Restaurants | Flashback : Dallas

Tabletop Jukeboxes — 1940

Sammy’s, Greenville Ave., 1940

by Paula Bosse

Who isn’t thrilled to find yourself sitting in a booth at a restaurant with your own personal tabletop jukebox? You don’t see them much these days — the only place I can think of that still has them is Campisi’s. They were an absolute thrill to me as a child. I wonder how many of those little machines were broken by overly curious children who went crazy pushing all the buttons and twisting the knobs to flip the pages to see song selections by people they’d never heard of like Patti Page and Artie Shaw?

I just happened upon a collection of these coin-operated machines — called “wallboxes” — here. I had to look to see if Dallas was represented, and, yes, Dallas is represented. Thrice.

At the top, SAMMY’S — 1516 GREENVILLE AVENUE (below Lowest Greenville, one block south of Ross)

There were several locations of Sammy’s restaurants around town, but this was, I think, the first. (I’m pretty sure the building is still there — it just keeps getting renovated and turned into different restaurants/bars.) (UPDATE: Thanks to a comment on my Facebook page, I now realize that, according to Google Street View, the building that once housed Sammy’s bit the dust sometime between 2012 and 2013, when it became a parking lot. See it in 2007 on Google here.) This is the first time I’ve seen a photo of its interior. Below: what it looked like in its heyday.

ROSE OF THE RANCHO (later just The Rancho) — 4401 BRYAN STREET (in Old East Dallas, at Burlew Street)

Named after a popular movie, this cafe (which was busted a few times for selling liquor without a license) was in business near the Mrs. Baird’s plant at Bryan and Carroll, from at least 1936 to 1978, which is a long time for a restaurant. A 1938 newspaper article about a sorority’s Rush Week noted that the Delta Theta Kappas were attending a “stagette” supper there in September 1936.

The photo below, from 1940, shows an interesting interior. Sort of Art Deco-in-a-goldfish-bowl. There’s a lot to like here — I’m feeling hints of “nautical” — except for those booths, which look like the most uncomfortable restaurant seating I’ve ever seen. Browsing the songs on one of those little jukeboxes would at least have offered a bit of respite and distraction from obsessing over how inhospitably uncomfortable that bench you were sitting on was.

Rose of the Rancho, 1940

I came across the photo below when I was cataloging a collection of photos from the mid 1940s at the Dallas Historical Society — I remembered “Rose of the Rancho,” mainly because of its unusual name. Sadly, the photo shows only the sign (but, as a bonus, it does show the Mrs. Baird’s building, which I keep hearing is about to be renovated any day now). (It’s interesting to note, tangentially, that the guy who took this photo — and all in the collection I was working on — was obsessed with jukeboxes and other coin-operated machines. I feel confident that he stopped in at the Rancho for at least a cup of coffee, armed with a fistful of nickels in order to run through a few hits of the Mills Brothers or Andrews Sisters.)

Rose of the Rancho, 1944 (Dallas Historical Society)

OAK GROVE CAFE — 2630 N. HASKELL (near Weldon Street)

I couldn’t find much about this place, but it had a lot more of the jukebox units installed in it than the other two places: 32 boxes! Imagine if each table had its own concert going on. …And then multiply that by 32. I think those speakers directionalized (is that a word?) the sound so that it kept pretty much to the immediate area. Otherwise, “spillover” music at varying volumes could have been one of many things that tried the patience of waitresses just trying to get through their shifts. …Or it could have been great: different musical offerings at different tables, all day long. Bing Crosby with eggs and toast at table 4, “Stardust” with corned beef at table 6, and Harry James, hold the onions, at the counter. (UPDATE: I’m obviously not well acquainted with this technology. Thanks to the comment below by Bill Parrish, I realize that all of these tabletop machines played the same thing, and each table could adjust the volume. I think I like my idea of 30 different machines chaotically playing 30 different songs simultaneously, but that would have been pretty obnoxious!)

Oak Grove Cafe, 1940

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Sources & Notes

The three photos stamped with “Buckley Music System” are all from the Hagley Digital Archives, here (scroll to find the specific photos).

