare hospitals<br />
around the country, was influenced by the ideas<br />
<strong>of</strong> critical care pioneers like Ann George, one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the founders <strong>of</strong> LifeCare Hospitals. An ICU<br />
nurse, George recognized the importance <strong>of</strong><br />
early and aggressive intervention for patients<br />
with the most serious illnesses and injuries.<br />
Today that unique approach to treatment is at<br />
the core <strong>of</strong> LifeCare Hospitals <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
“At LifeCare, we aren’t just interested in one<br />
aspect <strong>of</strong> our patients’ recovery; instead we<br />
fully believe that sharing expertise and<br />
information across medical disciplines is key in<br />
developing a complete treatment plan that will<br />
give our patients the best chance at reaching<br />
their fullest recovery potential,” said Randell<br />
Stokes, the hospital’s chief executive <strong>of</strong>ficer.<br />
To provide the all-encompassing care these<br />
patients need, Stokes says the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
LifeCare facility utilizes physician-led patient<br />
care teams that include experts in areas such<br />
as nursing, respiratory, infection control,<br />
pharmacy, case management, nutritional services<br />
and a variety <strong>of</strong> social and psychological<br />
services. As the hospital considers patients and<br />
family members to be important members <strong>of</strong><br />
the treatment team as well, they, too, are<br />
encouraged to participate in all aspects <strong>of</strong> care.<br />
At the helm <strong>of</strong> the care teams is a staff <strong>of</strong><br />
more than 250 physicians. Together, they work<br />
in a state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art 62,000 square-foot facility<br />
featuring sixty-two beds including private and<br />
semi-private rooms and a ten bed intensive care<br />
unit. Other features include a designated multitherapy<br />
gym <strong>of</strong>fering physical, occupational and<br />
speech therapies; in-house diagnostic services<br />
including CT scan, special procedure room<br />
and in-house laboratory services; a ventilator<br />
weaning program; acute cardiac life-support<br />
(ACLS)-certified nursing and respiratory staff;<br />
and chaplain services. The hospital also <strong>of</strong>fers<br />
specialized bariatric care suites, an advanced<br />
wound care program and acute and chronic inroom<br />
dialysis.<br />
Located for twelve years in the South Texas<br />
Medical Center, since 2007, LifeCare Hospitals<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> has been a freestanding hospital<br />
located on the corner <strong>of</strong> Floyd Curl Drive and<br />
Fawn Meadow Lane. It is accredited by the Joint<br />
Commission and certified by Medicare.<br />
“We believe our interdisciplinary approach<br />
helps speed physical, emotional and spiritual<br />
recovery; and we embrace each <strong>of</strong> our patients<br />
as individuals with a personal history and<br />
a unique health situation, providing them<br />
the compassion, support, and nurturing<br />
necessary to achieve optimal recovery,” said<br />
Medical Director Randall Bell, M.D.<br />
LifeCare Hospitals <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> is part <strong>of</strong><br />
the LifeCare family <strong>of</strong> hospitals, a network that<br />
includes twenty specialty acute care hospitals<br />
in ten states. To learn more about LifeCare<br />
facilities, visit www.lifecare-hospitals.com.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
110
Known as “One <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s Best-Kept<br />
Secrets,” Meson European Dining <strong>of</strong>fers<br />
exceptional cuisine surrounded by elegance in<br />
a beautiful dining room. As a French<br />
restaurant in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Meson stands out<br />
from all others.<br />
At Meson you will enjoy a very private,<br />
cozy, and romantic dinner while attentive<br />
waiters and waitresses attend to all your<br />
needs. Meson is truly committed to the<br />
absolute enjoyment <strong>of</strong> your meal.<br />
Although Meson <strong>of</strong>fers the finest French<br />
food available, the chefs prepare Spanish food<br />
as well as delicious Italian specialties.<br />
Specialties at Meson include filet mignon,<br />
chicken cacciatore, steak, lobster, grilled<br />
shrimp, fettuccine alfredo, and much more.<br />
According to a recent restaurant review in<br />
the Express-News, “If God is in the details, as<br />
Mies van der Rohe told us, then this tiny<br />
restaurant, elegantly decorated in calming<br />
peach and cream tones, is richly blessed.<br />
From the almost flawless service through<br />
every dish, strict attention has been paid.”<br />
Meson can also provide that special<br />
romantic evening for a wedding, banquet, or<br />
other special event. The staff at Meson is<br />
dedicated to providing a most memorable<br />
experience and we can remove the anxiety<br />
and help you have a fantastic, fun, and<br />
romantic reception.<br />
Banquets at Meson feature wonderfully<br />
delicious foods and beverages, provided with<br />
superb service. Meson <strong>of</strong>fers service and cuisine<br />
that is an experience in exceptional taste and<br />
elegance. The entire staff prides itself in artistic<br />
expression and a flair for presentation.<br />
Whether you are arranging a wedding, an<br />
elaborate dinner party, a corporate function,<br />
or a graduation dinner, Meson can design a<br />
custom catering menu just for you.<br />
Meson’s goals for catering in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
are to provide quality food and service that is<br />
unsurpassed, and to guarantee that your<br />
special event runs smoothly. Meson has the<br />
expertise to ensure that your celebration will be<br />
not only a success, but absolutely impressive.<br />
Meson’s private room is available for parties<br />
or business meetings, from exquisite receptions<br />
to special events such as birthday parties,<br />
anniversaries, graduations, bar mitzvahs or bat<br />
mitzvahs, and more. Why not pamper yourself<br />
with a fabulous private dinner prepared and<br />
presented by Meson’s world renowned chef?<br />
We pay as much attention to the quality <strong>of</strong> the<br />
setting as the food itself, recognizing that fine<br />
tableware and excellent service can lift a meal<br />
from great to a truly memorable experience.<br />
Reservations may be made online at<br />
www.mesoneuropeandining.com or by calling<br />
210-690-5811. Meson European Dining is<br />
located just <strong>of</strong>f 927 North Loop at 1604 East<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Enjoy your next special romantic evening<br />
with a candlelight dinner in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> at<br />
Meson European Dining.<br />
MESON<br />
EUROPEAN<br />
DINING<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
111
MARK<br />
LANGFORD<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY<br />
It all started in 1972, when Mark<br />
Langford’s mom brought home a 35mm<br />
SLR camera as a Christmas present to<br />
herself. Within moments, Mark “borrowed”<br />
the camera and his life-long<br />
love <strong>of</strong> photography began. By the time<br />
Mark was a senior at John Marshall<br />
High School, in 1976, he was not only<br />
writing and photographing for his<br />
school newspaper, The Rampage, he was<br />
also working part time for the Citizen<br />
News; a west side neighborhood newspaper.<br />
Mark spent almost every weekend<br />
<strong>of</strong> his senior year photographing<br />
sporting events for four high schools<br />
and shooting feature photos <strong>of</strong> neighborhood<br />
newsmakers.<br />
After high school,<br />
Mark attended UTSA and<br />
continued working for<br />
the newspaper, as he<br />
waited to transfer to<br />
Brooks Photography Institute<br />
in <strong>San</strong>ta Barbara, California.<br />
Besides working for the newspaper,<br />
Mark interned for a<br />
local commercial photographer,<br />
Swain Edens, and quickly discovered<br />
that doing photography<br />
for advertising and businesses<br />
was more to his liking.<br />
While at Brooks, Mark took<br />
a wide range <strong>of</strong> classes including:<br />
portraiture, motion picture<br />
production, slide show<br />
production, architectural and<br />
studio photography. All <strong>of</strong><br />
these classes have been<br />
important in helping Mark<br />
tackle a wide range <strong>of</strong> assignments<br />
since graduating from<br />
Brooks with a BA degree in<br />
1980. Within weeks <strong>of</strong> graduation,<br />
Mark began working for Zintgraff<br />
Photographers, a long time commercial<br />
photography studio in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. In 1984,<br />
