San Antonio

Stories about San Antonio

The Drop Everything List

The Homegrown Music and Arts Festival, Jimmie Vaughan, and the South Texas Heritage Center . . .

A Q&A with Katy Vine

The senior editor on her glimpse into Austin Mahone's rise to teen pop stardom in a world where YouTube and Twitter are making adults in the music business scratch their heads.

The Drop Everything List

The Round Dance Halls of Texas, Kristin Chenoweth, and the Bathing Beauties Contest . . .

Girls Love Me

Austin Mahone is sixteen years old. He doesn’t have a record contract, a tour bus, or a backing band. But he does have more than 650,000 followers on Twitter and the email addresses of 2,000,000 fans. Meet San Antonio’s answer to Justin Bieber.

Trials and Errors

Over the past two decades Texas has exonerated more than eighty wrongfully convicted prisoners. How does this happen? Can anything be done to stop it? We assembled a group of experts (a police chief, a state senator, a judge, a prosecutor, a district attorney, and an exoneree) to find out.

Reading Along With 
James Donovan

The latest Alamo 
chronicler offers a glimpse of his reference library.

The Drop Everything List

Carol Burnett, Texas State Gospel Singing Convention, the Runaway Scrape and the Kemah Crawfish Festival. . .

Being a River Walk Tour Guide

Elizabeth Taylor on being a River Walk tour guide.

New + Noteworthy

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Music Roadtrip Exhibition in Austin, Ryan Bingham, Jeb Bush, and St. Patrick's Day Celebrations in Shamrock . . .

9 Texas Bands That Could Make an Impact at SXSW

Though South by Southwest is bringing big names like Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z this year, here are picks from showcasing Texans, from the obvious to the relatively obscure.

The Drop Everything List

South by Southwest in Austin, Mythbusters, the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, and Judoka at the Houston International Performance Art Biennial . . .

Get Cooking

Recipes from the ten top restaurants in Texas.

The Drop Everything List

The Zilker Park Kite Festival in Austin, Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen, Bill Maher, and an Art of the American Twenties exhibit in Dallas . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, dancing to Nina Simone, a forum with chef Alice Waters, and a Texas Cowboy Poetry gathering in Alpine . . .

Five Ranch Getaways

From riding on the range and stargazing to big game huntin, here are five guest ranches where you can explore your inner cowboy. 

Texas Food Lovers

Twenty chefs and restaurants make the James Beard semifinals.

David Lake and Ted Flato’s Office

Being a Girl Scout

Anna Maria Chávez on promoting issues important to girls, eating cookies (Samoas are her favorite), and meeting the president. 

Where to Eat Now 2012

White tablecloths. Street food. Small portions. Lots and lots of innards. The only thing the ten best new Texas restaurants have in common is a willingness to prove that there is no such thing as a “Texas restaurant.” But when the escargots with fennel purée are this good, who cares?

The Drop Everything List

Kelly Clarkson in San Antonio, Disco-Dancing for a cause, Carnaval Brasileiro, and Anthony Bourdain in Austin . . .

Notable Openings and Closings

What you need to know about dining in Texas this week.

A Cook’s Tour

A slide show of scenes from the ten restaurants you should be eating at right now.

A Q&A With Patricia Sharpe

The senior editor on beer gardens, communal dining, and escargots.

The Drop Everything List

LeAnn Rimes in Fort Worth, the Animal Architecture Awards, the first big Andy Warhol exhibition in Texas, and Johnny Winter in Dallas . . .

The Drop Everything List

Erykah Badu and the Cannabinoids, Four Funny Females, Clint Black, and Amtrak's Fortieth Anniversary . . .

New + Noteworthy

Feast

San Antonio

Contributors

Wyatt McSpadden, John Phillip Santos, Skip 
Hollandsworth

Courtroom Drama

Some of the biggest murder trials have happened in Texas, from proceedings against serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Charles Harrelson to housewives Darlie Routier and Candy Montgomery. Find out what TEXAS MONTHLY had to say about some of the most infamous Texans who were tried for murder.

Come and Take a Look at Me Now

Against all odds, Phil Collins has turned himself into a world-class Alamo buff who will happily talk your ear off about Santa Anna and Davy Crockett. Can you feel it coming in the Bexar tonight?

The Drop Everything List

Tamales! Holiday Festival, the Nutcracker, Holiday Wine Trail, and the Charlie Daniels Band . . .

A Q&A With John Spong

The senior editor on why the Alamo is so important, how Fess Parker and Davy Crockett sparked a phenomenon in the fifties, and what Phil Collins is really like.

