The Riot River Walk is one of San Antonio's newest destinations for laughs.

Why it matters: The comedy club arrives as San Antonio's stand-up scene continues to gain momentum, offering another venue for national acts downtown while creating more opportunities for local comedians.

Zoom in: Owner Brian Gendron opened The Riot in October in the basement of The Maverick hotel downtown, expanding from the club's original Houston location.

• The venue hosts nightly shows. Open mic nights are free, while general admission tickets for headliner shows start at $12.50. Table reservations are also available.
• The Riot has hosted comedians including Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, Mark Normand and Ralph Barbosa.
• Aspiring comics can sign up online for open mic spots.

The vibe: The 110-seat club has the polished feel of a New York basement comedy venue, paired with a speakeasy-style bar, The Library Cocktail Lounge, where patrons can order drinks before or during a show.

• "We're the small comedy club, but we feel like a big established brand, because of the location of the bar, the room — everything's well put together," general manager Rene Gonzales says.

The big picture: Gonzales says his long-term goal is for The Riot to become a destination, drawing visitors much like Austin's Comedy Mothership or Los Angeles' Comedy Store.

• "I want people to come to San Antonio just for The Riot," Gonzales says.

The intrigue: The club's location, a short walk from the Majestic Theatre, has occasionally led to an unexpected bonus — comics who've just finished sold-out shows there have dropped in for surprise guest sets at The Riot, Gonzales says.

What's next: The Riot is planning a first-anniversary celebration this fall, with details still under wraps.

New public art along the San Pedro Creek Culture Park honors an early Black church in San Antonio.

Why it matters: The St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first of its kind in the city where Black people could worship freely, per the San Antonio River Foundation.

Zoom in: The San Antonio River Foundation unveiled two installations, tributes to the church by California-based artist Gordon Huether, last month for Juneteenth.

• "Presence of the Past" features historic quilt patterns that allow light to filter in. The names of the original parishioners are inscribed on an altar.
• In "Culture Crossing Pavilion," the quilt patterns were developed by former San Antonio poet laureate Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson in conjunction with San Antonio residents and current church members. Sanderson also worked with parishioners on a poem etched around the quilt patterns.

Catch up quick: The original church's foundation along the San Pedro Creek downtown was uncovered in 2020, when construction workers were clearing out the area to develop the creek into the walkable corridor it is now.

Flashback: Several early church members were among the first Black men in Bexar County to register to vote in 1867, when the church was organized. In 1873, they purchased the former Menger Soap Works factory along the creek for a new place of worship.

Context: By 1878, the congregation relocated to a newly built church. They moved again in 1928 to their present-day home on the near West Side, per Texas Monthly.

If you go: Find the installations at Houston and Camaron streets next to The Alameda Theater.

⚖️ Phyllis Sentiva Ochoa, the San Antonio rapper behind the viral "Where We Roll" freestyle, is set to be released on parole Wednesday after serving part of a 16-year sentence for aggravated robbery and human trafficking of a minor. (KSAT)

🍻 McIntyre's plans to open a fifth Texas location in New Braunfels, with construction set to begin in August and wrap up by February. (SA Business Journal 🔑)

Jacob Tobey is no longer the Spurs' lead play-by-play announcer after social media posts accused him of cheating on his girlfriend. (Front Office Sports 🔑)

👋 It's Madalyn! The Southtown location of Julian's Pizza and More came highly recommended by family and friends, so I had to check it out.

What to try: I didn't get a pizza, but I loved Callahan's Classic Italian sandwich ($15.95), piled high with soppressata, smoked ham, salami, mortadella, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes and red onions, then finished with a tangy house dressing.

• It's big enough that you'll probably have leftovers for a second meal.

Six-word review: Cold cuts never tasted this refreshing.

San Antonio is one of only five major U.S. metros where a typical luxury home still sells for less than $1 million, according to a new Redfin analysis.

Why it matters: The Alamo City is becoming increasingly rare as an affordable luxury housing market. Last year, there were eight major metros where the typical luxury home sold for under $1 million.

How it works: Luxury homes are defined in the report as those estimated to be in the top 5% of a metro area's price range, based on prices of homes sold over a rolling 12-month period.

Zoom in: The median sale price for a luxury home in San Antonio was $968,344 during the three months ending in May.

• That's up 5.1% from a year earlier — a slightly faster pace than the national luxury market, where prices rose 4.7%.

Zoom out: San Antonio ranks as the nation's fifth most affordable major metro for luxury homes, behind:

• Detroit ($719,252)
• Cleveland ($833,228)
• Pittsburgh ($904,202)
• Cincinnati ($952,523)

The big picture: The typical luxury home now sells for $1.37 million nationally.