SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – It definitely was not something you’d see every day.
A huge crane hoisted a delivery truck high into the sky over the Pearl Brewery Monday morning, then lowered it onto the third-floor deck of the Hotel Emma.
The spectacle was part of a plan for a new poolside bar at the historic hotel, and it involved a piece of its history.
“This is an original vehicle, Pearl Brewery delivery truck, that has been retrofitted as a food truck,” said Bill Petrella, CEO & General Manager of the Hotel Emma.
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Petrella said the 1967 box-style truck once was used to transport Pearl beer from the brewery that had occupied the space where the hotel now stands.
Now the plan is for it to be used to serve beer and more.
The truck underwent months of renovations, which involved gutting the vehicle and fitting it will coolers and cooking equipment.
“We have a whole design team and as we were brainstorming, this thought came up and we're, like, 'Yes, that's super cool,’” Petrella said.
Many people seemed to agree.
A crowd of several dozen people gathered around the area to take in the unusual sight.
“It’s pretty neat,” said Carl Bradtmiller, who brought his two children out. “They’re pretty excited. (My son) is in the construction equipment phase of his life, so he likes anything with cranes.”
While watching all of the big equipment work kept his toddler, Ike, fascinated, his daughter, Aletta, worried about the possibility of failure.
“What if the ropes on the crane break?” she asked him.
Fortunately, there were only a few minor hiccups to the operation.
Construction crews had to make some last-minute adjustments, fashioning a new lift system with some beams and a blow torch after the original lift beams failed to get the job done.
Finally, with everything in place, the converted truck began to rise up from the back of a flatbed big rig.
“It’s lifting up!,” said Ike Bradtmiller, excitedly.
The sight of a truck being lifted overhead seemed to give everyone in the crowd a bit of a lift to their day.