2015 August Oak Cliff

THE ART AND CULTURE OF TATTOOING

ink matters

Going his own way.

Gary Moore saw an opportunity to turn his experience into his future, and LegacyTexas doesn’t let a call like that go unanswered. From a three-truck beginning to today’s 48-state operation, legacies are built when partners work together to drive their own success.

WHAT’S

GARY MOORE’S LEGACY President & CEO, Moore Transport

You’re not buying a new place to live, you’re building a history. We understand. e Realtors at David Griffin &Company have been helping people turn houses into homes since 1982. If you're ready to make a little history of your own, call 214.526.5626, or visit davidgriffin.com.

ROUTINE EXAMINATION

Those daily rituals and why we like them

The other day, as I started sliding my left arm into the shirt I had selected for the day, I felt a shooting pain in my shoulder.

That was odd, because my shoulder hadn’t been seeking attention prior to this. But there it was, barking at me and making it difficult to pull on my shirt.

I let it slide, thinking things would be better the following day.

They weren’t.

Same routine the next day. And the next.

I knew nothing was seriously wrong, other than inhabiting a body trending toward obsolescence. So why not break out of my routine: Why not slide my right arm into the shirt sleeve first?

So I did. Or, shall I say: So I tried? Because, almost unbelievably, I couldn’t do it; I could not get my right arm to slide into the shirt first. I kept fumbling with the fabric and twisting the shirt’s torso to give my right arm the correct slot, but I couldn’t make it happen smoothly.

Again, for a moment, I wondered what was wrong surely, pulling on a shirt shouldn’t be this difficult.

And then it hit me: I’ve been pulling shirts on starting with my left arm for so many years, my brain and body just take over and don’t readily adapt to change.

So I decided to experiment: What happens if I start brushing my teeth on the upper right side of my mouth instead of the customary lower left?

Sadly, same result: The simple change confounded me. It felt odd brushing the right side first, so much so that I lost track of what I was doing. When it was time to shift to a different quadrant, I couldn’t

smoothly complete the move. And then I couldn’t even finish because I was so discombobulated.

Out of curiosity, I tried tinkering with other normal daily activities: I realized I always begin washing my face with my left forehead, so I tried my left cheek first instead. Bad idea.

I step into the shower with my left foot first; I know this now because starting with my right foot made it somehow difficult to close the shower door since my body isn’t in the “right” position.

When I’m popping out of my car, I put my weight on my left foot first. I tried the right foot instead and almost jammed the door into the front fender as I fell off-kilter to the side.

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203

ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203

office administrator: JUDY LILES

214.560.4203 / jliles@advocatemag.com

display sales manager: BRIAN BEAVERS

214.560.4201 / bbeavers@advocatemag.com

senior advertising consultant: AMY DURANT

214.560.4205 / adurant@advocatemag.com

senior advertising consultant: KRISTY GACONNIER

214.264.5887 / kgaconnier@advocatemag.com

advertising consultants

SALLY ACKERMAN

214.560.4202 / sackerman@advocatemag.com

NORA JONES

214.292.0962 / njones@advocatemag.com

FRANK McCLENDON

214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com

GREG KINNEY

214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com

EMILY WILLIAMS

469.916.7864 / ewilliams@advocatemag.com

MICHELE PAULDA

214.292.2053 / mpaulda@advocatemag.com

classified manager: PRIO BERGER

214.560.4211 / pberger@advocatemag.com

director of digital marketing: MICHELLE MEALS

214.635.2120 / mmeals@advocatemag.com

EDITORIAL

publisher: CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

214.560.4204 / chughes@advocatemag.com

managing editor: EMILY CHARRIER

214.560.4200 / echarrier@advocatemag.com

senior editor: EMILY TOMAN

214.560.4200 / etoman@advocatemag.com

editor-at-large: KERI MITCHELL

214.292.0487 / kmitchell@advocatemag.com

editors:

RACHEL STONE

214.292.0490 / rstone@advocatemag.com

BRITTANY NUNN

214.635.2122 / bnunn@advocatemag.com

ELIZABETH BARBEE

214.292.0494 / ebarbee@advocatemag.com

senior art director: JYNNETTE NEAL

214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com

Same with eating cereal, grabbing a glass of soda, peeling the paper from a straw, even dropping sweetener into iced tea: I do all of these little things exactly the same way, every time, without even knowing it.

Well, the good news is that the pain in my shoulder seems to be gone now, and I’ve returned to my comfortable left-sleevefirst route.

Yes, it’s a routine, something we’re typically not supposed to fall into if we want to live a happy life. But I can now say I gave it a shot and found out that maybe I need routine to stay happy.

assistant art director: EMILY MANGAN

214.292.0493 / emangan@advocatemag.com

designers: LARRY OLIVER, KRIS SCOTT, EMILY WILLIAMS

contributing editors: SALLY WAMRE

contributors: SAM GILLESPIE, ANGELA HUNT, GEORGE MASON, KRISTEN MASSAD, BRENT McDOUGAL

photo editor: DANNY FULGENCIO

214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com

contributing photographers: JAMES COREAS, RASY

RAN, JENNIFER SHERTZER, KATHY TRAN, ANDREW WILLIAMS, SHERYL LANZEL

do not necessarily reflect

than 200,000 people read Advocate publications each month. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one copy per reader. Advocate was founded in 1991 by Jeff Siegel, Tom Zielinski and Rick Wamre.

viewpoint.

Rick Wamre is president of Advocate Media. Let him know how we are doing by writing to 6301 Gaston, Suite 820, Dallas 75214; or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

And then it hit me: I’ve been pulling shirts on starting with my left arm for so many years, my brain and body just take over and don’t readily adapt to change.

DIGITAL DIGEST

WHAT YOU’RE MISSING

90-year-old Kessler Park mansion heads to foreclosure auction

Oak Cliff couples tie the knot after SCOTUS ruling

Historic Oak Cliff Methodist church closes

High rent pushes out Bishop Arts ice cream shop

8 reasons the Trinity Toll Road should die

THE DIALOGUE

Should police crack down on illegal fireworks?

“In Oak Cliff you have two nights a year where you should sedate your dog and stay inside; New Years Eve & July 4th. It’s not so much the fireworks, but rather the “happy bullets” getting shot into the air until 2 a.m.” —Matt

Peters

“An Oak Cliff tradition that will still live on. If you can’t sleep through it, then buy some ear plugs.” —Gerald Solorio

“I personally do not mind the fireworks. What I do mind, however, is the firing of guns into the air masked by the fireworks.” —Todd

Macaulay

WANT MORE?

Sign up for the Advocate’s weekly news digest advocatemag.com/newsletter

FOLLOW US.

Oak Cliff Advocate @Advocate_oc

TALK TO US.

Email editor Rachel rstone@advocatemag.com

After the storm

Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina abruptly changed the lives of one Oak Cliff couple

When Tiffany and Mark Manson talk about “home,” they don’t mean the house in Oak Cliff, which they renovated and moved into about a year ago. They mean the home they left behind in New Orleans during Katrina, the 2005 hurricane. Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, burst through flood walls and washed away neighborhoods across Louisiana and Mississippi, upending innumerable lives and killing almost 2,000.

That August, Tiffany owned a dog-sitting business in New Orleans and Mark worked in a bicycle shop where he was well known as a mechanic.

Hurricane Katrina wasn’t the first time the government had issued a mandatory hurricane evacuation for New Orleans, but it was the first time Tiffany felt that clench in her gut.

Tiffany and Mark Manson live in Oak Cliff, but New Orleans remains in their hearts. Photo by Danny Fulgencio

“It happened around Thursday afternoon and Friday morning that my intuition started clicking,” Tiffany says. “We’d never evacuated for a storm, but something told me, ‘We have to go for this one,’ and [Mark] believed me.”

Tiffany suggested visiting her mom in Mesquite for a few days. It would be like a vacation, she said.

It was still dark on Sunday morning when Mark locked the front door on their way out of the city, and it struck him that he might not see home again.