The Drop Everything List

Kinky Friedman's Hanukkah Tour, Mariachi Mass, Renegade Craft Fair, and Jamie Foxx . . .

The Drop Everything List

Brittney Griner, East Austin Studio Tour, the Trains at NorthPark, and the World Gaming Championship . . .

Size Matters

That’s right. Especially in Texas.

Narrating the Night Sky

San Antonio's Sandy Wood has been the voice of StarDate for twenty years.

The Drop Everything List

Texas Country Reporter Festival, Guy Clark, Dude of the Dead Music Festival, and Girl in a Coma . . .

Dogs of War

Why did the world’s most high-tech military bring along a dog when it raided Osama bin Laden’s compound? A visit to Lackland Air Force Base’s canine training school, in San Antonio, provides a few answers.

Exits and All the Rest

The Drop Everything List

Dolly Parton, 85 years at the Witte Museum, Red River Rivalry, and the Texas Rose Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Roky Erickson, the Orchid Festival, Texas Literary Life with Sarah Bird and Stephen Harrigan, and SXSW Eco . . .

The Drop Everything List

Gary Clark Jr., Uncensored at the Harry Ransom Center, Texans v. Colts, and the official Texas Pecan Festival . . .

Andrew Weissman’s Office

A Q&A With Jordan Breal

The associate editor on covering the arts scene in Texas.

The Art Lover’s Companion

More than sixty art insiders gave us their list of favorite works of art to see in Texas. So grab your notepad, sketchbook, or iPad and take the ultimate tour of must-see art in Texas.

Texas Treasures

My journey in early Texas art began while I was a student at Southern Methodist University, where I studied Frank Reaugh pastels and met Jerry Bywaters. After 24 years at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, curating exhibitions and traveling the state, I’ve come up with a list of greatest hits.

The Drop Everything List

Steve Martin, the Taylor International Barbecue Cook-off, Emilio Navaira, and the "Whole World Was Watching exhibit" . . .

The Drop Everything List

Asleep at the Wheel, Texas Olive Oil, Alejandro Escovedo, Plaza Classic Film Festival, Juan Williams, and Dandee Danao's take on Smurfs . . .

A Q&A With Jason Cohen

The senior writer on catching an institution in transition, fixing the BCS, and going to UTSA’s first football game.

New + Noteworthy

The Monterey

San Antonio

Karen Wagner’s Life

She lived outside the spotlight, quietly serving her country as most members of the military do, until one terrible day.

Because San Antonio is a Football Town! Well, Almost.

Starting a major 
college program from scratch in a city that’s never had one of its 
own is a tricky business. Good thing the UTSA Roadrunners hired a 
national champion to help them kick off.

The Drop Everything List

All-American Burger Festival, Urban Cowboy Musical, Offshore Fishing, Bill Callahan, Christmas in July and Seven-on-seven football . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Cow Parade, Gorilla vs. Bear Festival, WBNA All-Star Game, National Day of the American Cowboy, and the Summer Balloon Classic & Airfest. . .

The Drop Everything List

Little Joe's Picnic, Fireworks on the Brazos, Steve Earle, Star-Spangled Spectacular, Dock Dogs and Josiah Media Fest . . .

Boy’s Life—Bill White

Before he was fighting for the governorship of the second-largest state in the country, Bill White was just a kid from Texas.

New + Noteworthy

James Pants

The Drop Everything List

Willie Nelson's Country Throwdown, the Texas Shakespeare Festival, Blue Lapis Light, and Lyle Lovett . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Folklife Festival, Dr Pepper’s 120th Birthday Celebration, the Republic of Texas Biker Rally, and the Texas Water Safari . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Dallas Mavericks, the One Old Sorehead & One Nice Guy Vintage & Antique Tool Sale, Texas, and the Free Press Summer Fest . . .

A Q&A With Courtney Bond

The associate editor on classic margaritas, tequila, and writing about food and spirits.

Contributors

Courtney Bond, Sarah Bird, Jan Jarboe Russell

San Antonio’s North River Walk

The two-year-old extension of the famed promenade offers Roman antiquities, Roman delicacies, and plenty of opportunities for roamin’.

Jason Macias, 40

Jason Macias, night police officer.

The Margarita Variations

On the rocks or frozen? Salt or no salt? And what tequila is best? So many questions, but these four recipes make it easy for you to shake up the best margaritas around.

The Drop Everything List

Pachanga Fest, the Real Ale Ride, the Kerrville Folk Festival, and Bay Day. . .

The Drop Everything List

The Golden Arm Trio, Texas Bound, the Tejano Conjunto Festival, and the 24-Hour Video Race . . .

