Known as Algo Diferente Ranch, it was once the summer home of Mrs. Albert Friedrich. The main house – often referred to as a “mansion” –  was built “around 1930 by a Mexican national" according to a Friedrich family member quoted in the San Antonio News, December 25, 1964. The rock house “had a lot of additions made to it,” said Milton Friedrich.

 

Originally “a small lodge,” the V shaped main building was enlarged to 28 rooms after tour operator Clarence A. Morgan purchased it from the Friedrich family in 1944. The property opened as a resort hotel May 3, 1947, says a San Antonio Light article dated two days later. The property which was to boast tennis courts, a swimming pool and a tropical garden later that summer – was meant to be used by Morgan Tours’ clients breaking their journeys from New York or Los Angeles to Mexico, or by travelers who had completed a whirlwind circuit of Mexico City, Acapulco, and Veracruz and wanted to rest up before winging or chugging northward. (Amercan Airlines also used it as a billet during the late ‘40’s, remembers Doug Saunders Sr. one of the property’s late owners.)

 

A single, narrow driveway led to the house, screened and shaded by stately oaks. On the grounds outside were tall rock archways and cast-concrete statuaries of deer, dogs, and peacocks. Visitors, says the newspaper story, “can sit on the cool porches of the new hotel and watch the San Antonio skyline twinkle in the hills.” A vast dance floor with a bandstand catered to jazzier tastes. Beyond the lodge and outbuildings was a 240 acre forest that was still home to woodland creatures. One of the amenities was the food, featuring fresh vegetables and meat raised on the premises.

 

Long after the hotel had closed Morgan’s widow described their version of Algo Diferente as “not very expensive, but exclusive…with good food and entertainment.” After the Morgan’s gave it up in 1948, its next owner considered putting in a golf course but went bankrupt before realizing his dream. By the late 1950’s a swim club, known as the Castle Club, operated there for a few years, but the main lodge remained closed.

 

The property went unused for about a decade, spooking and thrilling trespassing teenagers while it fell into disrepair. When writer/educator John Igo scouted Algo Diferente for use as a movie location in the early 60’s, the resort was in decline. The long abandoned grounds had a lonely, atmosphere: buildings and arches were still standing, but there was evidence of vandalism and decay. In the main house, a sweeping staircase led to littered former guest rooms off the upper corridor. “It was impossible to secure that place,” says Saunders. “We chained up the front gate and put huge boulders in front of the entrance.” Nonetheless, teenagers, drifters, and curiosity seekers kept visiting the site. At one point, a Volkswagen ended up at the bottom of the long drained, Olympic size swimming pool. “Why? Who Knows.” says Saunders. “Anything is possible.”

 

Eventually the property was developed into Elm Creek, an upscale residential community. At first, Saunders says, there was some thought of turning the lodge into a clubhouse, “but architectural studies showed that it was not feasible.” There was no interior finish on the old rock walls; windows and floors were lost to the deterioration that plagues long-empty buildings.  All the Algo Diferente buildings were “relics,” says Saunders. “They were in need of total repair.” Instead, the crumbling buildings were bull dozed. Their rocky remains were used as fill for the swimming pool, and houses were built on the site.