“You have to at least consider it,” Mark says. “It’s always a possibility.”

It wasn’t until they hit Shreveport that the Mansons began listening to the news reports.

“They were talking about a category 5 and 250 mile-per-hour winds, and I started freaking out,” Mark says. “Those 200 miles between Shreveport and Mesquite were terrible. For the first time I was thinking, ‘We’re going to lose everything.’ ”

They arrived at Tiffany’s mom’s house and settled in. Then they heard the storm would not directly hit New Orleans.

Relieved, they went to bed Sunday night only to wake Monday morning to devastating news: Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge had breeched the levees that protected New Orleans from flooding.

“By the time we woke up, our house was already flooded because of where it was,” Tiffany says. “We were on the North side, and all the flooding came from the North.”

Even though they were prepared for the worst, when they saw a satellite image of their home underwater, they were shocked.

They weren’t going home, they realized, at least not anytime soon.

They also couldn’t stay with Tiffany’s mom forever, and they needed to find jobs. The next few weeks were a whirlwind of insurance claims, applying for what little assistance was available and searching for jobs.

One day Mark was in Richardson Bike Mart at White Rock Lake, and he struck up a conversation about cycling with general manager Woody Smith.

When Smith learned Mark was a Katrina evacuee, he asked Mark if he needed a place to stay. Then Smith was quick to offer him a job — a decision he hasn’t regretted.

“He’s a great, great employee,” Smith

says. “I think the world of him. He has a lot of knowledge about bikes, and he loves people.”

During the transition, people within the cycling community in Dallas embraced the Mansons, ready to help in whatever way possible.

“(Woody) was very willing to help us,” Mark says. “I told him, ‘Look, it’s only going to be for a couple of months. I’ll sweep the floor or whatever you need.’ He said, ‘No, we’ll set you guys up.’ They were great.

“The owner of the company was going to Italy with his wife, and he said, ‘If you need a place to stay, you can stay at our house. If you need a truck, we’re not going to be driving ours.’ I’d never met him. It was just unbelievable, and that’s when I really started to feel like, OK, things are going to be good here.”

They moved into an apartment and later into a house on Lower Greenville. It was the closest thing to New Orleans they could find.

“There were multiple gossiping sessions that happened in the middle of the street between neighbors,” Tiffany says. “The neighbors would host a quinceañera, and everyone would bring food.”

Mark could ride his bike to work. They found a favorite local hangout. They connected with fellow New Orleans Saints fans.

Seeing their home for the first time after the flood was surreal. It was like the whole city was covered in a grey film.

“It was like watching a black-and-white film out your car window,” Tiffany says. “Not muddy brown. Grey. And the smell was unlike anything you could ever describe. It was a mixture of chemicals and mold and death.”

Their street was empty. No one was around. There were not even birds, and the silence was eerie.

“We didn’t even speak,” Mark says. “We were just driving in silence.”

They pulled up to their house with a sense of “morbid curiosity,” Mark says. They wanted to see it and didn’t at the same time.

The number of things the couple was able to save could be counted on one hand — a piece of fine art, a handmade cabinet from Mark’s great-grandfather and a full set of Depression glass. Not one photo. No clothes. No mementos.

They couldn’t afford to gut their old home until about a year after the hurri-

cane. Even then, their neighborhood was still in bad shape.

“It’s a blue-collar neighborhood that’s still not rebuilt completely,” Tiffany says. “The neighborhoods with all the money, they were rebuilt the fastest. People provided the poor neighborhoods with the resources to rebuild. The people in our neighborhoods who have always worked, we all went somewhere else to get jobs and couldn’t come home. We fell through the cracks.”

For years, they told themselves they would go back. They belong in their city.

“But we were just kidding ourselves,” Mark says. The New Orleans they knew was gone.

Besides, their life in Dallas was pretty good. Richardson Bike Mart promoted Mark to manager and Tiffany’s pet-sitting business took off.

They finally bulldozed their home in New Orleans because the property was worth more without it, but they salvaged a few parts — doors, windows and hardwood flooring.

They love their Oak Cliff neighbors and Mark has been using parts from the old house to build a memorial for New Orleans in their backyard.

“It’s functional as a wall, but it’s more like an art piece,” he says. “I’m not an artist by any means, but I like the symbolism. I want to finish it by the anniversary, but it’s a work in progress. So that has been really healing.” —Brittany Nunn

Mark Manson uses scrap from his demolished New Orleans home to build a memorial in his backyard.

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

Radiation oncologist Dr. Michael Folkert and other members of our genitourinary cancer team are treating select prostate cancer patients with a technique that delivers a more potent dose of radiation in fewer treatments. Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, SABR for short, is a technology that was pioneered at UT Southwestern and is now being adopted worldwide. It’s another example of the specialized care available at UT Southwestern—where scientific research, advanced technology, and leading-edge treatments come together to bring new hope to cancer patients.

To learn more, contact: Radiation Oncology at 214-645-8525 | UTSWmedicine.org/radonc

This is where prostate cancer can be eradicated in just five treatments.

Out & About

Send events to editor@advocatemag.com

August 2015

Aug. 15

The Relatives of Dallas, TX

The Rev. Gean West, bandleader of West Dallas’ own The Relatives, had a near-death experience in which he said God told him, “I got a little more work for you to do. I’m sending you back.” West died a few weeks later, just this past February, but not before his family band finished its third LP, “Goodbye World” on Love N Haight Records. Matt Stansberry and the Romance open this 8 p.m. show.

The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis, 214.272.8346, thekessler.org, $25

AUG. 4

‘Rhapsody in August’

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff marks the 70th anniversary of the United States’ atomic bombing of Japan. Its 7 p.m. screening of Akira Kurosawa’s film is about a woman who lives on a farm near Nagasaki and visits a dying family member in America. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff, 3839 W. Kiest, 214.337.2429, firsttuesdayfilms.org, free

AUG. 6

Catapults

Build three catapults and launch stuff off of them in this 1 p.m. workshop sponsored by the Dallas Foundation. Recommended for ages 8 and up. North Oak Cliff Library, 302 W. Tenth, 214.670.7555, dallaslibrary.org, free

AUG. 11 AND 24

Town-hall meetings

Your representatives want to hear from you. The Hampton-Illinois Library hosts U.S. Rep. Mark Veasey at 6 p.m. Aug. 11 to give a legislative update and hear from constituents. District 3 City Councilman Casey Thomas presents a budget townhall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 24.

Hampton-Illinois Library, 2951

S. Hampton, 214.670.7646, dallaslibrary.org, free

Aug. 2 and 16

Class of ’85

The Texas Theatre and the Oak Cliff Cultural Center wrap up their Class of ’85 film series this month with free screenings of “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” on Aug. 2 and a rare screening of “Return to Oz” Aug. 16. Both shows start at 3 p.m. The Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson, 214.948.1546, thetexastheatre.com, free

AUG. 28

Kevin Smith

Parade of Flesh brings filmmaker Kevin Smith for an evening at the Texas Theatre. Smith spent nearly 20 years making movies including “Clerks,” “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy,” “Dogma,” “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” and most recently, “Tusk.”

The Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson, 214.948.1546, paradeofflesh.com, $35-$55

AUG. 29

True Widow

This East Dallas-based “stonergaze” band has two terrific albums, As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth. They play a 9 p.m. free show. The Foundry, 2303 Pittman, 214.749.1112, cs-tf.com, free

AUG. 30

Jazz in the afternoon

Oak Cliff-based TeCo Theatrical Productions presents “An Afternoon of Jazz” at Fair Park with Dave Koz, Rick Braun and Kenny Lattimore. The show starts at 3 p.m.; a 12:30 p.m. brunch is available. Call for reservations.

The Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 First Ave., 214.565.1116, liveatthemusichall.com, $55-$75

CARNIVAL BARKER’S ICE CREAMS

345 W. Jefferson 972.603.8225

facebook.com/carnivalbarkers

AMBIANCE: WALK-UP WINDOW

PRICE RANGE: $5-$6

HOURS:

NOON-10 P.M., TUESDAY-THURSDAY AND SUNDAY; NOON-MIDNIGHT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY; CLOSED MONDAY

DID YOU KNOW?

