Dallas TX | Flashback : Dallas

October 23, 2023

Elm Street Store: Whiskey, Brooms, Cigars

Everything one needs…

by Paula Bosse

What more do you need in life than a gallon of whiskey, wine, or gin? And maybe some brooms. And a butter churn. The essentials. I don’t know anything about this photo, except that it does appear to be Dallas — you can see “Elm St.” on the brick wall at the left, just above an ad for Dallas cigar king P. P. Martinez. Not sure when the photo was taken — 1890s-ish? Below is a P. P. Martinez ad from 1908.

It’s hard to make out the “Special Prices” sign above the doorway, but some of the items you could purchase were rock and rye whiskey ($1.25 a gallon), port wine ($1.25 a gallon), and Holland gin (“only $1.50 per gallon”).

I had never heard of “rock and rye” whiskey until a few minutes ago. It was a whiskey cordial made with rock candy (!) and some sort of citrus or other flavor. So I’m guessing it was pretty sweet and powerful. It was often sold as a “tonic” because taxes were substantially less on medicines than on spirits. So goodbye, saloon staple, hello cough medicine! “Rock and rye” has made a recent comeback among whiskey-quaffing hipsters.

***

Sources & Notes

I have no idea where I found this photo back in 2014, but it’s great!

This post appeared in a slightly different form on my Patreon page a few months ago. If you’d like to receive daily Dallas-history postlets, check it out!

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8 Comments

October 16, 2023

Herbert A. Kline’s “Miniature Coney Island” at the State Fair of Texas — 1909

by Paula Bosse

Herbert A. Kline (1873-1934) was a showman and promoter from Michigan who provided acts to several state fairs and large carnivals in the U.S. — his heyday appears to have been the 1910s. In 1909, he brought his troupe of performers and sideshow features to the State Fair of Texas. Most of the photos in this post are from promotional material for that 1909 season, with most of the photos showing Kline’s traveling “amusements.”

Two weeks before he got to Texas, he posted this ad in the entertainment trade magazine Billboard — I hope Capt. Sorcho (“the great deep-sea diver”) dropped him a line.

sfot_kline_billboard_100209 Billboard, Oct. 2, 1909

“THE BEAUTIFUL ORIENT” — included were dancers, gun-spinners, magicians, acrobats, and — somehow — wedding ceremonies. It also boasted “the cleanest and most refined dancing-girl show in America.”

“SUPERBA, THE BEST” — a collection of vaudeville-type performers, including one woman whose “talent” appears to be that she was attractive.

“MRS. D. H. KINCHELOE, WARBLER” (a whistler/reader/vocalist/pianist from Kentucky — her name is misspelled below) and “THE GREAT McGARVEY, FEMALE IMPERSONATOR” (Bert McGarvey was known for a nicely turned-out ankle, charisma, magnetism, and a specialty number called “The Sacred Cobra Dance”). They — along with Galetti’s Musical Monkeys — would appear after the more high-brow operatic singers.

“THE IGORROTE VILLAGE” — native peoples of the Philippines gave a sort of presentation on how they lived, employing what might be seen as primitive customs in daily life. (A description of a “performance” in New York’s Central Park noted that there were demonstrations on how to shrink heads, which might have been too “exotic” for Dallas.)

John T. Backman’s Troupe of Glass Blowers — this was absolutely fascinating (the sign alone!). Check out this entertaining article about the sorts of things these people did.

Also in Kline’s family of traveling show-folk:

A creature half-reptile and half-human
Russian Prince Midget, who speaks three languages, weighs less than 16 pounds, and whose crib was a cigar box
Alice, The Wonder, “who is acknowledged by the press and the public to be the strangest girl in all the world”
Schlitzie, the Aztec Wild Girl, “whose head is no larger than an orange” (this is most likely the sideshow performer best known for appearing in Tod Browning’s cult movie “Freaks”)

Here is an image from an eBay item, showing where these photos came from.

