Is San Antonio forgotten in Texas? (Houston, Dallas: quality of life, live in, moving to)

[imaterry78259]

San Antonio is a humble underrated city.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by trademark0013

San Antonio isn't forgotten, just overlooked. What makes San Antonio a great city is the people and the culture which you really have to be a part of or surrounded by for some period of time to experience. From the outside looking in, it's not special. As a transplant, SA felt super antique and dusty to me when I first got here. I didn't truly appreciate it's beauty for what it was until later. Dallas, Houston, and Austin have way more appeal and coolness factors about them, but none of them beat SA's charm.

I like to think of Houston, Dallas and Austin as supermodel girls (Austin being the alternative tatted up one lol). They are hot and sexy and everyone does a double take looking at them, but there isn't as much substance in being with them. San Antonio isn't the hottest or sexiest when compared but she is attractive in her own right and her personality blows the rest out of the water. That metaphor isn't to say that the other cities lack character or substance (Houston is my side chick <3), but you get what I'm trying to say.

Also, the other cities definitely promote themselves and put their positives and attractions on display. San Antonio doesn't do that, but you can find hidden gems that are worth promoting all the time. I'm also really happy that SA doesn't promote itself because then it would lose what makes it SA in the same way people from Austin feel they are losing their city.

Then why is it the most visited city in the state with nearly 40 million annual visitors? This makes it one of the most popular destinations in the country.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by SweethomeSanAntonio

Then why is it the most visited city in the state with nearly 40 million annual visitors? This makes it one of the most popular destinations in the country.

Because many of those are in state visitors. The high populations of Houston and DFW give San Antonio a boost. San Antonio doesn’t have the population to reverse the same boost.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Every major destination in this country is going to attract a significant amount if not the highest numbers from the state they are located in. San Antonio only follows Houston in Texas for international visitors.

[BillyH]

[quote=dallasgoldrush;48539533]Basically This ^

I think San Antonio has always gotten less recognition than Dallas and Houston, but it was still the clear #3 city in Texas. Then little brother Austin grew up to be really charming and cool, and basically pushed San Antonio aside. In terms of non-Texans' perceptions of the state I'd say Austin is now the most popular city in Texas nationwide. I've known multiple out-of-state residents who would jump at the chance to visit Austin but immediately shut down any suggestion that other cities in Texas might also be worth a visit. The thing is Dallas and Houston are both such alpha cities economically that even a great deal of bad press doesn't stop them from being culturally relevant. San Antonio on the other hand doesn't seem to have found an effective way to compete with Austin.


Because it doesn't need to compete, it's still one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.

[ErrorDetected]

San Antonio does seem to be the neglected step-child, doesn't it? Higher rates of poverty, ...and all the stats and accoutrements that come with that (I'll spare you the list!). Sadly, my hometown has lost some of that "Keep San Antonio Lame (...Humble / 'Real' / Affordable)" vibe in these last 14 years that I've been away.

The Strip now has million dollar condos nearby, I remember being able to afford a 600 / month Victorian on Elmira! The silos @ Blue Star are now condos, and etc. Worse yet the development is all from outsiders
and lacks any sort of rudiment of San Antonio culture. It's all New Yorkers, Californians and the like...who will move on with their investment the second they're not making money.

Heck, you can't even get an hour of free parking in the downtown library and the Book Cellar is crowded! *Sigh* I remember going there and being the only one! In the whole Book Cellar! Ah well...times change. It's a never-ending thing. Apparently, Woodlawn is the 'new spot'?

They keep talking about an "Austin-San Antonio Megaregion" but it still takes an hour and a half to drive there and many San Antonians don't bother. They keep talking about a light rail between Austin - SA, but I think the real estate class of Austin wouldn't like that very much.

So it's a pretty provincial town, truth be told. Takes a day to drive to the edge of Texas and...there's just not that much at the end of that drive anyway? New Orleans? Denver, maybe? Thus the moniker "Biggest Little City in America" (sorry, Reno!) (That's what some DJ on Kiss 99.5 used to say all the time at any rate! lol)

"Census Bureau: San Antonio still poorest major U.S. metro but poverty rate declines"

I think Austin sort of draws many / most of the creative class away. It's sort of just one big ol sprawling blob at this point, unaware that any place (other than LA, which every 3rd person you meet here will have visited at some point in their lives) exists!
I mean name me one good thing that's come out of this sweltering armpit of a city besides Christopher Cross, Butthole Surfers and....um...and hmm...uh..Carol Burnett? Haha, I kid. Kinda. Only kinda. lol.
"Musicians from San Antonio"
Because of the lack of comparison, with even Austin for heaven's sakes! Only an hour and half away!, the local 'talent' seem to take themselves very, very seriously and when you've grown up in the same neighborhood and your circle of friends has been the same for 40 years, there's not a lot of that "openness to (new) experience" that Louie Goldberg speaks about? I dunno.