The 1944 photo (which I have cropped) showing the Rose of the Rancho sign and the Mrs. Baird’s building is from the James H. Bell Collection, Dallas Historical Society — more information is here.

More on the Buckley Music System can be found here.

See one of these machines in action (with French narration!) in a YouTube video here.

If you’d like to support the work I do, please check out my Patreon subscription page here, where every day I try to post something new which hasn’t been posted here on the blog.

4 Comments

February 23, 2023

Crescent Cafe: Warehouse District — 1944-1952

904 McKinney Avenue, at N. Lamar

by Paula Bosse

The Crescent Cafe once stood at 904 McKinney Avenue, at the corner of N. Lamar. Also seen in this photo is the national headquarters of the Oil Well Supply Company (2001 N. Lamar), a sign for Western Union (2026 N. Lamar), and part of the Binswanger glass company (2019-21 N. Lamar).

See this corner now, on Google Streete View, here.

About all I can tell you about this place is that it was in operation from about 1944 to 1952 (in the 1950 city directory, Mrs. Olive West was listed as the owner — by 1952, Mrs. Josephine Cashlon had taken over).

Mrs. West ran the cafe (breakfast and lunch only, closed on Sundays) for several years, but on Sept. 23, 1950, an ad appeared in the classifieds which read:

CAFE — OWNER
Industrial.
Wonderful location.
Bargain.
904 McKinney

Olive was ready to move on.

A week and a half after the ad appeared, Olive died in a car accident on her way to a nephew’s funeral in Sherman (the nephew had also died in a car accident). No word on whether Mrs. Cashlon (a former waitress who had probably long dreamed of running her own restaurant) had purchased the Crescent Cafe before Mrs. West’s unfortunate demise.

crescent-cafe_olive-west Olive West (1890-1950)

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Sources & Notes

Photo found on eBay.

crescent-cafe_mckinney-and-lamar_ebay_sm

2 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 13, 2023

Tex-Mex in a Can (with Bonus Chili-Burger Recipe) — 1953/1954

cuellar-recipe-bk_ebay_det

by Paula Bosse

So the other day I was browsing through eBay, hoping to find something Dallas-related that I’d never seen before. And a Cuellar’s (“QUAY-YAR”) recipe pamphlet popped up. And it is fantástico! I remember El Chico frozen dinners, but I don’t remember El Chico canned foods, and that appears to be what the Cuellar family of Dallas started off with when they decided to branch off from their expanding Tex-Mex restaurant dynasty. The canned foods first appeared in late 1949 or early 1950 under the “El Chico” brand, and just as it was really starting to take off nationally, the company was forced to rename the line “Cuellar’s” in 1953 because of a copyright lawsuit; in 1954, after a year of court appeals, they were allowed to go back to using “El Chico.” (Read more about this manufacturing business in my previous post, “El Chico Foods/Cuellar Foods.”) Initially, the company produced only canned goods. Including, yes, tortillas in a can. TORTILLAS. IN. A. CAN. It appears this circular tin originally came with a dreaded key to open it, like Spam and canned hams. So if you wanted some tortillas, you really had to put the work in (and make sure you were current with your tetanus shots).

In addition to the tortillas (which I assume were flour tortillas, but I’m not entirely sure about this), the line of El Chico canned Tex-Mex foods included staples such as chili con carne (with beans and without), tamales (wrapped in corn shucks), enchiladas, beans (fried and not), enchilada sauce, tamale sauce, hot sauce, green chiles, jalapeños, menudo, “taco filler,” taco sauce, Mexican-style spaghetti (!), something called enchimales, and Mexican-style rice (I have never heard of cooked rice in a can). And, I’m sure, many more products. One newspaper ad touted the fact that you could concoct a full meal for a family of 6 using only 5 El Chico canned foods for $1.85 (which, somewhat shockingly, is the equivalent today of about $22.00).