YOU CAN ADD BACON TO ANYTHING FOR $1

Ice cream shop owner Aaron Barker still has his space at the Truck Yard off Lower Greenville, but our neighborhood is the new headquarters for Carnival Barker’s, he says. The 400-squarefoot shop at Jefferson Tower, which opened in June, is about twice the size of the Truck Yard space, and it has more room for production and experimentation, Barker says. Hot sellers in Oak Cliff include The Cinnamon Toast Crunch treat sandwich. Take one enormous scoop of handmade ice cream and squish it between two even more enormous cereal treats. All the ice cream at Carnival Barker’s is made in small batches with no artificial flavors or coloring. Barker always offers vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, but otherwise, flavors rotate. Recently, he gave some space to his pal Kevin Chapman of Kessler Plaza who serves his awardwinning chili in a bowl, on frito pie or on hot dogs.

—Rachel Stone

A Cinnamon Toast Crunch treat topped with vanilla ice cream and bacon: Photo by Kathy Tran

Best Home & Garden IN OAK CLIFF

And the winner is …

Advocate readers in July chose Brumley Gardens as the best home and garden store in Oak Cliff. A few days later, the West Davis garden store announced it is closing at the end of August.

Brumley opened its first location in Lake Highlands more than 20 years ago and expanded to Oak Cliff in 2012. The shop took a former gas station at 700 W. Davis, which previously had been Repotted, a short-lived neighborhood garden store. Prior to that, the space had been vacant for several years.

Store manager Marie Jenkins said a

couple of factors led to the store closing. Upcoming sewer maintenance on West Davis wherein the street will be under construction for up to nine months, and flagging sales, which she attributes to spring flooding.

The good news: Brumley Gardens is looking for another location in Oak Cliff, Jenkins says.

“This community has been so wonderful and welcomed us,” Jenkins says. “It’s going to be hard for me to walk away

because this has been my home for the past three years. We love this place.”

Brumley Gardens’ original location, at 10540 Church Road, is still open.

—Rachel Stone

Runner up: Neighborhood Third place: Fete-Ish

NEXT UP: Look for a roundup of all the ‘Best Of’ winners at oakcliff.advocatemag.com/best-of-results

Photo courtesy of Brumley Gardens

BACK-TO-SCHOOL PANTRY MUSTHAVES

It is hard to believe that summer break is coming to an end. With so many obligations to worry about as we approach the start of a new school year, it’s important to focus on our home and pantry. Stocking up on simple pantry staples will keep your meals healthy, balanced and quick.

1. OATS

Homemade granola bars are one of the many recipes for which oats will come in handy. Mixed with assorted dried fruit, coconut and chocolate chips you will have a quick on-the-go breakfast or snack.

2. WHOLE GRAIN PASTA

One of the most versatile dry ingredients is great for busy day dinners and left over lunches. Garnish with fresh pesto, cheese, homemade tomato sauce or fresh veggies.

3. NUT BUTTERS AND SPREADS

Easy to spread on pancakes, tortillas, or apple and banana slices for a satisfying snack or the perfect addition to any smoothie.

4. HONEY

A great substitute for sugar and sweeteners, honey is also the perfect ingredient to start your morning routine. Squeeze half a lemon and 1 tbsp honey into hot water, for a caffeine-free boost. It might even kick your coffee cravings.

Dried fruit and nut granola bars

GROCERY LIST

2-1/2 cups old fashion rolled oats

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup dried pineapple, chopped

1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

Combine oats and slivered almonds on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until lightly toasted.

Combine butter, honey, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until butter and sugar are melted.

Pour butter mixture over the toasted almonds and oats; add all the dried fruit. Spread mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread evenly.

Refrigerate until firm and ready to be cut. Cut granola into 12 bars and store in airtight container or wrap individually.

1 Go to maps.dallascityhall.com and enter your address

2 Look on the right side of the map to determine your “Brush Week”

3 Click on the link “More info on Brush and Bulky Trash”

4 Choose the Calendar which matches your “Brush Week” number

5 Put out your Brush & Bulk during “Set Out Days” (shaded green) FOR MORE INFORMATION ON BULK TRASH PICKUP, GO TO DALLASBRUSHANDBULK.COM

Kristen Massad writes a monthly column about sweets and baked goods. The professional pastry chef graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York City and owned Tart Bakery on Lovers Lane for eight years. She blogs about food and lifestyles at inkfoods.com.

If so, you only have a 10% chance of getting it right . . . which makes the odds of receiving a citation pretty high!

NDER THE GUN

Storytelling through skin art

Everyone has a story to tell, and most people offer hints of their personal history in the way they dress, their home décor, the car they drive or the way they carry themselves. For tattoo enthusiasts, it’s all in the ink: The portrait of a favorite pet, the rose for a beloved grandmother, the names of one’s children. Even the regrettable gecko tattoo from spring break ’96 has a story to tell. “The tattoo culture in Dallas is very strong,” says artist Maria Sena, who recently opened Electric Eye, a tattoo studio in Oak Cliff with her partner, Caleb Barnard. “People in Dallas, they’re like collectors.” Some of us hang paintings on the wall; some prefer art on skin.

Sometimes older people don’t appreciate tattoos, but Stephanie Adelina has one that often catches the attention of the Greatest Generation.

The tattoo artist got a red Pegasus on her upper arm from her mentor when she was an apprentice. She wanted it to show her hometown pride, and she later learned the profundity of Dallas’ red-neon Pegasus. “I didn’t know this story when I got the tattoo,” she says. “But apparently, when soldiers were returning from World War II, they would see that red dot in the skyline, and they knew they were home.”

Adelina’s career as a tattoo artist has taken her all over the world, but she always represents Dallas with that striking tattoo.

The Oak Cliff native started her tattooing career in the worst way.

“I fell into tattooing right when ‘Miami Ink’ got really popular,” she says, referring to the seminal reality TV show about tattooing.

She was 19 and had just dropped out of art school in Canada after realizing her Arts Magnet education had taught her well enough.

ARTS MAGNET MAFIA

She was such a talented painter that her then-boyfriend encouraged her to tattoo him. So she ordered a tattooing gun online, “like you should never do,” she says.

But that was the start of a globetrotting career.

She practiced on friends and family until Deep Ellum-based artist Jacob Lopez gave her an apprenticeship based on her painting portfolio. It didn’t take her long to get a feel for the craft of buzzing art onto skin.

In fact, she prides herself in having a light touch.

“Having a gentle approach is what I’m about,” she says.

In 2012, Adelina applied for an Australian work permit. She flew over and got a job at the Australia minimum wage of about $18 an hour, selling orthopedic shoes to old ladies, she says. On her days off, she tattooed.

She flew to Malaysia and then India where she worked as a guest artist at what she says is the country’s best tattoo shop, Devilz Tattoo, in Dehli.

“I was supposed to be there for a week, and I stayed two months,” she says.

She sometimes worked 12-hour days in the Dehli shop and would make about $100 for the whole day (compared to $125 per hour that she charges at her live/work studio in Deep Ellum).

Even though she didn’t seek out a spiritual experience in India, Adelina says, she found one anyway. It’s her favorite country in the world, she says. And a tattooing pal from the Delhi shop is expected to fly over later this year as a guest artist in her studio.

Adelina’s tattooing style is the same as her painting style. Her tattoos are bright and vivid. She recently tattooed realistic images of tomatoes and onions on a chef’s arm. And she has been doing tattoos that look like watercolor paintings.

Tattooing a way to be well paid as an artist and collaborate on artwork that is intensely personal to the artist and client, she says.

“I’m really just an artschool nerd who kind of fell into this.”

“I’m really just an art-school nerd who kind of fell into this,” she says.