Mark opened “Infinite <strong>Images</strong>” at the age <strong>of</strong><br />
twenty-six. Mark’s first studio was located in<br />
Leon Valley and it was there that he continued<br />
pursuing commercial photographic work for<br />
local and national agencies and businesses.<br />
Soon after moving to a new downtown<br />
studio location in the early 1990s, Mark<br />
changed his studio name to “Mark Langford<br />
Photography” (www.mlphoto.com), and shot<br />
his first <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> book project called, <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>, Portrait <strong>of</strong> the Fiesta <strong>City</strong>, with writers<br />
Gerald Lair and Suzanna Nawrocki. Fiesta<br />
<strong>City</strong> lead to six more books on <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
including this one. It also provided Mark a<br />
new opportunity to sell his work as stock<br />
photography. Mark scanned his book images<br />
and developed one <strong>of</strong> the earliest local websites<br />
(www.mystockphotos.com) that allows<br />
people to purchase photographs online.<br />
Nowadays, Mark Langford uses the latest<br />
digital equipment to shoot for businesses, editorial<br />
projects and ad agencies throughout the<br />
world. He is author <strong>of</strong> several blogs, including<br />
a weather blog (www.myweatherpage.com)<br />
that many <strong>of</strong> his friends and clients use to<br />
check his daily weather forecasts and observations.<br />
Mark is past local president <strong>of</strong> the<br />
American Society <strong>of</strong> Media Photographers<br />
(ASMP), proud father <strong>of</strong> Aubrey and<br />
Kathleen, and husband to Jennifer Langford, a<br />
NISD high school librarian. In his spare time,<br />
Mark enjoys gardening, storm chasing, bike<br />
riding, studying meteorology, playing pingpong,<br />
writing fiction and composing songs.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
112
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the nation’s oldest and largest independent,<br />
nonpr<strong>of</strong>it research organizations.<br />
From its founding in 1947 on a former<br />
ranch west <strong>of</strong> downtown <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the<br />
Institute has grown into one <strong>of</strong> the city’s<br />
largest private employers. More than 3,300<br />
people work in two million square feet <strong>of</strong><br />
laboratories, <strong>of</strong>fices and workshops at the<br />
1,200-acre SwRI campus on Culebra Road.<br />
The Institute was one <strong>of</strong> several research<br />
enterprises created by Tom Slick, Jr., an oilman<br />
and philanthropist whose vision for <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>’s future was focused on the creation<br />
<strong>of</strong> centers for scientific advancement. From<br />
agricultural research that included being one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the first breeders <strong>of</strong> Brangus cattle, his<br />
vision grew to include today’s SwRI, the<br />
Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research<br />
and the Mind Science Foundation. Although<br />
Slick died in a plane accident in 1962, his<br />
creations have blossomed into research<br />
entities <strong>of</strong> national and international renown<br />
and formed the basis for <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s<br />
development into a high-tech business center.<br />
SwRI is a contract research facility benefiting<br />
government, industry and the public through<br />
innovative science and technology. It turns<br />
basic findings in engineering and the physical<br />
sciences into innovative products and<br />
processes for government and industry clients.<br />
It initially came to prominence as a center <strong>of</strong><br />
applied research for the petroleum fuels,<br />
lubricants and pipeline industries. SwRI also<br />
became a leader in automotive research,<br />
development and testing and in the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> shipboard direction-finding<br />
antennas for the United States and allied<br />
navies. In recent years the Institute has<br />
developed instruments, electronics and avionics<br />
used in manned and unmanned spacecraft.<br />
SwRI is principal investigator for a mission to<br />
explore the solar system’s boundary with<br />
interstellar space.<br />
Today, SwRI’s twelve technical divisions<br />
also <strong>of</strong>fer expertise in emissions research,<br />
fuels and lubricants research and testing,<br />
alternative fuel technologies, engine and<br />
vehicle research, earth and planetary sciences,<br />
environmental chemistry, bioengineering,<br />
microencapsulation, automation, robotics,<br />
fire technology, geosciences, intelligent<br />
transportation systems, marine technology,<br />
modeling and simulation, nondestructive<br />
evaluation, oil and gas exploration, radio<br />
direction finding, training<br />
systems and simulators, ballistics<br />
and explosion hazards and<br />
avionics and support systems.<br />
The Institute’s staff is among<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s most educated<br />
workforces. In 2008 there were<br />
more than 270 employees with<br />
doctorates, more than 525 with<br />
master’s degrees and more than<br />
840 with bachelor’s degrees.<br />
The Institute holds more<br />
than 924 patents and in 2009<br />
won its thirty-fourth R&D 100<br />
award recognizing significant<br />
technological achievement.<br />
For more information on<br />
Southwest Research Institute ®<br />
visit www.swri.org.<br />
SOUTHWEST<br />
RESEARCH<br />
INSTITUTE ®<br />
(SWRI ® )<br />
✧<br />
Left: Southwest Research Institute benefits<br />
government, industry and the public<br />
through innovative science and technology.<br />
Projects range in scale from microelectromechanical<br />
systems (MEMS) to<br />
planetary research involving Mars and<br />
other parts <strong>of</strong> the Solar System.<br />
Below: Tom Slick, Jr., founder <strong>of</strong> Southwest<br />
Research Institute.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
113
SWBC<br />
✧<br />
Below: SWBC’s co-founders: Gary Dudley,<br />
president, and Charlie Amato, chairman.<br />
Headquartered in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, SWBC<br />
has served financial institutions across the<br />
country and businesses and individuals<br />
in the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> area for more than<br />
three decades. In the beginning, the company<br />
focused on providing insurance to lending<br />
institutions, but has since diversified to<br />
include a wide range <strong>of</strong> other<br />
insurance and financial services.<br />
“Our slogan ‘We do that, too!’<br />
really tells our story. We started<br />
out with one product,” said c<strong>of</strong>ounder<br />
Gary Dudley. “And as a<br />
result <strong>of</strong> our clients liking how<br />
we delivered that product, they<br />
asked us to add others.”<br />
In fact, most <strong>of</strong> the company’s<br />
products have been developed<br />
by client request and have<br />
made today’s SWBC not just<br />
an insurance company, but also<br />
a risk management company, a<br />
technology and mortgage company,<br />
an employee benefits and<br />
wealth management company,<br />
a collection service, as well as a call center.<br />
And the list goes on.<br />
In the past five years, the company has<br />
doubled in size and is today licensed to<br />
market a variety <strong>of</strong> financial products in all<br />
fifty states. It currently has more than 1,300<br />
employees working in <strong>of</strong>fices across the U.S.<br />
with total annual premiums <strong>of</strong> approximately<br />
$1 billion and gross revenues exceeding<br />
$300 million and climbing. According to<br />
the Insurance Journal, it is ranked thirteen<br />
on the national list <strong>of</strong> Top 100 Privately-Held<br />
Property/Casualty Agencies; and the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Business Journal has designated it as<br />
the number one fastest growing large<br />
company in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> in 2009.<br />
Though business partners since founding<br />
SWBC in 1976, Dudley—who serves as<br />
company president—and Charlie Amato—<br />
company chairman—go much further back.<br />
Actually they first met in grade school in<br />
La Porte, Texas. They quickly became friends,<br />
but lost touch when family moves took them<br />
in different directions, finally reconnecting<br />
again when they pledged the same fraternity<br />
at Sam Houston State University in<br />
the 1960s.<br />
After college they went their<br />
separate ways again, Amato starting<br />
a career in banking and Dudley<br />
becoming a coach for the Houston<br />
school district before being drafted<br />
into the armed forces and later<br />
accepting a job selling insurance<br />
products in the Houston area.<br />
They met yet again in 1974 at a<br />