Ten More Trips Worth Gearing Up For

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Beer Fest, Lucinda Williams and Erika Wennerstrom, the Battle of Port Jefferson, and Railfest . . .

Hosting a Children’s Show

Michele Lepe on hosting a children's show.

The Apprentice

Carrying on the legacy of the legendary musician Steve Jordan isn’t easy, especially when you’re only 22 years old and blind. But Juanito Castillo is too busy reinventing the conjunto accordion to care.

The Drop Everything List

The Big Bend Open Road Race, Larry Joe Taylor’s Texas Music Festival & Chili Cook-off, Itzhak Perlman, and the Buc Days Carnival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Buffalo Gap Wine & Food Summit, George Saunders, the Old Settler’s Music Festival, and the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Ted Nugent, Fiesta San Antonio, the Texas Open, and the Prairie Chicken Festival . . .

New + Noteworthy

Francesca's at Sunset, San Antonio, Saldivia South American Grill, Houston

Crockett Science

A new Crockett biography weighs in on how Davy died.

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Tornados, the Festival of Ideas, Becoming Kinky: The World According to Kinky Friedman, and the Texas Pinball Festival . . .

Migas

Migas

Think you know how to cook like a Texan? Chef Lisa Wong shows us how it’s done. Camera by Brian Birzer

The Drop Everything List

Honk! TX, Luminaria, the Texas Steel Guitar Jamboree, and the Buffalo Bayou Regatta . . .

The Drop Everything List

The San Antonio Living History Association, the Texas Ballet Theater, Dai Due, and SXSW . . .

Pearl Jam

A new project in San Antonio marries urban redevelopment and local flavor with a quest for culinary greatness.

The Drop Everything List

The Rothko Chapel, the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Mardi Gras! Galveston, and the North Texas Farm Toy Show . . .

101–125

From John Warne Gates peddling barbed wire in San Antonio to a group of cowboys and ranchers holding the first rodeo in Pecos

76–100

From the Great Storm washing ashore in Galveston to Charles Elmer Doolin cooking up the frito in San Antonio

101–125

From John Warne Gates peddling barbed wire in San Antonio to a group of cowboys and ranchers holding the first rodeo in Pecos

76–100

From the Great Storm washing ashore in Galveston to Charles Elmer Doolin cooking up the frito in San Antonio

The Drop Everything List

Blaze Foley, the Black Architecture Project, the Ennis Czech Music Festival, and Willie Nelson . . .

The Drop Everything List

Texas vs. the Nation, the South Padre Island Kite Fest, Barbara Smith Conrad, and Eagle Fest . . .

The Drop Everything List

Rodney Crowell, Zestfest, the NFL Experience, and the United Nations Film Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Pinetop Perkins, Red Hot Patriot, Fredericksburg Wine Road 290, and the Dallas Burlesque Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Shearwater, the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture, the Texas Citrus Fiesta, and the Monster Truck Thunder Slam . . .

Where to Eat Now 2011

Jalapeño sausage–stuffed quail, lemon-pepper-marinated fried chicken: The trend for most of the best new restaurants last year was comfort food with pizzazz. But then along came Uchiko to wow us with its mouthwatering take on Japanese fusion. Who says you can’t buck a trend?

New and Noteworthy

Whiskey Cake Kitchen and Bar, Dallas and Olmos Park Bistro, San Antonio

Chow Hound

Read a Q&A with Patricia Sharpe.

The Drop Everything List

Flaco Jimenez, Gloworama, Jimmie Vaughan, and the South Padre Island Polar Bear Dip.

The Drop Everything List

Ann Richards, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, Willie Nelson, and the 2nd Annual Gingerbread Build-Off.

The Drop Everything List

The Dallas Museum of Art, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis, Dickens on the Strand, and the Harbor Lights Festival . . .

Making Chili

How to make chili.

The Drop Everything List

Jeff Dunham, the “It Gets Better” Film Festival, the Mavs vs. the Spurs, and the South Texas Institute of the Arts . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Border Art Biennial, the Hot Rod Revolution, JFK, and Via Colori . . .

The Time of Mex-Tex

Scenes from the fifty best Mexican restaurants in Texas, from Fonda San Miguel, in Austin, to El Meson de San Agustin, in Laredo.

The Drop Everything List

Ornette Coleman, the Great American Peanut Butter Festival, Tommy Tune, and the 15th World Championship Ranch Rodeo . . .

Guys in the White Hats

If these seven chefs have their way, Mexican food in Texas will never be the same.