She credits Arts Magnet for a stellar arts education, and she continues to work closely with the school. In June, she helped chaperone Arts Magnet students on an art tour of Italy.

“I love that school, and I owe everything to it,” she says. “It’s like the Marines; they break you down and build you back up. It was so hard and such an amazing school.”

Upon returning to the states, Adelina figured she would move somewhere else New York, Los Angeles, who knows? But when she arrived in Dallas, she felt at home.

Adelina’s wanderlust runs deep, but traveling made her realize where her home truly is. She and her roommate, artist Samantha A. McCurdy, are working on renovating the first floor of their Deep Ellum building. But Adelina, now 27, says she’d like to buy a house someday in Beckley Club Estates, where her mom lives.

“Oak Cliff is home,” she says. “Plus, the Mexican food. I missed it so much.”

Left: Stephanie Adelina tattoos a client in her home studio inside a two-story Deep Ellum loft. Below: Tattooing has taken the Oak Cliff native Adelina all over the world, but she always represents her hometown with the red Pegasus on her upper arm.

REP YOUR ’HOOD

Ashley Dootson knew she wanted to be tattooed from the time she was a little kid.

Her mother had a heavily tattooed friend, and young Ashley was obsessed with him.

She got her first tattoo, a little star on her foot, with her mom’s permission at 17.

“She thought I would hate it,” Dootson says. But it opened the door to a lifelong commitment to tattoos and now, at 34, Dootson’s skin is covered in art.

The hairstylist waited until her late 20s, after her career had been established, before she started getting highly visible tattoos. All of her ink can be covered by long sleeves and pants.

“It’s funny when my clients meet me in the winter, and then they see me in summer, and they’re like, ‘Oh…’ ” she says.

She has tattoos for the people who inspire her, like her grandmother, Peg Bundy and Dolly Parton. She has portraits of her dogs. She has tattoos purely for beauty, such as the blackand-white roses on her right knee. She collects tattoos from artists she admires — Jeff Brown, Will Card and Sal Trevino among them.

She has a couple of “dumb” tattoos from her

younger days, and one is the result of letting an aspiring tattoo artist practice on her.

But they’re all a part of her, she says.

“They’re beautiful to look at,” she says. “It’s art you can wear. I feel prettier with them.”

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks tattoos are beautiful, and rude strangers have let Dootson know what they think. A man once asked her why she would want to make herself look ugly, for example. Sometimes strangers touch her because of her tattoos. Once, a man tried to lift up her skirt in Kroger to see more of her tattoos. She argued with him and fled the store without buying anything.

“Sometimes I feel like a novelty,” she says. “People are always very curious.”

Dootson has “817” tattooed on one arm because she’s from Bedford. But she has worked in Oak Cliff for seven years, and she bought a house here two years ago.

So she decided to get “Oak Cliff” on her foot. Artist Caleb Barnard at Electric Eye had a friend draw the stencil in Venice Beach-style lettering, and he tattooed it.

Barnard and his partner, Marie Sena, opened their tiny shop at the rear of Jefferson

Tower in June. Barnard has been tattooing for about 16 years and Sena for about 10. The couple lives in East Dallas, but they both worked at Saints and Sinners in the Bishop Arts District for several years.

“We love the neighborhood, and we love this building,” Sena says. “It’s so cool to be part of this historic building and what’s going on over here.”

Above: Tattoo artists Caleb Barnard and Marie Sena opened Electric Eye tattoo studio in a tiny space at the rear of Jefferson Tower earlier this summer. Below: Oak Cliff neighbor Ashley Dootson has steadily covered her skin with art over the past 10 years or so.

Julie McCullough wanted a Texas tattoo. When the fashion designer had a storefront in Bishop Arts, she noticed her friend who worked at Hunky’s, Samuel Stuard, had the Texas Theatre marquee on one arm.

The historic theater/art-house cinema/ dive bar had become her favorite neighborhood hangout.

So she and her Texas Theatre buddy, Lindsay Naccarato, decided to get Texas Theatre tattoos too. They hired Ejay, aka Ernesto Bernal, at Saints and Sinners in Bishop Arts for the work.

“He’s incredibly talented,” Naccarato says. She has about 50 tattoos, and Ejay did most of them.

Naccarato, an emergency room nurse, was 20 when she got her first tattoo, but she’s acquired most of her ink in the past five years or so. Although she has to cover them up at work, they make her happy.

“I just like the way they make me look at myself and the way they make me feel about myself,” she says. “I think they’re remarkably pretty, and I just like having them.”

She is inspired by paintings. Usually, she finds a painting she loves and brings a photo of it to her artist for him to interpret.

Some tattoo enthusiasts collect tattoos from many artists. But Naccarato chooses to stay with one artist because of his talent and intensity. He’s always as excited to do a tattoo as she is to receive it, she says.

“It’s a relationship with that person,” she says. “I want you to want to do this, and I want you to be proud of what you’ve done. I love that he’s excited to do them.”

Her Texas Theatre tattoo is in color and represents the current version of the sign. Stuard has the sign and the marquee announcing “Debbie Does Dallas.” And McCullough has an older version of the sign in black-and-white.

They’re the same but different.

McCullough says she got a couple of regrettable tattoos when she was 18, and then she started getting nice, expensive tattoos around age 35.

She has a pair of buttons on her wrists; scissors, a sewing needle and thread on her upper arm; and opposite her Texas Theatre tattoo, an outline of Michigan, her home state. She and Naccarato both have lace designs on their shoulders.

“I encourage people to wait until they’re old (to be tattooed),” McCullough says. “Most of my best decisions did not come at 18.”

“I just like the way they make me look at myself and the way they make me feel about myself. I think they’re remarkably pretty, and I just like having them.”

Julie McCullough, Samuel Stuard and Lindsay Naccarato all have tattoos of the Texas Theatre sign.

Bill J. Priest Institute for

Welcome to West Dallas

Bringing back the Belmont

Story by Rachel Stone

Back in 2004, the Belmont Hotel was just another mid-century roadside motel gone to pot on Fort Worth Avenue. But Monte Anderson, who grew up in Oak Cliff and the southern suburbs, saw its potential.

“I’ve been looking at the Belmont since I was 5 years old and my dad took me there to eat breakfast at the Hungry Bear,” he says.

Anderson bought the Belmont and turned it into what it is today, a lively boutique hotel with a dazzling bar and lounge, plus one of the most popular restaurants in Dallas, Smoke.

Getting there was no easy road to travel.

Anderson sold the 64-room hotel in June to Dallas-based Behringer Lodging Group, which has plans to renovate Bar Belmont along with the hotel rooms. Smoke and its

neighboring fitness club, Claire Vista, will retain their leases.

Anderson and Smoke co-owner Chris Jeffers sat down with us recently to tell their history with the Belmont and Smoke.

The renovation

Anderson bought the property on the hill behind the Belmont in 1999 with the idea that someday he would build a house there.

He insists that buying and renovating the Belmont took no “vision.”

“Here’s a beautiful little hotel between Kessler Park and Downtown and the Design District,” he says. “That’s not rocket science.”

But there was a serious need to revamp to space, both in its design and its perception. Consider that a few years before Anderson

bought the hotel, a front-desk clerk had been murdered. In response, the front desk later was encased in bulletproof glass, giving it a hard edge. Prostitutes regularly walked out front on Fort Worth Avenue. The restaurant where Smoke is now was known as a roughand-tumble dive bar.

The previous owners took care of the property to the best of their ability, Anderson says. Many tenants paid by the week, and one guy had lived there for nine years. The previous owners had never even seen the inside of his room.

“When we first started, the restaurant roof was caved in,” Anderson says. “It was nearly to the point that we needed to scrape it, but the architecture was too good. It almost would’ve been cheaper to build it new.”

