2011 February Oak Cliff

THE FORMULA AND FACES BEHIND OAK CLIFF’S FUTURE MARKETPLACE

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UNCIVIL ACTION

Courtesy is not as common as it should be

There has been a lot of talk lately about our incivility toward each other and how we can’t stop yelling at each other long enough to hear what anyone else is saying.

It would be nice to solely blame our politicians for this behavior, but when you look around, there are still plenty of regular folk who show, by their actions, that their time and their opinions are more valuable and important than anyone else’s.

For example, while waiting in a slowly moving grocery checkout line recently, sans cart or basket and bear-hugging a couple of halfgallons of orange juice, a gallon of milk and a few containers of yogurt, I noticed with relief a checker preparing to open the next-door register.

When he finally said “Who’s next?,” I started taking a step toward him because I was next. Before I could get over there, though, a couple of guys behind me in line lunged forward, almost tripping over me and themselves in their haste to place their items on the counter.

For a savings of maybe four or five minutes of their lives, they stole my spot in line.

And I say “my spot” because by rights it was — I was next in line, and I was patiently waiting my turn.

I don’t know if what these line-jumpers did is officially rude behavior, because it’s not as if I had a physical claim to the imaginary checkout space.

But I was next. It was my turn. And the line-jumpers seemed overjoyed at their good fortune rather than embarrassed at usurping mine. I was just an obstacle to their happiness, if they even noticed me at all.

Not long thereafter, I was standing behind a fellow patron at a restaurant’s soft drink machine. As I stood patiently with my thenempty cup, I watched the guy already pretzeled at the neck, blathering into a cell phone pinched between his ear and shoulder — push the button to splash soda into his glass.

Just when I thought it was my turn, he paused to allow the fizz to die down. Then he stopped talking long enough to take a drink. Then he pushed the button again to refill his glass, still continuing to talk on his phone. Then he took another drink. Then he pushed the button again.

2011 oakcliff.advocatemag.com

It’s rude enough to be talking on a cell phone when he didn’t have enough hands to take care of the task, but constantly refreshing his beverage while someone else waited behind him?

OK, I know: These are small-potatoes problems. Maybe these guys are just guilty of being self-absorbed. Maybe they’re allaround jerks. Or maybe I’m overly sensitive, and I need to do what I tell my sons to do: Suck it up, and move on.

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RACHEL STONE 214.292.0490 / rstone@advocatemag.com

I don’t know, though: People who can’t wait their turn, and people who selfishly abuse their turn, don’t necessarily represent the “smoking gun” of a declining culture.

But someone once said that how we treat each other when no one is watching offers a window into our character. The truth is that no one is watching us most of the time.

So a few rude bores won’t bring down our society. But the more we tolerate the selfobsessed, the more likely we are to be taking the first step down an already slippery slope.

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I don’t know if what these line-jumpers did is officially rude behavior, because it’s not as if I had a physical claim to the imaginary checkout space.

Advocate blogger Scott Chase has been following the aftermath of voters’ Nov. 2 decision to allow alcohol sales in our neighborhood. Read excerpts of his coverage below.

HEARINGDATESETFORLAWSUIT

12.21.10 A hearing has been set on the lawsuit thatseekstostop TABC from issuing permitsfor retail sales of beer and wine in formerly dry parts of Dallas. So far, no permits have been issued for Oak Cliff.

FIRSTMIXEDBEVERAGEPERMITFROM TABC

12.23.10 Monica Greene, who is developing the restaurant Best Enchiladas Ever in the former Quinn spot on West Davis,just received the first mixed beverage permit for a restaurant in Oak Cliff from the TABC.

TOM THUMBWITHBEER,WINE?

12.29.10 Employees atthe Tom Thumb on

Hampton eagerly pointed out the place where the coolers for beer will be installed on Dec. 30. They also say that the store could be selling beer and wine on New Year’s Eve.

TOM THUMBHASBEERANDWINE

01.05.11 For those of us who would like to spend our money in Oak Cliff, there is no reason to go across the river to get a decent bottle of wine or an interesting beer. The wine selection at Tom Thumb is very good and, with the Reward Card discount currently in effect, some real bargains can be found. As for beer, there’s FatTire, Red Stripe, Stella Artois, plenty of Mexican and pale ale brands, and Shiner. For those of us who may want to relive our college days, there is Boone’s Farm Strawberry Wine and plenty of jug wines.

