Postcard dated 1938 looking east on the 300 block of East Fifth Street, across from Lake Cliff Park. Most of the houses on this block were built 1925-1930. Below is the red-roofed house with the stone wall surround as it appears today. Hard to imagine the treeless street of old.

photo by Steve Bonner

Dontcha wish you were here? During these cold rainy winter-like days I know I do…..

1015 Fort Worth Avenue, about a block west of the Belmont. It was open as early as 1954, and was the site of at least one suspicious death, a parking lot murder, and an odd tenant who persisted in smashing thermostats.

I couldn’t find any evidence the Avalon hadn’t been razed, but Steve Bonner tells me the place is alive and well after some rehab work.

photo by Marcia Cirillo

Opened on San Jacinto Day, April 21, 1931, as the largest suburban theater in Dallas. Only the Majestic and the Palace Theaters in downtown Dallas exceeded the Texas’ capacity of 2000 patrons. It was touted as the first theater in Dallas to be constructed specifically for talking motion pictures, and it also featured a pipe organ played by Dwight Brown. The first week’s program included the Fox Movietone News, a Mickey Mouse cartoon, and the Buster Keaton talkie, “Parlor, Bedroom and Bath.” Price of admission: 35, 25, or 10 cents depending on which show you attended.

At left is an artist’s rendition of what the Texas looked like on opening night. with original sign and marquis. The bright lights and Italian Renaissance facade led some to label West Jefferson a new “Amusement Way.”

For more info see History of Texas Theater

Below, how the theater looked like on Nov 23, 1963.

postcard courtesy Terry Houchins

Located at 501 S. Edgefield, the establishment now known as Greiner Middle School began literally on the south edge of a field as a group of plank buildings around 1910. This is the building conceived in 1915 and built sometime after 1932. Only a small part of this building remains today.

More about Greiner’s history.

Postcard circa 1910. The Marsalis Sanitarium “Cool, quiet, modern. Seven minutes’ ride from Dallas News office.” was located  at 45 Marsalis, which would put it in the vicinity of Lake Cliff. It was in operation as early as 1906, when Doctors Reuss & Smart advertised their availability for surgery there. By 1909 Dr. J.H. Reuss had an additional practice at the Wilson Building in downtown Dallas. I find no mention of the Marsalis facility after 1910.

Probably the most-lamented fried chicken place I’ve found is Youngblood’s. I dimly remember seeing a Youngblood’s Restaurant at the Old Mill place during the State Fair of Texas about 1968, yet across the internet people swear it was the best chicken ever, and replications of its recipe can still be found.

Julius Harper “Pap” Youngblood was a cotton farmer in Speegleville, just west of Waco, when he bouht 500 baby chicks in 1930, raising them as a sideline to help make ends meet. (Ever hear recordings of Wolfman Jack hawking baby chicks over Mexican radio?) By 1942 “Pap” and his sons, Weldon and Ovid, had got the hang not only of raising chickens, but doing it “from the egg to the table”, processing and delivering feed for the poultry, and dressing the birds in their own processing plant. They opened their first restaurant in Waco in 1945 to advertise their business, and it was so successful they expanded to Dallas, opening their second restaurant in Oak Cliff in 1946 near Colorado and Zang. The above ad  announced the opening of that restaurant. By 1961 Youngblood’s was the fried chicken king of  Texas, with 60 chicken-raising farms around Waco, a chain of 14 restaurants, and about 500 people in their employ.

In 1967 Youngblood’s had more than 30 restaurants in Texas and  at least 6 franchise stores in the state. In 1968 they announced plans to expand with a nationwide franchising operation, but they were too late; the market was already flooded with other fried chicken franchises. That and a series of financial mishaps resulted in overwhelming debt, and all of Youngblood’s restaurants abruptly closed in 1969. Some of the restaurants were sold to Mickey Mantle’s Country Cooking, Inc. and the poultry processing operation was scaled back to about 12 people. By 1970 none of the Youngbloods had any association with their former operation.

Leslie’s originated in Waco, and that location seems to be famous for being the place where Billy Joe Shaver’s mom was a waitress. The first mention I find of Leslie’s in Dallas is 1939, when the Dallas Morning News mentioned it in a “Where to Go When You Eat” column. This postcard is from a few years later, when there were a whopping 9 locations around Texas. Leslie’s was at 2700 Ft. Worth Avenue, which would have put it almost directly across the street from Roth’s Cafe.

Leslie’s is listed in the Dallas phone book for 1951 but not for 1957. The site is now an empty lot.

Go here for a larger view of the building illustration from the postcard.

To see a larger view of this old sign now residing in the back lot of the Green Fiber plant in Waco go here and here.

F

We don’t mean to CROW but We Know Our Chicken

I found mention of Cliff Chicken Shack as early as August 1936, which means it may have pre-dated the more well-known Leslie’s Chicken Shack by several years. It may have been the first drive-in fried chicken joint in Oak Cliff. In 1942 the proprietor was listed as J.B. Cohen (or J.R. Cohen). By 1951, the Shack was out of business, and the building at 519 W. Davis (at the northeast corner at Llewellyn) had become Laden’s Food Market. The location was by turns a wholesale sandwich company, hardware store, carpet company, and an auto paint & body shop. The unlucky site is now home to Honduras Tire Shop.

photo by Terry Houchins

Is this old bridge still hanging over Clarendon? (somewhere west of the zoo)

Thanks to Steve Bonner for setting me straight on the bridge – here’s what he says:
This trestle for the interurban track crossing Clarendon was last used in 1948 when the interurban quit running to Waco.  The trestle extends father on the south side of Clarendon and is parallel to Moore St. on the east side of Moore..  It is all still there and is located east of the Dallas Zoo nearly to Corinth St.