‘Save the San Juan Hotel’ event brings community together

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ALAMO — Just after 6 p.m. Saturday, dozens of people walked around the artificial turf that covers the grounds outside the Landmark on Tower.

They visited some of the many booths offering information about various local organizations and purchased sand-colored T-shirts emblazoned with “Save The San Juan Hotel” — a phrase that has become a rallying cry of sorts for individuals who oppose the proposed demolition of the historic building.

As people wandered around inside and out of the popular venue, members of the Brown Berets South Texas Chapter stood around the perimeter watching the goings on.

“We’re doing security for what’s happening here,” Joe Conde, a captain with the La Causa Chapter said. “I know of what I’ve read — the little bit that I’ve read about (the hotel) is that it’s a historical place.”

Dr. Stephanie Alvarez has become the face of the movement that has piqued the interest of many community members who continue to seek answers from the city of San Juan nearly a year after reports first surfaced about the hotel’s potential demolition.

Saturday’s event was another opportunity for Alvarez, a professor of Mexican-American studies at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, to share information about the history of the hotel and the work she and others have done to try to salvage the building.

She said that she has yet to see any progress from the city of San Juan.

“We have consistently, for over a year now, asked for a workshop with them, a meeting, and they have never given it to us,” Alvarez said. “We don’t understand why. We just literally want to have a conversation with them. We want to share the knowledge that we have about the hotel, ideas about how we can reuse that space and repurpose it, and for some reason they are not interested in speaking to us. It’s very disappointing. It’s very hurtful.”

The event provided an opportunity for individuals to learn about the darker parts of Rio Grande Valley history, including stories about the Texas Rangers and their treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the early 20th century. Zines titled “Ahi Vienen Los Rinches” (Here come the Rangers) were passed out and some took to the stage to share their own family histories, histories that they believe have ties to the San Juan Hotel.

“Today we have this event to bring awareness to our efforts to save the San Juan hotel,” A.J. Conde said. “We want to show the community an understanding of the history of the San Juan Hotel in the context of the time it was built and up until today. What that really means is understanding that the hotel played this role in the colonization of the Rio Grande Valley by Anglo settlers, and part of that colonization included the Texas Rangers, unfortunately.”

Conde said that she learned that six of her ancestors were lynched by Texas Rangers in the early days of the Rio Grande Valley.

“It was shocking to me because I was born and raised here, and I grew up here in Pharr right by the tracks,” Conde said. “I had no history or historical understanding or context of who I was, my identity, where my people came from, and also the history of the railroad itself.”

While Saturday’s event provided an opportunity for locals to learn about the historic hotel, it was also a chance for many to show their support for the effort to try to save it.

Ruben Carlos Lozano, an Edinburg-based artist, brought a painting of the San Juan Hotel that he completed last November. He said that the painting is part of a series in which he has been documenting the landscape and landmarks throughout the Rio Grande Valley.

“I just hope that the people will realize that here we are a strong community,” Lozano said. “We will be going strong together against the mainstream media depicting that it’s nothing but a borderland for political propaganda. We’re more than just that. We’re like one big family here in the Rio Grande Valley.”

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