Key Moments in Mexican Food History

From 3500 BC, when indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America began cultivating chiles, to 2010, when the Culinary Institute of America opened an expanded campus in San Antonio.

The Yellow Cheese Hall of Fame

Mex-Mex has the purist vote wrapped up, but these Tex-Mex bastions win hands down when it comes to comfort food and customer loyalty.

Let’s Have Mex-Tex

Where’s the best place to get a perfect plate of enchiladas? A chile relleno to die for? A salsa you’ll never forget? Come along on our tour of the fifty greatest Mexican restaurants in Texas, from Hugo’s, in Houston, to Tacos Santa Cecilia, in El Paso. This is not your father’s Tex-Mex.

The Drop Everything List

The Fun Fun Fun Fest, the Terlingua International Chili Championship, Stephan Pyles, and Asleep at the Wheel . . .

The Immigration Dinner Party

We invited four lawmakers who disagree vehemently on the subject and a couple of experts to keep things friendly. Pull up a chair for a round of table talk you won’t soon forget.

Contributors

Van Ditthavong, David Dorado Romo, and John Phillip Santos

Meet the Parent

In the year since my mother died, I’ve learned a lot of things—like how to spend time with my dad.

Family Matters

An interview with Mimi Swartz.

Bloggers, Babies, and the Benefits of Beer

A roundup of the latest and greatest scientific research from Texas universities.

Shawn Achor

New and Noteworthy

Las Canarias, San Antonio and Patrizio, Fort Worth

It’s All Greek to Him

Rick Riordan greeks out with a Percy Jackson spin-off.

No Retreat! No Surrender!

Besieged on all sides, will the Daughters of the Republic of Texas finally lose control of the Alamo? Not if they can help it.

Heloise’s Pantry

Where They're From

A memorable hour-long radio special based on the June issue of TEXAS MONTHLY, a co-production with KUT 90.5 FM.

David Lee Garza

Poteet

Boy’s Life

They may disagree on just about everything, but Rick Perry and Bill White have one thing in common: a Texas childhood.

City of Dreams

Searching for the legendary past—and the cosmic future—in my old river city, San Antonio de Béjar.

San Antonio River

Tourists and natives mingle along its tree-lined concrete walkways far below the fantastical jumble of the downtown skyline.

Go With the Flow

Throw a canoe on the roof or a tube in the trunk and head for the Llano, the Brazos, the Pecos, the Trinity, the Guadalupe, or any of the other rivers on this list of the twenty best trips to take on Texas waterways this summer.

Alamo Heights

One year into his first term as mayor of San Antonio, Julián Castro is emerging as perhaps the most prominent young Hispanic politician in Texas. Get ready to get used to him.

A Cooking Class at JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa

Quail With Chorizo and Cornbread Stuffing

Thanks

SBC’s generocity.

Memories of a Guitar Picker

Willie Nelson called him a show off, Charlie Pride and Jim Cullen both asked him to join their bands, and Hank Williams, Sr. was a close personal friend.

Exxon’s Generosity

The three largest philanthropic gifts made by Texas corporations in the second quarter of 1999.

Read It and Weep

The closings of bookstores in San Antonio and Laredo leave a void that can’t be filled with a Kindle.

Julián Castro, San Antonio Mayor (Thursday, February 25th 2010)

He’s the youngest mayor of a major US city, he took office with 56 percent of the vote in a nine-way race and he’s already nine years into a political career. Julián Castro grew up around San Antonio politics, at the side of a mother who was a major force in the Raza Unida movement. Now he and twin brother, Texas State Representative Joaquin Castro, are making San Antonio politics their own.

Augie Meyers

Two Burials

Today my grandfather is buried in a family plot in Laredo. But to understand who he was and what his family was like, you have to know the story of his first burial, seventy miles away and nearly twenty years earlier.

The Bucket List

Driving the River Road, in far West Texas; having a drink at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, in Dallas; fishing for bass in Caddo Lake; eating a chicken-fried steak in Strawn; searching for a lightning whelk along the coast; and 58 other things that all Texans must do before they die.

Good Eats

A slide show of images featuring our state’s top ten restaurants, from Il Sogno, in San Antonio, to RDG + Bar Annie, in Houston, to Samar by Stephan Pyles, in Dallas.

The Manual 2.0

Watch the experts at Calle Ocho teach Andrea Valdez how to dance cumbia.

He’s About A Mover

Country, jazz, blues, R&B, polka, and conjunto—the late, great Doug Sahm was a walking encyclopedia of Texas music. An exclusive excerpt from a new biography explores how he stirred it all together and found his own sound in his first great song.

