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March 29, 2023

Southland Center Observation Deck — 1967

550 feet above street level…

by Paula Bosse

I never experienced the observation deck atop the Southland Life Insurance Building (or any of the observation decks sprinkled throughout downtown — other than Reunion Tower, I guess), but I see a lot of people mention it in fond childhood memories. Here it is in an ad from the 1967 Highland Park High School yearbook.

GREAT SCOT… SEE IT FROM THE TOP!

Get a bird’s-eye view of your school from the Observation Deck, high on top of Southland Center. It’s a beautiful view, 550 feet above street level. A completely enclosed Observation Lounge assures visitors of all-weather comfort.

Come every day, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Adults, 25¢ — children (6-12) 10¢. Proceeds go to charity.

Southland Life Insurance Co.
Home Office • Southland Center • Dallas

The observation deck and “lounge” was opened to the public on the 41st floor of the Southland Life Building on Oct. 31, 1956 (the top floor — the 42nd — had a private heliport). I can’t find when it finally closed, but it was open until at least the 1980s.

A search around the internet turned up an interesting bit of footage of the observation deck in 1962 — from a cameo appearance in the TV show “Route 66” (there were a couple of episodes shot in Dallas — I haven’t seen this entire episode, but the clip below has a few cool locations). The pertinent footage begins at the 4:43 mark and lasts for about 2 minutes (if, like me, any hint of fictional animal danger is a problem, you might want to stop around the 5:00 mark). (A couple of cast connections to our fair city: David Wayne, the actor featured in this episode, would later return to Big D as Digger Barnes in “Dallas,” and Dallas actress K Callan — seen in a scene at Love Field at 4:10 — was both a student and a teacher at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Oak Cliff.) From this clip, it looks like there might have been several of the telescopes around the perimeter of the building. (I’d love to see this in color — to see those shimmering blue glass tiles up close.) (This full episode — one of three filmed in Dallas — can be watched on YouTube, here. You’ll see Love Field, the Marriott Motor Hotel, the Southland observation deck, the SMU campus, the Trade Mart, a Wyatt’s cafeteria and grocery store (6126 Luther Lane, in Preston Center), Sheriff Bill Decker’s actual office, and a drive-in movie theater.)

Is there an observation deck there these days?

skyline-looking-west_southland-center_1970_portal

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo/ad is from the 1966 Highland Park High School yearbook.

Check out these related Southland Center posts:

17 Comments

March 26, 2023

The Noel Page Building — 1966

Fast-forward 50-something years…

by Paula Bosse

The Noel Page Building opened in 1966 at 6400 N. Central Expressway, between Yale and University — see it on Google Street View here. For many years it has been the home of the Turley Law Center (its address is now 6440 Central). It was designed by Thomas E. Stanley, who designed a ton of buildings, including the not dissimilar 211 North Ervay (the blue-and-white building you’ll probably recognize on Google Street View here).

The developer/owner — a Dallas orthodontist named Noel J. Tomlin Jr. (1916-2003) — envisioned this office building as something of an answered prayer for businesspeople who didn’t enjoy the hassle of commuting to workplaces downtown (or, as he said in a 1965 Dallas Morning News interview, “[a place] where parking is no problem and the business livin’ is easy”).

Tomlin acquired the property in 1961, at a time when there were very, very few office buildings that far from downtown (and before NorthPark had even been built), but, presciently, he felt it would be a good location for what was described at the time as an office “tower.” He also hoped to get in on the overflow waiting-list action of prospective business tenants who had been turned away from the very successful nearby Meadows Building (which is generally considered to be the first substantial office building built beyond the Central Business District). It took Tomlin five years to finally build his “tower,” but he did it. Big-money commercial real estate was starting to heat up above Mockingbird!

Feb. 1966

The physical properties of the planned building were described in two Dallas Morning News articles, printed four years apart (the architectural renderings which accompanied the articles showed slightly different designs).

