You may have heard that DFW is in the “eclipse path” of the historic total solar eclipse that will happen on Monday, April 8, 2024. “Totality” will occur in Dallas at about 1:40 PM and will last approximately 3 minutes and 51 seconds. If you have even a shred of interest in things like this, just know that DFW won’t experience another total solar eclipse until the year 2317. …Just so you know.
Five years ago, I wrote about the previous locally experienced total eclipse, which favored Fort Worth over Dallas (this year, Dallas will experience “totality” for almost 4 minutes, Cowtown will have to do with a mere 2 and a half minutes): “Viewing the 1878 Solar Eclipse in North Texas.” That post has been racking up the hits recently, as interest has grown in this whole eclipse thing. Check it out! Also, check out the links at the bottom of that post, which link to contemporary newspaper accounts of the 19th-century event.
Also, you might want to check out these sites for info on the 2024 eclipse in Texas:
This early-’40s shot of an MKT train rolling through the Upper Greenville area, with SMU seen in the background and a couple of helpful maps have been added to the 2014 post “Katy Comin’ ‘Round the Bend — 1908.” (Source: DeGolyer Library, SMU — as printed in The Park Cities: A Walker’s Guide and History by Diane Galloway and Kathy Matthews)
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These two great photos by R. C. Hickman have been added to the 2017 post about one of the top Black clubs in Dallas (which had several names…): “1710 Hall: The Rose Room/The Empire Room/The Ascot Room — 1942-1975” These two photos show teen dancers (in 1956) and entertainers (in 1951, pardon the watermark)) at the Empire Room. (Source: R. C. Hickman Photographic Archive, Briscoe Center, University of Texas Libraries)
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I always say I’m not a sports person, but whenever I’ve written about sports, I’ve enjoyed it. But it’s got to have an “angle” — like 2014’s “Simulcasting the World Series in Dallas in the Days Before Radio, Via Telegraph,” which I still think is weird/cool. I’ve added an ad from 1913 featuring the Baseball Play-o-Graph. (Source: Billboard magazine, Mar. 22, 1913)
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Dallas once had tons of swellegant downtown nightclubs, including the Mural Room at the Baker Hotel. Below a 1956 ad geared to the tourist, promoting the Baker, in the age of the cigarette girl. It’s been added to “The Baker Hotel,” from 2017. (Source: This Month in Dallas, Dec. 1956)
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Margo Jones was a force to be reckoned with. This 1956 ad for Theatre ’56 (which continued after her untimely death in 1955) has been added to 2022’s “New Wheels for Margo Jones — 1955.” (Source: This Week in Dallas, Dec. 1956)
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My father was a big fan of the Old West (and the modern Old West), and he mentioned famed Texas Ranger “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas frequently. I’ve added this photo of one of his custom pistol grips to the 2020 post “Lone Wolf Gonzaullas: Texas Ranger, Dallas Resident.”
