What exactly gives SA it's "small town" feel? (Dallas: living, restaurants)

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by abelanthony

Well, to begin with, I couldn't help but think about when I first moved to SA in 2003. The first few weeks, I made it a point to become familiar with every single part of San Antonio, mostly because I hate being lost, haha. Anyway, I remember finally venturing downtown and thinking to myself how urban parts seemed to be. A few months later, I went back with some other friends and we all discussed how unlike the rest of the city downtown feels. I'd say San Antonio has a lot of distinct features that could make it seem like a small town. Physically speaking anyway, I wouldn't say that San Antonio feels like one small town, but rather a collective group of small towns, no doubt an inherent part of our sprawl. Just driving around last night, I noticed so many of the same looking strip centers with the same types of stores and I couldn't help but think of only a few years ago when you actually had to leave your neighborhood to get things done. Now, it seems like if you don't want to leave your neighborhood, then you really don't have to. This is especially true in the Northside where you can literally live, work, shop, eat, go out, etc. all in a shopping center or two, so its no surprise to me when I take friends to other parts of town and they're looking at me like, "Where the heck are we"? Besides new development, even older development isn't decidedly very urban. Even in our downtown neighborhoods, a majority of residential real estate is single family properties with spacious lots and the overall population concentration in our city core is not high. I personally think it's great and I'd like to see some more nice redevelopment in areas like Tobin and Beacon Hill, but I can be patient.

As far as statistics go, compared to other Texas cities, we have a much lower population density than say, Dallas or Houston, and while we're more on par with Austin in that regard, you can't really compare the two because of the massive concrete jungle that is the University of Texas flagship, our state's captiol and other government offices, The Drag on Guadalupe, Sixth St. and the wild nightlife, countless lofts on S. Congress, etc. all smack in the middle of downtown, whereas we have city offices, some businesses, the Riverwalk, and a few small, beautiful universities in the immediate area. We have a pretty skyline, but there is just less hustle and bustle in our most urban parts than in a city half our population. Speaking of population and concentration, etc., San Antonio is literally one of the largest cities in the United States just by shear size, something over 400 square miles and we don't have a high population density at all. Cities of comparable size like Los Angeles have three times as many people in the same amount of land. Chicago takes up half as much land as San Antonio, yet has twice as many people. Philli has a similar population with just a THIRD amount of land, and so on. Before you go and say something about Houston, while it's definitely another example of sprawl, it's also home to thriving downtown communities, the largest medical center in the world, home to some of the world's top companies, a crucial seaport, high international population, and it's generally considered a global city (gamma).

Culturally speaking, I've noticed strong family ties in SA more than most other cities I've lived in or visited. While we definitely have a strong economy that attracts people from all over the globe, this city has some deep roots and hundreds of thousands of San Antonians have been here all their lives, their parents are from here, their grandparents are from here, etc. Since the 80's, our population has doubled, since the 50's and 60's, we've tripled almost quadrupled in population. Who here remembers San Antonio when it WASNT one of the biggest cities in the US? That's the point though. I think there's just a smaller town mentality for many in San Antonio, only because a lot of people were here when we weren't that big of a city, when the city ended at the first loop, before there were talks of a second, much less THIRD loop around the city. On the flipside, our neighbor city Austin has the notorious reputation of importing people from all over the place, especially Californians in the 90's who many native Austinites still insist seriously changed the culture of the city. Not so in San Antonio. So many family traditions (think, Fiesta) still play a huge role in this city and family ties are what keep most people here. Even in my own office, I'm only one of two who isn't from here and who doesn't have family in the SA metro area. I'm also thinking of the influence of general Texan and Mexican culture on our city's overall lifestyle and pace of life, friendliness, etc. I've gotten too off track here...there's more I could discusss, but you get the idea.

Austin more urban than San Antonio? What a laugh. San Antono's historic urban core much more developed. San Antonio has the sixth largest downtown population in the U.S. The shear scope of the Riverwalk and it's expansion pretty much tops anything you will find in other downtowns in Texas.


S.A's downtown has more historical loft-condo conversions. Austin has more of the new construction.

Austin 700k almost 300 square miles.
S.A 1.4 million 333 square miles. I wouldn't count the far south side which was annexed a few years ago, mostly low density suburban population.
San Antonio is also more dense than Dallas.
380 square miles 1.2 million to San Antonio's nearly 1.4 million.

[mikey1984]

San Antonio and Ft worth have the busiest downtowns in Texas. Austin's downtown isn't very lively during the day but busy on weekend nights. San Antonio by far the most active, Houston and Dallas much less active.

[stoneclaw]

Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio

Austin more urban than San Antonio? What a laugh. San Antono's historic urban core much more developed. San Antonio has the sixth largest downtown population in the U.S. The shear scope of the Riverwalk and it's expansion pretty much tops anything you will find in other downtowns in Texas.


S.A's downtown has more historical loft-condo conversions. Austin has more of the new construction.

Austin 700k almost 300 square miles.
S.A 1.4 million 333 square miles. I wouldn't count the far south side which was annexed a few years ago, mostly low density suburban population.
San Antonio is also more dense than Dallas.
380 square miles 1.2 million to San Antonio's nearly 1.4 million.

not to nitpick you but where are you getting your figures? San Antonio has 400 sq miles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio,_Texas

[mikey1984]

in 2000 the city covered 330 at 1.2 million people, the city annexed 90 + square miles in a far southern section that added land but areas with low poluation density. The area annexed for the City South project, a area projected to grow to 250,000.

[Schaertl]

I've lived in a small town (20,000) and I've lived in a big city (2,500,000)

There are two glaring items San Antonio lacks that keep it a "small town"

1. Lack of diversity is what makes San Antonio feel like a small town. The Medical Center is the exception.

2. Lack of population density (people per square mile)

These two items are the root of the problem or our saving grace.

[Chaka]

I've lived in much smaller towns (40,000) and bigger cities (10 million), and a few in between.

San Antonio does indeed feel like a small town to me, without a lot of the small town mentality (it exists, but I don't experience it much). Hard to say why, part of it is the neighborhood feel, part of it is that everywhere I go in town I see the same people.

FWIW, I think Chicago has a similar feel - very neighborhood oriented, which gives it a small town in the big city feel.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Schaertl

1. Lack of diversity is what makes San Antonio feel like a small town. The Medical Center is the exception.

I think you have a point there,
but I think is actually the low percentage of foreign born population (mostly "townies") at least compared to Austin, Dallas and Houston.

Another reason people might say "San Antonio has a small town feel"
might be the fact that there's almost no african-american population.
Something that you see a lot in small towns in the Midwest.

[mikey1984]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I think you have a point there,
but I think is actually the low percentage of foreign born population (mostly "townies") at least compared to Austin, Dallas and Houston.

Another reason people might say "San Antonio has a small town feel"
might be the fact that there's almost no african-american population.
Something that you see a lot in small towns in the Midwest.

Isn't the black population close to 100,000?

[miche111e]

?????

[terryandgerry]

I second that Michelle.