{"id":573883119,"date":"2012-04-12T22:28:09","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T03:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573883119"},"modified":"2012-05-01T02:12:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-01T07:12:40","slug":"signs-of-downtown-san-antonio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/04\/12\/signs-of-downtown-san-antonio\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of downtown San Antonio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Took part in a roundtable panel on the presidential primary season. I made a great Rick Perry joke. <\/p>\n

“There were a couple of problems there. The back surgery, the painkillers and … well … I forget the other one.”<\/p>\n

Brought down the house. If anyone remembers anything I said on that panel, it won’t be the analysis but the joke.<\/p>\n

We got the chance to walk around downtown a bit. Here are a few signs from the area:<\/p>\n

\"Aztec\"<\/center><\/p>\n

The Aztec opened in 1926. It cost $1.25 million, which would be something like $22.6 million today. You wonder what the owner <\/a>thought a few years later when the Depression landed on him:<\/p>\n

In response to competition from other theatres, a magnificent chandelier was commissioned and installed, in only 35 days, in the main lobby in 1929. Weighing over 2,000 pounds, this ornate, 2 story, 12 foot in diameter fixture was billed as “The largest chandelier in the largest state in the Union”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This says something about the barber, or the client, or both:<\/p>\n

\"barber\"<\/center><\/p>\n

We were trying to resolve the mystery when we noticed they also had a foosball table inside. <\/p>\n

This sign isn’t old, but I love it like it was creaking from decades in the sun and wind:<\/p>\n

\"Walgreens\"<\/center><\/p>\n

This isn’t a sign, but I would like to point out that this is the level of ornamentation they’ve put into a parking garage:<\/p>\n

\"deco\"<\/center><\/p>\n

This theatre, The Texas, competed with The Aztec:<\/p>\n

\"Texas\"<\/center><\/p>\n

Also built in 1926, in the Spanish Colonial and Rococo style, it cost $2 million<\/a>. It closed in the 1970s and was razed a few years later. The facade, though, lives on as part of an office building. (More here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

I love this, because it is a neon sign evocative of one of my favorite songs:<\/p>\n

\"Howl\"<\/center><\/p>\n

Today we had lunch at a place I’ll write about tomorrow. We had dinner on the River Walk, the touristy part. The enchiladas were good, though. <\/p>\n

And now I must return to my notes. I have three panel sessions to participate in tomorrow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Took part in a roundtable panel on the presidential primary season. I made a great Rick Perry joke. “There were a couple of problems there. The back surgery, the painkillers and … well … I forget the other one.” Brought down the house. If anyone remembers anything I said on that panel, it won’t be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,32,28,25,10,7,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573883119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-history","category-iphone","category-links","category-photo","category-samford","category-thursday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573883119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573883119"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573883119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573883185,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573883119\/revisions\/573883185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573883119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573883119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573883119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}