Belmont Hotel: Photo by Danny Fulgencio

Goat hill

When Anderson bought it, the steep part of the Belmont property facing Sylvan was covered in kudzu vine, an invasive species that suffocates and kills trees. Dallas city code requires those who remove it to keep it on their property as it decomposes to prevent it from spreading. Anderson was afraid that leaving the kudzu on the Belmont’s land would cause it to spread while the property was under renovation. So he called Texas A&M University for advice. Experts there gave him two words of advice: get goats. So, he found goats for rent to roam the property, eatting the kudzu as they went. It worked, except for a few hiccups. One of the goats once made it all the way across Fort Worth Avenue to Family Dollar. Another time, Anderson arrived at the hotel to find a Billy goat lazing on the roof of the restaurant.

The early years

The Belmont opened Nov. 19, 2005, amid much hoopla.

“We had a really good New Year’s Eve,” Anderson says. “And then the next few weeks, there was a time we had one person in the hotel. One. We never got to zero. But we had one.”

The Belmont hired and fired three hotel management companies in the first three years of operation. The Cliff Café was popular among locals but failed to draw traffic from across the river, and proved to be a money loser.

“The first five years was disastrous for me,” Anderson says. “Seriously, a couple of nights, the only thing left was for me to be on my knees in prayer in the office. Then Jeffers came along.”

Smoke

“We were bleeding bad in food and beverage,” Anderson says. “It was bad.”

In summer 2009, he had lunch at Tortas las Tortugas with Chris Jeffers and Chris Zielke, who had opened Bolsa about a year prior.

Without coming to a concrete agreement, Jeffers went to work at Cliff Café the following day. He says he did it because he recognized almost immediately that he and Anderson have very similar personalities, so he stepped up to the plate on instinct.

“We were both broke,” Jeffers says. “And I think when you are broke, you are willing to take more chances.”

They had to piece together funding with credit cards, a loan from Grand Bank and a few other sources.

By August, they had brought chef Tim Byres on board and had worked up a concept for an upscale barbecue restaurant.

Anderson had always pictured the restaurant as a diner. But he compares it to having children: “You think you’re going to have a quarterback, and the kid turns out to be a really great swimmer,” he says.

Because it’s attached to a hotel, the restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day except Christmas. So the kitchen serves three meals a day in the restaurant, provides room service for the 64room hotel and makes the snack menu for Bar Belmont.

They spent $140,000 to renovate, during which they never closed the restaurant.

“Do you realize how hard that is?” says Jeffers. “And we did it in 60 days.”

Smoke opened Sept. 11, 2009.

If you went to the opening night party, no doubt you won’t forget it. The place was a zoo, but the atmosphere was electric. Everyone wanted to be a part of the Belmont.

Anderson, Jeffers and partners had made it to the base of their climb.

In February 2010, dining critic Nancy Nichols of D wrote in a memorable review that the restaurant took its farm-to-table concept too seriously without focusing on its customers enough. She panned everything from the service to the brisket – at a barbecue restaurant.

“That review was one of the best things that ever happened to us,” Jeffers says. “We were trying to be all things to all people. So we had to narrow the focus.”

Selling your homestead?

IRS factioid; 1040 tax returns with schedule C’s are popular with auditors. Keeping good records is a good idea in the event you are examined.

• Tax Preparation

• IRS Audit Representation

• IRS Notice Resolution

• 27 years in the White Rock Lake Neighborhood

Jack F. Lewis Jr., cpa

cpa jlewis@jlewiscpa.com

6301 Gaston Avenue, Suite 800 214-821-0829

In 2004, the Belmont was just another crummy hotel on Fort Worth Avenue.

The prologue

After that come-to-Jesus review, chef Tim Byres honed in on making their restaurant a fine dining take on Texas cuisine, in the great tradition of Dallas chefs. In 2012, the restaurant hit is stride, and the hotel was cooking.

The restaurant alone once had about a $4-million year.

Byres, whom Jeffers calls “the grandpa” of the partnership, won a James Beard Award

for his cookbook, “Smoke: New Firewood Cooking.” They opened another restaurant together, Chicken Scratch. And earlier this year, they opened a second Smoke location in Plano.

Anderson and Jeffers say their partnership was about perfect. They had some tense moments, but they figured out how to make two separate businesses, Smoke and the Bel-

mont, work seamlessly together.

One would never have made it without the other, they say.

Recently, over coffee at Bolsa Mercado, Anderson pokes his thumb toward Jeffers.

“When he came along, he was hurting in a way, and I was hurting in a way,” Anderson says. “And it kind of saved our lives, both of us.”

The restaurant at the Belmont opened in the 1950s as the Hungry Bear Cafe. When Anderson bought it in 2004, the roof was caving in.

BUSINESS BUZZ

The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses

Send business news tips to livelocal@advocatemag.com

Upscale townhomes

Modern townhomes priced around $440,000 are planned in the Bishop Arts Neighborhood. The project, from Proximity Developers and builder Bill Mead, will take the place of an empty lot and a former office building on the Northeast corner of Tenth and Adams. The three-story homes will average around 2,300 square feet each with rooftop patios and garages. Oak Cliff-based Richard Drummond Davis Architect is designing the development. Harrison Preston Polsky of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty is the agent.

Ice cream

Melt Ice Creams opened its pop-up shop inside Urban Acres in July. The shop is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Sunday through Oct.

31. Kari Crowe started the craft ice cream shop a little over a year ago in Fort Worth. Flavors available include a classic Madagascar vanilla bean, one with Dude Sweet Chocolate, vanilla with nectarine jam and a vegan option made with coconut milk. Melt

is the second craft ice cream place to open in Oak Cliff this summer. Carnival Barker’s opened at Jefferson Tower in June [see page 14]. That’s good news, especially considering the summer’s ice-cream tragedies: Blue Bell is off the market, and La Original Michoacana is moving from Bishop Arts to Arlington.

100-year-old church closes

One of Oak Cliff’s oldest churches closed recently because of dwindling membership and overwhelming maintenance costs. Oak Cliff United Methodist’s congregation, a total of about 200 people, will be absorbed into Tyler Street United Methodist Church

The building is part of the original Oak Cliff on Jefferson and Marsalis and is a protected historic landmark. It was built in 1915, but the church body is much older — congregants began meeting in 1887, the same year Thomas Marsalis bought Hord’s Ridge with his vision for an upscale Dallas suburb. The Methodist conference will take ownership of the building.

More business bits

1 Rapscallion, the Lower Greenville restaurant from the owners of Boulevardier, has opened. 2 Wine Poste opened in the Bishop Arts District. The shop, which offers wine by the glass as well as take-out bottles, relocated to Oak Cliff from the Design District.

Proximity Developers and builder Bill Mead are planning 17 modern townhomes on Tenth at Adams.

REMINGTON ESTATE SALES

Remington Estate Sales Dallas, Texas 972·835·2404 remingtonestatesales.com

“Our goal is to maximize your proceeds from the sale and reduce your stress.” Schedule your free consultation today...

THE PETROPOLITAN

Pet Services

2406 Emmett Drive Dallas thepetropolitan.com

1·844·4DFWDOG

1·844·433·9364

The Petropolitan in Oak Cliff & Downtown offers a full complement of services like boarding, play-care, dog & cat grooming, dog walking, in-home services & pet products.

For Us It’s All About The Animal!

DAN “THE COMPUTER GUY”

Computer Repair

972.639.6413 stykidan@sbcglobal.net

Confused? Frustrated? Let a seasoned pro be the interface between you & that pesky computer. Hardware & software installation, troubleshooting, training, $60/hour — one hour minimum.

WILLIAM R. WILSON

Attorney at Law

6440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 505, Dallas, TX 75206 214.871.2201

wrw@woolleywilson.com

Call me for a free consultation about Wills & Probate, Family Law, Civil Litigation, and Business or Commercial matters. There are many ways to avoid or resolve a dispute without costly litigation. I can also help with Adoptions, Child Custody, Child Support or other Family or Probate matters.

NORTH HAVEN GARDENS

Urban Garden Center

7700 Northaven Rd. Dallas, TX 75230 214·363·5316 nhg.com

Your gardening partner since 1951, specializing in garden education, the best quality plant selection and the most knowledgeable staff committed to your gardening success!