From July 1961 (a 10-story building):

Exterior walls will be made of pre-cast concrete on the east and west, and the north and south walls will be of glass, aluminum, porcelain enamel, and mosaic tile. Three elevators will be included in the structure. There will be three parking levels — two underground and one above-ground ramp at the rear of the building.

From April 1965 (an 11-story building, with just under 10,000 square feet of rentable space per floor, with the cost of the land and construction estimated “in excess of $2.5 million” — about $25 million in 2023 dollars):

End walls will be of white marblecrete. A curtain wall system utilizing clear vision glass and white spandrel glass with anodized aluminum vertical mullions will complete the tower. The first and second floors will be recessed, forming a colonnade emphasized by white marble columns.

The name of the building? “Noel” was Tomlin’s first name, and “Page” was his wife’s maiden name.

For some reason, I thought this building was built much more recently. Were those red stripes added during a renovation? I’ve never thought that much about this building — it’s always just been there — but I stumbled across the above ad today while looking for something else and immediately recognized it in the ad. And now I find it really interesting! Especially when comparing this somewhat modest “tower” with the 211 N. Ervay building. So… happy accident!

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo is a (cropped) image from a commercial real estate listing, here. More photos can be found there.

Read more in the Dallas Morning News archives:

“Dallas Developer Plans 10-Story Office Tower” (DMN, July 9, 1961)
“Away-From-Town Office Building Slated for Start” by Jim Stephenson (DMN, Apr. 11, 1965)

4 Comments

February 25, 2023

Dallas, The City of Splendid Realities — 1905

dallas_city-of-splendid-realities_texas-and-pacific-quarterly_1905_det_b

by Paula Bosse

In 1905, a group of jaycees-like Dallas businessmen formed the Hundred and Fifty Thousand Club — their aim was to promote the city in hopes that it would achieve a population of 150,000 by 1910. Below is one of their impressive ads, which, of course, includes the favorite insistent claim of Dallas boosters that the Trinity River will ANY DAY NOW become a bustling “direct water route to the Gulf and the Panama Canal, that will put it in closest touch with the markets of the entire world.” The entire world! (Still waiting for that “navigable Trinity,” guys….) (Transcription is below the ad.)

DALLAS: The City of Splendid Realities

Probably no community in the world offers larger opportunities for the investment of capital and intelligent effort than does the city of Dallas, Texas.
Dallas is the commercial and industrial center of the most rapidly developing state in the Union.
The country surrounding the City is wonderfully rich and fertile — the famous black waxy belt that has never known a crop failure.
Its railroad shipping facilities are unexcelled, and now that the improvement of the Trinity River is assured it will stand at the head of navigation with a direct water route to the Gulf and the Panama Canal, that will put it in closest touch with the markets of the entire world.
There are dozens of opportunities for money making right now in the supplying of distinctly felt needs.
Conservative investors who have capital to place safely and profitably in industrial or public service enterprises, wide-awake men who are looking for a profitable employment of personal effort and limited capital in fruit raising, truck farming, chicken raising or small canning industries, are invited to write for information that will be of distinct interest to them.

Hundred and Fifty Thousand Club
Dallas, Texas
Write for Booklet, Dallas 1905

When the results of the 1910 Census were revealed, Dallas hadn’t reached its goal of a population of 150,000. But it had grown an impressive 116% in a decade, and, according to The Dallas Morning News, this meant that Dallas had the largest population in all of Texas and about the 50th largest in the United States. (Click article for larger image.)

Dallas Morning News, Sept. 14, 1910

***

Sources & Notes

Ad found in the pages of Texas and Pacific Quarterly, 1905.

dallas_city-of-splendid-realities_texas-and-pacific-quarterly_1905_det_b_sm

3 Comments

February 19, 2023

Kimball High School, Off Campus — Ads, 1959-1961

Browsing the Elvis releases, 1959

by Paula Bosse

A few years ago I posted several Oak Cliff-centric ads found in the 1963 and 1967 Kimball High School yearbooks (see those ads here). I’m back for another installment.

