Merry Christmas From the Dallas Police Department’s Parking Enforcement Squad
by Paula Bosse
Santa on Elm Street (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
I don’t know what the story is behind this photograph of Santa Claus riding on the back of a three-wheeled motorcycle (they were used by the Dallas Police Department to patrol downtown streets for parking violations). Maybe Santa’s sleigh has broken down and he’s thumbed a ride to get to a scheduled event at a department store. Let’s hope it wasn’t the result of said sleigh being parked in a No Parking zone and a rather too strenuous ticket dispute by Mr. Claus necessitating a visit to the station to discuss the situation further. (Look at the brick-paved street!)
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I’m not sure of the original source of this photo, but I want to thank reader Chris Walker for sending this to me. Thank you, Chris!
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Copyright © 2015 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
I knew exactly the site of this pic only when I recognized the style of the, I think, Wilson Building.
Definitely going west on Elm. See the signs: Palace Theater, Haverty’s Furniture, Butler Bros., Mangels, Wilson Bldg..Very familiar territory. Don’t remember ever seeing Santa on a police vehicle, but I worked downtown in the 1950s and some in the 1960s.
Elm looks great paved in bricks!!!! Dallas should go back to that!
My crystal ball (and the old Texas license plate site) agree that the Buick parked at the curb is wearing a 1947 plate.