San antonio gay bars riverwalk
our front room
OPENED IN NOVEMBER , PINK SHARK FEATURES TWO UNIQUE SPACES DESIGNED TO MAKE EVERY VISIT A ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCE.
LOCATED IN A QUAINT & HISTORIC BUILDING IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN SAN ANTONIO AT MARKET AND COMMERCE ST.
Step into our vibrant front room where you can hop on one of our playful shark sculptures, settle into our oversized chair framed by a lush moss backdrop, or snap a photo with our 'HELLO FROM SAN ANTONIO' shark wall. Best of all, experience our SHARK HOUR from 3p to 8p with cent oysters until 6p daily.
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For those craving a more intimate, exclusive vibe, our speakeasy is the perfect space. Tucked away behind a prudent entrance - if you can find it - we extend cocktails, cozy seating, and an ambiance that oozes mystery. But it's not all quiet vibes, we host DJs, live song, karaoke, & themed events.
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PARKING GUIDE HERE
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SEARCH BY ADDRESS BOX. THIS PROVIDES YOU
WITH OPTIONS FOR GARAGE PARKING ONLY.
WE DO NO
"Out long enough to be historic": Racialized Gay Space in Pre-Stonewall San Antonio
To Historicize the Gay Bar
The origins of San Antonio's two nicknames—Alamo City and Military City, USA—lie in the city's history as a contested colonial space and as abode to one of the largest concentrations of military bases in the United States. Founded by Spanish explorers and missionaries on the lands of the Payaya Indians in , San Antonio de Béxar was capital of the Spanish and later Mexican colonial province called Tejas. After its independence from Spain, the newly established Mexican government began offering free land grants to Anglo-American settlers, who primarily took up residence in lands northeast of San Antonio. These Anglo settlers, who identified as Texians, and Hispanic settlers, who identified as Tejanos, fought against the Mexican Army led by President General Antonio López de Santa Anna during the Texas Revolution: the conflict from which the phrase "Remember the Alamo!" comes.
Sparked by the Battle of Gonzales on October 2, , the Texas Revolution resulted from dec
Ultimate LGBTQ+ Guide to San Antonio
With one of the largest populations of LGBTQ+ parents in the US, the city has a prospering LGBTQ+ community, over a dozen nightlife options, great food, and an exciting drag scene.
Traveling to Texas? Check out Matador’s Texas accommodations guides:
A brief history of the LGBTQ+ scene in San Antonio
According to The University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries, drag culture in the Alamo City goes back to the early s.
In the s, Texas female impersonator Ray Bourbon’s Hotcha Hinton was a guest performer at San Antonio cabarets and eventually headlined her own shows. Drag queen performances emerged all over the US because of prohibition, and this surge was known as the “pansy craze.” The UTSA Libraries also noted that while the “craze” only lasted into the early s for most cities, San Antonio remained captivated with drag queens and the performance scene survived — even after the war.
The following decade saw drag queens added to the iconic event lineup — more about tha
However, these narratives conceal important facts about LGBT+ life in San Antonio in the early s. While I’m not here to challenge the belief that Veltman and Elder were instrumental in shaping San Antonio queer life or to diminish the importance of the legal battle and its outcome, I would love to offer a more nuanced account of the court case and a more holistic approach to this contentious time (–’74) in the history of LGBT+ life in Texas. I dream to elucidate some of the complexity of queer urban politics in South Texas and, in doing so, to broaden our understanding of a larger swath of that life: that of Southern, Black and brown, and noncoastal urban queer experiences in the era between Stonewall () and the AIDS epidemic of the s.
Complicating the Narrative
The court case was a small part of a long history ofharassment by MPs after establishments were placed on the U.S. military’s off-limits list. After the SA Country was placed on this list and police harassment began, Veltman and Elder challenged this injustice in a military tribunal. In doing so, they fought for LGBT+ rig