Photos Courtesy of
Albert Flores

The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, the Westside Preservation Alliance and the Historic Westside Residents’ Association Hosted the 14th Annual Paseo por El Westside, a cultural and historic preservation community gathering on the Westside of San Antonio on Saturday, May 6 FREE and open to the public.

Paseo celebrates, preserves and honors the places, history and the tangible and intangible cultura of San Antonio’s historic Westside. Recover cultural memory, see the beauty and surviving architecture, and help us preserve what remains in the historic Westside by joining us in play, storytelling, and practice of traditions at the 14th Annual Paseo por El Westside.

For more than 20 years, we have worked to preserve historic structures and promote cultural and historic preservation in San Antonio’s Westside including but not limited to La Gloria (2001-2002), Lerma’s Nite Club (2010), Casa Maldonado (2008-2011), Univision (2013), Hays St. Bridge (2011-2019), Basila Frocks (2013-14), the Alazan Courts (2015-2021) and the hundreds of casitas that are being demolished or threatened with demolition.

As part of National Historic Preservation Month, Paseo por El Westside offers Westside and San Antonio residents and visitors alike, walking tours of the historic westside, a neighborhood that has always been portrayed as the “bad side of town,” and shares the history through its architecture, culture, sacred spaces, and political struggles such as the struggle against the destruction of our casitas and the displacement of our gente.

MUSIC STAGE/PERFORMANCE LINE UP:

• 11 AM: Henry Gomez & Mariachi Esperanza
• 12 PM: Conjunto Heritage Taller
• 12:45 PM: Eddie “Lalo” Torres
• 1:40 PM: Azul Barrientos
• 2:20 PM: Belen Escobedo “Panfilo’s Güera”

POETRY
READINGS BY:
Teatro de Esperanza – Rachel Delgado • Mildred De Long • Roze Livar • Jackie Velez • Mary B. Younger • Hope Garza • Dennise Frausto • Victoria Fennel • Alexandra Xexilia