North Main Avenue Archives - San Antonio Report

This is the view of the 1800 block of Main Avenue, looking south. A dusty front window peered into Vanity Cleaners. Gatsby’s Sandwich Shoppe had an upper level built from recycled wood. A Mod Clothing store was next door. The Aladdin Poodle Parlor served the peacocky pooches of Monte Vista. Ball-It was a pinball arcade. It was so popular that the Rock Garden Nightclub next door became Eat-It, a bar & grill. An Exxon sign hangs above an old gas station. Through the peeling and faded paint, one could discern a previous occupant, Hudson Cars. Gas-guzzling muscle cars (Mercury, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile) cruise the street. Photo by Don Mathis.

Main Avenue, Then and Now

by Don Mathis February 8, 2015October 7, 2016

New York had its Greenwich Village in the 1950s, San Francisco had its Haight-Ashbury district in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, San Antonio had North Main Avenue. In 1975, the area around San Antonio College (SAC) was the place to be. Thousands of veterans enrolled at SAC to take advantage of the GI Bill. […]