Cool Crest Miniature Golf ephemera in San Antonio Texas and Curb Sandwich shop

These pictures were made by scanning the coupons. They are available for free download on Flickr. Parts of Cool Crest are older than the Riverwalk. It is a charming and beautiful place. Let's hope it survives.



I don't know where the Curb Sandwich Shop was. I think this is from the forties or fifties.

Talk to the White House

The communication has become two way. Until now our Presidents have spoken to us but we have not had a way to speak to them.

We are many and the administration are few, so they had to find a way to make it work.

Go to Whitehouse.gov Open for Questions and register. Then begin voting on questions asked by others and pose your own questions to be voted on by them.

The questions range from the insightful to the ridiculous but by this process this experiment in mass communication may give some sort of insight into our thinking as a people.

The President wants to hear from Republicans and independents as well as Democrats.

Woodlawn Lake Community Association creates Facebook Group

The Woodlawn Lake Community Association now has its own Facebook Group. The group is a great way to keep up with events and news associated with the association, the lake and the surrounding areas.

For instance you'll find this notice on their page:

A public meeting will be held Tuesday March 31, 2009 at 6:30 pm at the Salvation Army Peacock Center at 2810 W Ashby Place, Building 2 to discuss the City of San Antonio's Woodlawn Lake Park Master Plan. District 7 City Councilman Justin Rodriguez and COSA staff will review exhibits prepared by the design consultants.

You don't have to have a Facebook account to view the page or to join the association but you do need to join Facebook to join the Facebook group.

Walk Around Jefferson 4

Walk Around Jefferson 4 will be Saturday March 14 at 9 am at the baseball field parking lot on Kampman Blvd. This event is a chance to meet people you wouldn't meet otherwise, to have conversations you wouldn't have otherwise, and to learn things you wouldn't learn otherwise, all which might get you involved in community actions you wouldn't get involved in otherwise.

Unstructured conversation is the only item on the day's agenda.

Join us for a stroll around the perimeter of beautiful, historic Jefferson High School, past the running track and the park gazebo echoing the high school's two domes.

No RSVP necessary but you can find the event is listed on several sites including barackobama.com and Facebook. You could also just add a comment to let us know you are coming.

Luminaria 2009 - Many regretted missing last years.

Last year the new event created with the encouragement of Mayor Hardberger caught many people by surprise. It was a magical event, with music and art in unexpected places downtown.

This year's Luminaria: Arts Night in San Antonio is Saturday March 14.

From the official press release
"The central celebration will be held downtown from 6 pm until midnight. Performances on a variety of stages and streetscapes will include symphonic, operatic, jazz, blues, ballet, international dance, theatre, hip hop, DJ, laser lights, film, and multi-discipline arts."

"The event footprint is extended this year to include seven performance stages with the spectacular fireworks finale. Luminaria will bring together diverse audiences throughout San Antonio for an engaging and educational experience."

"Throughout the day visit artist studios, museum, galleries and artist spaces that will have exhibits on view along with art activities and creative performances throughout the city of San Antonio." An official calendar of events, along with specific performances and exhibition information will be available for download on LuminariaSA.org by March 2."

There will be free parking for the downtown celebration. A map in pdf form is available for download. A list of scheduled performers is found on the official Luminaria San Antonio website.

UPDATE: 3/4/2009: A pdf of the official calendar of events is now available for download.

UPDATE 3/8/2009: Today's San Antonio Express-News has an excellent story by Deborah Martin-Luminaria Bigger This Year.

March 7, 2009 Woodlawn Lake Basura Bash

This year the annual San Antonio Basura Bash has added Woodlawn Lake and several other sections of our rivers and creeks to their project. Come to Woodlawn Lake Park at 8:30 on Saturday to register and to receive your free T-Shirt. Work begins by 9 and continues until noon. For more information email Ashley Hernandez or call 210 858-8520.

The Basura Bash website has information on clean up projects throughout the city.

UPDATE: 03/08/2009 One report had 300 people pitching in to help out. But the same report said that in the afternoon folks cooking out were once again busy littering. So, the work of building community continues.