Above, a photo I really love, showing five Kimball girls checking out Elvis records at Priest Music (2447 W. Kiest Blvd). No, they don’t look like high school girls, and, yes, they are. The man at the right is, apparently, the owner, Frank M. Anderson (whom, I think, changed the name of the store to Music Hall the following year?). I posted this ad on my Facebook page last week, and one man wrote, about the owner: “Frank, the owner. His shop was known for its collection of Jazz and Classical albums. We became friends as I got into Jazz thanks to the Great Pete Fountain!” And because, why not, here’s a recent Google Street View of the Kiestwood Village sign which was probably there at that little shopping strip when Frank and the girls were photographed for this ad.

kiestwood-village_2022

Dairy Mart (2739 S. Hampton):

1960

1959

Moreno’s Patio (245 Wynnewood Village):

1961

Ketchum & Killum (334 W. Kiest) — a sporting goods store with perhaps the best name ever:

1961

If you’re in need of some bandages or Mercurochrome after being a little too curious at Ketchum & Killum, head over to Page’s Pharmacy (3220 Falls Dr.):

1959

For all things “fun,” Playland (3900 W. Illinois):

1959

***

Sources & Notes

All ads from the 1959, 1960, and 1961 yearbooks of Justin Kimball High School in Oak Cliff.

More Kimball yearbook ads can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “A Few Ads From the Pages of the 1963 and 1967 Kimball High School Yearbooks.”

priest-music_kimball-high-school_1959-yrbk_sm

10 Comments

February 12, 2023

El Chico Foods/Cuellar Foods

enchimales_canned_introduced-1968_portal_det El Chico’s Enchimales with Gravy, ca. 1968

by Paula Bosse

I give you the “Enchimale,” a product introduced under the El Chico label in 1968. A news release described the delicacy thusly: “Wedding bells are ringing at El Chico for the marriage of the enchilada and the tamale, and the new product is called the Enchimale. […] This food is in the shape of a tamale, filled with fresh meat, with a mild enchilada sauce over it” (Dallas Morning News, Oct. 31, 1968). (So… a tamale?) I gather this was a short-lived product. (See the “Sources & Notes” section at the bottom of this page for an unusual and unrelated — I hope — recipe for enchimales which appeared in a newspaper in Spokane, Washington in 1950.)

This photo caught my eye while I was looking into the history of El Chico’s manufactured foods. Especially their canned foods, which I was unaware of. I’m not surprised they existed — I remember their frozen food line — I just have no memories of canned foods from El Chico.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. You’ve probably heard the story of Mama Cuellar and the Cuellar brothers and their El Chico empire (if not, a good article is here). As far as their Dallas restaurants, the Cuellar brothers opened their first El Chico restaurant in 1940 at 3514 Oak Lawn (next door-ish to Lucas B & B, which opened in Oak Lawn in 1953). This location closed in either 1954 or 1955.

El Chico No. 1, Oak Lawn, via D Magazine

El Chico No. 1, Oak Lawn, via Portal to Texas History

Six years later, they opened their second location in Lakewood at 2031 Abrams.

El Chico No. 2, Lakewood, via Portal to Texas History

Their third Dallas location opened near the Inwood Theater in 1949 at 5526 Lovers Lane.

el-chico_inwood-village_1953_inwood-village-website El Chico No. 5, via Inwood Village website

When that location opened, the family was operating 11 restaurants in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kansas. Things were good in Cuellar-land.

At the end of 1949, the Cuellars decided to begin manufacturing canned food products, with the aim to sell Tex-Mex staples nationally under the label “El Chico Foods.” The new factory was located at 162 Leslie St., in the then-pretty-new Trinity Industrial District. (They later moved waaaaaaaaaaay up north, to 1925 Valley View Lane.)

