“If you were moderately hip and you were moderately curious in other ways, other visions of the way life could be somewhere else, the Country was a very appealing place.” “You just felt like if you were going to the Country you were kind of ahead of the game in terms of … you were sort of on the cultural upswing,” said Sibley, a San Antonio author and screenwriter who first met Veltman in the mid-1970s. Flashing lights and glass dome ceilings mixed with wood paneled walls and brown shag carpeting, as a DJ blasted all the dance music of the moment from “The Hustle” to “The Cotton-Eyed Joe.”Įlder notes in the documentary that the Country drew gay men from all over Texas, while Veltman’s friends Jim Smith and Bill Sibley say the club also welcomed a diverse clientele that included gay and straight, hipster and hippie, and drag queen and construction worker. And the crowds came immediately.”Ĭountry hopefuls often lined up out the door to get inside the club, which looked like a funky discotheque stuffed inside a “Brady Bunch” living room. “So he really put a lot of money behind San Antonio Country when it opened. “Hap always had the attitude that it be the best nightclub, (with) the best equipment, best music,” Mahoney said. The film also includes rare photos of Veltman and the nightclub he opened in 1973, when he transformed a craggy old river-rock home on the San Antonio River into a veritable Studio 54 on the River Walk for all sexes and sexual orientations. Mahoney’s documentary features patrons and employees of the venue they remember most as just “the Country,” including the late gay rights advocate and Country co-owner Gene Elder, who died in April. Hap Veltman's San Antonio Country Documentary (short preview) from Noi Mahoney on Vimeo.
Mary’s Strip.īut perhaps his most influential and in some cases infamous business venture was a gay dance club now lost to history. San Antonio developer Arthur “Hap” Veltman was instrumental in turning a flagging River Walk into a flourishing tourist attraction, investing in the contemporary arts and dining district that is now the Blue Star Complex and revitalizing the St. Much like the Bonham Exchange before it, San Antonio Country also was a popular dance club with both the gay and straight community. The Happy Foundation Show More Show Less 4 of4 The former home was converted into a dance club. San Antonio Country was literally housed on the San Antonio River. The new documentary ‘Hap Veltman’s San Antonio Country’ chronicles the heyday of the famous San Antonio nightclub, which San Antonio businessman Arthur ‘Hap’ Veltman opened in 1973.
The Happy Foundation Show More Show Less 2 of4 The dance club was a popular disco-era draw for all sexes and sexual orientations. Before he founded the Bonham Exchange in 1981, San Antonio businessman and River Walk developer Arthur ‘Hap’ Veltman opened San Antonio Country in 1973.