SHANGHAI — The Shanghai Expo is reviving memories of HemisFair ’68, San Antonio’s world’s fair 42 years ago, among the few San Antonio delegates who now have attended both.
Former Mayor Henry Cisneros’ first job after graduating from Texas A&M University in 1968 was in the city manager’s office. On his first day, he was assigned to solve a problem at the Tower of the Americas. Grease literally was falling nearly 750 feet from the tower restaurant. “We needed to find a new system to contain the grease,” Cisneros recalled.
Otherwise it was a happy summer. Cisneros was dating his future wife, Mary Alice, now a city councilwoman. “That’s what we did on weekends, go to the HemisFair,” Cisneros said in Shanghai this week.
City Councilman Ray Lopez, also in the delegation, worked briefly at HemisFair ’68, collecting tickets at an entrance gate. He said he stopped when he obtained a job at Casa Rio restaurant on the River Walk bussing tables. Lopez also was dating his future wife, Evelyn, during HemisFair ’68.
The Castro twins, Mayor Julián and State Rep. Joaquin, also in China this week for the Shanghai Expo, did not attend HemisFair ’68. They were not even born yet.
See a slideshow of the mayor at the Shanghai Expo.