Where to Eat Now 2010

You had to be brave to open a restaurant last year. Or you had to be a genius. Or, like Robert Del Grande, whose revamped Houston eatery tops our list of the ten best gastronomical debuts of 2009, you had to be both.

Dancing Cumbia

How to dance cumbia.

Performing Comedy

Adelina Anthony on performing comedy.

Red McCombs’s Office Mini-Fridge

A Día de los Muertos Altar

How to build a Día de los Muertos altar.

That’s the Spirit

Not that you’re looking for an excuse, but these five original cocktails concocted by Texas bartenders using local liquors are a thoroughly acceptable reason to pour yourself a drink. Or three.

Julián Castro

New mayor Julián Castro on San Antonio’s future.

Street Cam: San Antonio’s Alamo Heights

Take a virtual tour of sloan/hall.

Street Cam: San Antonio’s Alamo Heights

Take a virtual tour of Violet Hour.

Street Cam: San Antonio’s Alamo Heights

Take a virtual tour of AMAR.

Street Cam: San Antonio’s Alamo Heights

Take a virtual tour of LeeLee.

Romance on the River

Ghosts Of War

The battlegrounds of Texas tell an incredible story of struggle, sorrow, triumph, and terror that is far more complex and surprising than anything I learned in school. All I had to do was get in my car and go see them.

Styles and Styles of Texas

The thirty Texans with the most iconic, unforgettable, eye-popping looks, from Davy Crockett to Beyoncé.

Saturday Night

From a honky-tonk in Odessa to a Catholic church in Houston, there’s one night of the week when you’re guaranteed to find Texans at their snappiest.

Dancing Queen

The Houston Ballet; a Marcia Gygli King retrospective; Philip Glass.

Chad Jistel

Chad Jistel, locomotive engineer.

Auto Pilot

With the Big Three teetering on the brink, it’s worth noting that the Toyota plant in San Antonio is still motoring. Oh, what a feeling!

Suggested Reading

Texas Book Festival; Latin Grammy Awards; San Antonio Opera.

Dough Pizzeria Napoletana

San Antonio

A Modern Addition

A McNay makeover; welcome to Shangri La; show us the Monet.

Real Animal

Apples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found

Child’s Play

Summer vacation is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean you should panic. We’ve rounded up 68 of our favorite things to do with your toddlers, teens, and every kid in between. Dance the hokey pokey. Rope a horse. Eat way too many hot dogs. Zip down a waterslide. And yes, feed the animals.

Let There Be Light

J. M. W. Turner in Dallas; Discovery Green in Houston; Fiesta in S.A.

Oak Hills Church

San Antonio

Where To Eat Now 2008

Yes, the setting is ritzy and the food remarkable. But what really makes the state’s best new restaurant sizzle is something less tangible: the (Dean) Fearing factor.

New and Noteworthy

Merchants Grand Café, San Antonio and Charlie Palmer, Dallas

It’s Only Natural

A natural antidote to San Antonio sprawl.

Third Grade Social Studies

They may only be kids in third grade, but you’re looking at the future of Texas.

Sunil K. Ahuja

46, infectious-diseases expert, San Antonio

The Class of 2017

The future according to third-graders.

Andrew Weissman

40, restaurateur, San Antonio

Joe Straus III

48, state representative, San Antonio

Dario Robleto

35, artist, San Antonio

Tomorrow Never Dies

The perils of prediction.

Behind the Lines: Podcast

Paul Burka reads January’s Behind the Lines: The Capitol Press Corpse

Straight Strait

Strait talk; Fort Worth takes stock; MLK in S.A.

The Capitol Press Corpse

Is it really time to pronounce the body?

Writing for a Newsweekly

Karen Tumulty on writing for Time.

Tailgating

How to tailgate.

Roads to Nowhere

The myth of the NAFTA superhighway.

Time Marches On

Computer-aided choreography, professional composers to score the music, mammoth budgets: At high schools and colleges across Texas these days, marking bands are playing for keeps.

Hype or Hero?

He’s won the support o Mexican Americans in El Paso; now he wants to win a seat in Congress. Is Silvestre Reyes’ attack on illegal immigration heroism or hype?

Seeing Red

The contrversial color of ASan Antonio’s new public library is only the latest indication that architect Ricardo Legorreta isn’t afraid to buck convention.

Texas Twenty: Linda Pace Roberts

From hot sauce to hot art.

Grounded

Sister Acts

The daughters of San Antonio’s most conspicuous family star in their own how-to videos.

A Cracker’s Farewell

When Grover Lewis died on April 16, he left a legacy of unwashed greatness. That’s how he would have wanted it.