party, and Dudley recruited Amato<br />
to join the company for which he<br />
worked. Amato was hired and both<br />
proved to be high-performers. The<br />
company, however, was losing money<br />
and both Dudley and Amato felt<br />
strongly that the service standards<br />
simply were not what their customers<br />
deserved. It was this desire for service<br />
excellence that led the duo to start<br />
SWBC on April 1, 1976, and it is this<br />
desire that keeps the company at the<br />
top <strong>of</strong> its game today.<br />
For more information, visit the<br />
company online at www.swbc.com.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
114
Timber Tech opened for business in<br />
January 1975 with three employees and only<br />
one customer. Sales for the first year totaled<br />
$280,000, about what the company now bills<br />
in one week.<br />
Construction <strong>of</strong> the original sixteenthousand-square-foot<br />
manufacturing facility<br />
in Northeast <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> was directed by<br />
General Manager Gary Weaver.<br />
The small company grew rapidly and only<br />
three years later a second building with fortyfive<br />
thousand square feet was constructed,<br />
greatly increasing production line capability.<br />
Employment grew to one hundred employees<br />
when the firm was purchased by Redman<br />
Industries in 1981. Timber Tech began<br />
producing wall panels that same year.<br />
In May 1987, Gary Weaver, now president<br />
<strong>of</strong> Timber Tech, purchased the company from<br />
Redman Industries.<br />
Over the years, residential and commercial<br />
builders and lumber dealers in Central and<br />
South Texas have come to rely on Timber<br />
Tech as a trusted, dependable supplier <strong>of</strong> ro<strong>of</strong><br />
and floor trusses, wall panels and wholesale<br />
construction products.<br />
The company’s principal business is the<br />
engineering, manufacturing, sales, delivery<br />
and service <strong>of</strong> wood building components–<br />
principally ro<strong>of</strong> trusses, floor trusses and wall<br />
panels. The company is also the exclusive<br />
wholesale-only stocking distributor <strong>of</strong> Rosboro<br />
Glulam for Central, South and West Texas.<br />
To provide customers a local source<br />
for an alternative product, Timber Tech<br />
began producing metal trusses in 1996.<br />
Metal trusses, which are impervious to<br />
termites, weathering or combustion,<br />
have continued to grow in popularity<br />
and have been used in such projects as<br />
the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Army Retirement<br />
Center and Houston Hobby Airport.<br />
Timber Tech products have been<br />
utilized in dozens <strong>of</strong> high-pr<strong>of</strong>ile<br />
projects in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, including<br />
SeaWorld <strong>of</strong> Texas, Fiesta Texas, <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Spurs practice facilities, and<br />
Habitat for Humanity homes.<br />
Timber Tech’s customer base includes<br />
more than five hundred single and multifamily<br />
builders, commercial/industrial<br />
builders, and lumber dealers. In addition, the<br />
firm serves retail, military, agricultural, remodeler,<br />
Caribbean containerized shipment and do-ityourself<br />
individual customers. Timber Tech<br />
primarily serves Texas and, on occasion,<br />
Oklahoma, Louisiana and more distant markets.<br />
Timber Tech is also well known for Preferred<br />
Bulk Animal Bedding, a byproduct <strong>of</strong> the<br />
production process. Working<br />
with the Texas Manufacturing<br />
Assistance Center, Timber Tech<br />
developed a way to convert the<br />
six to twelve tons <strong>of</strong> waste<br />
wood produced each day into<br />
clean, absorbent bedding for<br />
stable floors. Producing the<br />
animal bedding also allowed<br />
Timber Tech to eliminate the<br />
$35,000 annual expense for<br />
waste removal and create a<br />
small pr<strong>of</strong>it center. After stable<br />
use, the enriched material is<br />
bought by ‘compost yards,’<br />
which turn it into flower<br />
bed mulch.<br />
Timber Tech’s current <strong>of</strong>fice<br />
and production facilities are<br />
located at 220 East FM 78 in<br />
Cibolo. For more information<br />
about Timber Tech and its<br />
products, please visit its website,<br />
www.timbertechtexas.com.<br />
TIMBER TECH<br />
TEXAS, INC.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
115
USAA<br />
REAL ESTATE<br />
COMPANY<br />
In 1982, USAA Real Estate Company<br />
(“RealCo”) was formed as the real estate<br />
investment arm <strong>of</strong> USAA, one <strong>of</strong> the nation’s<br />
largest insurance and financial institutions.<br />
Initially the company provided real estate<br />
limited partnerships and related programs as<br />
investment options for USAA Members.<br />
In addition RealCo concentrated on<br />
commercial real estate acquisitions with<br />
some limited development projects for the<br />
USAA portfolio <strong>of</strong> properties. Its holdings<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> have included La Cantera<br />
Development, a 1,700 acre mixed-use project<br />
which is home to The Westin La Cantera Resort,<br />
two award-winning golf courses, Six Flags<br />
Fiesta Texas and The Shops at La Cantera.<br />
By 2010, USAA RealCo had $5 billion<br />
in owned and managed assets across the<br />
nation and its development projects average<br />
$500 million annually. A conservative but<br />
entrepreneurial approach has guided the<br />
company as it has become national in scope.<br />
The company’s business model shifted<br />
approximately ten years ago to a concentration<br />
in providing capital for commercial real estate<br />
development and on raising private equity<br />
from institutional investors and co-investing<br />
with other institutional investors.<br />
“I feel that our company’s success in large<br />
part is because we have a clearly defined<br />
business model that we closely follow,”<br />
states Pat Duncan, Chairman and CEO <strong>of</strong><br />
USAA Real Estate Company. “Early on, we<br />
recognized what we as a company do well,<br />
and we have continued to strive to improve<br />
upon that business model.”<br />
USAA RealCo raises approximately $1 billion<br />
in equity annually. Its private equity clients<br />
include large institutions such as pension<br />
plans and insurance companies. Developers—<br />
national, regional and local—have established<br />
long term relationships with USAA RealCo and<br />
welcome the company’s participation as a<br />
provider <strong>of</strong> development capital.<br />
Today, USAA RealCo is one <strong>of</strong> the few real<br />
estate companies with abundant capital for<br />
investments. One <strong>of</strong> its most recent equity<br />
funds creates value through acquisitions <strong>of</strong> core<br />
assets from distressed owners. The company’s<br />
investments in development include all product<br />
types: industrial, <strong>of</strong>fice, retail, multi-family,<br />
mixed-use and medical <strong>of</strong>fice projects.<br />
A pioneer in the Green Building movement,<br />
USAA RealCo has earned national recognition<br />
for its projects. In a move unprecedented in<br />
the real estate community, the EPA has named<br />
RealCo an Energy Star Partner eight times.<br />
Early on, USAA RealCo realized the benefits<br />
for tenants and for the institutional owner<br />
<strong>of</strong> following a Green Business model. In<br />
2009, RealCo’s FBI Building in Chicago<br />
received the first Platinum Leadership in<br />
Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) for<br />
the Operations and Maintenance <strong>of</strong> Existing<br />
Buildings Award.<br />
The company’s achievements also derive<br />
largely from mirroring the service principles<br />
<strong>of</strong> its parent company, USAA. Beyond the<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Home Office, five regional <strong>of</strong>fices<br />
increase regional participation.<br />
For more information on USAA Real Estate<br />
Company, visit www.usrealco.com.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
116
THE WESTIN<br />
LA CANTERA<br />
RESORT<br />
Commissioned and owned by USAA—itself<br />
an integral part <strong>of</strong> the state’s history—one<br />
could easily say The Westin La Cantera Resort<br />
was carved out <strong>of</strong> true Texas legends; that it<br />
breathes life into the state’s history, culture,<br />
architecture and is a perfect example <strong>of</strong><br />
genuine Texas hospitality.<br />
“Everything about our resort was carefully<br />
planned, designed and created to allow our<br />
guests to enjoy the true essence <strong>of</strong> Texas,” said<br />
General Manager Tony Cherone. “We are a<br />
unique property that employs five hundred<br />
people, each on a mission to ensure our guests<br />
