Althouse: At the Heroes Hotel...

January 9, 2010

At the Heroes Hotel...

... stand guard here for the night.

52 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...: I'm getting a little bit tired of all these dadgum books stacked up all over the place around here and stuffed in cabinets so I bought three book cases today. They're tall too. They'll take up an entire wall, but at last the books will be in one place. 'Cause ya never know when the mood for a good pop-up story is gonna hit ya.; 1/9/10, 12:09 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Im going to play music ..sin permiso.; 1/9/10, 12:14 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/9/10, 12:21 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: the poetry of this music is.. i like it very much .. if somebody does not like it please let me know and i will not pretend its the second coming.

wv hotatel; 1/9/10, 12:24 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/9/10, 12:34 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sandro - Penumbras.; 1/9/10, 12:42 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sandro - Paris se arrodilla ante ti.; 1/9/10, 12:53 AM
blake said...: Oh, hey. Would you check the basement for me? I think I left my bike there.; 1/9/10, 1:07 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Mi amigo Argentino me dice que Todo el mundo en su patria esta sonando a Sandro "el culo por la culalata". Y que a lo mejor sus videos esten lentos .. base a la tocadera que su muerte a despertado.

Para mi no tuvo que morit para sonar.; 1/9/10, 1:11 AM
Robert J. said...: > stand guard here for the night

We will stand and guard though the angels sleep.; 1/9/10, 1:23 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Y sigo con Sandro - amargado en mis recuerdos.

tengo planes de irme, a la republica.

this is the best Sandro song.. the best!; 1/9/10, 2:56 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sandro de América Por ese Palpitar

this is not his best (in my opinion) but it was popular.; 1/9/10, 3:09 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: que viva Sandro; 1/9/10, 3:16 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: COMO LO HICE YO.

this was a good one; 1/9/10, 3:19 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: El maniqui de nuevo.. y ya viejo.; 1/9/10, 3:27 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I have a couple of Sandros LPs that I need to find on line.. if I dont I'm going to be disappointed.; 1/9/10, 3:33 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I dug up the LP; 1/9/10, 3:35 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sandro Espectacular.. it still as good as new.; 1/9/10, 3:38 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I cant believe it I found it.

Sandro - Tu poesia y mi amor.

i found it.; 1/9/10, 3:42 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: OMG

Sandro de America - Tu espalda y tu cabello.

ya no hay mas cafe.. ya se que te he perdido!; 1/9/10, 3:54 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sandro carajo!

Es el amante

Poecia; 1/9/10, 4:02 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Un classico - I told you I had the best!

Sandro - Sus ojos se cerraron... en mi disco

Es de Carlos Gardel pero Sandro le hizo un gran homenaje.

The song song is about the death of a secret lover.; 1/9/10, 4:12 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: como si fuera poco..

Sandro de America Porque es amor y mucho más

no hay ya tanto corazon para tanto amor!

I had forgoten I had this.; 1/9/10, 4:27 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: this is not well recorded on to the intertubes .. but my OMG if its not one of the best.

Sandro de America Si el amor se va

This song was in a tv soap when i was discovering that i was a male and i remember how the girls just went nuts with this song playing and singing it over and over.; 1/9/10, 4:43 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: btw he wrote all this songs.. he was a poet.; 1/9/10, 4:47 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This song was thought of as kind of 'funerial'. (if that is a word) "funebre" in spanish.

So i remember they would not play it too much on the radio.

Sandro Para Elisa; 1/9/10, 4:57 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: i had forgotten most of these songs.; 1/9/10, 5:02 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sandro has a song about an old couple and waht they do everyday, that i remember it was very touching, and i cant remember the title.; 1/9/10, 5:10 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: its not on the net.; 1/9/10, 5:14 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Cuando existe tanto amor ..

por ahora.; 1/9/10, 5:16 AM
Deb said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/9/10, 5:17 AM
Deb said...: Bob - that was powerful. Thanks.; 1/9/10, 5:17 AM
Unknown said...: Question: How many San Antonio residents does it take to make a diorama of the Battle of the Alamo?

Answer: (Rolling eyes) Apparently ALL of them.; 1/9/10, 5:50 AM
The Drill SGT said...: A bit of trivia. The Alamo is not a National Park or Monument. It is a private monument run by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.; 1/9/10, 6:15 AM
Unknown said...: Yes, and they had to fight like Hell to save it. Much of the old mission that survived the fight was torn down a little over a hundred years ago, including the Low Barracks where Jim Bowie made his last stand (if he had the strength to do it) IIRC. Like a lot of such things, one daughter of Texas read about the demolition, and plans for more, and organized a plan to buy the land.