Confessions of A Preacher’s Wife

The tensions between the demans of the spirit and the demands of the world defined my marriage—and destroyed it.

Davy Crock?

New York fireman Bill Groneman is disputing a critical piece of Alamo lore—and historians everywhere are burning mad.

Misjudged

Magic Fingers

San Antonio accordionist Mingo Saldivar is knocking them dead in northern Mexico.

Hero Worship

Entrance of the Zapatista Army into San Cristobal, 1994

Tech Talk

The Case of The Amateur Skull Boilers

Led by an owner of a roofing company, a group of novice sleuths solves gruesome crimes in San Antonio. It sounds like a TV show—and it may soon be one.

Plácido Domingo

Placido Domingo on being an opera star.

Tuna Salad Days

After fourtten years, 2,5000 performances, and innumerable one-liners, the theatrical careers of Joe Sears and Jaston Williams are going swimmingly.

Come Dancing

Fron Henry’s Hideout to the Farmer’s Daughter, Texas still has the best country dance halls. A boot-scootin’ roundup.

Making the Grade

San Antonio’s so-called NAFTA high school shows what can happen when kids care about what they learn.

The Songs Remain the Same

And for these 8 one-hit wonders, including Balde Silva, of Toby Beau, that’s a good thing: Thanks to wildly successful singles they released many years ago, what might have otherwise been forgettable careers are anything but.

It’s showtime!

The livestock show.

Where to Eat Now 2007

Well, first and foremost, Dallas, since four of the year’s ten best new restaurants—including the top three—are there. But if you’re hip and hungry in Houston, Austin, or San Antonio, my list won’t disappoint.

Mission San José

William Martin Reviews our places of worship.

Par Excellence

The best golf holes in Texas, according to the legends of the game.

Here Comes Trouble

Dan Patrick is causing nervous breakdowns of various size and duration—and he’s not even in the Texas Senate yet.

Snowbyrd

Minority Report

What the Hispanic vote tells us.

Around the State

Southtown, San Antonio

The eclectic artiness of San Antonio’s Southtown.

Hoop Dreams

The Spurs versus the Mavs.

Architecture • Ted Flato and David Lake

Master builders.

Performing Arts • Jo Long

Culturally centered.

Alamo Tome

Would You Buy What This Man Is Selling?

With the military stretched thinner than ever, Staff Sergeant Christopher Schwope’s skill as an Army recruiter is undeniably important. And it’s a thing to behold.

State Fare

It’s okay to be shellfish: You won’t want to share this shrimp appetizer from San Antonio’s Massimo.

Ship Shape

A South Texan adds a chapter to the Apollo 13 story.

Artbeat

Charting the state’s museum-building boom.

The War for the Colorado

Battles over the river’s precious waters are pulling in everyone from pecan growers in Central Texas to shrimpers in Matagorda Bay, not to mention thirsty cities like San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Who will be left high and dry?

Alamodoomed

San Antonio mayor Bill Thornton likes to talk about the future, but he’s still a politician of the past—and so is everyone who’s running against him.

Heirhart

A San Antonio pilot takes her admiration of Amelia Earhart to another plane.

Good Fella

Now that Joe Chagra is dead, it’s time to clear his name in the 1979 assassination of San Antonio federal judge John Wood.

The Ice Bats Cometh

Even when they’re not winning games, minor league hockey teams like Austin’s are winning fans by the thousands. Who’d have thought skaters would score in Texas?

Space Cadet

Painful implants and alien abduction experiences may sound like science fiction, but to San Antonio writer Whitley Strieber, they’re frighteningly real.

What a Hall!

Rock, don’t run, to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, where Texas greats from T-Bone Walker to Sly Stone get their due.

War Stories

Lars Attacks!

Why Texas’ best-known homeless writer is back on the streets.

CD and Book Reviews

Stephen Herek

State Fare

Penne for your thoughts: You’ll never say basta to the pasta with vegetables and mixed greens at the Presidio in San Antonio.

Eva, Diva

Listening to conjunto queen Eva Ybarra.

CD and Book Reviews

Bread Winners

Upper-crust bakers in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin are turning out heavenly handmade loaves that make store-bought seem stale by comparison.

Eerie Canal

The Intracoastal Waterway is a marvel of engineering and a boon to industry. It’s also an ecological nightmare, which is why politicians, environmentalists, and business leaders are locked in a battle for the future of the Gulf Coast.

Grander Tour

The Hill Country is in—but what’s in the Hill Country? Plus: Texas’ top drug lawyer in the court of public opinion.

Trash Talk

Why the citizens of Alvin are down in the dumps over garbage.