El Chico Canning Co., 162 Leslie St., Dallas

El Chico canned foods began to show up in DFW grocery stores in March 1950. Make way for canned chili, enchiladas, tamales (in corn husks), enchilada sauce, and hot sauce.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mar. 17, 1950

Soon to follow were other foods, including the mystifying canned tortillas — thanks to the photo below, I now know that it was possible to buy tortillas in a can, which was opened with a key. Just like Spam, or a canned ham. (Not sure what the “El Chico Show” was, but apparently it was broadcast on Channel 5 — at least in October 1950.)

October 1950, via Portal to Texas History

Business boomed! After only 9 months, production tripled. After 2 years El Chico canned foods were in more than 30 states.

But in March 1953, the Cuellar family was sued in federal court for copyright infringement by a man named Benito Collada who owned a well-known nightclub in Greenwich Village called “El Chico,” a name he copyrighted in 1931. He demanded that the Cuellars change the name of their restaurants and their canned foods. The judge handed down an unusual verdict in which both sides were able to claim partial victory (or partial loss): the Cuellars were allowed to keep “El Chico” as the name of their restaurants, but they had to bid adios to the name on their canned foods.

The company regrouped and rebranded. The name of their Tex-Mex products became “Cuellar’s,” and the label even came with a pronunciation guide: “QUAY-YAR.”

cuellar-chili

Apparently, sales dropped. Steeply. The Cuellars fought their way through the appeals process, determined to retain the “El Chico” name on their manufactured foods, and, in September 1954 they won the right to once again sell canned foods under the El Chico brand.

el-chico_canned-tamales_label_smithsonian

Sales really increased when they added frozen dinners to their line — their factory on Leslie Street installed a huge freezing system — they were able to freeze 6,000 frozen dinners at a time in 90 minutes.

el-chico_frozen_smithsonian via Smithsonian Institution

via Smithsonian Institution

Along with the typical frozen dinners you’d expect, El Chico also sold frozen tortillas. In the photo above, there is a box of frozen tortillas in the shopping cart and in the freezer case. As I recall, I think I liked the frozen Mexican dinners as a kid, but frozen tortillas and tortillas in a can sound equally unappealing.

The frozen dinners ultimately took over the manufacturing side of Cuellar foods, and at some point, the canned products eventually faded away. As I said, I remember the frozen dinners, but I don’t remember the canned foods at all. But I find them so interesting that that they are going to get their very own post — check out that post here.

***

Sources & Notes

Top (cropped) image is from the Frank Cuellar Sr. Collection, University of North Texas Special Libraries Collection, Portal of Texas History, and can be found here (the full collection may be browsed here).

Several images in this post are from the Smithsonian Institution’s “Guide to the El Chico Restaurants Collection.”

Read a good history of the Cuellar empire in “The Family Who Sold Tex-Mex to America” by Nancy Nichols, D Magazine (Nov. 2013).

So. “enchimales.” I did a quick search on the word and found mentions back to 1934 for a cafe selling something with this name in Shreveport. For all I know, this is a traditional Mexican dish which I’ve just never heard of. BUT, I wonder whether any actual Mexican-related dish would bear any resemblance to the enchimales recipe devised by Mrs. Vincent Katzenberger of Garfield, Washington which appeared in Spokane’s Spokesman-Review newspaper? It was the 14th-place (!) winner in the “Meltin’ Pot” international cooking competition. Here’s a short synopsis of Mrs. Katzenberger’s dish, which is made like enchiladas: in a tortilla, place a filling of onions, cheddar cheese, and a can of olives (all of which has been passed through a meat grinder) — on top of that filling, plop one canned tamale; roll up this filled tortilla and place it in a baking dish; repeat a dozen or so times; cover everything with tamale sauce; bake; when done, serve on a lettuce leaf and top with sprinkles of Parmesan cheese. The recipe is here. If you make this, please let me know how it came out.

enchimales_canned_introduced-1968_portal_det_sm

8 Comments

January 24, 2023

“You Can Get That Famous Marathon Gasoline in Oak Cliff” — 1930

Somewhere in Oak Cliff, 1930, via Smithsonian Inst.

by Paula Bosse

Rejoice, Oak Cliff residents of 1930: you’re getting five Marathon gas stations! I’m not sure why these stations were only in Oak Cliff and no other part of Dallas, but they were (a sixth station joined this elite group a year or so later).