We were there in mid-March, when it poured every day, and had a chance to see it and the Menger Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt recruited many of the Rough Riders. Likewise, the ground where barbed wire was introduced to the West - where Fuddrucker's is now.

Interesting story. They have a large model of the Alamo at the height of the battle, quite nicely done, in the gift shop. One woman of obviously Mexican descent was showing it to her two little boys, pointing out the Mexican soldiers pouring in over the walls and saying, "And see there? Those are the bad guys." And, in answer to your question, she was definitely pointing to Santa Anna's troops.

I noticed the Mexican population is quite assimilated, but make of that what you will.

If you are in Santone, Ann and Meade, have fun and I hope you have good weather. The Blonde, who doesn't much care for the more Americanized parts of Texas, loved San Antonio and I wished we had more time and better weather to see more of it.

If you get out past the Alamo, a few pictures, please.; 1/9/10, 7:10 AM
The Drill SGT said...: The Menger is worth a trip in itself. I love those old hotels.

as for:

I noticed the Mexican population is quite assimilated, but make of that what you will.

The Daughters aren't racist. If you were on the right side during the war, you were on the right side, they don't care if you were Anglo or of Spanish descent.

If you look at the list of defenders, the first one is a Sergeant named: Juan Abamillo.; 1/9/10, 7:28 AM
Celia Hayes said...: Oh, yes - the Menger is wonderful, especially the older parts.
As a matter of fact, a good number of the Alamo's defenders - to include Almaron Dickenson's cannon crews - were all local Tejano volunteers. Juan Seguin, who was one of the last to take a message from Travis, was the commander of a company of volunteer cavalry - also Tejano - who scouted and covered for Sam Houston's army as they retreated east. It's said sometimes, that Seguin might have been the commander of the Alamo himself, except that he was so much more valuable as a scout, and for his local connections.
I was doing a book event in Goliad (which was the 'other' Alamo) last month, and had a table next to another local author who had a book about the Tejano volunteers during Texas' War for Independence. He was kind of indignant about how they had been overlooked for years.(Fun fact - A good portion of the Tejanos also wanted independence from Santa Anna's Centralistas ... ) Gotta love history, it's usually way more complicated that it seems at first glance.
And speaking of the Alamo, the second battle, to preserve the remainder (chapel and Long Barracks) got really intense and protracted and vicious. Someday, I am going to do a blog post some day about the fight between Clara Driskill and Adina de Zavala...; 1/9/10, 8:41 AM
former law student said...: I noticed the Mexican population is quite assimilated,

Reminds me I love that Mexican polka music (norteno?); 1/9/10, 9:26 AM
vbspurs said...: A bit of trivia. The Alamo is not a National Park or Monument. It is a private monument run by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Nice fact, Drill Sgt! Didn't know.

And I'm glad to see the Daughters of the Republic of Texas are not as marginalised as the DAR, or the other Southern equivalents. I don't think the DAR could sponsor a dog show these days...

Cheers,
Victoria; 1/9/10, 9:46 AM
the gold digger said...: Oh Blake. There's no basement at the Alamo!; 1/9/10, 10:05 AM
somefeller said...: And I'm glad to see the Daughters of the Republic of Texas are not as marginalised as the DAR, or the other Southern equivalents. I don't think the DAR could sponsor a dog show these days...

The DAR has a major concert hall, library and museum (with some of the best genealogical information one can find about many regions of the United States), both of which are on prime real estate in DC. They also have active chapters all over the country. Like many traditional fraternal organizations (like the Masons), they have had challenges with getting younger members, but that has a lot more to do with the
bowling alone phenomenon than it does any kind of social stigma. To claim the DAR couldn't sponsor a dog show is ridiculous and utterly ill-informed. (And by the way, my wife is a DAR member, so I have some familiarity with that group.)

Groups based on Confederate ancestry may have social stigma problems, but that is because such groups (i) glorify a rebellion many if not most Americans have little sympathy for and (ii) there has been a racist tinge to such groups, even in recent years.; 1/9/10, 10:06 AM
somefeller said...: And Celia Hayes is absolutely correct about the involvement of Tejanos in the Texas Revolution. While there was some ethnic and racial tension in the years leading up to the Revolution, those tensions really came to the fore after the Revolution for a lot of reasons, including (i) an influx of Anglo settlers who didn't have the historical ties with the local Latin population, the way the early Anglo settlers did; (ii) the continued attempts of Mexico to retake Texas, which were only settled with the US-Mexican War in the 1840s; and (iii) the sort of standard land grabs and power struggles one finds in any such frontier situations.