El Chico canned food ad, April 1951

But back to that recipe pamphlet I stumbled across on eBay, which would be from 1953/1954, the period when El Chico was forced to use the “Cuellar’s” name for their canned foods. The recipes are interesting — not only were these dishes unfamiliar and “exotic” to most people in the U.S. at the time (meaning that El Chico felt the need to inform readers that “‘tacos’ in Spanish means ‘sandwiches'” and that quesadillas were “cheese turnovers”), but the recipes also have occasional odd little flourishes which seem unusual and may indicate restaurant hacks or traditional preparation tips I am unaware of (guacamole salad calling for a teaspoon of butter, for example). You’ve got recipes for alarming dishes such as “Tongue a la Cuellar” (first ingredient: “one large or two small tongues”). not-alarming-but-unusual dishes such as scrambled eggs made with a can of chili and hominy, as well as the more mundane dishes like tacos (in which the cook is instructed to use toothpicks to keep the tortilla “closed” during deep frying).

But my very favorite recipe is something so spectacular that I can’t believe this hasn’t made its way to the State Fair of Texas food tents. Seriously, if any of you SFOT food vendors or maverick entrepreneurs decide to develop this dish, please remember you learned about it from me as you rake in the cash!

Okay. Take a deep breath, because this is just GREAT.

“CUELLAR CHILI-BURGER — WITH CHEESE”

Place a can of Cuellar Chili con Carne in refrigerator overnight.
Remove both ends of can and push chili con carne out
Using sharp knife slice chili into approximately 1/4” slices
Dip slices in regular pancake batter and fry in deep fat
Have buns ready with slices of cheese melted on same
Place fried patty, along with diced onion, on buns and serve — will make from 8 to 10 chili-burgers

Wow! It’s a chili-burger without a burger. How does this even work? Granted, this was back in the day when canned chili was very, very fatty — I remember opening cans of (delicious) Wolf Brand chili as a kid and marveling at the orange congealed grease (come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I probably used the open-can-at-both-ends-to-push-it-out technique, a la jellied cranberry sauce, and it retained its can-shape in a saucepan until heated). But wouldn’t these slices just disintegrate while deep frying, even if they were really cold (frozen even) and really congealed? My brother has suggested it might work along the lines of a Baked Alaska, in which the ice cream inside the dessert doesn’t melt as it bakes. Regardless. The joy I’ve gotten from reading this recipe and envisioning a bizarro dish made from deep-fried slices of canned chili dipped in pancake batter makes up for the fact that I will never attempt to make it (molten, melting “chili patties” on a hamburger bun would not only be unbelievably messy to eat but perhaps physically painful as well). But I fully endorse and applaud the concept of the Cuellar Chili-Burger — it’s brilliant! “Fair food” ahead of its time. Thank you, Cuellar test kitchen! (Dear readers: PLEASE MAKE THIS AND SEND ME PHOTOS!)

CUELLAR’S
REAL MEXICAN FOOD MADE BY A REAL MEXICAN FAMILY

For authentic Mexican Foods you should select only the Cuellar label. The emblem of the “Sombrero” and the “Smiling Mexican” will always be your assurance of the very finest of ingredients, blended for flavor-association and pleasing, invigorating taste treats that are invariably thrilling. So different! So exotic! So wonderfully blended that you will make Cuellar Foods a regular eating habit in your own home — and a new and exciting experience for your guests.

Cuellar Foods, Inc.
Dallas, Texas

1951

el-chico_logo

***

Sources & Notes

Most images in this post are from the recently ended eBay sale, here (scroll down).

This pamphlet inspired my previous post, “El Chico Foods/Cuellar Foods,” which contains a history of El Chico’s food manufacturing business.

cuellar-recipe-bk_ebay_det_sm

5 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.

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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

September 22, 2022

Safari Redux

Dallas? Yes!

by Paula Bosse

Back in 2014 — when Flashback Dallas was still in its blogging infancy — I wrote about the Safari Steak House in North Dallas in the post “Back When Preston Royal Was ‘Exotic’ and Had Its Very Own Elephant.” There were a few errors in that post which I corrected today, thanks to a couple of commenters on the original post who pointed out that what I thought showed the Safari restaurant at Preston & Royal showed, instead, the Houston location. Kind of embarrassing!