Swartz and All

CD and Book Reviews

Truckin’

On the road with Victor Morales, the schoolteacher turned U.S. Senate candidate who is out to prove he’s not running on empty.

Taking Sides

Bombers Away

The B-1 bomber costs too much and does too little—so who wants to keep it alive? The people of Abilene, whose economy could take a direct hit if the Pentagon pulls the trigger.

Signs of the Seers

The world-famous rock art of the Lower Pecos has long left scholars in awe—and in the dark. Now a group of Texas archaeologists has unlocked the sacred secrets of the ancient shamans.

Holy Cacao!

Introducing El Rey, the Venezuelan chocolate that is wowing chefs everywhere, thanks to the efforts of a Texan with a taste for treats.

Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll

When the double life of pioneering record producer Huey Meaux was exposed, it was time to face the music: How well did I really know the legend I once called my friend?

Fed Up

We take aim at five Texas militias.

The Cult of Keen

It took two decades of shows at honky-tonks filled with frat-boy fans and Aggie admirers, but singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen has his first major-label record deal.

CD and Book Reviews

Buckle Up

The rodeo belt buckle is prized by cowboys and collectors alike. By the look of these handcrafted samples, it’s easy to see why.

The High Times of Gerry Goldstein

Texas’ top drug lawyer helps dope dealers and cocaine kingpins beat their raps—and he’s proud of it.

Not a Pretty Picture

Dallas and Houston have done it; Beaumont and Corpus Christi have too. So why hasn’t Austin built a respectable art museum? It comes down to three things: money, management, and mission.

Tom Foolery

Tusk, tusk—will Texas Republicans ever get along? Plus: Drawing the line on redistricting.

Nye Anxiety

Stephen Stills

Law • Cheryl Hopwood

Sins of admission.

Advertising • Lionel Sosa

Breadth of a salesman.

Art • Harriet and Harmon Kelley

Collecting their culture.

State Politics • Dan Morales

Courting controversy.

Gruene Peace

A historic dance hall, the cypress-shaded Guadalupe, a couple of rustic inns: A great weekend getaway awaits you less than an hour from Austin and San Antonio.

The New Fat Cats

Meet the newest Texas fat cats - the well-heeled contributors financing political campaigns in and out of our state.

State Fare

Yellowfin tuna with wasabi mayo at San Antonio’s Silo Elevated Cuisine? It may take you a while to get Orient-ed.

Embattled

Reshooting history in Garfield

CD and Book Reviews

Hoop Scoop

A slam dunk for San Antonio’s economy.

Joan Crawford

Team Player

Red McCombs, still on the sidelines

CD and Book Reviews

Ramblin’ Roses

Texans are rediscovering antique roses, the hardy, neglected beauties that decorate old graveyards and abandoned houses across the state. Whether you buy them from a nursery or rustle cuttings from the wild, here�s the dirt on how to grow your own.

CD and Book Reviews

The Needle and the Damage Done

In 1979, as an undercover cop in Tyler, I got hooked on drugs. Nearly two decades later I’m clean, but the consequences of my addiction haunt me still.

The Newton Boys

What kind of getaway car was preferred by the bank-robbing Newton Boys?

Unreality Bites

As ever, Texas looms large in the movies’ imagination—large and largely inaccurate.

We Are the World

Want to see Kuwait, Iowa, and Washington, D.C.? Go to El Paso, Austin, and Houston.

Diana Fox and Josh Zuniga

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDs and Hot Books

The Handmades’ Tale

These twelve Texas artisans herald the victory of man over machine, carefully crafting wood, metal, or stone into items for your home and hearth that are tomorrow’s heirlooms today.

How to Have Great Sex Forever

Since I started taking Viagra, I have had the time of my life. You can too—but there’s more to romance than a little blue pill.

Holding Court

LITERATURE • Naomi Shihab Nye

Poetry in motion.

Whereabouts Known

Bruce McGill played D-Day, the biker with the handlebar mustache, in the classic comedy Animal House. Twenty years later, he’s still a character.

Home Away From Home?

Texas’ largest nursing home chain says it provides a “better place to live” for more than six thousand elderly men and women. State investigators tell a much different story.

The Disloyal Opposition

How five right-wing members of the State Board of Education are making life miserable for their fellow Republicans—especially George W. Bush.

State Fare

Mesteña’s apple sorbet and walnut-apple flautas are delicious to the core.

Familia Feud

In Laredo, a conservative revolution is upending the city’s old patronage politics.

Border Bargains

We’ve found thirty shops just across the Rio Grande where you can buy everything from hand-carved furniture to whimsical walking sticks. The quality is high, the prices are right, and you don't have to pay in pesos.