leave with the spirit <strong>of</strong> La Cantera; that they<br />
leave with the kind <strong>of</strong> memories that will make<br />
them smile long after they have returned home.”<br />
Sitting atop one <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s highest<br />
points, The Westin La Cantera gets its name<br />
from the site upon which it was built.<br />
Constructed on an abandoned limestone rock<br />
quarry—“la cantera” in Spanish—this highly<br />
decorated resort sits amid the breathtaking<br />
Texas Hill Country, an endless expanse <strong>of</strong><br />
majestic live oak groves interrupted only by<br />
creamy white limestone outcroppings and<br />
emerald fairways.<br />
The hotel building itself is a melting pot<br />
<strong>of</strong> styles and inspirations, its Texas Colonial<br />
style intermingling with majestic European<br />
influences reflected in the resort’s round castlelike<br />
towers. Spanish Mission inspirations<br />
can be seen in the iron metalwork and heavy<br />
wooden doors and a Texas upscale feel is<br />
conveyed through elements taken directly from<br />
the legendary King Ranch in South Texas, one<br />
<strong>of</strong> the world’s largest family-owned ranches.<br />
Opened just months before the turn <strong>of</strong> the<br />
latest century and the recipient <strong>of</strong> a $12 million<br />
renovation in May 2009, The Westin La Cantera<br />
Resort is a AAA Four-Diamond Resort Property<br />
with 508 lavish guest rooms featuring more than<br />
25 suites. There are six pools, each designed to<br />
reflect the water holes that were left behind in<br />
quarry sites after rainstorms, and three relaxing<br />
hot tubs. Additionally, the resort boasts a health<br />
club and spa services as well as tennis courts. A<br />
delectable array <strong>of</strong> dining options includes the<br />
AAA Four Diamond Francesca’s at Sunset, a<br />
kids’ club, and thirty-nine thousand square feet<br />
<strong>of</strong> versatile meeting space. The exclusive Casita<br />
Village, located a short walk from the resort,<br />
features thirty-eight unique villas, its own pool,<br />
hot tub and courtyard.<br />
The star attraction, however, is most certainly<br />
the golf. The recipient <strong>of</strong> Golf Magazine’s coveted<br />
Gold Medal Resort Award, the resort is anchored<br />
by the eighteen-hole championship Resort<br />
Course at La Cantera, designed by noted golf<br />
course architect Jay Morrish and PGA Tour<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional Tom Weiskopf. Adjacent to this<br />
stunner is The Palmer Course<br />
at La Cantera designed by the<br />
master himself, Arnold Palmer.<br />
As for the property’s<br />
location, it could not get any<br />
better. Located within the<br />
1,637-acre La Cantera masterplanned,<br />
multi-use community<br />
in northwest <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
The Westin La Cantera Resort<br />
overlooks the city and is just<br />
a twenty minute drive from<br />
downtown, the Riverwalk and<br />
the Alamo. The resort is also<br />
adjacent to The Shops at La<br />
Cantera and Six Flags Fiesta<br />
Texas, and is only a fifteen<br />
minute drive from SeaWorld.<br />
For more information, visit<br />
www.westinlacantera.com.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Westin’s La Cantera Golf Experience<br />
includes two championship courses, once<br />
home to the Valero Texas Open for fifteen<br />
years, and The Academy at La Cantera.<br />
Below: “Lost Quarry Pools.” The Westin<br />
La Cantera Resort is an upscale 508-room<br />
destination set on a heavily landscaped<br />
hilltop with commanding views <strong>of</strong> the Texas<br />
Hill Country.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
117
SENATOR<br />
JUDITH<br />
ZAFFIRINI<br />
✧<br />
Above: Senator Judith Zaffirini represents<br />
Senate District 21.<br />
Below: Senator Judith Zaffirini<br />
congratulates the first graduating class <strong>of</strong><br />
First Baptist Academy High School. She<br />
makes promoting excellence in education at<br />
all levels a priority.<br />
Senator Judith Zaffirini represents Senate<br />
District 21. The second highest-ranking Texas<br />
state senator, she also is the highest-ranking<br />
woman and Hispanic senator and highestranking<br />
senator for Bexar County and the<br />
border region. She has carried all counties<br />
in the large and diverse district in every<br />
re-election, something no one else ever has<br />
accomplished. Her district is home to 120,000<br />
Bexar County residents, including citizens <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Universal <strong>City</strong>, Live Oak,<br />
Converse, Schertz, Selma, Windcrest and other<br />
communities. Senator Zaffirini’s Northern<br />
District Office at 12702 Toepperwein Road<br />
(<strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> Live Oak) has served constituents from<br />
Bexar and surrounding counties since 1995.<br />
Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst<br />
appointed her (2009) Chair <strong>of</strong> the Senate<br />
Higher Education Committee and a member<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Legislative Budget Board and <strong>of</strong><br />
the Senate Finance, Health and Human<br />
Services, Economic Development, and<br />
Administration committees. She is the<br />
first Hispanic woman in Texas to serve as<br />
President Pro Tempore <strong>of</strong> the Texas<br />
Senate and as Governor for a Day.<br />
Senator Zaffirini’s legendary work<br />
ethic is reflected in her one hundred<br />
percent perfect attendance in the Texas<br />
Senate since 1987, except for breaking<br />
quorum deliberately to prevent an<br />
untimely re-redistricting that the U.S.<br />
Supreme Court (2006) ruled violated the<br />
Voting Rights Act and disenfranchised voters<br />
in SD 21. Continuing her career-long 100<br />
percent voting record, Senator Zaffirini cast<br />
her 43,387th consecutive vote in 2009. She<br />
has sponsored and passed 579 bills and 52<br />
substantive resolutions and co-sponsored and<br />
passed another 365 bills.<br />
She sponsored HB 153 (2006), providing<br />
for $1.9 billion in Tuition Revenue Bonds<br />
for higher education construction, including<br />
$74.25 million for the University <strong>of</strong> Texas at<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, $60 million for the University <strong>of</strong><br />
Texas Health Science Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and<br />
$40 million for the new Texas A&M University-<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. Since 2003, she has secured more<br />
than $52.5 million in General Revenue funding<br />
and more than $174 million in Tuition Revenue<br />
Bonds for <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.<br />
Senator Zaffirini has received more than 650<br />
awards and honors for her legislative, public<br />
service and pr<strong>of</strong>essional work, including<br />
more than 150 in communication. Self-supporting<br />
since she was seventeen and married<br />
at eighteen, Dr. Zaffirini owns Zaffirini<br />
Communications and is an award-winning communication<br />
specialist with thirteen years <strong>of</strong><br />
teaching experience, including at the college and<br />
university levels. She holds a B.S., a M.A., and<br />
Ph.D. from the University <strong>of</strong> Texas at Austin,<br />
each with a 3.9 grade-point average.<br />
A lector at Blessed Sacrament Catholic<br />
Church, she is a member <strong>of</strong> the Texas<br />
Philosophical Society and <strong>of</strong> Phi Kappa Phi<br />
Honor Society. Judith and Carlos Zaffirini have<br />
been married for forty-five years. Their son,<br />
Carlos, Jr., is a graduate <strong>of</strong> the UT McCombs<br />
School <strong>of</strong> Business and the UT School <strong>of</strong> Law.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
118
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>’s premier retirement community,<br />
The Towers on Park Lane stands above all the<br />
rest in every sense.<br />
Physically, the community stands a regal<br />
twenty-four stories tall and is located on more<br />
than seven acres in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. It features<br />
585,831 square feet consisting <strong>of</strong> 353<br />
apartments, dining facilities, a private club, a<br />
wellness center and pool, libraries, guestrooms<br />
for visitors and a beauty and barbershop.<br />
Reserved parking is just steps away at a secure<br />
underground parking garage.<br />
The residences come in seventeen different<br />
floor plans and range from one bedroom to<br />
three, all featuring recessed marble entryways,<br />
balconies, custom-finished oak cabinets, and<br />
nine-foot ceilings.<br />
However, physical stature and aesthetic<br />
qualities are not the only things that make<br />
The Towers stand out among retirement<br />
communities. Its services are second to<br />
none with housekeeping, transportation, valet<br />