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This photo of Elm Street looking east from about Akard, circa 1894, shows Mayer’s beer garden at the left. It has been added to 2022’s “S. Mayer’s Summer Garden, Est. 1881.” (Source: detail of a photo by Clifton Church, from his book Dallas, Texas Through a Camera, DeGolyer Library, SMU)
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A portrait of Andrew Goodman, a man who was born into slavery, has been added to the 2023 post “Ex-Slaves in Dallas — 1937.” The lithograph is by Merritt Mauzey, a Texas artist who studied art and etching in Dallas. (Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum)
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I love ads that have photos of the businesses in them. …Unless the image quality is pretty dire. Like this one. Which I’m including here anyway. The 1956 ad for the Highland Park Cafeteria shows the interior — which I somehow managed to never see personally. But this photo (which in its original form is quite small and difficult to make larger) isn’t great, but, as things often go, I really wanted to know what that was that looked like a mural. I eventually found another ad (the one below from 1950), which referenced a “Williamsburg mural,” and, after asking about this on the Flashback Dallas Facebook page, a comment led to the screenshot from unknown news footage from 1953. I tried to sharpen the image but didn’t have much luck — except that I could tell that it does, in fact, appear to show a mural of Colonial Williamsburg, above a long planter (where, as the ad below says, an “Easter lily hedge” would have been). I have no idea why that was in the HPC, but I’d love to know. This tiny tidbit of information gleaned from a 68-year-old ad is of very little importance, as these things go — except that it took me so long to figure out! Anyway, these have all been added to last year’s “Highland Park Cafeteria and the Knox Street Business District.” (Sources: ad with photo from This Month in Dallas, Dec. 1956; ad without photo from April 1950; screenshot from unknown news footage, 1953)
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Lastly, a short Channel 8 News clip from Oct. 1973, which has an interview with Carl Anderson, a lifelong monarch butterfly enthusiast, talking about his favorite subject. In the video he is shown walking through Lake Cliff Park (the reporter mistakenly calls it Tenison Park). In the background you can see the late, lamented Polar Bear Ice Cream “igloo” on Zang Blvd. I am adding the video to one of my all-time favorite posts, “University Park’s Monarch Butterfly Wrangler.” I always think of Carl and his love of butterflies when monarchs pass through Dallas. (Source: WFAA-Channel 8 News clip, WFAA Collection, G. William Jones Film and Video Collection, Hamon Arts Library, SMU)
Thanks to the great photographs shared with me by reader Robert Hurst, I learned about a long-forgotten bit of Dallas’ sporting history: the very, very brief time when greyhound racing was a thing in Big D. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy looking into this, but it was incredibly interesting. And I sort of understood parimutuel betting for a tiny sliver of time. I really loved writing this! Check out the Flashback Dallas post from 2015, “Oak Downs: Dallas’ Brief Flirtation with Greyhound Racing.”
Time for another batch of images I’ve come across recently which belong in posts I’ve already written. Like the photo above and the two below, which show Muhammad Ali in Dallas on March 26, 1967, at an appearance at a mosque across from Booker T. Washington High School, during which he signed copies of an Islamic newspaper for the throngs of fans who showed up. I was very excited to see these photos pop up on eBay a short time after I had written about this Easter Sunday appearance. They have been added to the 2023 Flashback Dallas post “Muhammad Ali Visits Graham’s Barber Shop — ca. 1967.” (Source: photos by Bob W. Smith, found on eBay)
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It’s probably because I’m so familiar with the Lower Greenville area, but I really love this aerial photo by Squire Haskins, taken in Feb. 1950, showing the Hockaday campus at Greenville and Belmont (Greenville is the street running horizontally at the bottom of the photo. I’ve added it to the 2016 post that keeps getting longer and longer, “Belmont & Greenville: From Caruth Farmland to Hub of Lower Greenville.” (Source: Squire Haskins photo, from the Squire Haskins Photography Inc. Collection, UTA Libraries, Special Collections)
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Yeah, I’ve had my fair share of delicious Stoneleigh Burgers and cherry cokes at the Stoneleigh P. Here’s a great photo showing it in the ’70s, in the building originally built in 1923 (it burned down in 1980). I’ve added this photo to a 2019 post I really enjoyed writing, “Stoneleigh Pharmacy/Stoneleigh P.” (Source: Dallas Municipal Archives Facebook page; from the Historic Preservation Office collection)
Lake Cliff, man. Wow. I’ve added the two postcards below to the extravaganza of cool postcards collected in the 2019 post “Beautiful Lake Cliff — ca. 1906.” (Source: eBay)
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On a hot day in May 2017, I went downtown to watch the restoration by the fabulous Julie Richey of the beautiful tile mosaic on the exterior of the St. Jude Chapel on Main Street (I absolutely LOVED writing about this in “Mosaic Restoration at Downtown’s St. Jude Chapel”) — I was aware of the mosaic only because I had written the post “The Saint Jude Chapel Mosaic by Gyorgy Kepes — 1968” a few weeks earlier. I’ve added the postcard below to that latter post from 2017. (Source: eBay)