What better time than this to say that I ABSOLUTELY WELCOME CORRECTIONS!! I’d like this blog to be as unpedantically accurate as possible, so, please, if you see I’ve smugly written something which is blatantly incorrect, please let me know! I’ll be happy you let me know.

I invite you to check out that original post, now updated with a couple of photos of the actual Dallas Safari Steak House, including the one above, taken by the estimable Squire Haskins in 1961.

***

Sources & Notes

Photo “Safari Steak House, Dallas, Texas” by Squire Haskins, 1961, from the Squire Haskins Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections — more info on this photo can be found here. (Thank you for the links, Tom Bowen!)

The Safari space is now occupied by Royal China, which I love from the days I worked across the street at Borders.

safari_squire-haskins_1961_UTA_1_sm

5 Comments

August 1, 2022

The Fountain: “A Resort for Gentlemen” — ca. 1911

by Paula Bosse

This postcard (which has a 1911 postmark) shows The Fountain, a well-appointed drinking establishment (not lacking in ceiling fans). The caption reads:

Meet me at the Fountain, a Resort for Gentlemen, 1518 Main Street, Dallas, Texas.
John H. Senchal, Propr.
Don’t fail to see the Greatest Fair on Earth at Dallas, Texas.

This bar-with-food was located on the south side of Main, steps away from the present location of Neiman Marcus. It was in the block seen in the picture below (it is just out of frame at the bottom right, next door to the Colonial Theater):

Main Street looking east from Akard

Its address was originally 350 Main — after the city-wide address change in 1911, it became 1518 Main. It appears to have opened in 1907 and was in business until at least 1918 (after Dallas voted to go “dry,” the former saloon became The Fountain Cafe). Here are a few early ads for the “High-Class Stags’ Cafe” in its early go-go “gentlemen’s resort” days:

Dallas Morning News, Oct. 1907

Dallas directory, 1909

Dallas Police annual, 1910

A few years later, the owner, John Henry Senchal, opened Senchal’s Buffet and Senchal’s Restaurant and Rathskeller at 1614-1618 Main.

Dallas directory, 1915

Johnnie Senchal — born in Galveston in 1875 to a French father and American mother — appears to have been a popular, civic-minded man’s-man. He frequently traveled with Dallas businessmen to other cities and states to act as a booster for the city. He also indulged in sporty activities such as being a regular wrestling referee and sponsoring horse races at the State Fair of Texas (in 1914 a $2,000 “Fountain Purse” was offered — in today’s money, more than $56,000!). One 1915 newspaper report said he was “probably the best known saloon man in the city.” He was very successful and was not hurting for money.

He also seems to have had a cozy relationship with members of the Dallas police department — a situation which is probably commonplace between saloon-owners and cops. One news story described how he had leapt to the defense of a policeman who was waylaid by a large group of men while he was walking prisoners to jail — a huge brawl broke out, and Senchal and the cop emerged victorious. Also — in a story which wasn’t fully explained — Senchal and another man ponied up $5,000 in bond money ($140,000 in today’s money!) for a Dallas policeman who was charged in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old, Those are some strong ties between a saloonkeeper and the local constabulary, man.

In 1912 there was another confusing story concerning a man who had been arrested and convicted for being the owner/lessee/tenant of an establishment which was “knowingly permitted to be used as a place in which prostitutes resorted and resided for the purpose of plying their vocation. […] The house was a ‘disorderly house.’ Prostitutes resorted there and displayed themselves in almost a nude condition.” The man who was charged was seen there on a number of occasions “dancing with the prostitutes.” The man appealed his conviction because he had been charged with being the owner/lessee/tenant of this “bawdy house” — but the lessee/tenant was none other than Johnnie Senchal and another man. As far as I can tell, Senchal was not charged with anything regarding this case.