There was also a “ride” called “THE HUMAN ROULETTE WHEEL.” It was probably more fun for the spectators than for the participants.

Houston Post, Nov. 7, 1909

The prospect of being flung off a human roulette wheel might have been daunting to women of the period, who wore heels, corsets, long skirts, and big hats. Below are some typical fairgoers of the time, in a souvenir photo taken at the 1907 State Fair of Texas (Louis Block of Fort Worth, Miss Ray Goldsmith of Dallas, her sister Grace Goldsmith Rosenblatt, and Grace’s husband, David Rosenblatt). Imagine these people wandering around Fair Park and stopping in to see “the strangest girl in all the world” and watching people being hurled off a spinning disk.

via eBay

New York Clipper, Oct. 1912

This ad for a South Dakota fair — a few months before Kline’s stop in Dallas — shows descriptions of several of the acts. (“A tiger that rides horseback.”)

Aberdeen (South Dakota) American, June 9, 1909

And a promotional article sent to local papers ahead of Kline’s arrival.

McKinney (TX) Weekly Democrat Gazette, Oct. 14, 1909

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Sources & Notes

All photos from a brochure/handbills listed earlier this year on eBay; sources of ads and other images as noted.

So many Flashback Dallas posts about the State Fair of Texas — here.

I’m on Patreon, where I post daily. Check it out!

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3 Comments

October 9, 2023

“Thrilling! Inspiring! Gorgeous!” — 1936

by Paula Bosse

I don’t think the 1936 Texas Exposition at Fair Park could have oversold itself. It was everything it promised. The sensory overload must have been almost debilitating!

The night beauty of the Texas Centennial Exposition at Dallas is breath-taking! Rainbow-hued fountains, rippling flags, colorful buildings, thousands of constantly changing lights blending into a symphony of thrilling, inspiring, gorgeous effects… A glamorous fairyland of scintillating light, color and cool water that alone will repay your trip. SEE this marvel of beauty!

“Have the time of your life in Dallas! […] Joyous days and nights of holiday-making await you … in one of the most magnificent settings ever conceived! […] The Texas Centennial Exposition at Dallas is being enthusiastically applauded as the most magnificent spectacle ever attempted on the American continent.”

“World’s Greatest Show for 50¢… Ample Tourist Accommodations… Come to Dallas!”

(According to the Inflation Calculator, 50¢ admission in 1936 would be equivalent to about $10 in today’s money. 10¢ hamburgers would be about $2, and 5¢ cold drinks would be about $1.)

“Dallas: Night Spot of the World! / Dallas: Day Spot of the World!”

***

Sources & Notes

Images from a promotional brochure offered recently on eBay.

Check out many previous Flashback Dallas posts on the Texas Centennial here.

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2 Comments

October 3, 2023

The “Shadow” Flashback

Only 9¢ to see ALL OF THIS!

by Paula Bosse

Apologies for what some may consider spam, but a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do. Self-promotion has never been one of my strong suits.

I maintain a Patreon account elsewhere on the internet. It’s a place where patrons very generously support my Flashback Dallas work by pledging a monthly sum of $5, $10, or $15. In return, I do little mini-posts every day. I’m as surprised as anyone that I’ve managed to post every single day for the past six months.

Here’s what patrons saw on Patreon in September (there are a couple of posts from the end of August):

