“Night View, Downtown Section” by Arthur Rothstein — 1942
by Paula Bosse
“Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty…”
by Paula Bosse
If you’re interested in Dallas history, chances are pretty good that you’ve seen this photograph by Arthur Rothstein, which was taken in 1942 — sometime between January 9th and 16th — taken for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). It shows Elm Street — “Theater Row” — looking west from the block east of Harwood. This photograph is from the Library of Congress (here) a larger image can be explored here.
Below are a few magnified details (click pictures to see much larger images).
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Chattel loans and good will:
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Morton’s Pants Shop (2014 Elm) has a neon sign in the shape of a pair of pants!
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More interesting neon: the Texas Pawn Shop (2012 Elm) has the traditional three balls, and, better, the Campbell Hotel (Elm and Harwood) has a camel!
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The White Plaza on Main St. (at Harwood) was originally the Hilton Hotel and is now Hotel Indigo. There were some great buildings in this block.
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That light is blinding.
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The towering Tower Petroleum Building (Elm and St. Paul) is pretty cool-looking here.
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The 2000 block of Elm (seen in the foreground, just east of the Majestic block) was full of furniture stores, pawn shops, and tailors. This is my favorite detail from this photograph. Sadly, the entire block — which was once filled with businesses and activity — was completely demolished; the “camel” side of the street is now occupied by an ugly parking garage, and this side of the street is a wasteland of ugly asphalt parking lots. Yep.
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1941 plates.
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Below, Elm Street businesses from the 1943 city directory, beginning at N. St. Paul and ending at N. Olive. Next stop: Deep Elm.
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The view today? Here. Hope you weren’t too attached. Kiss most of it bye-bye.
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Sources & Notes
Photo from the Library of Commerce, here. This photo is all over the place, including the great Shorpy website, here (click the “supersize wallpaper” link under the photo to see it BIG). If you want a super-gigantic 26.3 MB file (5978 x 4619) (!), download the TIFF file in the dropdown beneath the photo.
The movie playing at the Majestic Theatre is “Tarzan’s Secret Treasure.” Newspaper ads show that the movie opened on January 9, 1942 and played just one week, closing on January 16.
Thanks, Cody and Chris for asking about this photo!
Everything’s bigger in Texas, and everything’s bigger when it’s clicked.
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Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
Have you seen the very well done colorized version? I’m on my phone so I don’t have a link handy.
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One of these maybe? The first is from Traces of Texas on Facebook and the other two are from Shorpy. https://imgur.com/a/cVXix
And Paula, great post! Lots of great information about a great photo.
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It was the Shorpy one that I had seen. It seems to have more realistic color choices than the other one. That top one looks like it was created by eliminating the word “Shorpy” off the building! 🙂
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Two things I noted in the list of businesses. The Ben Morris Jewelry Company at 1924 was the long-time sponsor of the KRLD “Sunday Morning Hit Parade” in big time radio days. Also, wondering whether the Weir Furniture at 2011 was the same family that founded Weir’s Furniture on Knox?
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Yes, there is a connection. A. F. Weir opened the original location at 2550 Elm in 1922, ownership subsequently passed through the family. There is more info on the Weir family near the very end of a post about A. F. Weir’s son here: https://flashbackdallas.com/2016/03/12/photo-pac-the-first-disposable-camera-1948/
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Very, very interesting Paula. Thanks
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Thanks so much for this fantastic blog! I am a native Dallasite but have lived in Denver for many years. I love seeing things I remember from the 1960s through the 1980s, as well as places that my parents described and saw. My Mom visited the1936 Texas centennial as a child, so thanks for that entry as well!! Doubt she saw the hilarious seamy side of the event, though!
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Thank you!
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[…] strobing neon. This is a similar view to the fabulous photo from 1942 by Arthur Rothstein seen here. This is absolutely the period of Dallas’ history I wish I could have experienced […]
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Paula,
When I started at KNUS FM in the Capri in August of 1972, Titches was across Elm from the theaters. Just past Titches to the east was a music store. I would go there at lunch and look at the instruments. They never had much business. Looking at the photos from 1942, it looks like Titches was smaller. Did they add on some time in the later years? When I started, all of Titches was open. When I returned 3 years later, only the first floor was open. When did they finally close? Was the building torn down for the parking garage?
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Here’s an article on the expansion of Titche’s: https://flashbackdallas.com/2016/11/15/the-expanded-texas-size-titches-building-1955/
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Don’t recall when Titche’s closed, but the original store was converted into apartments. The addition on the south side now is the University of North Texas administration and the UNT law school classrooms.
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