The Purple House in Texas
There had been such uproar about it. A purple house in the middle of a landmark neighborhood in a suburb of San Antonio, Texas, where color restrictions applied. What made matters worse was the home's new owner, celebrated writer, Sandra Cisneros--who painted it purple--was Mexican American and the rest of the hood it seems was predominately Anglo. People protested her house; it was in the news; curious folks stopped by at all hours.
Cisneros even wrote about the whole situation in HispanicLink. "My life is such a telenovela! One day I painted my house tejano colors; the next day, my house is in all the news, cars swarming by, families having their photos taken in front of my purple casita as if it were the Alamo. The neighbors put up an iced-tea stand and made 10 dollars!," she wrote.
The block is the King William neighborhood, lined with stately homes. According to the now legend, Cisneros thought she had received permission from the landmark review board and went ahead, painting away. But it wasn't approved after all. Then when the other residents complained, Cisneros realized this was more than just about the color of a house. If the home were to be in traditional colors, well her's was in a color traditional for her culture. The issue had a much larger scope. Cisneros argued that the color was historic to her and her people.
"My history is made up of a community whose homes were so poor and unimportant as to be considered unworthy of historic preservation. No famous architect designed the houses of the tejanos, and there are no books in the San Antonio Conservation Society library about houses of the working-class community, no photos romanticizing their poverty, no ladies' auxiliary working toward preserving their presence. Their homes are gone; their history is invisible. The few historic homes that survived have access cut off by freeways because city planners did not judge them important," she later wrote. "The issue is bigger than my house. The issue is about historical inclusion. I want to paint my house a traditional color. But I don't think it unreasonable to include the traditions of los tejanos who had a great deal to do with creating the city of San Antonio we know today. I wouldn't mind painting my house a historical color, but please give me a broader palette than Surrey beige, Sevres blue, Hawthorne green, Frontier Days brown and Plymouth Rock grey. Purple is historic to us. It only goes back a thousand years or so to the pyramids. It is present in the Nahua codices, book of the Aztecs, as is turquoise, the color I used for my house trim; the former color signifying royalty, the latter, water and rain."
With all this attention, I had to see this home to understand for myself what the fuse was about. While on a press trip to San Antonio, I asked the trip organizer, Geiger & Associates PR, help me house hunt. Finding our way to the purple house, we passed house after house of loud, almost gaudy colored homes. We could not find the purple one. We didn't have the house number, just the color and the street name, Guenther Street. Finally we asked a little boy testing out his obviously new two-wheeler where we could find the purple house. He pointed to one we had just passed.
"Purple!" I thought. I was expecting Prince purple. But here before me was a lovely lavender home. Periwinkle was the exact color. In front was a man painting the trim white. I asked if Ms. Cicernos was home. No, he said, as if used to the question. So I asked if many still came by. "Yes. They come all the time," he replied. He motioned for me to add my comments to a special mailbox the owner had set up. Obviously, even a few years into the debate, it was still a hot topic. I asked if the neighborhood still wanted the home repainted. "Yep," he answered and went back to work.
Well, it has been a while and the latest rumor is Cisneros changed the color of her house from periwinkle to pink. I wonder if it's hot pink.
Travel Tips
There are MoBay Packages at SuperClubs Resort Start from $149 per person, through April 16. The newly renovated Breezes Montego Bay in Jamaica includes 124 air-conditioned guest rooms and suites have been rejuvenated in a facelift that includes mahogany furnishings, upgraded linens and drapes, new TV sets and re-appointed bathrooms. Guests in oceanfront suites can unwind on new leather sofas, while the soundproofed sliding balcony doors can be opened to let in the comforting sounds of lapping ocean waves and fresh sea breezes. Two of the resort's popular restaurants have also been upgraded--Jimmy's Buffetand Pool Bar and Grill. For more information visit www.breezes.com, call 800 GO SUPER...Funjet Vacations just launched an "On Demand" Virtual Tour of the Riviera Maya, offering travelers a unique way to research Mexico's premier vacation hot spot before booking. The interactive "Mayan calendar" format lets travelers choose the content they want to see, from resorts to tourist attractions. This one-of-a-kind virtual familiarization tour is available through the Funjet Vacations website at www.funjet.com/specials/rvm_virtualfam.asp?pageMode=D&plCode. The broadcast includes post-Hurricane Wilma footage of 15 hotels and several attractions--all filmed the week after Thanksgiving. "Our goal is to get travelers excited about visiting the Riviera Maya again," said Ray Snisky, president of Funjet Vacations. "Right now, there is some confusion about the status of the recovery effort post-Wilma. This interactive video allows travelers to see for themselves that the Riviera Maya is the ideal destination for a winter vacation." There's also a web log (blog) dedicated to providing travelers with tourism updates on the Riviera Maya. The Riviera Maya blog is at RivieraMayaUpdate.Blogspot.com...New happenings at Club Med, Peisey-Vallandry, France, a charming village bordering the Vanoise National Park is at the heart of a ski paradise. This fabulous ski resort with its 425 kilometres of ski runs and two glaciers just got more fabulous with the opening of the NUXE Spa at the new Club Med Village. It has nine luxurious treatment rooms, one private spa for treatments for two, one traditional hammam with two adjoining exfoliation areas, one sensory bath...Foodies, it's time for Denver Restaurant Week, Feb. 25-March 3. A total of 117 restaurants will participae, offering multi-course dinners for the fixed price of $52.80 for two or $26.40 for one. The culinary festival will encompass everything from Denver's oldest restaurant and saloon--the Buckhorn Exchange--to some of the Mile High City's newest eateries. Denver Restaurant Week special menus can be found at www.denver.org, under the Beringer Denver Restaurant Week button. Bon Appétit.
