Wednesday’s pivotal vote came during Pride Month and marks the culmination of a yearslong effort to establish a cultural heritage district in the Tobin Hill area.
SAN ANTONIO — A City of San Antonio board has voted to establish a Pride Cultural Heritage District in the Alamo City.
The Historic and Design Review Commission approved the move Wednesday, forging ahead on creating a new cultural heritage district, which celebrates a community’s sense of place and cultural identity. The pivotal vote came during Pride Month and marks the culmination of a yearslong effort to establish a cultural heritage district
Currently, the city has four such districts. Those include Jefferson Heights, Old Highway 90, Hockley-Clay Cemetery and, the most recent district, Silk Road along the corridor of Wurzbach from Fredericksburg to Interstate 10.
Once officially established, the Pride Cultural Heritage District would recognize the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a process that’s been ongoing since 2011, when Pride SA approached then-District 1 Councilman Diego Bernal and advocated to designate the area of North Main, just north of downtown, as a cultural heritage district. Much of it lies in the Tobin Hill neighborhood.
“We explained to them that this was a long time coming, and that for decades the LGBTQ community has had a significant and intense presence in that area,” said James Poindexter, secretary on Pride SA’s board of directors. “We just felt it’s time to be able to claim our space and be recognized, much like Montrose in Houston or Oak Lawn in Dallas.”
In 2023, two council members, Dr. Sukh Kaur of District 1 and Jalen McKee Rodriguez of District 2, asked the city’s Office of Historic Preservation to work with the community to make the designation happen. The area encompasses several LGBTA+ businesses and is known for being a safe place for those in the community.
“I had tears running down my face, because it has been a long time coming,” Poindexter said. “And our theme this year for Pride is ‘Unity in the Community.’ This has been the culmination of something coming into fruition of everything we have been fighting for.”
Now Pride SA plans to hold a ribbon-cutting in the coming days. In the long term, they hope to install new street signs commemorating the district and creatively designed bus stops to celebrate the area.