The San Antonio River Walk: Floods, Films, and Floating Margaritas At first glance, the San Antonio River Walk looks like something out of a theme park—a winding, cobbled waterway lined with cafés, cypress trees, and mariachi music floating on the breeze. But this winding piece of water has deeper roots than most folks realize. It’s not just a tourist trap with a good happy hour. The River Walk is a living piece of Texas history, shaped by disaster, reinvention, and no small amount of Texan stubbornness. It All Started with a Flood The River Walk exists today because of a tragedy. In 1921, a catastrophic flood tore through downtown San Antonio, killing dozens and causing millions in damage. That flood set the wheels in motion for what would become one of the city’s most iconic features. Engineers proposed paving over the river completely—just turning it into a big storm drain. That might’ve happened if not for a local architect named Robert H. H. Hugman, who had other ideas. He saw the...