My paternal ancestors were Spaniards who settled here in Texas when it was still a Spanish colony. While there certainly were tensions and challenges in the years since then, there never has been any doubt in my family that it was much better for us that we got our land grant on the north side of the Rio Grande than the other side. And this is pretty much the unanimous view among those with similar histories. (One can find those who disagree, much as one can find UFO researchers, fruitarians or nudists in any family tree.); 1/9/10, 10:22 AM
somefeller said...: And get the mango ice cream at the Menger Hotel across the street from the Alamo. I don't care if it's cold outside, it's good and a necessary part of any civilized visit to San Antonio.; 1/9/10, 10:24 AM
traditionalguy said...: The preservation of Scots/Irish culture and fair treatment as equals of all who join in to fight in its defense has for 225 years been the Hero Tradition in the USA. The Alamo is remembered as a great example of the NO SURRENDER motto that leads to victory later. Those men's courage displayed at the Alamo attracted more courageous men to finish up that war. But today the enemies of the USA who suddenly occupy our White House are bowing and surrendering to everyone they can find to listen to their fantasies, which includeof our own industrial suicide on the alter of Capping CO2 for the sudden wealth of Traitors. There are no such things as the fantasy of Green Jobs being offered like a lollypop to a child by its kidnapper.; 1/9/10, 10:34 AM
Unknown said...: The people in (i) were known as GTTs (Gone To Texas) and many were regarded as rather shiftless back home - one of them was Sam Houston, something of an opportunist, in my view.

somefeller said...

...

Groups based on Confederate ancestry may have social stigma problems, but that is because such groups (i) glorify a rebellion many if not most Americans have little sympathy for

Don't say that east of the Mississippi or south of the Ohio (in some cases, north, either); 1/9/10, 11:03 AM
X said...: Go, stranger, and to the Spartans tell
That here, obedient to their laws, we fell.; 1/9/10, 11:10 AM
Big Mike said...: I spent quite a bit of time in San Antonio earlier in my career. They saved the mission building and a portion of one of the barracks, and there is a large park enclosed by a stone wall. But during the Alamo battle in 1836 the area enclosed by the stone wall was outside the fort. The back of the mission church faced outside, and the street that is now in front of the Alamo was actually inside the fort.

And the Alamo fortifications were covered a much larger space back in 1836 -- too large to be defended by about 182 men against an organized army 13 times their size. The perimeter walls were supposed to have stretched a full quarter mile and the grounds were roughly 3 acres in size.; 1/9/10, 11:31 AM
Big Mike said...: Fortifications covered, not "were covered."

Some day I'll figure out how to proofread my own stuff.; 1/9/10, 11:34 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Most people don't know (although things may have changed since I was last in the Alamo in '66) that the only memorial (at that time) from a foreign nation inside is one from the Japanese--who know something about "last stands" and fighting to the death. Interesting, isn't it?

Funny comment, tho not PC today: We were in plt tng at Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, and a bunch of us were up in SA for the weekend and were standing across the street waiting for the light to change to cross to the Alamo side. One of the guys looked around from side to side surveying the scene and said casually: "I don't know why they even bothered to fight to the death--"they" own it all now anyway." LOL. And that was back in '66 before the REAL Mexican invasion had taken place!; 1/9/10, 11:36 AM
kjbe said...: My paternal grandmother was a DAR. Maybe I should get off my butt and look into it...; 1/9/10, 11:46 AM
X said...: the monument is on the Capitol grounds in Austin, no doubt made of the same pink granite as the Capitol from Granite Mountain near Marble Falls.; 1/9/10, 12:20 PM
Celia Hayes said...: Big Mike is correct - the back side of the Alamo and a bit of the gardens next to it and to the left (as you look at the chapel from the front) was a pair of enclosures, with low walls and lightly defended. IIRC, they were cattle pens at the time of the siege. By the time of the 1873 map of San Antonio, that area is an orchard, or a grove of some sort. Today, that area is a nice garden, and a grove of trees. The apse end of the Alamo chapel (which was roofless) and faced outwards, was filled by an earth ramp and a cannon-mount.
The main plaza today, in front of the Alamo was what the line of fortified buildings ran around. Their foundations are all under slightly more modern buildings, roughly along edge of the modern plaza. Some of those foundations are exposed, just in front of the pocket-garden and fountain in front of the Hyatt Hotel. Travis, BTW, died on the rampart where the Post Office stands today.
And another odd curiosity? The whole Alamo complex later became a US Army post. The chapel was a warehouse, for years - and the plaza was a wagon-park. It was the resupply depot for all the Army forts in the Southwest - until the Army moved to a new and less crowded establishment at Fort Sam Houston.
Why, yes, I am a bit of a wonk about all this. I write historical novels and have to know about it all, so that shouldn't surprise anyone. ;-); 1/9/10, 6:45 PM