Ride the Texas Star!
Cowboys vs Eagles: SEVEN Interceptions (1971)
Terrill School for Boys: Campus Buildings – 1915
Geo. W. Baird Wants Your Business – 1859
Action Speedway, 837 West Davis – 1960s
Dallas Cotton Mill “Openers” – ca. 1905
The White Rock Stand Cafe – ca. 1946
JFK Memorial Under Construction – 1970
Gaston Avenue Gas Pumps – 1933
Cotton: “A Good Crop” – 1908
“The Early Birds” on WFAA
The Tomato House, Farmers Market: S. Pearl & Cadiz – 1959
The “Japanese Colony” in Dallas – 1905
Interurban 362
Miss Hockaday Has Got It Going On – 1950
Colonial Motor Co., South Dallas – 1920s
Southland Center Under Construction – 1957
Portland Cement
Kirby Curbs
City Temple Presbyterian Church
Stoneleigh P (Pre-Fire) – 1970s
Cotton Bowl Hotel, 600 S. Haskell
Home Sweet Home: Pre-Fab Housing – 1944
Commerce Street Newsstand
The Glamour of the Newsstand
Forest Avenue (MLK Blvd.) – 1921
The Hilton Hotel/The White Plaza Hotel/Hotel Indigo
The “New” Texas Theatre – 1965
Reunion Tower, First Draft/Griffin Square Tower
Flying Saucer, Now on Exhibition – 1950
The Davis Texan (Davis Hat Co.) – 1946

If any of these topics seem so tantalizing that you’d like to see them covered in expanded posts here, let me know.

And, if a list like this whets your appetite for daily morsels of Dallas history, consider joining me you know where.

***

Sources & Notes

“Flying Saucer” photo (cropped slightly) was taken at the 1950 State Fair of Texas by Squire Haskins; photo is from the Squire Haskins Photography Inc. Collection, UTA Libraries Special Collections — more info is here.

If you’d like to peruse a list of the rest of my posts on Patreon, you can see them in “The ‘Other’ Flashback Dallas….”

Thank you (and sorry about the spam!).

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7 Comments

October 1, 2023

Home Sweet Home: Oak Lawn Car No. 755

In retirement…

by Paula Bosse

I came across these photos several years ago, but I don’t really know anything about them. They show a decommissioned Oak Lawn streetcar (car #755), which was manufactured in the 1920s for the Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. The photos, which look to be from the 1950s, show the car remodeled into a home (or, as the text below suggests, a sort of weekend “lake house”). When I clipped these photos (they were on some obscure railroad forum I stumbled onto), the only info was that someone had placed a for-sale ad for this on Craigslist in 2009. Below is the seller’s ad:

Antique 1920s or 1930s Dallas interurban trolley car. Trolley was retired from service in the 50s. Has a porch built on the back. Has a separate room with bath. There’s a kitchen and a 1930s refrigerator that works very well. On about a half acre wooded lot at Lake Whitney. Not far from boat ramp. Walking distance to water. Used to be on the “Oak Lawn” run in Dallas. Unusual, neat place to spend summers at the lake. Call Carol or Ron (214) xxx-xxxx. No owner financing.

I don’t know where the photos came from (they look like photos that would have accompanied a story in a magazine like Life), but they are great.

I don’t think that’s an interurban car, but it’s really long for a streetcar. (How would it turn corners?) Has it been extended? Below is a typical Oak Lawn streetcar:

This photo was actually in the video below (“Dallas Oak Lawn Streetcar Line No. 8”). It’s a pretty uneventful video — a man in a car retraces the Oak Lawn streetcar route. My mother grew up in Oak Lawn and talks about riding the streetcar to and from downtown, but I had no idea how far into Oak Lawn it traveled.

While looking to see if I could find anything more about the renovated Dallas streetcar, I came across a story which showed something similar (but more elegant) in this article about a renovated interurban car in New Jersey: “One-of-a-Kind Point Pleasant Home Built Around Century-Old Trolley Car.”

An ad from 1930, not long after the Oak Lawn car was manufactured:

streetcars_dallas-railway_dallas-mag_april-1930

If you know more about Oak Lawn car #755 — where it’s been, where it is now — please comment below!

***

Sources & Notes

First four photos are from a Dallas Craigslist ad placed in or before 2009 — I believe the photos were posted with the ad. The ad was then reposted on a railroad forum.

Ad from the April 1930 issue of Dallas magazine.

13 Comments

September 25, 2023

1500 Block of Elm — 1920s

1500 block of Elm Street, south side…

by Paula Bosse

This is a great photo by Frank Rogers showing businesses on the south side of the 1500 block of Elm Street, between Stone and Akard (see it today on Google Street View here — some of these buildings are still standing). Mid-1920s? Back when Elm ran two ways, and you could park your rumble-seated roadster at the curb.

