Happy Anniversary, Flashback Dallas!
by Paula Bosse
Happy First Anniversary, y’all! Fire up the klieg lights!
by Paula Bosse
Flashback Dallas is one year old today!
When I started this blog a year ago, it was mainly just for myself, because I thought it would be fun and a good writing exercise — and because so many of my friends had said over the years that I should do a Dallas history blog. And now, 388 posts (!) later, I can say without hesitation, that this has been one of the most personally entertaining and fulfilling things I’ve ever done. I’ve had fun writing every single post, and I hope my enthusiasm in reporting on the big and small of Dallas history has been apparent.
I’ve been so happy at the response. I’m really not very good at promoting myself, but, hell, it’s an anniversary, so, clumsily, here’s a patting-myself-on-the-back list of people or organizations who have graciously profiled, cited, or high-fived Flashback Dallas in the past year:
- The Dallas Morning News (thank you, Robert Wilonsky, Alan Peppard, Mark Lamster, and Rudy Bush!)
- The Dallas Observer (thank you, Lauren Smart and Eric Nicholson!)
- D Magazine (thank you, Tim Rogers!)
- The Ticket, Sportsradio 1310 (thank you, Orphanage guys!)
- Candy’s Dirt (thank you Candy Evans!)
- The State Fair of Texas
- The DeGolyer Library, SMU
- American Institute of Architects, Dallas Chapter
- And all the bloggers who have linked to me or cited me!
And thanks especially to you, the reader! I’m thrilled that so many people have taken the time to email me and to read, reply to, “like,” and share my posts. After my first year, I have over 2,500 followers across social media (a small number for some, maybe, but for me … this would have been unimaginable a year ago) — and it’s interesting to note that the readers of Flashback Dallas cross all ethnic, socioeconomic, political, and perhaps most heartening, AGE lines.
I don’t consider myself a historian so much as a researcher who likes to write about things I find personally entertaining. Chances are if I find something interesting, someone else will, too. Life is too short to suffer through dull and dry historical accounts of events that were probably pretty interesting and lively when they happened.
I’ve learned more about my hometown this past year than I have in all the years leading up to it. Thanks so much to everyone for such a fun year!
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Copyright © 2015 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
I am really glad I found your blog. I am dipping my toe in the blogging waters writing about north and central Texas history, too, partly inspired by your good work!
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Thank you so much — what a compliment! I just started following you on Twitter! If I’d known reading and writing about history would be this much fun, I would have started a long time ago! Good luck on your blog!
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You’ve done an excellent job Paula and opened my eyes to many things about Dallas that I’ve never known. That’s saying a lot because I’ve lived here all my life. Thank you for sharing so much about this great city of ours!
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Thank you, Danny. I’ve loved learning about the neighborhood I grew up in (or right next to, anyway) from YOU!
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you do get an award because you are alive and kicking and still making that certain itch come too life…………………………while i was born under the sign of plywood…..meaning it can get real boring in Dallas……bore…wood and coack roaches…Now here is a Tip and check on it….China Clipper CAFE 3930 Mc Kinney ave, run by Joe Wong….
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Thank you, Alex! I remember seeing the China Clipper! Never went in there but I saw it hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times throughout my childhood.
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Paula, I was introduced to the China Clipper when I was a child. I used to love going there! I never knew when or why it disappeared. I have only been back “home” for 11 years.
I am looking forward to catching up on your blog!
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Thanks, Melinda! The China Clipper was on the way home from my father’s bookstore, and we passed all the time.
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I always learn something! Thank you, Paula!
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Thank you so much, Joan! I really appreciate it (and everything YOU do!).
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Glad I stumbled upon your blog a few months back
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Thanks, Peter!
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Thank you so much for this blog. I always look forward to reading it.
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Thank you for reading, Tom!
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I am a displaced 5th generation Texan, born in Dallas and lived there all my adult life until age 44. Your little glimpses of the home I shared with my beloved grandparents have often made me cry, but each and all have been enjoyable and heartwarming. A big Texas “Thanks, Pard!” to you.
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Wow, Patricia … thank you!
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Congratulations on flashbackdallas’ first birthday!
And wishes for many more. I love the “blown up” pics and focusing on something other than the central subject–backgrounds say so much!
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I’m so happy to hear someone say that! Thanks, Teresa!
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It’s been a lot of fun for us too. Every day there is a new (to us) treasure from Dallas’ far from colorless history. Congratulations for the all too quick year and we wait to learn of other quirks and gems from the past!
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Thanks, Bob! I’ve appreciated your comments over the past year.
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I am a bit of a lurker, but enjoy your site daily. I’m glad I “stumbled” across it during a search. I’m was an “Oak Cliffee” during the 50’s and 60’s. Congratulations and I look forward to more great stories. Also, thanks for allowing a non-Facebook/Twitter kind of guy participate in your comments section.
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Thanks, Steve! I need to write more about Oak Cliff. If you haven’t seen them, here are a few posts about OC from the past year: https://flashbackdallas.com/category/neighborhoods/oak-cliffwest-dallas/
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As a small town kid growing up in the 1960’s a couple of hundred miles west of here (in that vague area known as “The Big Country,”) Dallas was always THE city–a combination of Oz and Sodom and Gomorrah. We would drive through Fort Worth once a year to get to Six Flags, but never any further east than that because god only knows what would happen to you if you actually wound up in Dallas. I really enjoy reading this blog and seeing glimpses of what that Dallas was really like and comparing it with the Dallas where I have lived and worked for the last 30 years. Congratulations and thanks!
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Thank you, Mack! I need to write more about the Sodom and Gomorrah side of Dallas! It’s funny what people outside the city thinks it’s like. And here I was, growing up in the Big City, wanting nothing more than to be Laura Ingalls Wilder and live on the wide open prairie! Thanks for reading!
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Paula
Congratulations on your success – your blog is always one of the highlights of my day.
Im a Dallasite and love our history ( even if some wish to tear it down).
My husband and I have a circa 1910 farmhouse in the Ravinia Heights area of Oak Cliff and have really enjoyed the history of our area – found out right after we purchased the house that the area was originally called Bronx Park Addition due to a park being right at the intersection of West 12th St and Ravinia !
Keep up the great work!
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Thank you, Patrick! Sometimes Oak Cliff seems like a foreign country to me — I need to get out more! I haven’t heard of the Ravinia Heights neighborhood — is the “Bronx Park” name connected with New York? I don’t know if you saw this, but this is one of my favorite hard-sell promotions in the early days of Oak Cliff (from 1891): https://flashbackdallas.com/2014/08/17/oak-cliff-dallas-brooklyn-1891/
Thanks again!
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there have been several decades of unrecognized developement and books on such done by folks who are not from Dallas and then again they moved on to harvest better paychecks to tell town history else where…the oldest block map areas are by the present dart bus center,
that was the Marsalis 1889 district while the Hords ridge area was by the Zoo and 10th street was a Victorian area…..this area can be located on the 3rd floor of the city of Dallas block book archives on Jefferson….
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[…] years! Time really does fly when you’re having fun. Without duplicating the entirety of my anniversary post of last year, I just want to thank everyone who reads this blog. I’m still excited and enthusiastic to […]
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and THANK YOU for the great job you do here! as a “born and raised” Dallasite i really enjoy reading about the city’s past, and particularly seeing all the great photos that you are always coming up with. you do an amazing job!
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Thanks so much, Lee!
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