I have a fascination with old gas stations, but I have to admit I’m not familiar with Marathon Gasoline or Marathon Oil products or the Transcontinental Oil Co. (they had a refinery in Fort Worth), but for whatever reason, the Marathon stations in Dallas — all emblazoned with an image of the Greek runner Pheidippides — appear to have faded away by about 1942 when I guess the last straggler finally crossed the finish lane, collapsed, and died. Farewell, Pheidippides.

The photo above shows one of those first 5 stations in Dallas. The location is not specified.

Marathon stations in the O.C. in 1930:

marathon_transcontinental-oil_gas-station_050430_ad_det

No. 1: Jefferson & Llewellyn Sts. (539 W. Jefferson)
No. 2: Zangs Blvd. & Beckley Ave. (1111 N. Zang)
No. 3 Jimtown Rd. & Montreal Ave. (2120 W. Clarendon Dr.) (in 1931, residents petitioned the city to change the name of the street to “Clarendon” because they thought “Jimtown” was too déclassé)
No. 4: Zangs Blvd. & Davis St. (137 W. Davis — this was the station that lasted the longest, appearing to have closed by the time the 1942 city directory was published)
No. 5: Polk & Davis Sts. (938 W. Davis)
(No. 6: 1804 W. Jefferson)

It doesn’t look like any of the old buildings are still standing, but there IS one of the exact same design still standing in Miami, Oklahoma — a group restored it and even added period gas pumps (which someone later stole) — see it below.

marathon-station_miami-okla_google-street-view_2016 Miami, OK, Google Street View July 2016

Not all of the Dallas stations had the same design — a press release describes the stations of possessing “distinctive architecture.” Another of the Oak Cliff locations looked very different (and certainly more distinctive):

Somewhere in Oak Cliff, 1930

The one above is the same design seen in this local ad:

April 1930

May 1930

marathon_rec_ebay

marathon_ebay

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo is from the American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, National Museum of American History, Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution — more info can be found here.

I seem to post a lot about gas stations. Here are a few notable posts:

“Magnolia Gas Station No. 110 — 1920”
“Simms Super Service Station, Cedar Springs & Maple — 1930”
“The Filling Station on Greenville Avenue: From Bonnie & Clyde to Legendary Burger Place”
“Oak Cliff: “A City Within a City” — 1929” (scroll almost all the way to the bottom to see the Skinnie & Jimmie Service Station)

marathon_transcontinental-oil_gas-station_smithsonian_1930_sm

2 Comments

January 15, 2023

Exposition Park: No Swamps, No Malaria — 1889

by Paula Bosse

In 1889, Parry Bros. were developing 80 acres of Capt. William H. Gaston’s old stomping grounds — aka the Gaston Homestead. The ads came fast and furious. One sentence stands out:

The natural drainage of Exposition Park, under the guiding hand of our civil engineer, has become practically perfect. There are no swamps or other sources of malaria contiguous to this property.

Sounds good to me!

(I always thought the Fair Park area was prone to flooding, but perhaps the area I’m thinking of is not “contiguous to this property.”)

***

Sources & Notes

Ad from The Dallas Morning News, Oct. 24, 1899.

2 Comments

October 16, 2022

“It’s Big, It’s Fantastic!” — State Fair of Texas, 1949

When dinosaurs roamed Fair Park…

by Paula Bosse

Uh, hmm. Let’s see….