Mostly out of frame at the left is the W. A. Green department store (1516-18 Elm), then, moving east to west, Leelands women’s fashions (1514 Elm), Fields Millinery Co. (1512 Elm), part of the Marjdon Hat Shop (1510 Elm), and, above the hat shop, Neuman’s School of Dancing. (“Marjdon” must be one of the most annoying and hard-to-say business names I’ve come across.)

The block continues in the photo below, in another photo by Rogers (this building has been replaced and is now a parking garage).

We see a full shot of Marjdon (that name…). Previously (1916-1924), that street-level space was occupied by the Rex Theater. Next door is Thomas Confectionery (1508 Elm, one of the company’s several downtown locations), which, according to the promotional postcard below was the “largest confectionery in the state.”

via Portal to Texas History

Dallas High School yearbook, 1916

March 1, 1924

April 21, 1922

March 1, 1925

Elm Street, 1925 Dallas street directory

Check out this block in the 1921 Sanborn map here.

***

Sources & Notes

The two photographs were taken by Dallas photographer Frank Rogers for real estate developers McNeny & McNeny; they were found on eBay.

8 Comments

September 21, 2023

A Few Photo Additions to Past Posts — #21

Ali in Big D

by Paula Bosse

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)

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)

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)

I’m fascinated with the telegraph. I’ve added this 1904 telegraph-school class photo (with a woman!) to the 2014 post “Start Your Brilliant Career at Dallas Telegraph College — c. 1900.” (Source: eBay)

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)

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)

The Rose Room on Hall Street. Fantastic. This photo has been added to the 2017 post “1710 Hall: The Rose Room/The Empire Room/The Ascot Room — 1942-1975.” (Source: eBay)

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)

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)

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

Please consider supporting me on Patreon, where I post Dallas history tidbits every day!

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3 Comments

September 17, 2023

Woodrow Teens Hang Around — 1948

by Paula Bosse

Photos from the 1948 Woodrow Wilson High School yearbook show how kids hung out in post-war Lakewood and Lower Greenville. I don’t know where some of these photos were taken — if you do, please let me know!

Above, there were lots of soda shops/pharmacy fountains to patronize. Including Harrell’s, in the familiar-to-anyone-who-has-spent-any-time-in-Lakewood turreted still-there building, below.

And here:

And here, where dressed-up teens are waiting for a table:

And here, the “fancy” Sammy’s on Greenville Avenue (right across the street from the less fancy Sammy’s):

I have been obsessed with this building (just south of the intersection of Greenville and Ross) my whole life. Was there open-air dining upstairs? Dancing?

Since I mentioned it, these were the three Sammy’s which were in operation in 1945 — the two on Greenville and one in Highland Park Village:

So, yeah, there was lots of hanging around for Woodrow kids back in 1948.

***

Sources & Notes

All images (except the ad for Sammy’s) are from the 1948 Crusader, the yearbook of Woodrow Wilson High School.

Sammy’s ad is from the 1945 Highland Park High School yearbook.

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16 Comments

September 11, 2023

The Stagecoach Ride at Six Flags: 1961-1967

What could possibly go wrong?

by Paula Bosse

Did you ride the stagecoach at Six Flags?

The stagecoach at Six Flags? What? This:

And this (with grazing buffalo for added Old West atmosphere):

When I first saw Six Flags postcards touting stagecoach rides, my first thought was, “How did they ever manage to get insurance for that?”

six-flags_stagecoach_buffalo_ebay_reverse

The “Butterfield Overland” ride debuted in the “Confederate” section when the park opened in 1961 and lasted until about 1967. It was very, very popular.

