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Description
Riverwalk
San Antonio, Texas

The San Antonio River Walk (also known as Paseo del Rio) is a network of walkways around the San Antonio River, linking several major attractions one story beneath downtown San Antonio, Texas. Lined by shops and restaurants, the River Walk is an important part of the city's urban fabric and a tourist attraction in its own right.

Today the River Walk is an enormously successful special-case pedestrian street, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws from Alamo Plaza to Rivercenter, to the Arneson River Theatre close to La Villita, to Hemisfair Park, to the Tower Life Building. During the annual springtime Fiesta San Antonio, the River Parade features flowery floats that literally float.

The River Walk was the idea of architect Robert Hugman in the late 1920s. As an alternative to paving over the troublesome San Antonio River, Hugman drew out a plan he called "The Shops of Aragon and Romula" which allowed for both flood prevention and commercial development. Hugman maintained his office along the shallow river, despite warnings that he would be "drowned like a rat" and its early reputation as a dangerous hole. (The River Walk was declared off-limits to military personnel at one point.) Hugman persisted, and his office can still be found next door to another early presence on the River Walk, the landmark Casa Rio restaurant.

Crucial funding came in 1939 under the WPA and resulted in the initial construction of a network of some 17,000 linear feet of walkways, about 20 bridges, and extensive plantings including the live oaks whose branches are visible from street level.

Through the following decades the network has been improved and extended, without losing its original character. One major extension of the River Walk was performed by the joint venture of two general contractors Darragh & Lyda Inc. and H. A. Lott Inc. to Tower of the Americas as part of HemisFair '68. That was also the year the Hilton Palacio del Rio was built, the first of many downtown hotels that leverage their slice of urban "riverfront."

In 1981 the Hyatt Regency San Antonio opened with a beautiful new pedestrian connector that linked Alamo Plaza to the River Walk with concrete water falls, waterways and indigenous landscaping. Known as the Paseo del Alamo, this river "extension" actually flows from Alamo Plaza into the San Antonio River through the atrium of the hotel. This connector not only allows the hotel to market itself as being on Alamo Plaza and on the River Walk, but it provides the city with an urban park that connects the city's two largest tourist attractions.

Many downtown buildings like the Casino Club Building have street entrances and separate river entrances one level below. This separates the automotive service grid (for delivery and emergency vehicles) and pedestrian traffic below, and creating an intricate network of bridges, walkways, and old staircases.

Expansion plans are underway for areas of the river north and south of downtown. As chain restaurants and establishments have begun to flourish, now taking up about a third of commercial space, talk has begun at City Hall about limiting their existence on the River Walk and keeping a distinctively local flair. And after years of murmuring from locals and tourists about the water's quality, and a well-publicized insult from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during their 2006 playoff series with the Spurs, calling it an "ugly-ass, muddy-watered thing," talk has also begun about cleaning up the water, although the muddy bottom and silt deposits make this difficult. The muddy bottom's annual cleaning during the Mud Festival offers everyone the chance to get dirty in a massive mud fight.

Description
Riverwalk
San Antonio, Texas

The San Antonio River Walk (also known as Paseo del Rio) is a network of walkways around the San Antonio River, linking several major attractions one story beneath downtown San Antonio, Texas. Lined by shops and restaurants, the River Walk is an important part of the city's urban fabric and a tourist attraction in its own right.

Today the River Walk is an enormously successful special-case pedestrian street, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws from Alamo Plaza to Rivercenter, to the Arneson River Theatre close to La Villita, to Hemisfair Park, to the Tower Life Building. During the annual springtime Fiesta San Antonio, the River Parade features flowery floats that literally float.

The River Walk was the idea of architect Robert Hugman in the late 1920s. As an alternative to paving over the troublesome San Antonio River, Hugman drew out a plan he called "The Shops of Aragon and Romula" which allowed for both flood prevention and commercial development. Hugman maintained his office along the shallow river, despite warnings that he would be "drowned like a rat" and its early reputation as a dangerous hole. (The River Walk was declared off-limits to military personnel at one point.) Hugman persisted, and his office can still be found next door to another early presence on the River Walk, the landmark Casa Rio restaurant.

Crucial funding came in 1939 under the WPA and resulted in the initial construction of a network of some 17,000 linear feet of walkways, about 20 bridges, and extensive plantings including the live oaks whose branches are visible from street level.

Through the following decades the network has been improved and extended, without losing its original character. One major extension of the River Walk was performed by the joint venture of two general contractors Darragh & Lyda Inc. and H. A. Lott Inc. to Tower of the Americas as part of HemisFair '68. That was also the year the Hilton Palacio del Rio was built, the first of many downtown hotels that leverage their slice of urban "riverfront."

In 1981 the Hyatt Regency San Antonio opened with a beautiful new pedestrian connector that linked Alamo Plaza to the River Walk with concrete water falls, waterways and indigenous landscaping. Known as the Paseo del Alamo, this river "extension" actually flows from Alamo Plaza into the San Antonio River through the atrium of the hotel. This connector not only allows the hotel to market itself as being on Alamo Plaza and on the River Walk, but it provides the city with an urban park that connects the city's two largest tourist attractions.

Many downtown buildings like the Casino Club Building have street entrances and separate river entrances one level below. This separates the automotive service grid (for delivery and emergency vehicles) and pedestrian traffic below, and creating an intricate network of bridges, walkways, and old staircases.

Expansion plans are underway for areas of the river north and south of downtown. As chain restaurants and establishments have begun to flourish, now taking up about a third of commercial space, talk has begun at City Hall about limiting their existence on the River Walk and keeping a distinctively local flair. And after years of murmuring from locals and tourists about the water's quality, and a well-publicized insult from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during their 2006 playoff series with the Spurs, calling it an "ugly-ass, muddy-watered thing," talk has also begun about cleaning up the water, although the muddy bottom and silt deposits make this difficult. The muddy bottom's annual cleaning during the Mud Festival offers everyone the chance to get dirty in a massive mud fight.