parking, planned activities and even shortterm<br />
healthcare. Additionally, every resident<br />
is a shareholder—each with an equity interest<br />
in their investment that keeps their home a<br />
vital part <strong>of</strong> their estate.<br />
“When someone chooses to purchase at The<br />
Towers, they become a member <strong>of</strong> the<br />
cooperative with the benefits <strong>of</strong> home<br />
ownership, including residential tax deductions,<br />
the right to resell and the potential for equity<br />
build-up,” the community’s website declares.<br />
“And, as owners, our residents actually<br />
govern the co-op and are encouraged to serve<br />
on the facility’s Board <strong>of</strong> Directors, advisory<br />
committees, or to contribute in some other<br />
productive way,” states the website. “This<br />
allows for everyone to have a voice in how the<br />
community is managed.”<br />
Though originally built in 1988 by USAA, a<br />
diversified group <strong>of</strong> companies serving members<br />
<strong>of</strong> the U.S. military and their families, The<br />
Towers today serves both retired military and<br />
civilians who have one thing in common—they<br />
want more out <strong>of</strong> each day. To that end, The<br />
Towers strives to be more than a home. It strives<br />
to <strong>of</strong>fer its residents the lifestyle they deserve by<br />
<strong>of</strong>fering a host <strong>of</strong> activities from which to<br />
choose. From using the workshop or fitness<br />
center to playing cards with friends or actively<br />
participating in one <strong>of</strong> many other activities<br />
such as classes and guest lectures, The Towers<br />
<strong>of</strong>fers something for everyone. There is even a<br />
Resident Services Staff ready to<br />
take groups to attractions such<br />
as theatres or museums.<br />
For those times when<br />
additional healthcare assistance<br />
is needed, each resident is<br />
entitled to twenty days a year at<br />
Park Lane West Healthcare.<br />
Located adjacent to The Towers,<br />
Park Lane West is staffed by<br />
dedicated pr<strong>of</strong>essionals who<br />
<strong>of</strong>fer a comprehensive approach<br />
to nursing care, concentrating<br />
on each resident’s unique<br />
physical, emotional, spiritual,<br />
and social needs.<br />
For more information, visit<br />
www.thetowersonparklane.com.<br />
THE TOWERS<br />
ON PARK LANE<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
119
SAN ANTONIO<br />
STOCK SHOW<br />
& RODEO<br />
It is one <strong>of</strong> the top pr<strong>of</strong>essional rodeos in<br />
the nation and it is held right here in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong>, Texas, every year.<br />
Founded in 1950, the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Stock<br />
Show & Rodeo is held over a two-week period<br />
every February and draws crowds in excess <strong>of</strong> 1<br />
million annually. Not only is it ranked as one <strong>of</strong><br />
the nation’s top five rodeos by the Pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
Rodeo Cowboys Association (P.R.C.A.,) it has<br />
also been named the P.R.C.A. “Large Indoor<br />
Rodeo <strong>of</strong> the Year” four years running (2005-<br />
2008.) The <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Stock Show & Rodeo<br />
has been inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall <strong>of</strong><br />
Fame and has been nationally televised on<br />
major networks such as ESPN and ESPN2.<br />
Perhaps, however, the most notable thing<br />
about the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Stock Show & Rodeo is<br />
the very foundation on which it stands—the<br />
educational commitment to the youth <strong>of</strong> Texas.<br />
Since its inception in 1984, the commitment has<br />
grown tremendously. From simply providing<br />
students a venue for competition and a market<br />
for their junior agricultural and livestock projects<br />
to the addition <strong>of</strong> a multimillion dollar scholarship<br />
program, the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Livestock<br />
Exposition, Inc. (S.A.L.E.) has stayed true to its<br />
mission <strong>of</strong> being a volunteer organization that<br />
emphasizes agriculture and education to develop<br />
the youth <strong>of</strong> Texas. More than forty-six hundred<br />
Texas students have been awarded scholarships.<br />
In 2009 there were 1,300 active scholarship<br />
recipients representing 70 Texas counties and<br />
67 Texas colleges and universities. A whopping<br />
$8.1 million was committed that same<br />
year in the form <strong>of</strong> scholarships, grants,<br />
endowments, auctions, a calf scramble program<br />
and show premiums paid to youth.<br />
The organization’s hardworking and loyal<br />
5,000-plus volunteers work on 37 different<br />
committees. Without a doubt, they are the<br />
very heart and soul <strong>of</strong> the organization.<br />
“The volunteers make up the foundation by<br />
which sixty years <strong>of</strong> success has been built,” the<br />
show’s website declares. “They dedicate their<br />
time, efforts and resources to planning and<br />
conducting the Stock Show & Rodeo each<br />
February and are the driving force that supports<br />
the event’s scholarship fund as well as its goals.”<br />
The <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Stock Show & Rodeo is<br />
definitely “…more than an eight-second ride.”<br />
For more information on the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
Stock Show & Rodeo visit www.sarodeo.com<br />
or call 210-225-5851.<br />
“Let’s Rodeo <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>!”<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
120
The authentic, mouth watering barbeque<br />
at Texas Pride is the result <strong>of</strong> nine decades <strong>of</strong><br />
experience and the culinary skill <strong>of</strong> four<br />
generations <strong>of</strong> the Talanco family.<br />
The tradition began with Steve Talanco, an<br />
immigrant from Italy, who settled in <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> in the early 1920s. With only $500,<br />
Steve opened a tiny filling station on old<br />
Castroville Road where he sold Magnolia gas<br />
from steel barrels.<br />
A storeroom in the back served as living<br />
quarters for Steve and his wife, Grace, and the<br />
tantalizing odors <strong>of</strong> genuine Italian spaghetti<br />
and meatball sandwiches soon had customers<br />
asking for more than gasoline.<br />
The business evolved into Steve’s Place,<br />
which included a filling station for travelers<br />
heading to California, a restaurant, dance hall<br />
and tourist court. The menu expanded from<br />
Italian dishes to barbeque after Steve learned<br />
the ancient art from Mexican workers.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the best customers <strong>of</strong> Steve’s Place<br />
was John Nance Garner, the legendary political<br />
leader who became speaker <strong>of</strong> the U.S. House<br />
<strong>of</strong> Representatives and vice president under<br />
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Garner hired<br />
Steve to barbecue for him at campaign rallies<br />
all across south Texas.<br />
The dance hall at Steve’s Place boomed<br />
during World War II, thanks to the thousands<br />
<strong>of</strong> aviators earning their wings at nearby Kelly<br />
Field. Steve’s Place was razed in the early<br />
1960s to make way for U.S. Highway 90.<br />
The Talanco family barbeque tradition<br />
continued, however, when Tony’s father, the<br />
late Tony Talanco, Sr., opened Tony’s Bar and<br />
Café on the South Side <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. The<br />
café was a family place, specializing in<br />
burgers, fries and—<strong>of</strong> course—barbeque.<br />
After his father died in 1971, Tony and his<br />
mother and siblings kept the café going until<br />
1979. Tony then struck out on his own.<br />
Drawing on the example <strong>of</strong> his father and<br />
grandfather, Tony built a replica <strong>of</strong> an old<br />
Sinclair service station just east <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
on Loop 1604. Using items from his own<br />
extensive collection, Tony created a restaurant<br />
that looks like a gas station from the 1930s<br />
and 1940s, with gas pumps, tire changing<br />
equipment, old soda machines and soda bottles<br />
sitting out front. “It’s like a movie set,” Tony says.<br />
Texas Pride Barbeque opened fifteen years<br />
ago, based on the Talanco family’s resilient work<br />
ethic and Steve and Tony Sr.’s family secret for<br />
slow-smoked, old-style Texas barbecue.<br />
Texas Pride Barbeque has been named the<br />
Express-News’ Critic’s Choice as the place to<br />
bring out-<strong>of</strong>-town guests for three years in<br />
a row, and Guy Fieri, host <strong>of</strong> the TV show<br />
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives has described Texas<br />