FOSSIL RIM WILDLIFE CENTER

Tours

2299 County Road 2008 Glen Rose, Texas 76043 254.897.2960

fossilrim.org

Book a guided family tour to get the full experience on one of Fossil Rim’s open-air vehicles. Sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery of over 1000 animals on our 1800-acre preserve.

SYNC YOGA & WELLBEING

connection matters…

1888 Sylvan Ave #250 · Sylvan | Thirty 214.946.2224 syncdallas.com

Flow basics, flow yoga, flow & release, meditation, yoga for healing, pre/postnatal and kids yoga. Private lessons, workshops, counciling/coaching, massage and much more. Call today!

Own

Volunteers

Vickery Meadows Learning Center in Dallas is looking for adult volunteers to teach English to non-English speakers for two hours one day a week for 12 weeks starting in September. VMLC is dedicated to improving English literacy levels among non-English speaking adults and their children by providing programs in communication and life skills. Morning, afternoon and evening hours are available Monday-Thursday. All classes are co-taught in English. Training and curriculum is provided. Contact the adult program director, Liz Harling, at lharling@vmlc.org or 214.265.5057, ext. 102. There also are opportunities for mentors, computer lab aides, office help, special events and occasional group volunteer projects. Learn more at vmlc.org.

Nonprofits

The Old Oak Cliff Conservation League awarded $18,000 in grants to member neighborhoods this summer. The Bishop Arts, Brettonwood, El Tivoli, Kiest Park, L.O. Daniel, Oak Park Estates, Stevens Park Estates, West Kessler and Wynnewood North neighborhood associations all received checks. The funds come from the league’s fall home tour and are used for neighborhood projects including sign toppers, beautification, sidewalk repair, community outreach and more.

Education

Three graduates of the Trini Garza Early College High School at Mountain View College received the Terry Scholarship at Texas Woman’s University. Valeri Lopez, Kimberly Morales and Georgette Rojas each received a full academic ride to TWU through the scholarship. All three earned their high-school diplomas along with two-year associates degrees from Mountain View.

Please submit news items and/or photos concerning neighborhood residents, activities, honors and volunteer opportunities to editor@advocatemag.com. Our deadline is the first of the month prior to the month of publication.

4019 S. Hampton Rd. Dallas 75224/ 214.331.5139 / www.saintspride.com

At St. Elizabeth of Hungary, our fundamental task is the education of the whole child -- combining learning with faith, Catholic doctrines and moral teachings. We introduce all PK3-8th Grade students to the integrated ways of STEM. This approach to education is designed to revolutionize the teaching of subject areas such as mathematics and science by incorporating technology and engineering into regular curriculum. Over the past 10 years, 95% of St. Elizabeth 8th graders were accepted to their first choice high school. Join us for an informational school tour and see for yourself how easy it is to become a Saint! Call 214.331.5139 for information.

LAKEHILL PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Leading to Success. 2720 Hillside Dr., Dallas 75214 / 214.826.2931 / lakehillprep.org

Kindergarten through Grade 12 - Lakehill Preparatory School takes the word preparatory in its name very seriously. Throughout a student’s academic career, Lakehill builds an educational program that achieves its goal of enabling graduates to attend the finest, most rigorous universities of choice. Lakehill combines a robust, college-preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community involvement. From kindergarten through high school, every Lakehill student is encouraged to strive, challenged to succeed, and inspired to excel.

SCHOOL

848 Harter Rd., Dallas 75218 / 214.328.9131 / stjohnsschool.org

Founded in 1953, St. John’s is an independent, co-educational day school for Pre-K through Grade 8. With a tradition for academic excellence, St. John’s programs include a challenging curriculum in a Christian environment along with instruction in the visual and performing arts, Spanish, German, French, and opportunities for athletics and community service. St. John’s goal for its students is to develop a love for learning, service to others, and leadership grounded in love, humility, and wisdom. Accredited by ISAS, SAES, and the Texas Education Agency

214.560.4203

BAPTIST

CLIFF TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH / 125 Sunset Ave. / 214.942.8601

Serving Oak Cliff since 1899 / CliffTemple.org

English and Spanish / 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:45 am Worship

GRACE TEMPLE BAPTIST MULTI-CULTURAL CHURCH

Sunday Worship: English Service 9:30 am / Spanish Service 11:00 am

831 W. Tenth St. / 214.948.7587 / gracetempledallas.org

CATHOLIC

UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS MINISTRY CONFERENCE / udallas.edu/udmc

October 22-24, 2015 / Sponsored by Catholic Diocese of Dallas

Sessions on Faith, Scripture, & Ministry / Exhibitors / Music / Mass

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel 10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd.

“Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.” 10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com

PRESBYTERIAN

OAK CLIFF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6000 S. Hampton Road

Sunday Worship at 9:30 am & 11:05 am 214-339-2211 / www.ocpres.com

CONVERSATION WITH GOD

Before World War II, Corrie Ten Boom and her family served their community by opening a church for the mentally disabled and providing foster care in their home for young children. But when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, everything changed.

Jewish families and other minorities were arrested or forced into hiding. New restrictions caused the Ten Boom family to abandon their charitable work, until May 1942 when a knock was heard at the door. A well-dressed Jewish woman whose husband had been taken away and whose son was missing had heard that the Ten Booms helped Jewish families. Thus began “the hiding place” for those pursued by the Gestapo. The Ten Booms constructed a secret room on the top floor of their home, and many Jewish refugees escaped the Nazi Holocaust by hiding there. The Nazis eventually discovered the operation. Corrie, her sister Betsie, and her father were sent to a concentration camp where her father and Betsie died within a year. In spite of horrifying conditions and the constant reality of death, Betsie often reminded Corrie, “There is no pit so deep that He [God] is not deeper still.”

MORE THAN

What kept them going? Simply put, they were sustained by faith and the power of prayer.

“What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul,” Corrie would later write. The Ten Booms prayed constantly for protection, for guidance, for strength and for endurance. They believed in and witnessed the tangible impact of prayer.

All people of faith pray, although they may pray differently, and with a different concept of God. No one religion has the corner on prayer. And for many Americans,

every day is a day of prayer. More than half (55 percent) of Americans said they pray every day, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, while 23 percent said they pray weekly or monthly. Twentyone percent reported they seldom or never pray. Even among those who are religiously unaffiliated, 21 percent said they pray daily.

So what exactly is prayer? Can it be exactly understood?

A prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.

A prayer is a hope.

A prayer is a cry from the heart. Anne Lamott says that three of the greatest prayers are, “Wow!”, “Thanks!” and “Help!” Sometimes people who claim to have no faith cannot help but pray these prayers.

For people of religious faith, a prayer is the most intimate and holy connection between a person and the Divine. “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer,” John Wesley said. “Prayer is where the action is.”

But prayer is also a hiding place, a shelter from the storm, a refuge in hard times. While some disdain prayer as a crutch for the weak, believers affirm that only in weakness can someone experience the strength of God. It changes things, believers say. It brings peace. It affects circumstances. It softens hearts that need reconciliation.

Prayer makes a difference.

Even non-religious people often find themselves praying

A prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.

Brent McDougal is pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. The Worship section is a regular feature underwritten by Advocate Publishing and by the neighborhood business people and churches listed on these pages. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

Local Resources TO ADVERTISE 214.560.4203

CLASSES/TUTORING/ LESSONS

MATH Shouldn’t Get In The Way Of Anyone’s Dreams. I Tutor Algebra To Calculus. Test Anxiety & ADHD Are My Specialties. Jonathan. 626-643-6700 holisiticmathtutoring.com

PIANO LESSONS All ages & levels. Over 20 years experience. Oak Cliff area. Call Tim at 214-989-7093

EMPLOYMENT

AVIATION GRADS Work with JetBlue, Boeing, Delta and Others. Start Here With Hands On Training For FAA Certification. Financial Aid If Qualified. Aviation Institute Of Maintenance. 866-453-6204

FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES 3108

Seeking Bar Staff. Apply In Person. @ 8500 Arturo Dr. 75228 TABC Cert Reqrd.