Cisneros even wrote about the whole situation in HispanicLink. "My life is such a telenovela! One day I painted my house tejano colors; the next day, my house is in all the news, cars swarming by, families having their photos taken in front of my purple casita as if it were the Alamo. The neighbors put up an iced-tea stand and made 10 dollars!," she wrote.
The block is the King William neighborhood, lined with stately homes. According to the now legend, Cisneros thought she had received permission from the landmark review board and went ahead, painting away. But it wasn't approved after all. Then when the other residents complained, Cisneros realized this was more than just about the color of a house. If the home were to be in traditional colors, well her's was in a color traditional for her culture. The issue had a much larger scope. Cisneros argued that the color was historic to her and her people.
"My history is made up of a community whose homes were so poor and unimportant as to be considered unworthy of historic preservation. No famous architect designed the houses of the tejanos, and there are no books in the San Antonio Conservation Society library about houses of the working-class community, no photos romanticizing their poverty, no ladies' auxiliary working toward preserving their presence. Their homes are gone; their history is invisible. The few historic homes that survived have access cut off by freeways because city planners did not judge them important," she later wrote. "The issue is bigger than my house. The issue is about historical inclusion. I want to paint my house a traditional color. But I don't think it unreasonable to include the traditions of los tejanos who had a great deal to do with creating the city of San Antonio we know today. I wouldn't mind painting my house a historical color, but please give me a broader palette than Surrey beige, Sevres blue, Hawthorne green, Frontier Days brown and Plymouth Rock grey. Purple is historic to us. It only goes back a thousand years or so to the pyramids. It is present in the Nahua codices, book of the Aztecs, as is turquoise, the color I used for my house trim; the former color signifying royalty, the latter, water and rain."
With all this attention, I had to see this home to understand for myself what the fuse was about. While on a press trip to San Antonio, I asked the trip organizer, Geiger & Associates PR, help me house hunt. Finding our way to the purple house, we passed house after house of loud, almost gaudy colored homes. We could not find the purple one. We didn't have the house number, just the color and the street name, Guenther Street. Finally we asked a little boy testing out his obviously new two-wheeler where we could find the purple house. He pointed to one we had just passed.
"Purple!" I thought. I was expecting Prince purple. But here before me was a lovely lavender home. Periwinkle was the exact color. In front was a man painting the trim white. I asked if Ms. Cicernos was home. No, he said, as if used to the question. So I asked if many still came by. "Yes. They come all the time," he replied. He motioned for me to add my comments to a special mailbox the owner had set up. Obviously, even a few years into the debate, it was still a hot topic. I asked if the neighborhood still wanted the home repainted. "Yep," he answered and went back to work.
Well, it has been a while and the latest rumor is Cisneros changed the color of her house from periwinkle to pink. I wonder if it's hot pink.
Travel Tips
There are MoBay Packages at SuperClubs Resort Start from $149 per person, through April 16. The newly renovated Breezes Montego Bay in Jamaica includes 124 air-conditioned guest rooms and suites have been rejuvenated in a facelift that includes mahogany furnishings, upgraded linens and drapes, new TV sets and re-appointed bathrooms. Guests in oceanfront suites can unwind on new leather sofas, while the soundproofed sliding balcony doors can be opened to let in the comforting sounds of lapping ocean waves and fresh sea breezes. Two of the resort's popular restaurants have also been upgraded--Jimmy's Buffetand Pool Bar and Grill. For more information visit www.breezes.com, call 800 GO SUPER...Funjet Vacations just launched an "On Demand" Virtual Tour of the Riviera Maya, offering travelers a unique way to research Mexico's premier vacation hot spot before booking. The interactive "Mayan calendar" format lets travelers choose the content they want to see, from resorts to tourist attractions. This one-of-a-kind virtual familiarization tour is available through the Funjet Vacations website at www.funjet.com/specials/rvm_virtualfam.asp?pageMode=D&plCode. The broadcast includes post-Hurricane Wilma footage of 15 hotels and several attractions--all filmed the week after Thanksgiving. "Our goal is to get travelers excited about visiting the Riviera Maya again," said Ray Snisky, president of Funjet Vacations. "Right now, there is some confusion about the status of the recovery effort post-Wilma. This interactive video allows travelers to see for themselves that the Riviera Maya is the ideal destination for a winter vacation." There's also a web log (blog) dedicated to providing travelers with tourism updates on the Riviera Maya. The Riviera Maya blog is at RivieraMayaUpdate.Blogspot.com...New happenings at Club Med, Peisey-Vallandry, France, a charming village bordering the Vanoise National Park is at the heart of a ski paradise. This fabulous ski resort with its 425 kilometres of ski runs and two glaciers just got more fabulous with the opening of the NUXE Spa at the new Club Med Village. It has nine luxurious treatment rooms, one private spa for treatments for two, one traditional hammam with two adjoining exfoliation areas, one sensory bath...Foodies, it's time for Denver Restaurant Week, Feb. 25-March 3. A total of 117 restaurants will participae, offering multi-course dinners for the fixed price of $52.80 for two or $26.40 for one. The culinary festival will encompass everything from Denver's oldest restaurant and saloon--the Buckhorn Exchange--to some of the Mile High City's newest eateries. Denver Restaurant Week special menus can be found at www.denver.org, under the Beringer Denver Restaurant Week button. Bon Appétit.
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