Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Austin: title, parks)

[wCat]

Originally Posted by 940

I live in CA now but I was home in SA last week visiting my parents. I saw in the newspaper that your mother was back in town for the dedication at the Japanese Tea Garden and there was a picture of her with ex Mayor Lila Cockrell. I remember going to the Tea Garden (Sunken Gardens to me as a school kid) in the 70s on school field trips! Beautiful place and beautiful gardens..your family has left San Antonio quite a legacy and you should be so proud!!

I would have loved to have read that story! Do you have a link? I'll check Mysa.com. Super neat!

[nenkoji]

Originally Posted by wCat

I would have loved to have read that story! Do you have a link? I'll check Mysa.com. Super neat!

Tea returning to Jingu House

Here's the link to the article. Enjoy!!

[nenkoji]

Originally Posted by 940

I live in CA now but I was home in SA last week visiting my parents. I saw in the newspaper that your mother was back in town for the dedication at the Japanese Tea Garden and there was a picture of her with ex Mayor Lila Cockrell. I remember going to the Tea Garden (Sunken Gardens to me as a school kid) in the 70s on school field trips! Beautiful place and beautiful gardens..your family has left San Antonio quite a legacy and you should be so proud!!

-940
Yes we are all very proud of our legacy and you can't imagine how proud and happy my mother is that they are working on the house where she spent her childhood. We hope to return when they finish the reconstruction of her home. We all live in CA too but will head back to San Antonio this next year.

Originally Posted by wCat

Google the Institute of Texan Cultures and check out their photo card file. They have oodles of photos that have been contributed from mostly San Antonio, but all across the state. I would bet they have photos of the Bamboo Room....especially since they are restoring it. You might also try to contact the architect or contractor that is working on the restoration. They may have already done the research and might LOVE to talk to your mother.
One last place would be the Conservation Society in King William. They are all about restoration and obviously conserving our local history. They have a staff architect, librarian and historian....great people to work with and talk to.

wCat,
Thank you for your links. Our family is searching through the family archives and have found many photos. Tom Shelton of the Institute of Texan Cultures has copied them for the their archives as well. Through all of our searches we have yet to find any photos of the Bamboo Room, so we will keep searching. I will check with the Conservation Society in King William and thank you for your help. The family is working closely with the restoration of the house and it is quite exciting. Our family hopes to return to San Antonio when the work on the house is complete. I will post anything new we may find about the Bamboo Room.
Thank you

[940]

Nenkoji-

I'm very happy for you and your family, especially your mother and her siblings. Please let us know how the restoration is going with the Bamboo Room. I, for one, would love to stay informed and hope to return for another visit once restoration is complete!

[wCat]

Originally Posted by nenkoji

Tea returning to Jingu House

Here's the link to the article. Enjoy!!

Nenkoji.....thank you so much for the link. You all must be so proud of this wonderful legacy your family created for San Antonio. Even more so now that the city has taken so much interest in bringing it back to life.

Your family suffered a great deal during the war years. My recollection of the gardens is that they have always been referred to as the Japanese Tea Gardens. The name may have "officially" been changed for a while, but I don't think San Antonians ever accepted the name change. We arrived in SA in 65 and all those years we only knew them as the "Japanese Tea Gardens". It only made sense....don't you think? I'm an avid student of history and preservation. Things seem so much more harmonious when they are restored or preserved. You're mother looks wonderful in the photo. Same age as my mother.

[BudB]

Originally Posted by nenkoji

My mother was born in the home on the grounds of the Japanese Tea Garden (Sunken Gardens) and we have always been welcomed into San Antonio warmly.

Nenkoji, here are a couple old postcard views from the Teahouse/Gardens. I collect old postcards and thot I had one showing the Bamboo Room but am still searching. Are you refering to the stone structure just to the side of the pavilion? If so, then the Chinese family who managed the place thru the 1950s and '60s had a snack bar in there selling ice cream cones among other items. The sky ride, seen in the postcard, that crossed over the area was a spectacular way to view the Gardens from above but it was removed in the '80s I believe. Many thanks for sharing your family history with us and please know that Sunken Gardens has meant a lot to the city and its residents for generations and will now continue to be a very special place for us all.

[hhwolfman]

Hello All. It has been a while. I know I have mentioned on here about having the original Project Terror Intro on Video. Well As a Halloween Present to all of you, SA Monster Boomers, I have just up loaded it to Utube. Happy Halloween. HHW


YouTube - Original San Antonio Project Terror Intro

[nenkoji]

Originally Posted by 940

Nenkoji-

940-
I'm very happy for you and your family, especially your mother and her siblings. Please let us know how the restoration is going with the Bamboo Room. I, for one, would love to stay informed and hope to return for another visit once restoration is complete!

