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Post by greatbigmike on Aug 30, 2010 9:33:44 GMT -5
You know if it would help I would donate money to this cause. Is there a foundation or a non-profit that is handling such things?
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Post by billchemerka on Aug 30, 2010 13:43:53 GMT -5
The overall spatial relationship between San Antonio de Bexar and the Alamo was more accurate in The Alamo (2004), but Alamo Village was the only place on earth where visitors could get a sense of what it was like to be in the Alamo in 1836.
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Post by rriddle3 on Aug 30, 2010 18:11:09 GMT -5
...but Alamo Village was the only place on earth where visitors could get a sense of what it was like to be in the Alamo in 1836. I remember back in '95 my first thought when stepping through the main gate of the compound, and knowing it was built on ~7/8 scale was, "Were those 200 guys crazy thinking they could hold something this size?"
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Post by Rich Curilla on Aug 30, 2010 18:57:00 GMT -5
...but Alamo Village was the only place on earth where visitors could get a sense of what it was like to be in the Alamo in 1836. I remember back in '95 my first thought when stepping through the main gate of the compound, and knowing it was built on ~7/8 scale was, "Were those 200 guys crazy thinking they could hold something this size?" I think 350 feet vs. 538 feet is not a 7/8 scale. The long barrack is 140 feet vs. 191 feet. But your observation is true on. They would have needed "a lot more men" than the "lot more men" they would have needed if they were defending the Waynamo. I'll bet you understood that, and that's scary.
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Post by Kevin Young on Aug 30, 2010 19:15:29 GMT -5
The overall spatial relationship between San Antonio de Bexar and the Alamo was more accurate in The Alamo (2004), but Alamo Village was the only place on earth where visitors could get a sense of what it was like to be in the Alamo in 1836. Take Alamo Village's AAlamo set. combine it with 2004 Moe town in the right direction and you would have a great layout.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Aug 30, 2010 23:47:43 GMT -5
Take Alamo Village's AAlamo set. combine it with 2004 Moe town in the right direction and you would have a great layout. I like to tell tourist (sorry, liked to tell tourists) that the Ybarramo and the Corenblithamo are equally accurate and inaccurate in different ways.
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Post by martyb on Aug 31, 2010 12:14:13 GMT -5
I posted this on the John Wayne Alamo Film site. I am posting it here for those that are not members there.
The closing of Alamo Village hurts my soul, So I think I will share with you my story of the Wayneamo.
When my Dad retired from the Army in 1962 at Fort Ord, California, we packed up and were heading for South Carolina, our home state. As we crossed Arizona we stopped at the Old Tucson movie set where me and my brothers used to play cowboys while Mom and Dad shopped in Tucson (dad had been stationed at Fort Huachuca). As we were leaving Old Tucson my dad asked me, “You looking forward to seeing the Alamo in San Antonio?” I exclaimed “Oh yeah Da, I can’t wait.” He said, “Well boyo we’re going to stop a couple of places first.” By now…I was well into my Alamo passion which had started when I was 9 years old and saw Disney’s ‘Davy Crockett’, and with the recent release of John Wayne’s ‘Alamo’…why…I was all agog. I said, “Dad will we have a whole day like you promised.” He nodded and I sat back hoping I could suffer through the ‘other’ stops.
The first place we stopped was ‘The Jersey Lilly’ in Langtry Texas, and then we headed for old Fort Davis (did I mention that both Mom and Dad were into history). We spent the night in, I believe Del Rio.
The next morning we left bright and early, I asked my Dad how far San Antonio was and when he told me, I cursed under my breath. I thought to myself, “We’ll be lucky to have half a day.” The Old Sergeant saw my frown and said, “We have one more stop before San Antonio, we will spend the day there and go into San Antone tonight and, I promise you will have all day at the Alamo.” My heart soared.
Toward mid-morning my Dad pulled off the highway onto a dirt road. I was reading a book in the backseat and saw no signs. I said, “What’s this place?” My Dad said, “Oh it’s a ranch.” We drove up to a house and my Dad got out. I knew he had been a cowboy back in the 30’s before he did his first hitch in the Army, I assumed that maybe it was some rancher he used to work for. The guy my Dad talked to seemed very friendly. Dad jumped back in the car and we drove down a road and then, HOLY JEEZALO!!! There it was, the Alamo movie set destined o become affectionately known as the ‘Wayneamo’.
Needless to say me and my two brothers explored every nook and cranny of the place. My Mom always talked about how she saw goose bumps stand up on our arms. My Dad and I were rounding up Mom, my two brothers and my baby sister in the late afternoon, when Dad noticed and elderly lady tip-toeing around the edges of the buildings. My Dad asked if she needed any help. The lady said no and then added, “I don’t want to step on any of the graves. My daughter told me that they buried them where they fell.” The Old Man cracked up and said, “Lady, this is the movie set for John Wayne’s movie ‘The Alamo’. The real Alamo is east of here in San Antonio.” The little lady said, “I saw the movie and my daughter said they filmed it at the real Alamo.” About this time a very fussy and angry young woman and a frowning man came over and began to escort the little lady away. The young woman hissed, ‘Thanks a lot. Now we have to go to San Antonio. She demanded to see the Alamo!”
The next day we saw the Alamo and while it was of the watershed moments of a young artist/historian, I’ve always kept the ‘Wayneamo’ tucked in a part of my heart. While I’ve been back to the Alamo and Brackettville many times…nothing will ever beat the first time. I’ll miss the place.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Aug 31, 2010 17:47:02 GMT -5
Quite a story. As I said over there, I forwarded it on to Jamie Rains in the hope that she will begin to see why we lament.
