As told to Emily McCullar.

We moved [to San Antonio] when I was a child. Without giving you my age, just know I’m not twenty, but I’m not ninety. We grew up in King William [neighborhood], so I was exposed to a lot of beautiful homes. We had a humble house, but we were around the grand mansions. I would look at beautiful houses and villas in magazines and I would brag to my friends and say, “That’s the house I’m going to have one day.” I think that helped me direct my life to where it’s at now.

As you very well know, there’s a lot of sadness and horror in the world, and I made a Shangri-la here. It transports you to a different realm. I’ve been in this house for over twenty years, and for the last fifteen I’ve been doing the White Party, which signals [the start of] summer. I just started gathering interesting people: lawyers, doctors, art patrons, politicians, from country club [members] to average workers.

Guests are usually greeted by acroyoga performers. It’s a big crowd-pleaser. That’s during the day. We usually follow it with a fashion show poolside at some point, then, as it starts getting dark, we have a group of aerialists who work with fire. They’re very talented, and we’ve never had an accident.

My house has two wings, and I have what I call a crowd-control surveyor, a friend of mine who moves people around, and he’ll usually let divorcées know when [their exes] arrive. And then they usually stay to separate wings. They can come and go and never see each other. 

My house doesn’t have cedar posts and a couple of cows in the front yard, but you can live like this and socialize like this and still call yourself a San Antonian and a Texan, because it comes from the heart. 

Was that well said?

“Fab artist Giovanna takes a leggy pose.”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“The goddess in purple turned heads as she entered the bash.”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“Nothing like a cool margarita to keep the party heat down!”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“Poolside chat.”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“This captures the exotic inside ambience of the villa!”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“An inside view of the Moorish pool plaza.”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“Inside my hair salon Le Mirage, in the west wing of the villa.”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“What is that, my grill man/friend doing a shot? Lol! He deserves it! His taquitos stole the crowd!”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“Female guests posing with show of Fiesta color.”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“The temperature rises, the music goes Latin, and the margaritas hit my guests as I take the limelight!”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“A view from the Sky Terrace looking down at festive guests.”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
“What’s a Fiesta party without a selfie?”
Photograph by Drew Anthony Smith
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