Neighborhoods of San Antonio - South Side

This area is located south of Downtown. The South Side is characterized as a predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods, upwards of about 85 to 97 percent. Immediately south of Cesar Chavez Boulevard along South Presa/South Saint Mary's/South Alamo streets and, more recently, South Flores is a district of Downtown San Antonio known as Southtown. Southtown includes the King William Historic District, where the writer Sandra Cisneros has a home, and the Lavaca neighborhood, as well as the warehouse and loft conversions of Blue Star Contemporary Art Center along South Flores/Probandt/Cevallos streets. Once labeled Texas' most eccentric neighborhood by Texas Monthly magazine, Southtown is known for its diverse community, art galleries, restaurants, and Victorian era homes. There is a heavy concentration of resident artists and contemporary art spaces, such as those found on emerging South Flores. Restaurants and bars in Southtown include Bar America, Blue Star Brewing Company (adjacent to Blue Star Contemporary Art Center), Rosario's, La Tuna, El Mirador, The Friendly Spot, and The Monterey. Art spaces and galleries include Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, UTSA Satellite Space, San Antonio Art League, SAY Si!, Joan Grona Gallery, David Shelton Gallery, Cactus Bra Space, Three Walls Gallery, Justice Works, REM Gallery, San Angel Folk Art, Stone Metal Press, and Fiber Artspace. On the first Thursday of the month the serious area art galleries have openings. On the first Friday of every month, Blue Star essentially acts as the hub of the Downtown event known as First Friday. A diverse crowd of art lovers can visit galleries, art spaces, vintage stores, and street vendors selling art and jewelry, all while listening to live music. Second Saturday is usually on the following weekend after First Friday but sometimes falls on the very next day. Second Saturday is a monthly showcase of the area commonly known as SoFlo (a trendy abbreviation for the South Flores street where it is located) also known by its inhabitants as the South Flores Arts District. The area is only a few blocks South of the Blue Star District but is popular for those who want a less crowded environment than the one found at First Friday. Art galleries include One9Zero6, FL!GHT, LoneStar Studios, Salon Mijangos, Gallista Gallery, and Triangle Project Space. Artists in the area with studios include Andy Benavides, Justin Parr, Ed Saavedra, Zane Lewis, Thomas Cummins, and Dario Robleto. Once a year in the Fall, the S.M.A.R.T fair is an annual festival held to support the various arts in San Antonio.

Also on the south side of the city is Texas State Highway Loop 13 more commonly known as Military Drive. Loop 13 served as the cities primary loop before Interstate 410 was constructed. Military Drive links many of the city's military facilities on the south side such as Lackland Air Force Base, Kelly Field Annex the former Kelly Air Force Base, Stinson Municipal Airport, and Brooks City-Base formerly Brooks Air Force Base before turning into W.W. White Rd. which heads north becoming Farm to Market Road 78 leading to Randolph Air Force Base in Universal City, Texas. A huge growth in the south side came when Toyota decided to build a manufacturing plant that produces the Toyota Tundra and more recently Toyota Tacoma pick-up trucks, on the far south side near Texas State Highway 16 and Interstate 410 interchange. Most of the south side's shopping centers are located on Military Drive near major intersections. Interstate 35 & Southwest Military Drive, South Park Mall which is anchored by such stores such as Macy's, Sears, Bealls (Texas) and J.C. Penny. Along the intersection of Interstate 37 & South New Braunfels, The McCreless Market Shopping Center formally McCreless Mall which is an open air shopping center anchored by H-E-B Plus!, Bealls (Texas), and a 16 screen Cinemark Theaters. The Southeast Military Drive and IH-37 corridor is home to City-Base Landing that has such stores as Walmart Supercenter, H-E-B, Target, and Best Buy. City-Base landing West is also the home of a brand new state of the art Mission Trail Baptist Hospital that opened in 2011, the first new hospital on the south side in nearly forty years. Another new addition is the brand new Mission Branch Library on Roosevelt Avenue near the San Jose Mission. This library was built on the site of the old Mission Drive-In which was the last drive-in theater in the city for many years. The drive-in was recently remodeled until it was vandalized and was deemed too expensive to reopen. A single theater is still preserved in its memory.

The South Side is home to Palo Alto College and the newly opened Texas A&M University-San Antonio. Before the beginning of this decade many of the city's young population would cruise "Military". Many classic cars and lowriders would drive close to the 35 intersection and muscle cars and import street racers would hang out close to the 37 intersection along the main entrance of what was once the main gate of Brooks A.F.B. The south side is predominantly Hispanic especially in its inner city neighborhoods such as Harlandale, Palm Heights, Columbia Heights, Hot Wells, Highland Hills, Indian Creek, Valley Hi, and Palo Alto. Four out of five of the city's historic missions are located on the south side along the San Antonio River besides the Alamo. They are San Jose, Concepcion, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada. The River Walk is also extending into the south side and can now be seen all the way into Concepcion Park and is continuing to grow further outwards towards Military Drive. San Antonio's famous "Ghost Tracks" is located in the cities McCreless Meadows neighborhood near the intersection of Villaman Rd. and Shane. An old tale that a school bus was in an accident many years ago and a group of children were supposedly all killed. A phenomenon is supposed to happen when your vehicle is put in neutral with the ignition off, the vehicle begins to roll up hill crossing the tracks all on its own. It is said that the children's ghosts are pushing your vehicle out of the way of a passing train. Many people put talcum powder all over their vehicle and fingerprints will begin to show up after the tracks are crossed. All the streets located in the neighboring neighborhood are named after what is supposedly named after all of the children that were killed there long ago. The southern part of the city does not extend as far outward towards Texas State Highway Loop 1604 like much of the far north side does. Much of the city's far south side (outside loop 410) remains unincorporated and rural, although new neighborhoods, such as Mission del Lago, are uprising. The suburb of Elmendorf, Texas sits along the south side's two main lakes, Victor Braunig Lake and Calaveras Lake (Texas).