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Pre-fab housing was a big deal in Dallas after (and during) WW2, because of a severe housing shortage. I’ve added the ad below to the 2014 post “World War II ‘Victory Huts’ at Parkland.” (Source: 1944 Southwestern Medical School yearbook)
This screenshot from news footage about the removal of the contents of the Oak Lawn National Bank (3110 Oak Lawn Avenue) is interesting to me because it shows the Italian Villa restaurant across the street at 3211 Oak Lawn (currently occupied by Green Papaya and its neighbors). The odd brick… um… structure things have always seemed weird to me, but there they are. I’ve added this screenshot to another one of those posts that is probably just WAY TOO LONG, but I’m cramming it into 2018’s “Sam Ventura’s Italian Village, Oak Lawn.” (Source: WBAP-TV news footage shot on Jan. 23, 1955, from the KXAS-NBC 5 News Collection, UNT Libraries Special Collections, via the Portal to Texas History)
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A few blocks away on Oak Lawn was Whittle’s, mecca for band kids. I’ve added this to 2017’s “The Whittle Music Building — ca. 1956” (the first part is about the original downtown location before the move to Oak Lawn in 1965 — scroll to the bottom of the post to see a few photos of the Oak Lawn location). (Source: I failed to note where I came across the ad)
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And lastly, I keep stumbling across weird, obscure stuff that I wrote about years ago — like the story about a 1963 police raid on the East Dallas home of a cafe-owning bookie named George Bartlett. He got a black eye during a scuffle with vice cops as he tried to flush betting cards down the toilet. The worst day of his life was captured for posterity by WBAP-Channel 5 news cameras, showing the down-and-out cafe man, still in his pajamas, being handcuffed in his bedroom. I originally came across the story when I was writing about a fire on Knox Street which damaged several businesses, including his cafe — that photo is featured in the 2016 post “Knox Street Fire — 1961.” I’ve added this screenshot in the part about poor George. (Source: KXAS-NBC 5 News Collection, UNT Libraries Special Collections, via the Portal to Texas History)
You can watch the short, silent video here — and you can read the explanatory news script, which the TV anchor would have read as the film ran, here (otherwise, you’ll have no idea why you’re seeing loaves of bread…).
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Sources & Notes
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I’ve spent a lot of the past month visiting a loved one in a hospital. It hasn’t been fun. For either of us. Here are several hospitals photographed in 1944, some of which were unknown to me before my 2020 post “A Few Dallas Hospitals and Clinics — 1944.” (Above, Bradford Memorial Hospital for Babies, 3512 Maple Avenue.)
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the murder of 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez by a Dallas policeman, a tragedy which outraged Dallasites and which was a turning point for Dallas’ Mexican American community.
Time to organize creeping clutter — here are a few things I’ve added to old posts.
The first few are related to Peruna, the diminutive SMU mascot. The drawing above and the ad below have been added to the post “Little Peruna: He Died With His Mustang Bridle On — 1934” (bit of a tearjerker…). (Sources: the drawing is from the 1939 SMU yearbook, The Rotunda; the Varsity Shop ad is from the 1960 Rotunda)
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This photo of the wonderful memorial to Peruna I — by noted Dallas artist Michael Owen — has been added to the post “The Peruna Monument — 1937.” (Source: SMU Archives)
I know that Austin’s BBQ was a big favorite of people, and here are a couple of photos I’ve added to “Bull Pen Barbecue/Austin’s Barbecue — 1949-2000.” (Sources: ads are from the 1964 and 1965 Sunset High School yearbooks)
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These two images have been added to “The New Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Building — 1928.” (Sources: photo is from a SWB ad in an 1899 Dallas Fire Department publication, via the Portal to Texas History; the postcard is from “the internet”)
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This little ad has been added to my sole post mentioning Hitler (and not in a way one might expect…), “The Texas Fire Extinguisher Co. and Hitler — 1942.” (Source: Texas Fireman magazine, June 1951, via the Portal to Texas History)
This blurry 1970 screenshot of the strip shopping center on Mockingbird, just east of Central (once home to Trini’s Restaurant), has been added to “Trini Lopez: Little Mexico’s Greatest Export.” (Source: KERA Collection, Jones Film Collection, SMU)
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This 1949 ad for Wynnewood (“The Planned ‘City Within a City'”) has been added to the post “Wynnewood.” (Source: Dallas magazine, Feb. 1949)
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The last additions have been made to the post “Metzger’s Milkmen in Bermuda Shorts — 1955.” It’s a long story, but this post has been “hidden” for several years, and I’ve just gotten around to basically rewriting the whole thing. I’ve added a bunch of photos, articles, and assorted other stuff, and I’ve also removed a bunch of stuff. Below are a few of the things added: a photo, a cartoon, and a sampling of headlines from newspapers around the country — see the post to learn about the to-do about BERMUDA SHORTS! (Sources: the photo is from Life magazine, the cartoon is from the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the headlines are from Boston, Detroit, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
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Sources & Notes
A “note”: why, yes, you can support me on Patreon! Click here for more info.
