WONDROUS WOMEN

In the early 1990s, White Rock resident Sharon Flatte was an eager young artist. Accompanied by an inked-up guy (her human portfolio, if you will), she walked into Tigger’s, Dallas’ first mainstream tattoo parlor, and asked Mark “Tigger” Liddell, for a job.

“I don’t hire girls,” the shop owner told her.

None of them knew she would own the place a few years later.

She’d grown up in Amarillo, Texas, with five brothers and few resources. She barely graduated from high school; a counselor figured administrative work was the pretty students’ lot and placed her in secretarial classes. But Flatte possessed talent and smarts beyond shorthand and typing. And she was resourceful.

She hightailed it out of Tigger’s and found Alice’s Asylum, an underground, bare-bones operation.

“It was freestyle, guys tattooing with their shirts off,” she recalls. “There was no air-conditioning, and they were really serious.”

That’s where she met her husband and business partner, Jimmy Flatte. In 1994 they opened Taboo Tattoo, a few doors down from Tigger’s.

They bought Tigger’s next.

“[Liddell] had been living over the shop, and the first thing I did was rent a dumpster and start gutting the place,” Flatte says. She’s since transformed the upstairs into sterile-meets-hip workspaces for her artists. Downstairs imitates an art gallery, one specializing in voluptuous, sword-wielding nudes.

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Over the next few years they acquired shops in Dallas, New Orleans and Oklahoma. Sharon soaked up business acumen from Jimmy and others she admired. But when her husband died, everything changed. “Cancer,” she says. “Jimmy died 12 years ago.”

A dark time ensued.

“We had built everything together,” she says.

Deep Ellum, the effervescent area she so adored, was dying, too. Throughout the once vibrant district, businesses shuttered until almost nothing remained. Flatte’s son Cody Biggs, a celebrated artist in his own right, who had been running one of her shops in Oak Cliff, suffered a serious motorcycle accident and couldn’t work.

An acquaintance from Los Angeles — “a big huge name in the business”— offered to help, came to Texas and told Sharon he’d take care of things while she “recovered.” She says it was “clear from the get-go he just wanted me out of the picture ... His old-school way was not my way, so I fired him.”

He did not take it well. Things heated up until Flatte, donning her favorite thigh-high platforms, says she kicked him so hard he slid across the floor.

Ever pragmatic, she made the strategic decision to streamline, selling every studio except Taboo and Tigger’s.

Art, music, wine

Frank Campagna, the charismatic owner of Kettle Art Gallery rattles off names: “Rebecca [Bogart] at La Reunion, Lauren [Levin] at Urban Paws, Kathleen [Evett] Upper Paw, Giselle [Ruggeberg] at Jade & Clover, Paula Lambert at Mozzarella Cheese Company, Susan Reese of Madison Partners: Women running the show in Deep Ellum.”

With Kettle Art Gallery as her home base, White Rock-area resident Paula Harris founded Discover Deep Ellum and Wine Walks, where tourists buy a local-art enameled wine glass before visiting various venues.

“Jade & Clover took the neighborhood by storm,” Harris says. “People come in the gallery just looking for Giselle’s store.’’ Harris is dropping names where Campagna left off.

Catherine Jacobus at Stonedeck, (Lake Highlands resident) Whitney Barlow who, with husband, Clint, re-opened Trees, The Bomb Factory and Canton Hall.

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“Whitney,” Clint told us a few years ago, “she’s the one you need to talk to.”

Of her first look at Trees, Whitney recalls, “It was a disaster. Five years’ worth of water damage. You could see sky through the ceiling. There were roaches on the floor. I said, ‘This is awesome’. I think Clint thought I would say, ‘No way,’ but there was just a great vibe.”

The re-opening of Trees in 2011 kicked off a renaissance of Deep Ellum, according to the late Barry Annino, former Deep Ellum Association president. “Once they opened, people got excited and wanted to be around them. They are pioneering the comeback of Deep Ellum.”

Barlow doesn’t see it that way, because so many are working to nurture the venue and the neighborhood.

“We couldn’t be successful if we acted like we knew it all, like we could do it all ourselves,” she says.

Like Tigger’s, the Barlows’ concert halls have preserved the ambience of the past, but all have matured.

Consider Lake Highlands’ Amanda Austin, who, against the odds, made a success of Dallas Comedy House on Main, then fought off developers to keep her space from becoming a barbecue joint.

“We need people around us,” Barlow says, “and we are not afraid to ask for help.”

Doggie Paddle Rescue

Police rescued Nemo the dog from White Rock Lake, in early June when he was spotted about a half mile from shore. The Dallas Police Department rescue team pulled him out of the water and brought him to East Lake Pet Orphanage, according to NBCDFW. But upon arriving to the pet orphanage, they discovered that Nemo has heartworm disease, and he needs $2,000 for treatment. In a Facebook post, East Lake Pet Orphanage is asking for donations to help treat the disease, which can be deadly.

Woodrow Woes

For the third school year in a row, Woodrow Wilson High School will have a new principal after Roxanne Rodriguez-Cheek resigned from her position in June. Rodriguez-Cheek was the principal at Lipscomb Elementary for five years before making the jump to high school, but she will return to the elementary ranks as principal of Aikin Elementary in Richardson ISD next year. The next principal will be the fifth in four years for Woodrow, who has seen a run of short-lived leaders after Kyle Richardson was at the helm for five years. Michael Dang was given the position following Richardson, but resigned after a few weeks for personal reasons. Steven Ewing was the principal for 2016-2017, but departed fro Garland ISD after a year. Rodriguez-Cheek followed Ewing after her tenure at Lipscomb.

Food News

Local Traveler is East Dallas’ newest restaurant venture from the part owners of The Lot. Jeff Burrow and Stan

Vlasimsky own the new restaurant on Grand, which can be accessed from the Santa Fe Trial as well. Chef Ross Demers was given carte blanche on the menu, which ranges from pizza and pasta to poached salmon. Chefs will make the pizza dough, noodles and ricotta cheese in house. He highlighted the Mexican-style prawns in aguachile, a great summer dish with influences from the Yucatan. For those who like to imbibe, Local Traveler will carry 40 draft options and 100 wines, with a number of signature cocktails and a bar staff ready to make the classics. A number of creative cocktails will be on the docket. The Galileo is made from herbaceous vodka, Thai basil, black pepper and pineapple. The Zeppelin is champagne with activated charcoal, gin, locally made rose jam and lemon. The restaurant will take reservations for dinner for the next couple weeks as they ramp things up. If you just want to pop in off the trail for a cocktail, you can walk right in. They are only open for dinner right now, but will soon add lunch and weekend brunch service as well. Local Traveler is located at 7522 E. Grand Ave.

Pickletopia is set to arrive late in the summer, according to Dallas CultureMap. Local chef Lee Thielen says the eatery will be pickling much more than just cucumbers. Carrots, okra and sauerkraut also will be part of the menu.

The summer heat is causing restaurants to bite the dust on Lower Greenville, as both Pints and Quarts and Blind Butcher shuttered their doors recently. In a Facebook post, owners announced the end of Bilnd Butcher, though they said Blind Butcher sausage will be available at Goodfriend Package. Just down Greenville, Pints and Quarts also closed. Last summer, the burger shop opened another location in Uptown, and it looks as though they have consolidated their forces on the other side of Central Expressway. The location battled constant Greenville and Ross construction as well as a parking squeeze as the strip behind it on the southwest corner filled with other popular establishments.