by Paula Bosse
The kindly gentleman in the bow-tie will look after your five-year-old when you send her to the convenience store for bread and milk.
I’m assuming this is one of the first national ads for Dallas company 7-Eleven as it expanded and expanded and expanded beyond Dallas and the South. How quaint.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
Sometimes a noisy, bustling metropolis really hits the spot, but there are times I long to have completely empty streets all to myself. Which is one reason I love this serene and peaceful (or perhaps “post-apocalyptic,” depending on your half-full/half-empty world-view) scene of Dallas, totally deserted save for a partial view of a single car in the distance. The brand new “triple underpass” was unveiled in 1936, the year Dallas was obsessed with showing off what a fantastically modern city it was to the throngs of visitors flooding in for the Texas Centennial celebrations. G.B. Dealey himself rode the first car through the underpass. Perhaps that’s his little car heading up Main Street.
Above, the “Business District, from the West.” Note the absence of Dealey Plaza, which wouldn’t be completed until 1941 and not officially named “Dealey Plaza” until 1946. …After that, the place wasn’t thought about in any especially significant way until 1963.
“The Gateway to Dallas, Texas,” with beautiful Dealey Plaza now set in place, one day to become the most-visited historic site in the city. Despite its grim connection to the assassination, every time I drive through that underpass I always get a little thrill. Almost 80 years after it became a landmark, the triple underpass is still a remarkably cool piece of Dallas architecture and engineering.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas, presents a landscape of Hills, Vales, Lakes and Vistas, the whole forming a panorama of beauty. Apart from its natural attractions, Oak Cliff has been laid off to meet the demand of an existing necessity for the rapidly increasing population of Dallas.
This beautiful suburb, overlooking the city, half a mile from the court house, and just across the river, has been magnificently improved at great cost, with Lakes, Parks, Paved Streets, Water Works, School Buildings and an Elevated Railway which is built to this suburb from the Court House square.
With these pre-requisites, its attractive situation, great elevation, pure and abundant water supply, it offers superior advantages as a beautiful, agreeable, healthful and picturesque site for residences, while the grounds between the foot-hills and river are admirably adapted for factory sites by reason of the never-failing and abundant supply of water and railroad facilities.
Mr. Marsalis, the president of the Oak Cliff Co., deserves credit for his successful management of the many advancements of Oak Cliff and its people.
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Oak Cliff incorporated in 1890, boasting a population of 2,470, and the PR department of the Oak Cliff Co. was on promotional overdrive, running this ad many times over the course of the year. More on the history of one of Dallas’ most “beautiful, agreeable, healthful and picturesque” suburbs can be found here.
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From the front page of the June 5, 1890 edition of the Southern Mercury, a weekly newspaper printed in Dallas.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
Wonderful old postcard, looking east, probably from the courthouse. Main Street is on the left, Commerce on the right. I’m not sure of the date, but I’m guessing somewhere around the turn of the century. Click the picture for a very large image, and just wander around the place.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
For all your square-dancin’ needs.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Photo by Ferd Kaufman/AP (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
It snowed today in Dallas! It’s pretty, but not as pretty as this 1962 night-time view of Commerce and Akard (looking west). Even the approaching slush looks sophisticated in glamorous black-and-white.
(See a fantastic color photo from 1957 showing the northwest corner of the Adolphus block with that incredible Walgreen neon sign in full view, taken from the front of the Baker Hotel, here.)
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Stills stilled
By Paula Bosse
Oh dear.
A quote from Michael V. Hazel, from his book Remembering Dallas:
A national magazine described Dallas as “one of the wettest cities in the nation” during Prohibition, with more than its share of speakeasies and bootleg liquor. Sheriff Dan Harston and his deputies kept busy confiscating stills.
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Quote and photo from Remembering Dallas by Michael V. Hazel (Turner Publishing, 2010). Wonky image is completely my fault.
“Texas’ 16 lane (3-5-5-3) Stemmons Freeway, looking toward downtown Dallas.”
Oh, for “traffic” like that on Stemmons these days….
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
Visitors are always welcome at the WFAA Superpower transmitter plant pictured opposite. Drive North on Akard Street until you reach State Highway 40; turn right on 40 and drive to State Highway 114 (the Northwest Highway); turn left on 114 and it will take you directly to the plant … a 30-minute drive from downtown Dallas.
So, apparently somewhere near Grapevine, where DFW Airport now sprawls. Such a cool-looking art deco building, out in the middle of nowhere. An entertaining and informative history of WFAA radio (with the incredible 50,000-watt signal that could be heard in California!) can be found here.
A 1939 aerial photo of the transmitter can be seen here.
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Photo from the WFAA Radio Album of 1937.
For another photo of this transmitter building and the story of “WFAA & WBAP’s Unusual Broadcasting Alliance,” see a later post here.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
RUETTA DAY BLINKS. On the air she’s Margaret Day, and you’ll recognize her as the charming hostess at The House of Happiness, who acts as general counsellor to the housewives of the Southwest. Years of experience as a home economist, teacher, author, and radio lecturer qualify her admirably for her post.
I’m sure Ruetta was a lovely person, but that photograph does not really scream “charming hostess.” A more flattering photo, in which Mrs. Blinks is shown with a slight Mona Lisa smile, was printed the previous year in the Dallas Morning News:
The House of Happiness seems to have premiered on WFAA radio in the spring of 1936 and was broadcast on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday mornings at 10:45. “Margaret Day” would address homemaking concerns of her listeners, including topics such as “Stream-lined Living–the Objective of the Modern Homemaker,” “Better Home Gardens,” “Home Management Declares an Exact Management,” and “Safeguarding Health in the Home.” …I’m guessing the shows were a little dry.
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Top photo from the WFAA Radio Album of 1937. (Click picture for larger image.)
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 