Dinosaur? Check.

Wearing a cowboy hat? Check.

Wearing a bandana? Check.

Wearing spurs? (!) Check.

With buck teeth? Check.

Looming over an art deco building? Check.

It must be time for the fair!

***

Sources & Notes

Postcard found on eBay.

sfot_1949_ebay_a_sm

1 Comment

September 13, 2022

Cedar Crest, L. O. Daniel’s Country Home

Still standing on West Jefferson Blvd. in Oak Cliff

by Paula Bosse

While looking for something on W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel (former governor and U.S. senator), I came across the image above, which I had mistakenly labeled “O’Daniel” rather than “Daniel.” It had nothing at all to do with W. Lee O’Daniel but, instead, showed a house belonging to L. O. Daniel. Who was L. O. Daniel? I’d never heard of him.

Lark Owen Daniel Sr. (1866-1927) was a wealthy businessman who made big money from… hats! He sold a lot of hats through his wholesale millinery company, and he was also involved in some spectacular real estate dealings (a newspaper article in 1907 mentioned he had just sold a couple of lots on Elm Street for $30,000 — if you believe online inflation calculators, that would be the equivalent of almost a million dollars in today’s money!). As a proven earner of big bucks, he was also the first president of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

Even before that huge real estate sale, Daniel was swimming in hat-cash. In 1901 he bought 27 acres near the Fort Worth Interurban rail line and built a 5,000-square-foot, 3-story, 15-room Victorian mansion. He named the house “Cedar Crest.” I don’t know if it was technically in Oak Cliff at that point, but it was definitely outside the Dallas city limits. This is the way Daniel’s address appeared in the 1910 city directory:

1910 Dallas directory

And here’s a photo of an interurban trundling along, uncomfortably close to the house:

The luxurious splendor of the somewhat isolated Cedar Crest apparently emitted a high-pitched siren-call which was frequently heard by area bandits: it was burgled quite a few times (at least 3 times in one 12-month period). After one incident in which a burglar wandered through the house in the dead of night and woke Mrs. Daniel as he stood over her as she lay in bed, Oak Cliff police said that they found no trace of the trespasser but saw where he had hitched his horse and get-away buggy, out back in the orchard. In another incident a few months later, Mrs. Daniel — who had been alerted by an employee that the family car was about to be stolen from the “automobile house” — ran out to the garage armed with a revolver and fired three shots at the thieves, scaring them away (I don’t think she was attempting to fire warning shots — I think she fired AT them). This may seem extreme, but the newspaper noted that the value of the car (in 1915) was an eye-watering $4,000 (more than $110,000 in today’s money!). I don’t know where Mr. Daniel was during all this, but Mrs. Daniel was not about to let that car go anywhere!

One summer, the Daniels rented out Cedar Crest while they vacationed elsewhere. The ad in the paper specified that only “responsible parties without small children” were welcome. I hate to keep harping on about the money, but a two-month stay at L. O.’s “beautiful country home” would set some responsible childless person/s back a cool $300 (almost $9,000 in today’s money). (Who would pay such an exorbitant amount of money to stay in an un-airconditioned house in North Texas during the height of the summer?)

Summer 1912

L. O. Daniel died in Feb. 1927. His business empire was closed down, and the large Cedar Crest swath of land he owned was put up for sale in 1929.

April 1929

I’m not sure what happened with that specific transaction, but his son, L. O. Daniel Jr., ended up breaking that land up into parcels and selling residential lots as part of the “L. O. Daniel Jr. Addition,” beginning in about 1940.

June 1940

November 1940

This beautiful house is — somehow — still standing. It is located at 2223 West Jefferson in Oak Cliff, facing Sunset High School (see it on Google Street View here). Over the years the mansion fell into disrepair, but in the early ’80s the house was restored by two men — Martin Rubin and Earl Remmel — and it received historical landmark status in 1984. Cedar Crest was purchased a few years ago and has gone through additional restoration/renovation — it currently serves as the impressive law offices for the firm of Durham, Pittard & Spalding.

