Lone Star Brewery - San Antonio, TX (20+ Pics)
 

Tonight, I took some time off and explored the old Lone Star Brewery building in the warehousing district of San Antonio, TX. I was joined by a friend from www.uer.ca, who was more familiar with the location than I and knew how to get to it. All images taken with my Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W5 without benefit of a tripod and in almost complete darkness. The building has been gutted pretty bad by the owners, but there is still a lot of cool stuff intact. Perhaps the most interesting thing is the sheer size and complexity of the facility. It?s huge.

We obtained access by scaling a 10? fence with barbed wire while a part time security guard watched the complex. It was not an easy task. Walking inside the building is extremely hazardous, as there is no power, flashlights must be used sparingly to avoid being seen and they have removed large machines and massive tanks that used to be recessed into the floor. There are numerous open pits where an unfortunate urban explorer would meet his maker after a six-story fall to the basement. I almost met my maker getting out, as I caught my crotch on the barbed wire on the way out, and I am not a happy camper right now.

Some parts of the facility look like they had just been added yesterday, when clearly the place has been closed for some time. Strange how things age.

You can read more about the history of the facility here: http://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=23869

http://i5.tinypic.com/14141es.jpg

This is a room off the main cooridor in the first building. It appears to be a pump room of sorts, as there is what appears to be a well shaft going into the ground. All I could see is the well head, of course.

http://i6.tinypic.com/141421g.jpg

Outside the pump room, we have this little control center that must have went to machines that sat on the bads here. Most but not all of the machines have long sense been removed.

http://i6.tinypic.com/14142nn.jpg

This is some sort of pump or generator on the other side of the wall from the pic above this one.

http://i5.tinypic.com/14144s7.jpg

One of the most interesting parts of the brewery is a place where they must have given tours and had little shops for the tourists. There is a huge mural that runs along the wall for hundreds of feet, its a timeline depicting events and the years they happened while the brewery was opened. This is outside on an open deck type thing that is like one of the decks seen on the front of stores in the old west. This thing is huge, it wasn?t possible to get it all into one pic and I needed to be careful with flash lest security see it.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1414585.jpg

Another pic of the mural. It is in near perfect condition, they really should save this.

http://i5.tinypic.com/14145sx.jpg

And another. Notice the "Peace" newspaper headline -- WWII has just ended.

http://i5.tinypic.com/141485c.jpg

This is the deck of the little tourist town type area. An odd place to park the fan. Out in front are the windows to what appears to be a little TV room where they may have shown videos to the tourists.

http://i6.tinypic.com/14148sy.jpg

The video room. The cases have long been looted of their collectables, all that?s left now is broken glass.



More pics in a few minutes, including shots of the skyline from the roof (most suck, really need a tripod) and the towering smokestack.

OK, here we go for some more.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1414ems.jpg

I guess that means do proceed to the roof. :-)

http://i6.tinypic.com/1414hhl.jpg

On the way, we pass this gutted out control station. The people that owned this place are very cheap, they took everything with them that wasnt bolted down for the most part, and most of the stuff that was, too.

http://i5.tinypic.com/1414fbl.jpg

The roof is about six stories up or more. Its accessed through several very narrow, winding stair cases. Then you cross a long, narrow hall way which runs between the top of the old barley silos. Along the way, you see this brand new-looking control room.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1414kkh.jpg

And we pass these locked out cutoff switches. You are not allowed to turn these on.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1414kyg.jpg

Apparently, its OK to turn the Malt Mill on.

Still more pics coming in a few more minutes...

OK, last shot. Not gonna be 20 as some of them are so bad I wont bother to post them. Wind was blowing pretty hard and it was tough to stay perfectly still for the minute or so needed for the low light capture.

http://i6.tinypic.com/1414nqt.jpg

Just what everyone needs: a malt mixer. Mmmm, beer.

http://i5.tinypic.com/1414olg.jpg

View from the roof looking towards downtown San Antonio. Very nice skyline I think.

http://i5.tinypic.com/14159no.jpg

Looking toward the arena from the roof.

And thats all, folks. Hope to go back here again in the day when I have proper equiptment.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

Some pretty cool looking pics

Very cool shots.

the first 3 pictures are not real, they are taken from Half Life 2 !! :thumbsup

no really, that stuff would be prefect for a film or a video

Oh hell ya, that place would make a very cool movie location. There are like six floors of stuff and tons of little rooms everywhere, most of them empty. Would have been a hell of a place had they not removed all the stuff. The big copper tanks and alot of the pipes are gone.

impressive pics, as always:winkwink:

Cool looking pics..that mural looks awesome

kewl pics ........

Thanks

Mr. Romance

I have never posted UE pics here before... :1orglaugh :Oh crap :)

Bump because I am really pleased with my l33t covert entry skills and I put everyone else to shame.

(Well, maybe thats a bit much...)

Cool shots there! :thumbsup

wow that place was pretty cool

Trespassing is illegal.

interesting place to see.. thanks for the pics

I wish i had a camera in high school when we broke into an abandoned elementary school...that place was creepy

very cool pictures :thumbsup

Nice looks cool I may check it out myself... I live in San Antonio

Awesome pics :thumbsup