Music has filled this rocky hollow for nearly a century at the Sunken Garden Theater, a New Deal-era amphitheater carved into the same abandoned cement quarry as the Japanese Tea Garden next door. After the quarry closed and the Japanese Tea Garden was established in the 1910s, city planners recognized that the quarry's natural bowl shape created nearly perfect acoustics. In the early 1930s, using Works Progress Administration funding and labor, the city carved and shaped the quarry walls into a formal outdoor stage and seating area.
The limestone bluffs became natural walls, the pond became a reflecting pool, and cypress and live oak trees were planted to frame the stage. The theater opened during the Depression era and immediately became a gathering place for concerts, community events, and outdoor theater. Big band orchestras played here during World War II.
In the postwar decades, the Sunken Garden hosted touring pop, classical, and country acts. Today, under the management of the City of San Antonio, the theater continues to host concerts and events through the warm months — which in San Antonio means most of the year. The stage looks tiny from the rim of the quarry but sounds remarkable from almost anywhere on the grassy slopes below.