by Randy Lankford
Images by Tim Luukkonen

When it comes to South Texas there are a few constants: humidity, mesquite trees and mercifully, icehouses. Born in San Antonio, a classic icehouse is a cross between a Mexican cantina and a German biergarten, representing both the dominant cultures of the Alamo City.

Once as plentiful as the grackles that swirl in the summer heat, the tin-roofed oases have seen their golden age and are now on the decline. Thankfully a few, along with the people who run them, remain. More than a building, more than a business, they represent a time, a spirit, a uniquely San Antonio attitude.

Sorrow's Silver Lining

Shrine Potentate Changed Other Lives and His Life Changed Too

by Ron Aaron Eisenberg

No parent should have to bury their child. Let alone two children.

“I don’t know how you ever get over it,” says Richard A. “Rick” Reyes II, the newly installed Potentate (Chief Executive) for the Alzafar Shriners in San Antonio. He lost a child in 1978, just hours after birth. And years later, in 2007, his 23-year-old daughter, Angie, died in an auto accident.

“The pain is unbearable. I’ll let you know if I ever get over it,” he says. And it’s clear getting over it is not in the cards yet. But at age 58, he’s not ready to give up.

The Wonder of Morgan

by Ken Rodriguez

Inside the park that bears her name sits a 16-year-old girl with a story that’s touching the world. A story that fills children with joy and adults with wonder. A story that moves many to tears.

Morgan Hartman is soaring on a swing, hair blowing in the wind, a smile stretching across her face that this 25-acre dream cannot contain. She revels in the cool, breezy moment, unaware that the kindness of her heart inspired the place known as Morgan’s Wonderland. As her mother pushes her high beneath a late afternoon sky, Morgan cuts a happy arc across a playground of magic.