The Church on the Hill

Why the big fight between a small town and a small church wound up in the Supreme Court.

Next of Kinski

Color Commentary

With this year’s induction of Seguin native Smokey Joe Williams, one fourth of the Negro Leaguers in baseball’s hall of fame are Texans. Unfortunately, there may not be any more.

CD and Book Reviews

CDs by Doctors’ Mob and the American Analog Set, plus a tribute to Bob Wills; booksby James Lee Burke and Louise Redd.

Earth Quake

After the killings at Columbine, the world looked disapprovingly at a computer game created in Mesquite. Die-hard players would not be moved.

aaaaaaiiiiieeeee!

From Poltergeist to the Steel Eel, Texas has five of the nation’s best new roller coasters. And they’re all a scream.

Evil

How serial killer Rafael Resendez-Ramirez struck fear in the hearts of the men and women of Weimar, a tiny Texas town that will never be the same.

Alone Together

No one denies that there was love at the center of Lady Bird Johnson’s marriage to LBJ. But like Hillary Clinton, she endured quite a bit, spousally speaking, as her husband’s star was on the rise.

The Bingo King Is Dead. Long Live the Bingo King.

When Fast Eddie Garcia was shot to death, San Antonio mourned the loss of not only a man but also a behind-the-scenes power broker at the center of the city’s good ol’ amigo network.

Garden Variety

From antique benches to cast-iron planters, a selective guide to the yard art of your dreams.

CD and Book Reviews

CDs by the Jiménez brothers, the Old 97’s, and Lee Hazlewood; books by Joni Rodgers and Scott Zesch.

Current Affair

Why electricity is a supercharged political issue. Plus: Who cares about the Democrats running for U.S. Senate?

Slime Time!

An Addison snail breeder gets fresh with the world.

Mr. Clean

Steve Earle feels alright.

Race Value

Rating our primary concerns.

Where the Wild Things Are

One of the country’s top photographers traveled around his home state to capture these stunning portraits of exotic animals on display.

Trailing the Field

Texas was supposed to be horse racing’s salvation, a Thoroughbred–loving state with money to burn. So why can’t the sport get out of the gate?

Also-runs

Wacky White House wannabes.

Water Grab

Why farmers and big-city folk are at war over water. Plus: Jane Nelson for comptroller?

Long Shot

Feasting our eyes on a blind team roper.

Not Playing Around

Paving the way for girls in cyberspace.

Sour Notes

A tejano rift widens.

Purple Reign

Sandra Cisneros’ colorful victory.

Dianne Hardy-Garcia

2005 Bum Steer Awards

Rainpower

A rain windfall in the Hill Country

Will Lee

My Choice

How can I be a Christian and support legalized abortion? Tough question, but after weeks of soul- searching, I have an answer.

Wheels of Fortune

For automakers in the U.S. and overseas, Texas is the very best market for the pickup truck. And for Texans, the pickup truck is the very best vehicle—if only for what it says about who we are. Or who we'd like to be.

Divine Secrets of The Alamo Sisterhood

The genteel matriarchs of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas are at war—with each other. And this time it's a no-quarter struggle for the group's heart and soul.

The Voice of America

Is Clear Channel, the San Antonio-based radio behemoth, as patently evil as everyone says? Don't touch that dial.

Perilously Plump

Texans love to say that everything’s bigger here, but when it comes to the waistlines in one in four of our largest cities, that’s nothing to brag about.

A Good Mango Is Hard to Find

Unless you’re Susana Trilling, who taught me how to prepare traditional Oaxacan dishes at her cooking school in Mexico. This month she’ll teach you too—right here in Texas.

The Franchise

Is the Dallas Mavericks' Mark Cuban a pushy billionaire with a lust for publicity, or is he an energetic owner who has saved the team? Do we have to choose?

Stanley Marcus

Mimi Swartz sizes up the legacy of Stanley Marcus.

Henry B. Gonzalez

The life and accomplishments of Henry B. Gonzalez.

Numbers Game

Inside the election's numbers.

Luby's, Inc.

The Texas stock to avoid right now.

Taste for Trouble

When San Antonio restaurateur Mario Cantú died last November, he left behind a legacy of political activism along with fine Mexican fare.

Around the State

Dallas rolls out the red carpet for dance, theater, sports, and opera. Plus: San Antonio puts photographer Kathy Vargas on display; Beaumont gushes about the one hundredth anniversary of Spindletop; Mission juices up its Texas Citrus Fiesta; and East Texas shines under the lights of Broadway.