La Villita
The Little Village On The River

By LEIGH BALDWIN
Photography GERRY LAIR

When the city of San Antonio added the restoration of La Villita to the original plans for the River Walk in 1939, the La Villita Ordinance stated, “Villita shall not be a dead museum for mincing scholars, but a place for the living, and those not yet born.” No doubt the ordinance’s original framers will count the thousands of revelers at Night in Old San Antonio each year as part of their success.

If it’s rare that you venture into this stone-walled, postage-stamp-sized tumble of buildings and parks, rest assured that despite a lengthy historic pedigree, La Villita is no museum. There is a fine sense of history, well deserved, but within this little village on the river you mostly have a sense of the evolution that’s created the vibrant, artistic community of today, replete with unique gifts, great food and plenty of parties.

La Villita began as an outpost for Spanish soldiers stationed at the Alamo, although a flood in 1819 wiped out many of those first structures. La Villita had a role to play in the Battle of the Alamo with the Cos House, home to Santa Anna’s brother in-law, General Perfecto de Cos. Allegedly, he surrendered the Mexican army here after being defeated by Texans in December of 1835, a loss that caused retaliation by Santa Anna’s troops at the Alamo a scant three months later. The Cos House is now used for a happier kind of surrender, as a popular rental facility for small weddings and receptions.

In the mid-1800s, European settlers, especially Germans, built the small stone and adobe houses still in use in the village today. A fine example is the Casa Villita, headquarters of the San Antonio Conservation Society, built in 1856 for Col. Jeremiah Dashiell. For the later half of that century, La Villita was home to San Antonio’s cultural and intellectual elite, but it fell into disrepair in the early 1900s. By 1939, La Villita was a slum.

As the ordinance notes, “realizing the spiritual value and social possibilities” of La Villita, famed San Antonio Mayor Maury Maverick led the charge to restore and preserve the area. Like so many beautiful and ambitious public projects of the time, the restoration work was undertaken by the National Youth Administration, a department of the Works Progress Administration. It was at this time that Plaza Juarez, the Bolivar building and Calle Hidalgo were dedicated, named after “patriots for all the Americas.” The ordinance goes on to explain La Villita’s lofty purpose of promoting Pan-American peace, goodwill and understanding.

Jerry Hayes is co-owner of La Villita fine art gallery Artistic Endeavors, on the edge of beautifully cobblestoned Maverick Plaza. As a business resident of La Villita since 1962, he’s able to pick up our chronology from here. What was the area like before HemisFair ‘68? Before the Hilton Palacio Del Rio? Cheaper, for one thing. Hayes rented a room on the upper level of the McAllister House (now the Guadalajara Grill) for $10 a month. And busier. “It was a major thoroughfare,” he notes. Joske’s was still the place to shop downtown — this was before malls and shopping centers — and La Villita was on the way to the big department store.

One of the hopes of the 1939 restoration was to encourage an arts and crafts center for the city, a wish that over the years became a reality. In 1961, the Rev. Paul Soupiset of the Little Church of La Villita started the Starving Artists Show, and by the 1970s, La Villita had the largest concentration of galleries and artist studios in the city. It retains much of the distinction of an arts destination, with 10 galleries, and, in addition to Starving Artists, several art shows and festivals throughout the year. Artistic Endeavors hosts one of these, the Artists on the Porch series, during NIOSA.

There’s very little turnover for businesses in La Villita, creating a neighborly, almost intimate, experience. “People start small, just get their foot in the door of a part of a building here, and then they wait,” Hayes remarks. Residents get to know the area, and as soon as some place bigger becomes available, they move up. One of the most famous of these is Chamade Jewelers, housed in La Villita for more than 25 years and specializing in one-of-a-kind, especially Native American, pieces.

A walking tour is the best way to get to know La Villita, and the area is easily navigable, although maps are available. Be sure to punctuate your shopping and sightseeing with a nice meal. Two sister restaurants, San Antonio institutions both, are the Little Rhein Steak House and the Fig Tree Restaurant.The Little Rhein Steak House has won Wine Spectator magazine's Award of Excellence for 11 consecutive years.

Finally, before you go, check the events calendar at www.lavillita.com. There’s always something to plan your visit around. For example, this summer the 51st season of Latin dance and music, Fiesta Noche del Rio, will run every Friday and Saturday night through Aug. 11. Viva La Villita