San Antonio River Walk Shopping, '70s style

San Antonio, Texas - photos 1971

Not an indoor shopping mall here, obviously, but rather, a famous and historical outdoor pedestrian shopping center (among other attractions and services) located in quite a unique setting--along the winding San Antonio River! This is River Walk (aka Paseo del Rio), in downtown San Antonio. If you're interested, you can read all about its history from the various resource links I've provided at the end of this entry. I mainly just wanted to share these pretty pictures. :)

The photos and selected quotes and captions in this post were kindly provided by Jay (thanks again!), and come from an article titled “San Antonio Renaissance on the River”, from an April 1971 copy of Southern Living Magazine. The caption for the first photo above reads: “Brightly colored barges carry passengers beside the Starving Artist Show”, and the following content is all from the same article as well...

“Once abused and ticketed for a bed in oblivion, the San Antonio River is now a ‘movable feast’ of flowers and trees and shops. Today it not only flows, it swings.

It took time and careful planning to create the foreign, garden atmosphere of the river.

The shopping is as superb as it is varied: it’s mod, mad, Mexican, modish. There is even a high-style ladies’ emporium in the ultramodern Hilton Palacio del Rio, where the chic-minded can browse among the body furnishings with a full view of the river through a two-story sheet of bronzed glass.

The San Antonio River slips romantically along the tree-shaded walkways of El Paseo del Rio.

In 1962, before the river renaissance, 1 1/2 million visitors came to San Antonio; for 1971, the estimate is not less than 6 million."

Official website: here
Current aerial view
Resource links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Retro Mall Video: New Urbanism - Sprawl Retail Lecture

"San Antonio By Design" Seminar (1991)

Architect and and urban planner, Andrés Duany, conducts a lecture on suburban sprawl, and retail planning/development, in San Antonio, Texas. While some of the focus does center on the San Antonio area, much of the overall message is universal and readily applicable anywhere. Personally, while a tad on the technical side at times (for a layman like me anyway), I found this talk fascinating, and gained some new perspective from it--especially on the retail planning end, which Duany covers in depth (shopping center planning and such). From the video description:

"This 1991 slide show and lecture was given to attendees in San Antonio and is a variation of Andres Duany's very popular and well-received presentation that he gave to universities, architectural conventions, urban planning groups and anybody who would listen to him."

Note: Just to get us started I'm hosting part one here on MOA, but there's 9 segments in all, so after you watch the first one, simply click here to go to the playlist for the rest on YouTube. Hope some of you find it as interesting as I did!

'70s Decor of Windsor Park Mall

San Antonio, Texas - 1976

Vintage newspaper article (courtesy of Coddat on Webshots) detailing the swanky interior design and decor of the then newly-opened, Windsor Park Mall, in Northeast San Antonio, which is gone now (the mall, not San Antonio). This is a nice glimpse into the natural, earthy shopping mall design aesthetics of the seventies.

"A natural decor with lots of wood, lush green plants and limestone brick sets of the interior of Windsor Park Mall.

The use of 'natural' materials helps to make the mall a 'warm and friendly place, where people can be comfortable."

Also see this: Windsor Park Mall - "The Final Call"

Mall history: 1976 - 2005 (dead)
Reference links: 1
Previous entries: 1

The Daily Mall Reader: Mall Madness

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Mall madness"
Anchor exits cause concern, but create opportunities for slumping properties

San Antonio Business Journal - January 26, 2001

(Excerpt) Several San Antonio malls, already hit by competition with power centers, have taken another blow.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization of Texas retailer Stage Stores has led to the closing of four Bealls stores, three at local malls. Then, anchor tenant Montgomery Ward announced it was filing for bankruptcy liquidation, closing its stores at Windsor Park Mall, Crossroads Mall, Westlakes Mall and McCreless Mall.

To retail analysts, the situation for lower-end malls looks bleak. Some expect surviving retailers will slash operations further in an effort to cut costs in a belt-tightening market, resulting in more vacancies. In fact, this week J.C. Penney announced that it would close 50 stores.

Town centers such as the Derby Street Shoppes here are the latest answer. Because all stores can be entered from the parking lots, these topless malls satisfy busy shoppers' desire to run in and out.

Read the full article here.