Brief Days

        Autumn in Oak Cliff is breathtaking. I adore those few beautiful days when the leaves suddenly burst into a rainbow of reds and oranges. Branches are laden with fiery red color that trembles in the breeze. A sudden gust of chilly wind sends a multitude of leaves fluttering down to earth in a flurry of orange. As it turns out, I'm not the only one who cherishes these brief days before the icy winter kicks in.

     "This is the season when most of the people who live in Oak Cliff aren't worrying too much about things. Autumn touches the woods of Kessler and Colorado and little streets like Appian Way especially gently. It'll be enough to get in the car and just ride with the falling leaves and the first chill of the winter and the sharp, sweet scent of the season."  -The Dallas Morning News, 1949

Green Pet

         At the site of the Green Pet, 413 North Bishop, was a dance studio. The instructor, Judith McCarthy, started performing at an early age, when, in 1922, she won the Dallas Perfect Baby contest. Ms. McCarthy loved Spanish dance and would travel to California to study under famous instructors. She taught acrobatic dance, personality singing, and even dance for business girls.  

Hunky's

         321 North Bishop, where Hunky's is now, was originally a fruit stand. Since then, it has been home to other things. For years it was the Balcom Radio Company. In, 1941, they sold screen grid radios for $179. Today that would be over $2,000! Later it became Genie's Bishop Grill until 2005. This greasy spoon restaurant was known for its chicken fried steak, yeast rolls and peanut butter pie.            

400 Bishop Avenue

                         400 North Bishop, now home to Vera Cruz, was the Goodier Cosmetics Company which produce over 300 different cosmetics like the after-shaves Breezo and Pompadour. Goodier produced cosmetics for Mary Kay and eventually became a part of Mary Kay.

                         Where Decanter is located, was the original home of what eventually became the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, a group started by Martin Weiss. There were many civic meetings in this spot over the years. Lots of events happened here such as miniature garden exhibits, plant swaps, pie sales, and a Robert Browning poetry club. In 1927, aviation cadets learned how to build their own planes here. In '34 there was a meeting there to discuss how to deal with Clyde Barrow, now dubbed, the “super criminal.”   

Big, Roomy, Clean and Happy

If you were to visit the site of The Soda Gallery in 1925, you would find the Clarence Saunders Grocery Store. At the store, advertised as a “big, roomy, clean, happy store,” you could buy a roast for 18 cents a pound and pickled pig's feet for 5 cents.  Later, Winniford Machine Shop took it's place. As an accountant for the IRS, Mr. Winniford needed a hobby, so he turned to model trains, which he claimed changed his life. Soon after, he quit his job and started a machine shop in which he made small parts for planes and worked on small inventions, like a gadget to keep minnows alive.  

                   

410 North Bishop

 In 1919, the Rialto Theater was located in Artisan's Collective Gallery (410 North Bishop). For ten years it showed silent movies, which were a huge draw before television. Then, beginning in 1929, when sound was added to movies, it showed “talkies.” 

.           Later it became the Astor Theater, which bragged about its “air seats” and “scientific acoustical arrangements.” If you go inside Artisan's Collective Gallery, you will see, just inside the door, a photo of the Astor Theater

                   Soon after the new theater opened, the Oak Cliff Little Theater started performing in the building. The Little Theater movement was started to provide young people with a chance to learn about acting. The one that met on Bishop was one of the best Little Theaters in the Southwest and people came from all over North Texas to see them.

Step into the alley beside the building. After passing more murals, also done by high school students, you will see a bricked-in door high above the ground. When the Astor Theater was in business, there were steps leading up to the door and a sign hung above it that read “colored entrance.” African-Americans were not allowed to enter through the same door as the whites, and they had to take the highest seats. Since this was before air conditioning, the highest seats would, no doubt, be the hottest.

Hell's Kitchen

A Westinghouse Refrigerator

 On the corner of Bishop and Seventh, you will find a restaurant by the name of Hattie's. This building was the home of Rick's Furniture for many years. In 1938 they advertised a demonstration called “Hell's Kitchen” to prove the effectiveness of Westinghouse refrigerators. They made a kitchen in the store that was 120 degrees, but the refrigerators still kept the food at a safe 40 degrees.

In '52 there was a huge fire that destroyed the back half where the refrigerators were kept. The fire could be seen from four miles away. 

