A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“Shoutout to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
“Thank you, ATM fees, for allowing me to buy my own money” (3/27)
“Anyone else boil the kettle twice? Just in case the boiling water has gone cold…” (3/27)
“Shout out to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
20-20-20 Rule (for eyes) (3/27)
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Entry from April 26, 2008
“They who drink of the San Antonio River will return”

“They who drink of the San Antonio River will return” is a nice saying to impress upon visitors to San Antonio’s River Walk (even though visitors do not literally “drink in” the river’s waters). The saying goes back at least to 1904 in English; the exact wording of the original Spanish is not known. Laredo has a similar saying: “Once you have tasted the waters of the Rio Grande, your steps will bring you back.”
   
Similar sentiments have been expressed about Egypt (the Nile River) and ancient Greece.
 
   
Wikipedia: San Antonio River
The San Antonio River is a major waterway that originates in central Texas near San Antonio and follows a roughly southeastern path through the state. It eventually feeds into the Guadalupe River about ten miles from San Antonio Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The river is 240 miles long and crosses five counties: Bexar, Goliad, Karnes, Refugio, and Wilson.
 
History
The first documented record of the river was from Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca on his explorations of Texas in 1535. The river was later named after San Antonio de Padua by the first governor of Spanish Texas, Domingo Terán de los Ríos in 1691. During the Texas Revolution, the river was host to several major conflicts, including the Battle of Concepcion, the Grass Fight, the siege of Bexar, the Goliad Campaign, and the Battle of the Alamo.
 
Notable features
Five major 18th century Spanish missions are lined up along the historical course of the river, including Mission Espada, Mission Concepcion, Mission San José, and Mission San Juan. The most famous mission is the Álamo.
 
The waterway is also host to the San Antonio River Walk, one of San Antonio’s primary tourist destinations and the centerpiece of the city.
 
Laredo History
There is an old saying here in Laredo—“Once you have tasted the waters of the Rio Grande, your steps will bring you back.” We hope you feel this urge and will return. Laredo welcomes you!     
   
Gon on a Photo-Safari to the African Serengeti
Someone once said ‘Once you have tasted the waters of Africa, surely you will return to her.’
   
Andros, Cyclades, Greece
“Once you have tasted the waters of Andros you always will return for more”
(an ancient myth??)
 
Kefalonia (Greece)
I recently spent my first days on this beautiful Ionian island and it was quite memorable. And there is a local saying -“Once you have tasted the waters of Kephallonia, you will return.” (PS: for waters read wine).
   
Google Books
The Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of Falmouth, Massachusetts
June 15, 1886

Falmouth, MA: Published per order of the town
1887
Pg. 54:
THE OLD HOME.
It is a tradition that those who have once drank from the Nile never lose a longing to taste the waters again. Something akin to this want is the clinging of the human heart “to the spot of its origin.”
 
Google Books
From the Alamo to San Jacinto
or, The Grito

a novel by Moncure Lyne
New York, NY: R. F. Fenno & Company
1904
Pg. 11:
The Mexicans are a people of proverbs. Like seaweed on the ocean of their polite speeches, whose surf seldom touches any grain of sincerity, float numerous adages, some of which attract attention, as, “Those whom the gods love they let live in Texas;” and that other maxim voicing the sentiment that, “Having once tasted the waters of the San Antonio River, one will return to quaff more.”
 
Google Books
Insiders’ Guide to San Antonio
by Paris Permenter and John Bigley
Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot
2006
Preface:
An old Spanish legend says, “they who drink of the San Antonio River will return.” Drink up the atmosphere, soak up the sun that filters through the cypress and banana trees, and taste the excitement. And you’ll be back.

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Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Saturday, April 26, 2008 • Permalink


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