Woodlawn Theatre: Rapunzarella White opening March 27, 2009

At historic Woodlawn Theatre, beginning Friday, March 27 Amphisphere Theatre Productions presents "Rapunzarella" a mixed up fairy tale musical with music by Daniel Neiden and script by June Rachelson-Ospa. The show is PG family friendly

An angry witch snatches the triplets, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Snow White. Will they be rescued by their personal prince charmings? You'll have to go to find out.

Tickets are $20 and $15. Call 210 738-1117 for reservations.

Amphisphere's first production in the Woodlawn was in November 2006. They found great success with the first staging of Disney's High School Musical in San Antonio which played for 7 weeks of sold out performances.

The non-profit, Amphisphere Arts Foundation, trains students in the arts of musical theatre including: dancing, stage movement, acting , and singing.

There's still time to catch Disney's High School Musical 2 which plays until March 17 at the Woodlawn.

Woodlawn Lake Park Pedestrian Bridge Advocates Bring the issue to the Candidates

Woodlawn Lake Bridge advocates Feb 18 Creative Commons 2009 IMG_0008, originally uploaded by wsssst.

By posting themselves at the entrance to the parking lot, at the candidate's forum February 17 at TJHS, advocates for the promised pedestrian bridge at Woodlawn Lake Park, made sure that the issue would not be ignored.

Although it was not ignored, the two candidates on the current council did not appear to promise to take action on the bridge, though former council member Elena Guajardo pointedly said that if she were re-elected that the bridge would be built.

Though there are many issues facing San Antonio, these advocates made certain that this issue was not forgotten, nor will they likely forget that they have not yet received a clear answer.

More Public Domain Pictures of TJHS

Jefferson High School San Antonio Tx ceiling Creative commons IMG_0012, originally uploaded by wsssst.

Several more photos of TJHS have been made available for free use. Feel free to use them for any purpose. Along with this photo of a ceiling mosaic there are pictures of the theater proscenium and of Jefferson United Methodist Church which is across the street from TJ.

Advocate for Woodlawn Lake bridge organizes for change.

Community meeting 001 330 pixel, originally uploaded by wsssst.

Candidate's forum Tuesday March 17, 6:30 PM

Candidates for Mayor, City Council, and School Board will debate beginning at 6:30 PM in the auditorium of historic Thomas Jefferson High School. Here is an opportunity to see candidates for the several contested races in the TJHS neighborhoods.

Do Trish Deberry-Mejia's Republican ads reflect her political outlook?

The website, San Antonio Mayor, reports on Trish Deberry-Mejia's agency's production of negative ads for Henry Bonilla and John McCain and ponders whether the agency's work provides a clue to her political leanings.

The site reports that her agency Guerra Deberry Coody aka GDC produced a Spanish language ad which criticized Barack Obama's stance on immigration and a more controversial ad used by Henry Bonilla against Ciro Rodriguez. This ad accused Ciro of supporting terrorists.

Of course it is possible that Trish Deberry-Mejia and her agency partners accepted work from Republican candidates while opposing everything for which they stand. The agency provides on-site daycare for employees and was named one of the 15 best small company workplaces by the Wall Street Journal in 2007.

alamObama rides again on March 5, 2009

Since the election, San Antonio's home grown, independent, grassroots campaign for Obama has been doing more than a little celebrating. But now the group is meeting to plan for the future of the organization and to decide how to coordinate with Organizing for America.

The first 2009 meeting of alamObama will be March 5 at 7122 San Pedro Avenue, Suite 114, San Antonio, TX 78216 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.

For more details, contact Judy at judy@alamobama08.com or Brenda at alamobama09@aol.com.

You can find a sign up for the meeting on barackobama.com or click this link: March 5 alamObama Meeting.

Be sure to check out the alamObama site for loads of pictures from the campaign.

Public Domain Jefferson Photos on Flickr

Anyone can download and use a set of TJHS photos recently uploaded to popular photo sites Flicker and Photobucket. These particular photos may be used by anyone without attribution and for any purpose.