Pride Barbeque as a “culinary compound.”<br />
To learn more about the fascinating history<br />
and delicious food at Texas Pride, check the<br />
website at www.texaspridebbq.net.<br />
TEXAS PRIDE<br />
BARBEQUE<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
121
TROTTER & MORTON<br />
FACILITIES SERVICES OF TEXAS<br />
Trotter & Morton introduced a new level <strong>of</strong><br />
facilities service and cost control to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
with the opening <strong>of</strong> its LINC Service franchise<br />
in 2007. One <strong>of</strong> North America’s largest<br />
mechanical contractors, Trotter & Morton<br />
Facilities Services <strong>of</strong> Texas utilizes customized<br />
building maintenance to simultaneously<br />
improve the reliability <strong>of</strong> mechanical systems<br />
while reducing overall costs.<br />
No one but Trotter & Morton <strong>of</strong>fers facilities<br />
programs <strong>of</strong> preventative and predictive<br />
maintenance that are dedicated to improving the<br />
customer’s bottom line. Starting with a detailed<br />
inspection <strong>of</strong> a building and a review <strong>of</strong> its utility<br />
bills, Trotter & Morton designs a facility-specific<br />
maintenance program based on the condition<br />
and specifications <strong>of</strong> the existing equipment.<br />
The evaluation <strong>of</strong> a facility, done free <strong>of</strong> charge,<br />
avoids the cookie-cutter approach, which fails to<br />
optimize each system’s strengths or to overcome<br />
its disadvantages. The company understands<br />
that mechanical systems, just like vehicles, have<br />
to be properly maintained to achieve optimum<br />
efficiency and longevity.<br />
Maintaining mechanical systems at peak<br />
efficiency translates into decreased energy<br />
bills along with fewer interruptions <strong>of</strong> service.<br />
Those benchmarks coincide with Trotter &<br />
Morton goals: the reduction <strong>of</strong> overall costs<br />
and an increase in operations continuity for<br />
every customer. When it comes to mechanical<br />
systems, Trotter & Morton customers can<br />
budget a predictable annual expense that<br />
represents the costs—without surprises—<strong>of</strong><br />
keeping facilities functioning. The company is<br />
confident enough in its assessments to<br />
guarantee the yearly cost <strong>of</strong> maintenance,<br />
service and repairs. That includes on-site<br />
restoration and replacement <strong>of</strong> equipment.<br />
Its technicians, fully licensed with all brands,<br />
do not double as salesmen.<br />
The company’s commitment to pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
service is evidenced by the fact that Trotter &<br />
Morton <strong>of</strong>fers facilities agreements instead <strong>of</strong><br />
maintenance contracts. Trotter & Morton<br />
expects its customers to be one hundred percent<br />
satisfied with their facilities’ performance. They<br />
also expect customers to see results in savings<br />
derived from better maintained equipment.<br />
Trotter & Morton’s services guide facilities<br />
in becoming Greener by increasing their<br />
energy efficiency. The payback is rapid for<br />
the investment in energy technology, which is<br />
expected to become mandatory in the future.<br />
Begun as a family business over eighty years<br />
ago, Trotter & Morton still believes in family<br />
values and in treating employees and customers<br />
ethically. Although it is new to the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
area, the company and its staff have become<br />
immersed in the community, focusing their<br />
support on children and education. Trotter &<br />
Morton is now a major sponsor <strong>of</strong> the Medina<br />
Children’s Home, a top buyer for the <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Livestock Show and a 4-H sponsor,<br />
and a sponsor <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Opera. As <strong>San</strong><br />
<strong>Antonio</strong> Ambassadors, they actively welcome<br />
new businesses to the city.<br />
Trotter & Morton is located at 118 West<br />
Nakoma in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and on the Internet at<br />
www.trotterandmorton.com.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
122
The University <strong>of</strong> Texas at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong>fers a world-class education to students<br />
from across the nation and from more than<br />
ninety countries.<br />
Nearly 29,000 students choose classes from<br />
133 undergraduate and graduate degree<br />
programs. The university is known for its strong<br />
science, engineering, computer security and<br />
architecture programs, but those in liberal arts<br />
and business continue to be the most popular.<br />
Under the leadership <strong>of</strong> Ricardo Romo,<br />
president <strong>of</strong> UTSA since 1999, the university<br />
<strong>of</strong>fers 64 bachelor, 48 master, and 21 doctoral<br />
degree programs.<br />
The university is the fifth-largest public<br />
university in Texas and the second largest<br />
in the University <strong>of</strong> Texas System. It consists<br />
<strong>of</strong> three campuses, the Main Campus on the<br />
north side <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, the Downtown<br />
Campus and the HemisFair Park Campus, both<br />
located in the heart <strong>of</strong> the city. The HemisFair<br />
Park Campus is home to the Institute <strong>of</strong> Texan<br />
<strong>Culture</strong>s, which has become one <strong>of</strong> Texas’<br />
leading museums educating visitors on the<br />
state’s rich multicultural heritage.<br />
The university also houses the Biotechnology,<br />
Science and Engineering Building and its<br />
newest addition, the Applied Engineering<br />
and Technology building. This science and<br />
technology complex located on the Main<br />
Campus is one <strong>of</strong> the largest and most sophisticated<br />
science facilities <strong>of</strong> any Texas university.<br />
Research is a major focus at UTSA. The<br />
university has numerous centers and institutes<br />
dedicated to innovation and discovery. The<br />
university has been recognized as one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
state’s emerging research universities in part<br />
because <strong>of</strong> its discoveries in cyber security,<br />
Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment, emerging<br />
infectious diseases, neuroscience, archaeological<br />
research, music research and conventional,<br />
alternative and renewable energy.<br />
In addition to academic excellence, UTSA<br />
<strong>of</strong>fers an active student life with four on-campus<br />
residences housing 3,700 students, and is adjacent<br />
to various <strong>of</strong>f-campus private apartments. In<br />
all, more than eight thousand students live on<br />
and around UTSA’s Main Campus.<br />
UTSA also <strong>of</strong>fers a recently expanded<br />
University Center hosting various student activities<br />
and more than two hundred student organizations.<br />
The university’s Recreation and<br />
Wellness Center includes numerous sport<br />
courts, fitness studios, weight rooms, a demonstration<br />
kitchen, a lazy river and a fifty-four-foot<br />
climbing wall, one <strong>of</strong> the tallest in Texas.<br />
The university features sixteen NCAA<br />
Division I sports in men’s and women’s<br />
divisions. UTSA Roadrunners compete in<br />
basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, s<strong>of</strong>tball<br />
and track and field among others, as well as<br />
football, the university’s newest sport program.<br />
The team, coached by Larry Coker, will hold<br />
its first game in fall 2011.<br />
Founded by the Texas Legislature in 1969,<br />
UTSA has come a long way in forty years. The<br />
university is dedicated to the advancement<br />
<strong>of</strong> knowledge through research and discovery<br />
and teaching and learning, as well as<br />
community engagement and public service.<br />
As an institution <strong>of</strong> access and excellence,<br />
UTSA embraces multicultural traditions,<br />
serves as a center for intellectual and creative<br />
discoveries in research and has become a<br />
catalyst for socioeconomic development in<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> and Texas.<br />
For more information on UTSA, please<br />
visit www.utsa.edu.<br />
THE UNIVERSITY<br />
OF TEXAS AT<br />
SAN ANTONIO<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Partners<br />
123
MAUREEN<br />
REEVES<br />
TARAZON<br />
✧<br />
Clockwise from top, left:<br />
Texas Odyssey.<br />
PAINTING COURTESY OF MAUREEN TARAZON.<br />
Gossip.<br />
PAINTING COURTESY OF MAUREEN TARAZON.<br />
The Sundial Garden.<br />
PAINTING COURTESY OF MAUREEN TARAZON.<br />
Jacaranda en flor.<br />
PAINTING COURTESY OF GLENDA TARAZON KROUSE.<br />
Maureen Reeves Tarazon, an accomplished<br />