The Oak Cliff Broom Factory

The Oak Cliff Broom Factory was on the corner of Bishop and Seventh, although we aren't sure which corner it was. It was owned by a blind man, C.H. Chatten. (Brooms have been a common blind-made product for at least 100 years.) He started the company with four blind boys as employees. It eventually grew, until it provided jobs for 100's of blind people. Once Mr. Chatten received a thank-you note from President Franklin Roosevelt in appreciation for the gigantic mop and broom he sent him to “sweep away the corruption” in the government.

Martin Weiss

 In the late 1890s a Hungarian immigrant named Martin Weiss arrived in New York City without family or friends. His poor, widowed mother sent him to America as a young man with $84 sewn into his coat. His first job was helping a blind violinist around New York , but soon he moved to Texas to live with the violinist's sister, whose daughters taught Weiss to read and write. After years of earning and losing money, he finally became wealthy after purchasing a millinery supply company on Elm in downtown Dallas. Weiss also began to build properties in the 1920s, such as this strip along the east side of Bishop.

Weiss became a much-loved philanthropist in Oak Cliff, giving away his money to orphanages and to nearby Methodist Hospital. Each year he gave gold watches to the top students at Oak Cliff High School. He said he did this because he could never repay the United States for giving him such opportunities.

Standing in front of Hattie's and looking up, you can see his name carved into the facade of his building.   

A Celebration

In August of 1916, Bishop Avenue is paved. To celebrate, they hold a dance. Here's what the Dallas Morning News had to say about it:

"Hundreds of couples of all ages danced on the pavement of Bishop Avenue, between 7^th and Davis last night, while a crowd of probably 8,000 people hemmed them in, filling the sidewalks and overflowing on adjoining vacant lots and cross streets.

A large orchestra was seated on the sidewalk and dispensed popular dance music. They were flanked on each side by tables from which refreshments were served to all-comers.

Hundreds of women and girls, clad in summery gowns, greeted their friends and whirled through the crowd to the strains of the music.”  

Cretia's

On Seventh Street, there is a  mural of a street car, that was painted by high school students a few years ago. 

The building that it is painted on is Cretia's.

Cretia's, originally Bishop's Pharmacy, was named not for the street but

for the family who owned it. Within their employees, they had a successful bowling team. If you

go inside, you can see on the floor where the chairs were bolted down at the soda fountain.

The Beginning

 It's 1899, and you are standing in the middle of a cotton field. The land belongs to Oscar
Kramer, an immigrant who has just arrived in Oak Cliff from Germany. At this time, Oak Cliff is its
own city, a suburb for the rich. The wealthy are the only ones who can afford a horse and carriage to
drive them the whopping three miles to downtown Dallas. Also, because of the unpredictable Trinity
River, there's never the guarantee that you can get there at all. Because of this sense of uncertainty, Oak
Cliff has developed a spirit of independence and self-determination that leaves its citizens leaning not
on Dallas for support, but on each other.


Now fast forward a few years to 1903. Around this time, progress in the country begins to take
off... literally. Orville and Wilbur Wright just sent their first plane into flight. Also, the Ford Motor
Company is started, and New York builds its first subway. Teddy bears have just been invented and
named after the President, Teddy Roosevelt, and the first World Series took place in Boston and
Pittsburgh.


Back in Oak Cliff, Kramer has begun selling off bits of his land to developers, and Oak Cliff-
has just become a part of Dallas. Now investors feel safe starting businesses here because Oak Cliff has
the backing of Dallas. Stores are starting to appear all over the community, as is the rattling street car
that has begun service from downtown Dallas to Oak Cliff. The street car company, or the North
Texas Traction Company, as it's called, is led by George Bishop, for whom Bishop Avenue is named.
The route for the street car goes from downtown, south on Bishop and west on Seventh, until it turns
around and retraces the tracks.


It's 1904, and this area is called The North Loop District. Because it only takes seven cents and
twenty minutes to ride into downtown, the middle-class is moving into Oak Cliff. Nobody has cars
right now, so business is growing up around the trolley stops. Davis, known at this time as the Dixie
Overland Highway, is the main road to Fort Worth, making the North Loop District an important
intersection. In fact, this intersection will become almost like a little town, with everything you might
need right here- a lending library, ice house, pharmacy, doctor's office, grocery store, bike shop, and
even a pie company.

And so begins the rich history of my beloved neighborhood, Oak Cliff. Come back next week for more!