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Post by Seguin on Aug 31, 2010 19:10:12 GMT -5
Great memory, Marty! It was almost like being with you at that very first time you saw the Waynamo.
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Post by Kevin Young on Aug 31, 2010 20:43:56 GMT -5
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Post by crocketteer58 on Sept 14, 2010 1:34:45 GMT -5
9-15-10
I tried to visit the Village, while in the Air Force at Luke AFB, AZ - a buddy and my girlfriend had 3 days to "ride boldly ride' to Austin, where he'd previously been stationed, and wanted to look up some old Texian drinkin', fishin' and travelin' pards. We were treated like Kings in Austin, but the cloock never stops ticking, we had to get to Brackettville for, what for me was a "mission from God" - I'd met the Duke in '74 on the set of "Rooster Cogburn" and got some very animated opinions from him, after I told him how much I loved the "Alamo" - at that time I was still in high school and couldn't believe my luck, in being chosen to spend time on the set with him, on what turned out to be his 2nd to last movie (this was Oct. !974 - near Bend Oregon) So here it was Feb. '79 - out in West Texas -- and we get nearer and nearer Brackettville, only to reach a gate, saying it was closed till May.........2 months later, I saw him at his final Oscars, and choked up, knowing the Great Man was nearly ready to pass away - got pretty choked up seeing it, and of course the end came 6-11-79. Jump forward nearly 20 years, and after a career as photographer, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis - and that pretty well shot down, much traveling across the West and camping out under the stars at Lone Pine and Monument Valley, New Mexico frontier - and returned to Eastern Oregon to be with Dad, after Mom passed away --
He is a great fan of the Duke and introduced all my brothers and I to his movies back in the 60's at small town Iowa drive ins -- he concluded he needed a road trip, and decided it was something he had to do alone - so, I asked him if he'd try to make it to Brackettville and film what he saw - he finally got there in the fall of 99 - and he had the whole place to himself, except a cowpoke there to guide people and expain "whats what"
I really treasure that video, especially with this years news of the closing - wish they could've kept her open -- till the 50th anniv. fandango in San Antonio in Oct. '10 - then maybe some wealthy Patriot, who knows the value of the true grit valor of John Wayne, one "western immortal" recreating the heroic stand and battle of the early frontiersmen and women to carve out a life in this great new experiment in Freedom called the United States -- always a work in progress, now and forever.... I love the idea of Gary Foreman's -- to renovate, or entirely rebuild - the magnificent mission as well as can be done - on the original site if possible - if not, the 30 / 50 miles from the historic area, and do it in a first class way - not as a movies set to be blown apart and abandoned -- but a monument to all who came this way , from the friars and Comanche, to the back and forth gory bloodbaths - but with the understanding that it be a pro-active museum / monument - that will not ever be allowed to decay - as Americans, Hispanics -- people of all races - can come together - and imagine a moment in time that will be immortal for all people.
Crocketteer58
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Post by Rich Curilla on Sept 14, 2010 12:42:33 GMT -5
Well Crocketteer58, that's one powerful story. I wonder if I was the "cowpoke" who "guided" your dad. Was it a skinny fella who wouldn't shut up?
I have a fervant hope that Alamo Village II will become a reality -- and shortly -- because the story of the Alamo movies is as important to "rememberance" and our national history as Alamo history itself, and Alamo Village must remain for that story to be ongoing in reality as well as in art. Seeing and studying John Wayne's film is only part of that story. Personally tromping the streets and plazas of the world-class set -- of half a dozen major filmic works on the story -- is the rest of the story.
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Post by tracesoftexas on Sept 18, 2010 8:16:04 GMT -5
Rich, So what is going to happen to all of those old stagecoaches (that hearse that you showed me that was in storage was incredible) that you and David traveled all of those miles to purchase? It's heartbreaking to think that all of the plans that you and he had for the place might not ever come to fruition, and that the grand old dame is just going to fall into disrepair. Glad I got to spend a couple of days and nights out there photographing the place, despite the fact that the mosquitoes almost forced me to go and spend the night in Del Rio. Sad, sad, sad. We should harness the power of Facebook and other social media sites to save it. I think I'll open up my gallery of photos, drink a cup of coffee, and remember the old girl this morning. And the first one up is Ticket Cat: JD
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Post by Kevin Young on Sept 18, 2010 9:40:08 GMT -5
Great image....
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Post by Rich Curilla on Sept 18, 2010 17:45:11 GMT -5
Rich, So what is going to happen to all of those old stagecoaches (that hearse that you showed me that was in storage was incredible) that you and David traveled all of those miles to purchase? They are still where they were when you saw them. The hearse is not part of that group. Happy baught it many years ago. It's heartbreaking to think that all of the plans that you and he had for the place might not ever come to fruition, and that the grand old dame is just going to fall into disrepair. It would indeed be heartbreaking, if there were reason to think that. The owner closing the village has nothing to do with David's plan to buy it. That hasn't changed and possibilities abound. Glad I got to spend a couple of days and nights out there photographing the place, despite the fact that the mosquitoes almost forced me to go and spend the night in Del Rio. Bring Off with you next time. ;D Sad, sad, sad. We should harness the power of Facebook and other social media sites to save it. Unless someone on one of those talk sites showed up as an investor with millions of dollars, it would be a waste of time. That's just not how this is done. I think I'll open up my gallery of photos, drink a cup of coffee, and remember the old girl this morning. Might have a calming influence at that. lol. I'm not being facetious. There is just no reason for alarm. David is still at the wheel. The plan is just as it was before the closing. The only set-back is the word-of-mouth that will develop over the closing that will mean a negative momentum that we will have to reverse once he buys the place. THEN social media like Facebook will be very useful. And the first one up is Ticket Cat: LOVE the picture!
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