Click Here Creative Commons photos of Jefferson High on Flickr

Enthusiastic Alumni Perform "M-I-S-T-E-R M-U-S-T-A-N-G" with TJHS Band at Alamo Stadium

More than thirty Alumni from bands of the 1970's joined the 2008-2009 Mustang Band at Alamo Stadium in a performance of classics including "Mister Mustang", the school alma mater and the Jefferson fight song on October 30, 2008. The reunion, initiated by the Jefferson Band Boosters is intended to become an annual affair. Already the video has been viewed over 1000 times. The success of the reunion and the number of views on YouTube shows the kind of enthusiasm that can be tapped in building up our community.

Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer Initiates News and Commentary Site

The first entry on Rep. Martinez-Fischer's new site comments on Governor Perry's State of the State address: He writes "The only thing apparent was that someone is running for re-election. At a time, when 99% of Texans are worried about their paychecks and their pocketbooks, Governor Perry is worried about re-election."

His site promises inside baseball comments from someone "actually on the field" and an "honest (and sometimes unflattering) look at the legislature."

You can find the Poli-Tex blog at http://www.poli-tex.com/ or follow this link Trey Martinez-Fischer's Poli-Tex.

2009 On and Off Fred Artist Studio Tour February 14 & 15

After joining in Walk Around Jefferson 3, stick around the area for the 2009 On and Off Fredricksburg Artist Studio Tour.

The website, onandofffred.org, has all the information you need to visit the interesting studios.

Many people begin their studio tour with a visit to the Bihl Haus Arts located on the grounds of the Primrose Apartments on Fredricksburg Road north of Quentin Drive. For more information on this years studio tour email kellen-kee@swbell.net or call (210) 383-9723.

Jefferson Community Garden Approved by Historic Design Review Board

With approval from the city's Historic Design Review Board, Jefferson Community Garden has cleared a major hurdle and will soon become a reality according to Michael Soto. He says they plan to start tilling as soon as we get a little rain.

The new community gardens will be located between the back fence of Jefferson United Methodist Church and Gramercy Place near the corner of Gramercy Place and Wilson.


The garden will have twelve raised planting beds, four of which are designated for common use. A small storage area and an entrance arch will complete the design.


There's room for more people to get involved. If you are interested call Michael at 738-8520. In addition to working on the community garden, Michael is currently campaigning for the SAISD School Board, so you may find him or his wife Celina Pena on your doorstep as they block walk. A link to his campaign website may be found on our front page. Michael Soto's Website

Notable Jazz Pianist in Free Perfomance at JHS! Wednesday January 28 7pm

Helen Sung and her jazz trio will give perform in concert in the JHS's acoustically excellent auditorium, Wednesday January 28 at 7 pm. Admission is free.

Helen attended Houston's High School for the Performing Arts before eventually being admitted to the first class of the Thelonious Monk Instituted of Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. Since finishing her education in 1997 she has taught, traveled and performed around the world, gathering recognition and accolades.

In the past year alone she has toured India, Italy and Martinique. She has been a featured performer on Mary McPartland's long running radio series "Piano Jazz". Her concert coincides with jazz clinics she is conducting for SAISD students.

For more information on Helen and for samples of her music go to:
Helen Sung.com

Walk Around Jefferson 3 Announced

Walk Around Jefferson 3 will be February 14, 2009 beginning at 9 AM at the baseball field parking lot on Kampman Blvd. This event is a chance to meet people you wouldn't meet otherwise, to have conversations you wouldn't have otherwise, and to learn things you wouldn't learn otherwise, all which might get you involved in community actions you wouldn't get involved in otherwise.

Unstructured conversation is the only item on the day's agenda.

Break out your favorite campaign wear and join us for a stroll around the perimeter of beautiful, historic Jefferson High School, (in the heart of one of San Antonio's most securely Democratic areas) past the site of the planned community gardens and the park gazebo echoing the high school's two domes.

No RSVP necessary but you can find the event is listed on several sites including barackobama.com and facebook. You could also just add a comment to let us know you are coming.