Dancing on Bishop

A couple dances while the Singapore Slingers play at Bastille on Bishop. The July event started in 2010, and this year’s drew about 5,000 people to Bishop Arts, making it the biggest yet. Photo by Danny Fulgencio

SEE MORE Photos from Bastille Day at oakcliff.advocatemag.com

Local BULLETIN BOARD

LEGAL SERVICES

A WILL? THERE IS A WAY Estate/Probate matters. Free Consultation. 214-802-6768 MaryGlennAttorney.com

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

PET SERVICES

In-Home Professional Care

Customized to maintain your pet’s routine In-Home Pet Visits & Daily Walks

“Best of Dallas” D Magazine Serving the Dallas area since 1994 Bonded & Insured www.societypetsitter.com 214-821-3900

NEED A NEW WEBSITE?

JAMES H. DOLAN, MA, L.P.C. Therapist, Executive Coach 214-629-6315. Individuals, couples & teens. LGBT Mobile. SEO Friendly. Maintainable.

AdvocateWebDesign.com 214.292.2053

PET SERVICES

GREEN PET DELIVERS FREE TO OAK CLIFF All natural dog/ cat food, treats/supplies. 214-942-6042, greenpetdallas.com

SMART DOG DALLAS Daycare, Boarding, Training, Chauffeur. 214-884-7529

BUY/SELL/TRADE

OLD GUITARS WANTED Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, Martin. 1930s-1980s. Top dollar paid. Toll Free 1-866-433-8277

TEXAS RANGERS AND DALLAS

front row seats. Share prime, front-row Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars tickets (available in sets of 10 games). Prices start at $105 per ticket (sets of 2 or 4 tickets per game available) Seats are behind the plate and next to the dugouts for the Rangers: seats are on the glass and on the Platinum Level for the Stars. Other great seats available starting at $60 per ticket. Entire season available except for opening game; participants randomly draw numbers prior to the season to determine a draft order fair for everyone. Call 214-560-4212 or rwamre@ advocatemag.com TOP

AC & HEAT

ELECTRICAL SERVICES

ANTHONY’S ELECTRIC Master Electrician. TECL24948 anthonyselectricofdallas.com

Family Owned/Operated. Insd. 214-328-1333

EXPERIENCED LICENSED ELECTRICIAN

Insd. Steve. TECL#27297 214-718-9648

Family Owned & Operated

Serving the Dallas area for over 30 years

We raise our kids here, too!

972-274-2157

www.CrestAirAndHeat.com

TACLB29169E

CABINETRY & FURNITURE

JD’S TREE SERVICE Mantels, Headboards, Kitchen Islands, Dining tables. Made from Local Trees. www.jdtreeservice.com 214-946-7138

CARPENTRY & REMODELING

BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials!

214-343-4645

O’BRIEN GROUP INC. Remodeling Dallas For Over 17 Years www.ObrienGroupInc.com

214-341-1448

RENOVATE DALLAS renovatedallas.com 214-403-7247

CLEANING SERVICES

AFFORDABLE, PROFESSIONAL CLEANING

A Clean You Can Trust

Staff trained by Nationally Certified Cleaning Tech. Chemical-free, Green, or Traditional Cleaning. WindsorMaidServices.com 214-381-MAID (6243)

CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133

WINDOW MAN WINDOW CLEANING.COM

Residential Specialists. BBB. 214-718-3134

CONCRETE/

MASONRY/PAVING

BRICK, BLOCK, Stone, Concrete, Stucco. Gonzalez Masonry. 214-395-1319

BRICK, STONEWORK, FLAGSTONE PATIOS

Mortar Repair. Straighten Brick Mailboxes & Columns. Call Cirilo 214-298-7174

CONCRETE REPAIRS/REPOURS

Demo existing. Stamping and Staining

Driveways/Patio/Walkways

Pattern/Color available

Free Estimates 972-672-5359 (32 yrs.)

CONCRETE, Driveway Specialist Repairs, Replacement, Removal, References. Reasonable.

Chris 214-770-5001

GOVER ELECTRIC Back Up Generators. New and Remodel Work. Commercial & Residential. All Service Work. 469-230-7438. TECL2293

TH ELECTRIC Reasonable Rates. Licensed & Insured. Ted. E257 214-808-3658

EXTERIOR CLEANING

G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925

FENCING & DECKS

#1 COWBOY FENCE & IRON CO. Est. ‘91. 214-692-1991 www.cowboyfenceandiron.com

4 QUALITY FENCING Call Mike 214-507-9322 Specializing in Wood, New or Repair.

FENCING & WOOD WORK oldgatefence.com charliehookerswoodwork.com 214-766-6422

HANNAWOODWORKS.COM Decks, Fences, Pergolas, Patio Covers. 214-435-9574

EST. 1991 #1

COWBOY

FENCE & IRON CO.

214.692.1991

SPECIALIZING IN Wood Fences &Auto Gates

cowboyfenceandiron.com

FLOORING & CARPETING

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials! 214-343-4645

THE TEXAN FLOORING SERVICES Wood, Laminate. Remodel Showers, Bathrooms. thetexanflooringservices.com 214-680-0901

CARPET HARDWOODS CERAMIC Quick, Reliable Installation

John: 972.989.3533

john.roemen@redicarpet.com

REDI CARPET

Reinventing the Flooring Experience

Willeford

hardwood floors

GARAGE SERVICES

UNITED GARAGE DOORS AND GATES Res/Com. Locally Owned.214-826-8096

GLASS, WINDOWS & DOORS

ROCK GLASS CO Replace, repair: windows, mirrors, showers, screens. 214-837-7829

HANDYMAN SERVICES

A R&G HANDYMAN Electrical, Plumbing, Painting, Fencing, Roofing, Light Hauling. Ron or Gary 214-861-7569, 469-878-8044

BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730

HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635

HOMETOWN HANDYMAN All phases of construction. No job too small 214-327-4606

HONEST, SKILLED SERVICE With a Smile. General Repairs/ Maintenance. 214-215-2582

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials! 214-343-4645

STONE AGE COUNTER TOPS Granite, Marble, Tile, Kitchen/Bath Remodels. 972-276-9943.stoneage.dennis@verizon.net

TK REMODELING 972-533-2872

Complete Full Service Repairs, Remodeling, Restoration. Name It — We do it. Tommy. Insured. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

WE

• Tubs, Tiles or Sinks

• Cultured Marble

• Kitchen Countertops

214-631-8719

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

A BETTER TREE COMPANY • JUST TREES Complete tree services. Tree & Landscape Lighting! Mark 214-332-3444

A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 12 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925

GREENSKEEPER Winter Clean Up & Color. Sodding, Fertilization. Lawn Maintenance & Landscape. Res/Com. 214-546-8846

HOLMAN IRRIGATION

Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061

IRISH RAIN SPRINKLER SYSTEMS TXL#2738 Repair, Stonework & Drains 214-827-7446

LSI LAWN SPRINKLERS “Making Water Work” Irrigation system Service & Repair. Specializing In Older Copper Systems. LI #13715. 214-283-4673

ORTIZ LAWNCARE Complete Yard Care. Service by Felipe. Free Est. 214-215-3599

PERRONE’S • 214-502-2296

Pros at: - Tree Trimming - Full Landscaping - Sodding - Concrete Patios, Stonework

U R LAWN CARE Maintenance. Landscaping. Oak Cliff resident for over 15 years. uwereisch@yahoo.com 214-886-9202 JUST

Superior Quality: Installation

Repair

• Refinishing

• Cleaning & Waxing

Old World Hand Scrape

214-824-1166

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

JD’s Tree Service

RESPONSIBLE TREE CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Firewood/Cooking Wood

Locally harvested wood!

Full service trimming & planting of native trees.