But a couple of years later, in 1914, he was charged with running a “disorderly house” (a term often meaning a bordello or gambling den, but also meaning a place which is frequently the site of disturbances and is generally considered to be a public nuisance). It seems Johnnie and other were offering “cabaret” entertainment which might gotten out of hand. From The Dallas Morning News:

Alleging that the cabarets are conducted as “disorderly houses,” [charges were filed] on behalf of the State of Texas against owners of three restaurants in the downtown section. Affidavits accompanying the petitions alleged that women were allowed to drink at the places and to act in an unbecoming manner. (DMN, March 12, 1915)

I’m not sure exactly what constituted “an unbecoming manner,” but Johnnie Senchal was one of the men charged. At the very same time he was fighting this violation of the cabaret ordinance, it was reported that “an involuntary petition in bankruptcy has been filed in the United States court here against John Senchal and J. O. Walker, partners in the saloon business on Main Street. The petition was filed by local brewery agents and whisky houses” (DMN, June 20, 1915). Bankrupt! Even though he was apparently rolling in dough for years, he was rather ironically pushed to bankruptcy because he couldn’t pay his own bar tab.

And so Johnnie put the barkeeper’s life behind him. And I mean he REALLY put it behind him: he became a fervent speaker at Anti-Saloon League events, saying that having been forced out of the saloon game was actually a godsend — he was quoted as saying that his profits increased 75-80% when he stopped selling alcohol and became a full-time restaurateur. That seems unlikely, but that’s where he was in 1918, an improbable evangelist for Prohibition.

Soon after, he and his family moved to Houston, where he opened a small cafe. On Oct. 9, 1929, after closing-time, Johnnie Senchal died in his cafe from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 54 years old.

***

Sources & Notes

Postcard of The Fountain found on eBay.

Postcard of Main Street found on Flickr.

6 Comments

July 27, 2021

Pleasant Grove Eat Spots, including El Charo and the Vel-Mar — 1950s & 1960s

Vel-Mar, 8516 Lake June Rd., 1959

by Paula Bosse

Here are a whole bunch of ads for Pleasant Grove dining establishments, most with photos, thanks to the intrepid advertising staff of the yearbooks of H. Grady Spruce High School and W. W. Samuell High School. (Most ads are larger when clicked.)

You gotta start with Dairy Queen. I’m not sure how many DQs were in the Pleasant Grove area, but here are a couple.

Benson Dairy Queen, 1238 S. Buckner Blvd.

1958

1966

1967

Wicker’s Dairy Queen, 7636 South Loop 12.

1967

Gene’s Hitching Post, 223 Pleasant Grove Center. “Good barbecue is no accident.”

1964

Piedmont Drive-In & Steak House, 6855 Scyene Rd.

1959

Underwood’s Bar-B-Q, 7828 Lake June Rd. Odell Chism, manager.

1967

A & W, 623 S. Buckner.

1967

Apache Drive-In, 316 South St. Augustine. “Around the Bend to the Apache Den.” (The Spruce High School mascot was the Apache.)

1967

1968

El Charo, 263 Pleasant Grove Shopping Center. The owner of this Mexican restaurant in the first ad (from 1958) is Mona Parish, whose husband Carl “Jake” Parish had died the previous year. From 1959, the owner was Marion Martinez, whose son, Mariano, went on to great acclaim with his own restaurant where he invented the frozen margarita (based on his father’s margarita recipe). The younger Martinez almost certainly worked at this Pleasant Grove restaurant.

1958

1959

1962

1964

Plano Star-Courier, Nov. 1, 1962

I have to admit, I’d never heard of the Vel-Mar drive-in, located at 8516 Lake June Rd., but I understand it was something of a Pleasant Grove fixture during the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, and into the ’80s. According to a newspaper article which chronicled the history of the Vel-Mar and its then-recent sale by Robert Schweder to James and Sharon Harris (“Drive-In Shrine Alive and Well” by Steve Blow, Dallas Morning News, June 15, 1980), the small chain of root-beer-stand drive-ins was founded by three couples — including a Velma and a Marie (the third, Thelma, wasn’t lucky enough to get her name into the business name). Eventually, the Pleasant Grove location was the last remaining Vel-Mar.