1965, via UTA Libraries Special Collections (det)

Why did I never know about this when I was a kid? I never saw a stagecoach. I would have LOVED to ride a stagecoach. What happened? Well, here’s what happened: in May 1967, one of the stage’s wheels came off mid-ride, and the stage overturned, injuring 11 of the 14 people on board, most of them children. A 4-year-old Haltom City girl — who was riding on the top — was pinned beneath the overturned stagecoach. When she was freed, she was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery on both feet. One of the news stories about this unfortunate incident ended with, “Saturday’s accident was the first involving the stagecoach since the park opened in 1961,” adding that more than 4 million persons had ridden this ride between 1961 and 1967. (Four million!) (Granted, I think there were four stagecoaches and four teams of horses, but… four million!!)

One month after the accident, it was reported that the girl’s father had sued Six Flags for $531,000, contending that park officials were guilty of 30 counts of negligence. ($531,000 would be the equivalent in today’s money of about $5 million.) I can’t find anything about what happened with this lawsuit, but I assume there was probably a quiet settlement. Coincidentally or not, that spelled the end of the Butterfield Overland stagecoach ride at Six Flags Over Texas.

And that’s why I never heard of — or got to experience — a stagecoach ride at Six Flags.

(I don’t know what happened to the buffalo.)

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo of a Six Flags stagecoach jam-packed with kids from Fort Worth magazine.

The 1965 image is a detail of a larger photo from the Jack White Photograph Collection, UTA Libraries Special Collections — see the full photo and more details here.

Read more about this Butterfield Overland stagecoach ride at Parktimes.com.

The whole “Confederate” and “Texas” sections of SFOT were kind of weird, including a several-times-a-day lynching (!), as can be seen in one of the postcards in the 2014 Flashback Dallas post “Angus Wynne Jr.’s ‘Texas Disneyland’ — 1961.”

For real, non-amusement-park stagecoach tidbits, check out the post (also from 2014) “Dallas to Austin by Stagecoach: Only Three Days! (1854).”

A slightly different version of this post originally appeared on the Flashback Dallas Patreon page in August 2023. If you’d like to see daily Flashback Dallas posts, please consider supporting me on Patreon, for as little as $5 a month.

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6 Comments

September 4, 2023

Aunt Stelle’s Sno Cone

aunt-stelles_sign_google An Oak Cliff oasis…

by Paula Bosse

This has been a brutally hot summer. The kind of summer when a snow cone would really hit the spot at just about any sweltering hour of the day. One place that was famous for its snow cones (they were described as being like “fine snow”) was Aunt Stelle’s Sno Cone, at 2002 W. Clarendon (at Marlborough) in Oak Cliff. Established by Estelle Williams in 1962, the little stand was hugely popular until it officially closed in 2018. Her snow cones were flying out of there every summer season for more than 55 years! To generations of customers. Not many businesses can boast that kind of longevity and patron loyalty. (One of those loyal patrons was Oak Cliff homeboy Stevie Ray Vaughan.)

Having not grown up in Oak Cliff, I wasn’t familiar with Aunt Stelle’s until I saw the photos below which appeared as ads in editions of the Sunset High School yearbook. You can see Estelle in the window. She looks exactly like the kind of person I’d want serving me a delicious, refreshing, messy treat.

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Speaking of the treats, check out that menu board! I understand the “Beatle” tasted like a grape SweeTart, the “Zorro” tasted like licorice (and it was black!), the “Pink Lady” tasted like vanilla ice cream, and the “Popeye”… I really wanted it to be green and taste like spinach, but apparently it tasted like gumballs (what a missed opportunity!).

1967 Sunset High School yearbook

1967 Sunset yearbook

1968 Sunset yearbook

1969 Sunset yearbook

***

Sources & Notes

Top image of the Aunt Stelle’s sign is from Google — the photographer is listed simply as “Scott.”

A great story about Aunt Stelle’s can be found in the Dallas Morning News archives in the story “Sno Days: Aunt Stelle’s Has Been Keeping Oak Cliff Cool for 40 Seasons” by Dave Tarrant (DMN, June 22, 2001).

Consider supporting me on Patreon! Five bucks a month gets you daily morsels of Dallas history!

5 Comments

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