Flashback : Dallas

Have a sudden hankering for a fistful of roasted peanuts? (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Two postcards from the Fabulous Fifties showing Dallas’ Theater Row, lit up at night — one looking east (above), and one looking west (below).

The top view — taken from about Stone — was probably taken in the early- to mid-’50s. (See the same view today, here.) The following Elm Street businesses — all of which can be seen in this postcard — were listed in the 1953 city directory:

1602 Elm — W. T. Grant (dept. store)
1605 — Dundee Smart Clothes
1607 — Planters Peanuts (This place fascinates me!)
1607a — Wallace Studios (photography studio)
1609 — Dunton’s Cafeteria
1610 — Franklin’s (women’s clothing)
1613 — Henri’s Hollywood Beauty Studio
1614 — Baker’s Shoes
1623 — Palace Theatre

ERVAY crosses
1700 — Mangel’s (women’s clothing)
1705 — Lee Optical
1713 — Haverty’s (furniture)
1806 — Volk Bros. (dept. store)

ST. PAUL crosses
1907 — Tower Theatre
1911 — Melba Theatre (barely visible)
1921 — Majestic Theatre

Here’s Elm looking west, taken at about North Harwood. (See the same view today, here.) The movie playing at the Majestic, “The True Story of Jesse James,” was released in February, 1957.

The businesses seen here, on the south side of the street:

1918 Elm — Hall’s Credit Clothiers
1922 — Askin’s Credit Clothing Store
1924 — Ben Morris Jewelry
1926 — Majestic Cafe (*possibly* — I’m not sure if it was there in 1958)

In all my wanderings through photos of old Dallas, my biggest regret is that I never experienced downtown-Dallas-movie-going in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Mr. Peanut, we hardly knew ye (or in my case, I never knew ye).

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Top postcard from eBay.

Second postcard from the Billy Holcomb Collection, found on Cinema Treasures here. (If anyone has a better image of this, let me know!)

The thought of buying warm, just-roasted nuts on the sidewalk of a busy downtown street makes me feel all nostalgic for something I’ve never actually experienced. It looks like the Planters Peanut shop was in a couple of different locations before it moved to the one seen above at 1607 Elm — first at 1519 Main (in about 1929), and then the 1500 block of Elm, next to Cullum & Boren (from 1931). Read a few memories of this Elm Street shop here; and see photos of a shop still operating in Memphis, here. Here’s an idea of what sort of mouth-watering snacks they sold (click for larger image).

Dallas Morning News, Feb. 26, 1959

Click pictures for larger images.

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Copyright © 2015 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.