Vel-Mar tidbits:

It always closed for the winter, from October to March.
Other than its root beer, it was known for its “Dixie Burger” which was a loose-meat sandwich.
It was a Pleasant Grove high school hangout, and it had special drinks for students of Spruce and Samuell: a blue and red drink was called “The Sprucette” (also “Spruce Juice”), and a blue drink was called “The Spartini” (for the Samuell Spartans).

1957

1959

1960

1966

***

Sources & Notes

All ads from the yearbooks of H. Grady Spruce High School and W. W. Samuell High School (unless otherwise noted).

More on Pleasant Grove can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “Life in The Grove: Pleasant Grove — 1954-1956,” with material gleaned from Pleasant Grove High School yearbooks.

vel-mar_samuell-high-school_1959-yrbk_det_sm

8 Comments

June 7, 2021

Miscellaneous Dallas #2

Open 24 hours, plenty of free parking…

by Paula Bosse

And now, a bunch of homeless, random images (all are larger when clicked).

Above, the 24-hour Rainbow Restaurant, 1627 N. Industrial at Irving Blvd. Below, its menu.

1951

Thomas Confectionery, 1100 Elm Street. “Largest Confectionery In the State.” Popular date spot with the pre-flapper generation.

1911 (via Portal to Texas History)

1912. Dallas Morning News want-ad

Fair Park Church of God in Christ, 1036 S. Carroll Ave.

1974 (via USC Libraries)

And it’s still standing! (I love that the curb tiles are still there.)

2017 (via Google Street View)

The Knox Street Business District, pre-Central Expressway. …Way pre.

1932 (via SMU Rotunda)

A. Harris & Co. — Texas Centennial Commemorative Paper (gift wrap?).

1936 (via Portal to Texas History)

The Lakewood Country Club (see it before the landscaping in this photo from this post).

(via eBay)

The McFarland Drug Co., 598 Elm, at Hawkins, in Deep Ellum (later became 2424 Elm).

1905 (via DeGolyer Library, SMU)

The Lyric Theatre, 364 Elm, near Stone (later 1602 Elm).

1907-ish (via DeGolyer Library, SMU)

Dudley M. Hughes Funeral Home, 400 E. Jefferson Blvd, Oak Cliff.

(via Tichnor Bros. Collection, Boston Public Library)

“A Drive in White Rock Valley.” Before the lake.

(via eBay)

***

Sources & Notes

Rainbow Restaurant postcard is from the Tichnor Bros. Postcard Collection, Boston Public Library.

See the first installment of “Miscellaneous Dallas” here.

rainbow-restaurant_tichnor-bros-collection_boston-public-library_sm

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May 3, 2021

Ross Graves’ Cafe: 1800 Jackson — 1947

Graves Cafe… (photo by Marion Butts/Dallas Public Library)

by Paula Bosse

Ross Graves (1903-1973) seems to have been something of a successful bon vivant who dipped his toe into a variety of businesses catering to Dallas’ African-American community: he was the proprietor of, variously (and often simultaneously), a night club, a liquor store, a gas station, a barber shop, and, most successfully, a restaurant, which was in business for almost 20 years (sometimes referred to as Ross Cafe or Graves Place). Below is a photo from 1947 showing the Ross Graves Cafe at 1800 Jackson Street (at Prather) in downtown Dallas (we see the south side of Jackson, with the view to the west).

This photo accompanied an ad with the following text:

He opened the cafe around 1937 and kept it going until 1955 when he “retired” (he also dabbled in dice-game-hosting at the cafe and was busted in 1954 on gaming charges — he was given a 2-year probated sentence the next year). (Also, the building was part of a large donation to the city in 1955 — more about that below.)

The photo at the top shows, I’m guessing, Mr. Graves standing at the cafe’s cash register with an employee in 1947. He’s also seen in the photo below.