artist, has made <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> her home for forty<br />
years. Tarazon was born in London, England,<br />
where she received her initial art training. Much<br />
<strong>of</strong> her girlhood years were spent drawing and<br />
sketching under the direction <strong>of</strong> her father,<br />
Archibald Reeves. Later she entered London<br />
Polytechnic to continue her studies.<br />
Tarazon has taught painting classes and<br />
completed numerous conservation works<br />
in a career devoted to art. Tarazon has over<br />
fifteen hundred recorded works in collections<br />
throughout the world. She has traveled and<br />
painted in Europe, the Middle East and the<br />
United States. Her travels have enriched her<br />
perceptive knowledge <strong>of</strong> both the European<br />
and American fields <strong>of</strong> art.<br />
Tarazon is a member <strong>of</strong> Who’s Who <strong>of</strong><br />
American Women and the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Art<br />
League and Museum and has exhibited at<br />
numerous galleries throughout the U.S. Texas<br />
galleries have included Greenhouse Gallery <strong>of</strong><br />
Fine Art and Sigol<strong>of</strong>f Gallery <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
Salado Gallery and currently Smilovici’s<br />
Galleria in Boerne. Tarazon enjoyed a successful<br />
twenty-year tenure with New York art<br />
dealer Hans Peeters.<br />
A favorite memory <strong>of</strong> Tarazon’s is painting<br />
with her daughters, Glenda and Donella, on<br />
location in Monet’s garden in Giverny, France.<br />
Donella Tarazon Lay is a painter and a sculptress.<br />
Lay graduated from Princeton University<br />
and had the good fortune to be student<br />
assistant to the late Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Sculpture,<br />
Joe Brown. Lay’s exhibitions include Catherine<br />
Lorillard Wolfe Art Club in New York <strong>City</strong> and<br />
Sculpture in the Park, Loveland, Colorado.<br />
“What can I say, I grew up in a house that<br />
always smelled <strong>of</strong> turpentine and oil paints.”<br />
says Glenda Tarazon Krouse. “When exploring<br />
a new city, visiting art museums was<br />
always number one on the list.” “Mom once<br />
traded a painting for a Volkswagen Beetle.”<br />
Krouse paints murals, glow-in-the-dark<br />
galaxies, favorite nursery rhyme themes,<br />
mermaids, and cozy <strong>San</strong> Miguel de Allende<br />
hillside scenes, examples <strong>of</strong> which can be seen<br />
at www.wallabymural.com.<br />
“This would not be complete without<br />
acknowledging my husband, Lou Tarazon for<br />
his support in my art—providing love, strength,<br />
humor, and encouragement,” said Maureen.<br />
For additional information about Maureen’s<br />
work, please visit www.maureentarazon.com.<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
124
SPONSORS<br />
Ariel Texas Star Inc. ................................................................................................................................................................72<br />
Bear Audio Visual, Inc...........................................................................................................................................................109<br />
<strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>–Development Services...........................................................................................................................108<br />
Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse.......................................................................................................................................75<br />
CHRISTUS <strong>San</strong>ta Rosa Health System...................................................................................................................................101<br />
CNG Engineering, PLLC .......................................................................................................................................................100<br />
Consultants in Women’s Health.............................................................................................................................................106<br />
Cox Manufacturing .................................................................................................................................................................78<br />
Elegant Furs ..........................................................................................................................................................................102<br />
Greene and Associates, Inc....................................................................................................................................................104<br />
Guillermo’s Deli & Catering ..................................................................................................................................................103<br />
Hill Country Bakery ................................................................................................................................................................80<br />
ITEX in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> ...............................................................................................................................................................76<br />
LifeCare Hospitals <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.........................................................................................................................................110<br />
Mark Langford Photography .................................................................................................................................................112<br />
Meson European Dining........................................................................................................................................................111<br />
Neuromuscular Pain and Nutrition Center LLC ......................................................................................................................82<br />
North <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce ............................................................................................................................98<br />
North Star Mall .......................................................................................................................................................................84<br />
Our Lady <strong>of</strong> the Lake University .............................................................................................................................................86<br />
Quality Inn & Suites TM Bandera Pointe....................................................................................................................................88<br />
Sabinal Group .......................................................................................................................................................................105<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> River Authority ...................................................................................................................................................90<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Stock Show & Rodeo........................................................................................................................................120<br />
<strong>San</strong>tikos Theatres ....................................................................................................................................................................99<br />
Senator Judith Zaffirini..........................................................................................................................................................118<br />
South Texas Blood l& Tissue Center .......................................................................................................................................94<br />
Southwest Research Institute ® (SwRI ® ) ..................................................................................................................................113<br />
SWBC ...................................................................................................................................................................................114<br />
Maureen Reeves Tarazon .......................................................................................................................................................124<br />
Texas A&M University-<strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>........................................................................................................................................92<br />
Texas Pride Barbeque ............................................................................................................................................................121<br />