I am in the midst of a supremely stressful move of a relative. Very, very stressful. So my output here has been punier than I would have liked. When time is at a premium, it’s always handy to be able to dip into the FD archives. Here’s a look at a photo I really like which was featured in the 2017 Flashback Dallas post “The Swiss Avenue Car on Main Street — ca. 1900.” Lots of zoomed-in details.
I hope I make it through this next week. Wish me luck!
If you are so inclined, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where, somehow, I’ve managed to post pretty much every day.
I’ve been dealing with a bunch of family issues recently, but I hope to be back to posting regularly soon. In the meantime, here’s a favorite photo, from the 2018 Flashback Dallas post “The Eccentric Medford Compound on the Old Eagle Ford Road: 1945-1950.” R. E. Medford — the man who… um… assembled the buildings seen above — was the patriarch of a prodigiously violent West Dallas family. Check it out.
Time for another installment of this ongoing “series” in which I add newly found (to me) photos to old Flashback Dallas posts, in order to keep stuff together.
Above, this 1954 color photo of a Belmont streetcar trundling down an East Dallas street has been added to the 2018 post “Ghost Rails of the Belmont Streetcar Line.” Anyone recognize where this was taken? (Source: eBay)
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Below, a photo of a fire truck and firemen taken outside the still-standing fire station on Cedar Springs has been added to the 2014 post“No. 4 Hook and Ladder Company, Oak Lawn — 1909.”(Source: eBay)
Speaking of Ownby Stadium and sports, this cropped screenshot shows Dallas resident and sports legend Babe Didrikson, after she’d competed in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) track and field championships at SMU in July 1930 (and set two world records, including one in the javelin throw). I’m adding this photo of a teenaged Babe to the 2014 post “Babe Didrikson, Oak Cliff Typist.” (Image source: newsreel footage on the Critical Past website, where you can watch the minute-and-a-half clip here — it doesn’t look a lot like Ownby Stadium, but that’s where the meet happened.)
Another movie-house photo — this one of the Jefferson Theater — has been added to the 2019 post “Theaters at 1517 Elm: The Garden, The Jefferson, The Pantages, The Ritz, and The Mirror — 1912-1941.” What an unusual facade! I’m not sure how long that whimsical bit of design lasted (the Jefferson operated between 1915-1925). The marquee advertises appearances by Kasmir & Co. and vaudeville comedians Howard & Lewis. (Source: eBay)
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I’ve added this 1964 United Press International photo showing the proposed site of the JFK Memorial to the 2014 post “Where to Put That JFK Memorial? — 1964” (where it joins a similarly interesting Associated Press version). (Source: eBay)
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This Nov. 1955 aerial photo of the construction of South Central Expressway looking north toward downtown is joining a slightly earlier view looking toward the south in the 2016 post “South Central Expressway Under Construction — 1955.” (Source: Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections —ID No. 10002950)
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This “key” to identify landmarks (Dr Pepper plant in orange, Meadows Building in blue, etc.) in another Squire Haskins aerial photo has been added to the 2017 post “The Wide Open Spaces Northeast of Central and Lovers — 1957,” mainly because I was driving around there this afternoon and remembered this great photo — it’s one of my favorites, showing the general area I grew up in before it exploded with development. (Source: UTA Special Collections — ID No. 10002957)
146 years ago…
Brothers David and Santos Rodriguez
Flashback : Dallas 