214.946.7138

MOVING

AM MOVING COMPANY Specialty Moving & Delivery.469-278-2304 ammovingcompany.com

PEST CONTROL

A BETTER EARTH PEST CONTROL

Keeping the environment, kids, pets in mind. Organic products avail. 972-564-2495

MCDANIEL PEST CONTROL

Prices Start at $85 + Tax

For General Treatment.

Average Home-Interior/Exterior & Attached Garage. Quotes For Other Services. 214-328-2847. Lakewood Resident

PLUMBING

AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943

ANDREWS PLUMBING • 214-354-8521

# M37740 Insured. Any plumbing issues. plumberiffic69@gmail.com

Sewers • Drains • Bonded 24 Hours/7 Days

*Joe Faz 214-794-7566 - Se Habla Español*

ARRIAGA PLUMBING: General Plumbing

Since the 80’s. Insured. Lic# M- 20754 214-321-0589, 214-738-7116, CC’s accepted.

M&S PLUMBING Quality Work & Prompt Service. Jerry. 214-235-2172. lic.#M-11523

NTX PLUMBING SPEC. LLLP 214-226-0913

Lic. M-40581 Res/Com. Repairs & Leak Location

UPTOWN PLUMBING. Serving Dallas 40 + Yrs. 214-747-1103. M-13800 uptownplumbing.com

ROOFING

MURDER RATE HIGH IN DALLAS, OAK CLIFF

972-263-6033

Violent crime in Dallas is up 10 percent in the first six months of 2015, compared with the same period of the previous year.

The number of robberies, aggravated assaults, murders and rapes have increased, but property crimes such as theft and burglary are down, leaving the overall crime rate flat over last year.

Dallas saw 20 murders in June, the highest number since August 2013. And between June 15 and July 7, five people were shot to death in Oak Cliff.

Robbers killed Leonardo Jesus Ortega, an employee of Subway restaurant at Wynnewood Village Shopping Center, on June 14. Ortega, a musician who supported himself by working at the fast-food joint, surprised the robbers when he came out of the restroom, where he had been cleaning. They shot him in the chest, and the mortally wounded Ortega tried to chase them before collapsing. No one has been arrested in that case.

2830

ADVOCATE PUBLISHING does not pre-screen, recommend or investigate the advertisements and/or Advertisers published in our magazines. As a result, Advocate Publishing is not responsible for your dealings with any Advertiser. Please ask each Advertiser that you contact to show you the necessary licenses and/or permits required to perform the work you are requesting. Advocate Publishing takes comments and/or complaints about Advertisers seriously, and we do not publish advertisements that we know are inaccurate, misleading and/or do not live up to the standards set by our publications. If you have a legitimate complaint or positive comment about an Advertiser, please contact us at 214-560-4203. Advocate Publishing recommends that you ask for and check references from each Advertiser that you contact, and we recommend that you obtain a written statement of work to be completed, and the price to be charged, prior to approving any work or providing an Advertiser with any deposit for work to be completed.

A 15-year-old boy was found shot to death in an alley near Brooklyn and Ravinia, behind the home of his friend, on June 28. Police told the North Cliff Neighborhood Association this week that the victim, Joe Martinez, had been “into some pretty bad stuff,” which has taken detectives on several leads, although no arrests have been made.

Dallas Police shot and killed a 59-year-old convicted rapist and accused murderer, Joe Cody, near North Bishop and Wickford the afternoon of July 7. Cody, a white supremacist who once got away with murder on a technicality, had violated his parole. He pulled a gun on police who were trying to arrest him near Methodist hospital.

And on the night of July 7, police arrested 60-year-old Leonard Mornes after he informed police that he had shot two women inside his home in the 3800 block of Ledbetter, near the Dallas Executive Airport. Mornes told police the women had been burglarizing his home when he shot them, but police found no evidence of that. The police report states, “it was determined that no burglary took place and that the suspect shot the victims after using drugs with them, falling asleep, and then finding them still in his home after he thought they had left.” Mornes was charged with capital murder.

—Rachel Stone

ROADSIDE VIEWS

The old Bankhead Highway brought early auto traffic through our neighborhood

COMMENT. Visit oakcliff.advocatemag.com/backstory to tell us what you think.

Edward H.R. Green purchased the first automobile in Texas in 1899. He drove the car from where it had been delivered by rail in Terrell to his home in Dallas; the trip took about four hours over dirt farm roads.

In the following two decades, roads would improve immensely, and networks of local and interstate highways began to take shape. All along the roadsides, commerce began to pop up to serve travelers mechanic garages, hamburger stands, auto dealerships and motels.

Starting in the early 1900s, the Bankhead Highway ran from San Diego, Calif. to Washington, D.C. and right through our neighborhood. U.S. Highway 80 was part of the Bankhead Highway, and it ran from Fort Worth to Oak Cliff, where it turned into Davis and led travelers through Downtown and onto Garland Road, which also is part of highway 80, to Garland and Terrell.

In the early days, the stretch of Highway 80 between Fort Worth and Oak Cliff also was known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, and it forked where West Davis meets Fort Worth Avenue today. That route created a direct connection between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas.

In the 1920s, the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike was the most heavily traveled road in Texas, and it inspired decades of eye-catching roadside architecture.

Many examples still exist all along the road between Oak Cliff and Arlington. Grand Prairie’s Theo’s Drive-In, with its Googie awnings; the Caravan Motor Hotel in Arlington, whose sign features palm trees and atomic-age angles, are among them.

Architecturally significant buildings on the part of the old Bankhead Highway that is now West Davis include Norma’s Café, the former auto-parts store that

houses North Oak Cliff Beer and Wine, the former gas station adjacent to ABC Party, the former Butch’s Transmission and the retail building that now houses Spinster Records and Dallas Bike Works, among several original garages, gas stations and motels along the corridor.

Many of the old motels have been torn down. Most notably, in our neighborhood, the Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts and the adjacent Mission Motel.

At least one, the Belmont Hotel, has been renovated and reimagined as a chic Dallas hotspot for dining, drinking

and hospitality. Designed by architect Charles Dilbeck, the Belmont was built in 1946 at a cost of $750,000. That’s almost $9.2 million in 2015 dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator.

J.D. Malone built the hotel and restaurant, and it never was a moneymaker for him.

Malone died of cancer about six years later.

“His daughter told me she thinks the hotel is what killed him,” says former Belmont owner Monte Anderson.

Above: The Mission Motel was built on Fort Worth Avenue sometime prior to 1944, and it was demolished this year to make way for apartments. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress. Right: The Palace Courts Motel at 4053 W. Davis was built in 1930 and is still operating.

If he were going to renovate another motel along the corridor (which, Anderson says, he wouldn’t) he’d buy the Inn of the Dove, just up the hill from the Belmont at 1839 Fort Worth Ave., because of its location and good architectural bones.

Like many motels on the corridor, the Belmont was built as a motor court, which means it had little garages adjacent to each room. Those were converted to patios in the renovation.

No other old motels on West Davis and Fort Worth Avenue have been renovated significantly. They include the 1930 Palace Courts Motel at 4053 W. Davis, which consists of little stone cottages adjacent to single-car garages. Along with many other properties on the old Bankhead Highway, it is eligible for the National Register of His-

toric Places. But it would need a champion pulling for it in order to make the list.

Historic and tourist organizations recently have taken an interest in the old Bankhead Highway. The Texas Historical Commission recently released an online virtual tour of the highway along with an app that informs travelers of historically significant spots along the way. Find them at texastimetravel.com.

Also, the Texas Department of Transportation is working to catalog all of the old motels along the Texas portion of the Bankhead Highway.

Considering the rate at which these old motels are being torn down versus the effort and money it takes to revitalize them, the interest in them couldn’t come a moment too soon.

Rachel

Stone

Above: This photo of a roadside restaurant on Highway 80 between Fort Worth and Oak Cliff was taken in the 1930s.

Right: Looking towards Downtown from Commerce Street in the 1930s.

Photos courtesy of the Library of Congress