The Orsatti Dental Group......................................................................................................................................................107<br />
The Towers on Park Lane......................................................................................................................................................119<br />
The University <strong>of</strong> Texas Health Science Center at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> ...............................................................................................96<br />
The Westin La Cantera Resort ...............................................................................................................................................117<br />
Timber Tech Texas, Inc. ........................................................................................................................................................115<br />
Trotter & Morton Facilities Services <strong>of</strong> Texas ........................................................................................................................122<br />
The University <strong>of</strong> Texas at <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>.................................................................................................................................123<br />
USAA Real Estate Company ..................................................................................................................................................116<br />
World’s Largest Cowboy Boots at North Star Mall ...................................................................................................................85<br />
Sponsors<br />
125
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
M ARK<br />
L ANGFORD<br />
Mark Langford is a “Native <strong>San</strong> Antonian” who has been producing commercial and fine art images since graduating from Brooks<br />
Photography Institute <strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong>ta Barbara, California, with a BA in 1980.<br />
Mark has owned his own business since 1984 and operates the Ninth Street Studio at 315 Ninth Street in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>. His<br />
clients include international and national ad agencies, corporations and publishers. His work appears in annual reports, books, CD covers,<br />
wall art, billboards and advertisements. Mark’s pr<strong>of</strong>essional subjects include people, stock photography, architecture, corporate and<br />
studio illustrations.<br />
Mark is the past president <strong>of</strong> the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>-Austin ASMP chapter (American Society <strong>of</strong> Media Photographers), where he served for<br />
three years.<br />
Besides his commercial work, Mark has photographed five books on <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>; <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, Portrait <strong>of</strong> the Fiesta <strong>City</strong>, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>,<br />
the Soul <strong>of</strong> Texas, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>: The Alamo, Fiesta and River <strong>City</strong>, <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, a Cultural Tapestry and Our <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong>, published in 2008.<br />
When he’s not photographing, Mark enjoys composing music, storm chasing, biking, gardening, hiking, writing and studying<br />
meteorology and ground level ozone. He is married to a high school librarian and has two daughters. Being highly allergic to cats and<br />
dogs, Mark’s pet is a South American Red Foot tortoise that has been in the family for over 40 years.<br />
Websites include:<br />
www.mlphoto.com<br />
www.mystockphotos.com<br />
www.myweatherpage.com<br />
www.annualreportsandcorporate.com<br />
SAN ANTONIO: CITY EXCEPTIONAL<br />
126
ABOUT THE WRITER<br />
J OE C ARROLL R UST<br />
Rust began his career in journalism at the age <strong>of</strong> fifteen, becoming a copyboy for the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Light while he was a freshman in high<br />
school. He rose through the ranks at the Light, as a general assignment reporter (before attending the University <strong>of</strong> Texas at Austin, where<br />
he received his degree in journalism), police reporter, courthouse reporter, political editor, editorial page editor, and associate editor. When<br />
the Light closed in 1993, Rust went to work for the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Antonio</strong> Express-News as a community relations specialist. He retired from the<br />
Express-News in 2001 and is now engaged in media consultation and part-time teaching.<br />
About the Writer<br />
127
For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book,<br />
please call Historical Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com.<br />
Albemarle & Charlottesville:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> the First 150 Years<br />
Black Gold: The Story <strong>of</strong> Texas Oil & Gas<br />
Garland: A Contemporary History<br />
Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Alamance County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Albuquerque: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Austin: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Baldwin County: A Bicentennial History<br />
Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Birmingham: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Brownsville: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Charlotte:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Charlotte and Mecklenburg County<br />
Historic Cheyenne: A History <strong>of</strong> the Magic <strong>City</strong><br />
Historic Clayton County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic DeKalb County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Fayette County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began<br />
Historic Hancock County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Hood County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Houston: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Hunt County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Kern County:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Bakersfield and Kern County<br />
Historic Lafayette:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Lafayette & Lafayette Parish<br />
Historic Laredo:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Laredo & Webb County<br />
Historic Lee County: The Story <strong>of</strong> Fort Myers & Lee County<br />
Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Mansfield: A Bicentennial History<br />
Historic Midland: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Montgomery County:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Montgomery County, Texas<br />
Historic Ocala: The Story <strong>of</strong> Ocala & Marion County<br />
Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Omaha:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Omaha and Douglas County<br />
Historic Orange County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Osceola County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Paris and Lamar County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Pennsylvania An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Prescott:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Prescott & Yavapai County<br />
Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Rogers County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic <strong>San</strong>ta Barbara: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land<br />
Historic Shelby County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Shreveport-Bossier:<br />
An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Shreveport & Bossier <strong>City</strong><br />
Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Temple: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Texarkana: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Texas: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Wake County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Warren County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History<br />
Historic Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear:<br />
An Illustrated History<br />
Historic York County: An Illustrated History<br />
Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History <strong>of</strong> Lake Oswego<br />
Jefferson Parish: Rich Heritage, Promising Future<br />
Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History <strong>of</strong> Community<br />
Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History<br />
Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle<br />
The New Frontier:<br />
A Contemporary History <strong>of</strong> Fort Worth & Tarrant County<br />
The <strong>San</strong> Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait<br />
The Spirit <strong>of</strong> Collin County<br />
Valley Places, Valley Faces<br />
Water, Rails & Oil: Historic Mid & South Jefferson County