(photo by Marion Butts/Dallas Public Library)

I was originally intrigued by the photo of the exterior of the cafe — I couldn’t picture where it had been. But in trying to find out more about the building, I learned about the life of Ross Graves and came across some interesting little tidbits which paint a a picture of a fun-loving man with an active social life, lots of friends, and a healthy bank account. Below are a few clippings from the Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper published in Pennsylvania which served as something of a national newspaper for Black America, with political, sports, and entertainment news from around the country. There was always news from Dallas in it — in fact, they had a local office here (3306 Roseland). There was even a Dallas-based society/gossip columnist named Mrs. O. J. Cansler (whose column had the rather unfortunate name of “Kolumn Komments”). She was quite frothy and wrote with the breathless excitement one expects in a society columnist. (I highly encourage anyone with a subscription to Newspapers.com to check out her “kolumn” — it’s a breath of fresh air to read about Dallas’ Black community presented in such a lively and fun manner (or in ANY manner, really — you weren’t going to find any of what she was writing about in the Dallas Morning News or the Dallas Times Herald). Especially interesting are mentions of long-forgotten clubs and nightspots where bands and performers from Dallas’ vibrant musical scene played. Here are a few appearances of Ross (and his wife, Ruby) from the pages of the Pittsburgh Courier.

Pittsburgh Courier, Nov. 13, 1939

Graves was 36 years old at the time.

Pittsburgh Courier, Aug. 8, 1942

The Regal Ballroom (listed as the Regal Nite Club in city directories) was at 3216 Thomas, at Hall. It didn’t last very long, but while it did, it was, apparently, “swellegant”! Here’s a mention of it as the location of a swing band contest in 1940 (won by Don Percell):

Pittsburgh Courier, June 8, 1940

Pittsburgh Courier, Oct. 17, 1942

Graves’ second wife, Ruby Graves, was known for her “smart toggery.”

Pittsburgh Courier, Oct. 14, 1944

Ross and Ruby were quite the hosts:

Pittsburgh Courier, Apr. 7, 1945

I love this. This is the sort of thing you would never have read in the Morning News or the Times Herald. I want to know more about Claudia’s — “that night spot just out of the city limits that has everybody talking.”

Pittsburgh Courier, May 12, 1945

Pittsburgh Courier, June 22, 1946

Just popping up to NYC in their new Fleetwood to take in a boxing match. As one does.

Ross and Ruby eventually ended up living in a house on “swellegant” South Boulevard (2500 South Blvd.). At least one of their daughters was an Idlewild debutante, who made her debut in 1967 (read about the world of Black debutantes in 1937 Dallas here). Milam County native Ross Graves died on Dec. 4, 1973 at the age of 70. He had lived in Dallas for 50 years. And I bet he had a good time.

The location of Ross Graves’ Cafe was at 1800 Jackson Street, between Ervay and St. Paul, in a weird stretch of Jackson where two blocks were connected without a break, in a row of buildings without an intersecting street. (The buildings are long gone, but the location can be seen on Google Maps here.) An interesting detail about these two blocks — the 1700 and 1800 blocks of Jackson Street — is that this property was owned by Dr. John W. Anderson, a prominent Black physician. After his death, his widow, Pearl C. Anderson, deeded the land to the Dallas Community Chest, the proceeds of which would be used to help needy Dallasites. (The donation was conservatively estimated at $200,000 at the time — about $2 million in today’s money). She donated the property in 1955, the same year Graves retired.

Jackson Street, 1947 Dallas city directory

***

Sources & Notes

Photos of the interior of Ross Graves’ Cafe are from the Marion Butts Collection, Dallas Public Library. Call Number for the top photo is PA2005-4/380.1; Call Number for the second is PA2005-4/380.2 (both are incorrectly identified as being in Deep Ellum).

The photo of the exterior of the cafe is from the Dallas, Texas Negro City Directory, 1947-1948 (many thanks to Pat Lawrence).

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4 Comments

Flashback : Dallas

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May 3, 2021

Ross Graves’ Cafe: 1800 Jackson — 1947

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Category: Restaurants

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