San Antonio: Five NBA Championships, Texas First Modern Art Museum and a 300-Year-Old Spring
Ride the Iron Rattler roller coaster through a limestone quarry at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, view post-impressionist masterworks in Marion McNay mansion estate that became Texas first modern art museum, trace the San Antonio River back to its Edwards Aquifer springs in Brackenridge Park where the city was founded in 1718, hear conjunto accordion evolved from German immigrant music at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, visit the zoo carved from a limestone quarry beside the Japanese Tea Garden created in 1917, and celebrate five decades of Spurs excellence from Tim Duncan to the present.
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SeaWorld San Antonio and Theme Parks
SeaWorld San Antonio, opened in 1988 on a 250-acre site on the northwest side of the city, is one of three SeaWorld parks in the United States and draws approximately 2 million visitors annually. Like its San Diego counterpart, the San Antonio park modified its orca program following the Blackfish documentary and transitioned away from theatrical orca shows. Six Flags Fiesta Texas, a regional theme park in a former limestone quarry on the northwest side of the city, features roller coasters including the Iron Rattler wooden hybrid coaster rated among the best in the country. San Antonio is one of the most theme-park-dense cities in the United States, with both parks, the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch drive-through safari, the Schlitterbahn New Braunfels waterpark, and Aquatica San Antonio water park within an hour drive. Theme park tourism is a significant segment of the San Antonio visitor economy.
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McNay Art Museum
The McNay Art Museum at 6000 North New Braunfels Avenue, housed in the 24-room Spanish Colonial Revival mansion and estate of Marion Koogler McNay and opened in 1954, was the first museum of modern art in Texas and houses a collection of over 22,000 works with particular strength in post-impressionist and early 20th-century European painting, American modernist prints, and contemporary works. Marion McNay was an art teacher and collector who left her estate and collection to found the museum. The museum is set in 23 acres of grounds with outdoor sculpture. The theater arts collection documenting American stage design and costume is one of the most comprehensive in the country. The Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, donated by Robert LB Tobin, includes over 30,000 objects documenting Broadway and opera design. Admission is free on Thursdays. The museum cafe in the courtyard is popular for lunch.
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San Antonio River Source and Springs
The San Antonio River, which flows through downtown on the River Walk, originates from springs in Brackenridge Park at the Incarnate Word University area and flows 240 miles to the Gulf of Mexico at San Antonio Bay. The river supported the Spanish colonial missions and the city founded in 1718 because the spring flow was reliable. The Blue Hole at San Pedro Springs in San Pedro Springs Park, the oldest public park in the United States with documented continuous use since 1730, was the primary water source for the earliest settlers. San Antonio sits above the Edwards Aquifer, a karst limestone aquifer system that provides the municipal water supply for 2 million people across the region. The aquifer is one of the most productive in the United States but is under stress from urban growth and periodic drought. Edwards Aquifer Authority manages pumping levels and has acquired conservation lands over recharge zones.
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Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center on Guadalupe Street in the Westside neighborhood, founded in 1980, is the primary institution for Chicano and Latino arts and culture in San Antonio and one of the most significant such organizations in the United States. The center presents Tejano music, conjunto, dance, visual arts, film, and community programming in a building on the same street where conjunto music developed in the early 20th century through the combination of German accordion brought by immigrant workers with Mexican musical traditions. Flaco Jimenez, the Grammy-winning conjunto accordionist, is among the most celebrated musicians from San Antonio. The center hosts the Tejano Conjunto Festival, the largest festival dedicated to conjunto music in the world, held annually in Rivas Park in May. The Guadalupe Theater presents performances year-round in a restored 1940s neighborhood movie house.
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San Antonio Zoo and Natural History
The San Antonio Zoo in Brackenridge Park, founded in 1914 and one of the oldest zoos in the United States, houses approximately 750 species and is particularly noted for its collection of hoofstock, fish, and birds. The zoo occupies a former limestone quarry, and the cliff walls of the quarry create naturalistic enclosures for certain animals. The zoo is adjacent to the Witte Museum, the city natural history and science museum founded in 1926, which houses extensive Texas natural history collections including dinosaur fossils found in the state, Native Texas cultures, and the HEB Body Adventure health science exhibition. Brackenridge Park itself is a 343-acre urban park along the San Antonio River with picnic grounds, a miniature railroad, and the Japanese Tea Garden, created in 1917 in an abandoned cement quarry and designed by Jingu Sam as superintendent from 1917 to 1942 before he and his family were interned during World War II.
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San Antonio Spurs and Basketball Legacy
The San Antonio Spurs, founded in Dallas as the Dallas Chaparrals in 1967 before moving to San Antonio in 1973, have won five NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014, and under coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford built one of the most consistently excellent franchises in professional basketball history spanning over two decades. Tim Duncan, the Virgin Islands native who played all 19 of his NBA seasons in San Antonio from 1997 to 2016, is widely regarded as the greatest power forward in basketball history. David Robinson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Duncan constituted a core of four Hall of Fame players under one coach over a sustained period with no comparable precedent. The Spurs deep connection to the San Antonio community, modest media market, and consistent excellence in contrast to larger market teams has given the franchise a distinctive identity and a strong local fan base in a city that otherwise lacks major professional sports.