There are lots of photos online. View some on the Zillow site — which show what it looked like before it was recently updated — here. See some really beautiful photos on CedarCrestOakCliff.com, here. I particularly love this one:

It shouldn’t have been so hard to find a photo of L. O. — but this is about all I could find. Followed by a hats-hats-hats! ad.

Oct. 1915

***

Sources & Notes

Postcard at top (circa 1909) found a few years ago on the Flickr stream of Coltera (not sure if he’s still posting there — if not, that’s a shame, because he had amazing things!).

Photo of the interurban from the 2017 Oak Cliff Advocate article “Law Firm Renovates Historic Mansion on Jefferson” by Rachel Stone (click the link at the bottom of the article to read a piece published in Texas Lawyer which includes information on specific restoration/renovation work done on the house).

There are so many great homes in the L. O. Daniel area — look at a whole bunch on the L. O. Daniel Neighborhood Association website here.

Also recommended is the 2019 Candy’s Dirt article “What’s in a Name For L. O. Daniel?” by Deb R. Brimer.

daniel-l-o_cedar-crest_flickr_coltera_sm

6 Comments

May 22, 2022

Eula Wolcott’s Baker Hotel Book Shop & Rental Library, 1926-1942

Eula Wolcott: bookseller, librarian (Publishers Weekly, 1934)

by Paula Bosse

Today is the birthday of my late father, Dick Bosse, owner of the Aldredge Book Store. I always try to post something bookstore-related on his birthday. This year: Miss Eula Wolcott’s Baker Hotel Book Shop & Rental Library, located inside the Baker Hotel.

Eula Wolcott (1881-1962) was born in Waxahachie and had moved to Dallas by 1910. She appears to have had theatrical ambitions and studied voice and expression (she was billed as an “Experienced Concert Reader and Story Teller”). She opened a little book store and library in the early 1920s — the Booklovers Shop and Library was first on West Jefferson and later on Swiss Avenue. In 1926, she opened a similar shop inside the glamorous Baker Hotel, an enterprise she ran successfully until at least 1942 when another owner took over (she also apparently had a book shop inside the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells). In 1931 she opened the rather confusingly-named “Baker Hotel Book Shop and Rental Library” in Highland Park — in the new “Spanish Village” (the original name for Highland Park Village). Below is a very enthusiastic profile from Publishers Weekly (click to see a larger image).

Publishers Weekly, March 24, 1934

I wish the photo at the top had been better, because I’d love to get a good look at the decor. And Eula. I managed to find a photo of her.

Eula Wolcott, via Ancestry.com

Here are a few ads:

booklovers_042024 1924

baker-hotel_book-shop_DMN_oct-24-1926 Two shops, one owner — 1926

baker-hotel_book-shop_100927 1927

baker-hotel-book-shop_1937 1937

1940

She was active as a bookseller for many years and was also a familiar voice to radio listeners who tuned in to hear her book reviews on WFAA.

One interesting piece of trivia about Eula’s hotel bookshop, shared with me by a former bookstore client of mine: the Baker Hotel Book Shop was the very first American bookstore that British author H. G. Wells ever visited. A lecture tour brought him to Dallas in 1940 — like many of the celebs of the day, he stayed at the Baker. I’m sure Eula was very happy to have Mr. Wells, a literary powerhouse, in her shop. Let’s hope he exhibited proper bookstore etiquette and purchased something!

Baker Hotel, circa 1940

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo and article from the trade magazine Publishers Weekly, March 24, 1934.

Read more Flashback Dallas articles on the Dallas bookstore scene here.

baker-hotel-book-shop_1934_sm

6 Comments

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DALLAS: The City of Splendid Realities

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