What do I know, right?

Anyways, that's my opinion. People from the Valley seem to think very highly of it? lol It's cheap?? Not much is expected from you? "It's not a bad place if you don't mind being alone", as a friend put it. Move away though and people think you're putting on airs, so there seems to be a sort of "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" because many here are too poor to travel, have never been out of state, and resent you for comparing SA with...any other place, really! lol.

Not sure what else recommends people to this place? Supposedly, the crime isn't all that bad...but again, I think there's some data magic and funny numbers going on there. Who knows though?

Could be worse.

[ErrorDetected]

This is ten+ years old but may be of some use to someone:

"Alaska apparently isn’t much good at hanging on to its native sons and daughters. Just 28% of adults born there still live there, placing it last among the 50 states on this measure of population “stickiness.”

Texas, by contrast, knows how to hold ’em. More than three-quarters of adults born in Texas still live there, making the Lone Star State the nation’s stickiest."

"Magnet or Sticky?: A State-by-State Typology" (Pew Research, 2009)

[NewTexico76]

I don't think San Antonio is forgotten (it has the Alamo after all), but for a city its size, it has a remarkably low profile.

Then again, Fort Worth is even more forgotten as a city in its own right...not just the tail end of "DFW."

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by ErrorDetected

This is ten+ years old but may be of some use to someone:


"Magnet or Sticky?: A State-by-State Typology" (Pew Research, 2009)

Would be cool if we could see these results by city. I would be willing to bet San Antonio has the lowest number out of any of the 5 big cities.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by ErrorDetected

San Antonio does seem to be the neglected step-child, doesn't it? Higher rates of poverty, ...and all the stats and accoutrements that come with that (I'll spare you the list!). Sadly, my hometown has lost some of that "Keep San Antonio Lame (...Humble / 'Real' / Affordable)" vibe in these last 14 years that I've been away.

The Strip now has million dollar condos nearby, I remember being able to afford a 600 / month Victorian on Elmira! The silos @ Blue Star are now condos, and etc. Worse yet the development is all from outsiders
and lacks any sort of rudiment of San Antonio culture. It's all New Yorkers, Californians and the like...who will move on with their investment the second they're not making money.

Heck, you can't even get an hour of free parking in the downtown library and the Book Cellar is crowded! *Sigh* I remember going there and being the only one! In the whole Book Cellar! Ah well...times change. It's a never-ending thing. Apparently, Woodlawn is the 'new spot'?

They keep talking about an "Austin-San Antonio Megaregion" but it still takes an hour and a half to drive there and many San Antonians don't bother. They keep talking about a light rail between Austin - SA, but I think the real estate class of Austin wouldn't like that very much.

So it's a pretty provincial town, truth be told. Takes a day to drive to the edge of Texas and...there's just not that much at the end of that drive anyway? New Orleans? Denver, maybe? Thus the moniker "Biggest Little City in America" (sorry, Reno!) (That's what some DJ on Kiss 99.5 used to say all the time at any rate! lol)

"Census Bureau: San Antonio still poorest major U.S. metro but poverty rate declines"

I think Austin sort of draws many / most of the creative class away. It's sort of just one big ol sprawling blob at this point, unaware that any place (other than LA, which every 3rd person you meet here will have visited at some point in their lives) exists!
I mean name me one good thing that's come out of this sweltering armpit of a city besides Christopher Cross, Butthole Surfers and....um...and hmm...uh..Carol Burnett? Haha, I kid. Kinda. Only kinda. lol.
"Musicians from San Antonio"
Because of the lack of comparison, with even Austin for heaven's sakes! Only an hour and half away!, the local 'talent' seem to take themselves very, very seriously and when you've grown up in the same neighborhood and your circle of friends has been the same for 40 years, there's not a lot of that "openness to (new) experience" that Louie Goldberg speaks about? I dunno.

What do I know, right?

Anyways, that's my opinion. People from the Valley seem to think very highly of it? lol It's cheap?? Not much is expected from you? "It's not a bad place if you don't mind being alone", as a friend put it. Move away though and people think you're putting on airs, so there seems to be a sort of "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" because many here are too poor to travel, have never been out of state, and resent you for comparing SA with...any other place, really! lol.

Not sure what else recommends people to this place? Supposedly, the crime isn't all that bad...but again, I think there's some data magic and funny numbers going on there. Who knows though?

Could be worse.

Very interesting prospective!