I will definitely keep posting the progress of the restoration and when I find out a date for the reopening, I will post that as well. Our family is already planning on making the trip back for the opening.

Originally Posted by wCat

Nenkoji.....thank you so much for the link. You all must be so proud of this wonderful legacy your family created for San Antonio. Even more so now that the city has taken so much interest in bringing it back to life.

Your family suffered a great deal during the war years. My recollection of the gardens is that they have always been referred to as the Japanese Tea Gardens. The name may have "officially" been changed for a while, but I don't think San Antonians ever accepted the name change. We arrived in SA in 65 and all those years we only knew them as the "Japanese Tea Gardens". It only made sense....don't you think? I'm an avid student of history and preservation. Things seem so much more harmonious when they are restored or preserved. You're mother looks wonderful in the photo. Same age as my mother.

wCat-
The Garden was re-dedicated to my grandmother and the family in 1984 and a good number of family and friends were able to attend the celebration. That is when they installed the bronze story of our family which now rests next to the Chinese Sunken Garden Gate that Dionicio Rodriguez created. It was one of the first times our whole family stayed together in one hotel and it was hysterical. On our visit in March '08 some of the youngest members of the family along with my mom and dad went to see the restoration of the ponds. One of the most touching moments for me was to meet people who had spent many family outings at the garden and who wanted to meet our family. My mother and her younger brother are the two remaining members of the original family who can still travel so you can imagine how happy she is to be able to see the gardens coming back to life. They will keep the Bamboo room as close as possible to what it was back when my mom lived there but the rest of the house will be used for city functions and private parties. I think their plans look good even though it is not as my mother remembers. The outer part of the house will be restored as it was and they will take away the ramps and the public restrooms and relocate them. It is very exciting for us all.
I will keep posting as work progresses. Perhaps you and your mother can join us for the unveiling of the house.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by nenkoji

I will definitely keep posting the progress of the restoration and when I find out a date for the reopening, I will post that as well. Our family is already planning on making the trip back for the opening.




wCat-
The Garden was re-dedicated to my grandmother and the family in 1984 and a good number of family and friends were able to attend the celebration. That is when they installed the bronze story of our family which now rests next to the Chinese Sunken Garden Gate that Dionicio Rodriguez created. It was one of the first times our whole family stayed together in one hotel and it was hysterical. On our visit in March '08 some of the youngest members of the family along with my mom and dad went to see the restoration of the ponds. One of the most touching moments for me was to meet people who had spent many family outings at the garden and who wanted to meet our family. My mother and her younger brother are the two remaining members of the original family who can still travel so you can imagine how happy she is to be able to see the gardens coming back to life. They will keep the Bamboo room as close as possible to what it was back when my mom lived there but the rest of the house will be used for city functions and private parties. I think their plans look good even though it is not as my mother remembers. The outer part of the house will be restored as it was and they will take away the ramps and the public restrooms and relocate them. It is very exciting for us all.
I will keep posting as work progresses. Perhaps you and your mother can join us for the unveiling of the house.

I will look forward to your postings. I would love to be there for the unveiling.
This is all very exciting!

[nenkoji]

Originally Posted by BudB

Nenkoji, here are a couple old postcard views from the Teahouse/Gardens. I collect old postcards and thot I had one showing the Bamboo Room but am still searching. Are you refering to the stone structure just to the side of the pavilion? If so, then the Chinese family who managed the place thru the 1950s and '60s had a snack bar in there selling ice cream cones among other items. The sky ride, seen in the postcard, that crossed over the area was a spectacular way to view the Gardens from above but it was removed in the '80s I believe. Many thanks for sharing your family history with us and please know that Sunken Gardens has meant a lot to the city and its residents for generations and will now continue to be a very special place for us all.

Budb-
Thanks for the great postcards. I remember buying one probably in the '60's when our family took a trip to SA. I keep looking for new postcards but never see any. We have a few that indeed have my Aunt Mary featured that you mentioned in your message. I will reply to that soon.
When the house had the snack bar inside, my mother refused to go in because it upset her too much because that was her home. The public restrooms were formerly her parents bedroom. We had a chance to walk through the house this month before they start the renovations. I had a layout that I drew of my mother's recollections and it was wonderful for her to show us where everything happened in the rooms. The restoration of the house is starting soon and though they will utilize most of the rooms for public functions and have a catering kitchen in the upper floor, the plan is to restore the bamboo room as close to what it was when my grandfather covered the walls in split bamboo. The photos that are missing from our archives and the photos in the Institute of Texan Cultures are of the bamboo room. We don't seem to have any, so if you do have the postcard I would love to see it. I am hoping that maybe other families might have photos of the garden and our family in their archives so we can complete some of the documented history.
Thanks so much for your interest.
nenkoji