TOREAD Chase’s posts in full and to comment, visit oakcliff.advocatemag.com and search: “Wet Oak Cliff”.

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L auNCH

need a lift?

Almost half of all adults in the Dallas area cannot read at a fourth-grade level. Imagine the disadvantages. Writing down directions, reading a bus schedule or a recipe, filing taxes, reading a medicine bottle, helping kids with their homework — all of those are difficult or impossible for the illiterate. Since she retired from her job as a postal service manager almost six years ago, Sandy McFeeley of Wynnewood has made it her business to help people learn to read. She volunteers with Literacy Instruction for Texas, one of the only organizations in the state that offers adult reading classes. “It was something I always knew I wanted to do,” she says. “And L.I.F.T. was about the last adult literacy program on the landscape.” Some of her students are immigrants who are learning English.

Many of them have high school diplomas. They are parents, grandparents, business owners and managers. McFeeley teaches morning classes, and some students arrive after working night shifts. “They all bring an awful lot to the table,” she says. “They’re the most motivated crowd I’ve seen.” McFeeley, by the way, is also a practicing attorney. “I used to teach lawyers how to write simple declarative sentences,” she says. “This is a lot easier and much more rewarding.”

Most of McFeeley’s students can read at a second- or third-grade level when they start, and she works from a curriculum that L.I.F.T. developed. She noticed the night classes had reading groups, so she started one for her morning students, too. They meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings to discuss their

book and read aloud. She usually picks Newberry Award-winning books because they’re children’s books that are interesting enough to hold an adult’s attention. “It’s great because they’re engaged in the story, and they’re not as reserved,” she says. “They encourage each other. There’s a lot of mutual support.” McFeeley notes there is no place south of the Trinity that offers literacy classes for adults. “What we really need is an organization with a building and a willingness to house a program like this. That would just be the greatest thing,” she says. “There ought to be something here in the ’hood.” —RaCheL Stone

For more iNFormatioN oN L.i.F.t. visit lift-texas.org.

BENjAMIN HAgEr

out&about in

02.26.10

February

S toryte LL er S: wanda J ac KS on

$25 Legendary rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson will stop at the Kessler Theater as part of its “Storytellers” series. Jack White of the White Stripes produced Jackson’s latest album, “The Party Ain’t Over”, and it features the hit single “Thunder on the Mountain”, breathing new life into Bob Dylan’s original track. Her career began with her hit song “Let’s Have a Party” in 1958, when Jackson became the first woman to perform pure rock and roll. After more than 50 years, she’s still going strong and has now earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Doors open at 6, and the show starts at 8 p.m. at 1230 W. Davis. For details, visit thekessler.org.

02.03-03.09 LiS a LindhoLM

Free Oak Cliff artist Lisa Lindholm, known for her Free Lisa T-shirt line, will display her paintings at the Magnolia Gallery, 3699 McKinney Ave. inside the Magnolia Theatre. An opening reception will be 8-10 p.m. Feb. 3. For details, visit magnoliagallerydallas.com.

02.09 art with a View Free The Belmont Hotel continues its Art with a View series, featuring paintings by Tammera White during an opening reception 6-9 p.m. at Bar Belmont, 901 Fort Worth Ave. For details, visit belmontdallas.com.

02.11 Poetry readinG Free Cliff Notes Prolonged Media will host its monthly poetry reading 8-10 p.m. at Mighty Fine Arts Gallery, 410 N. Tyler. For details, call 214.942.5241.

02.26 LiBrary LiVe

Free As part of the Dallas Public Library’s Library Live series, Sandy Shrout’s Puppet Pals will tell stories through puppetry at 2 p.m. at the North Oak Cliff Branch Library, 302 W. Tenth. For details, call 214.670.7555

—E MiLy TOMA n

Delicious

A guide to dining & drinking in our neighborhood

Comfort food

f rom the small, C ozy dining area to the bright, open kitchen, dining at Lucia resembles a comfy dinner at home with friends except you get pure, made-from-scratch Italian food. “I wanted to have a neighborhood Italian restaurant,” says chef and owner David Uygur. “Everything is made in-house. Most places don’t do that.” Uygur says guests like to try a little bit of everything on the menu, which changes all the time. It includes four courses, antipasti, primi, secondi and dolci. Most people start out with the salumi — a selection of cured meats, yes, all house-made just a few feet away. Originally from East Texas with a Turkish father, Uygur grew up eating exotic foods like squid, unlike most kids his age. But he has always loved Italian food, having eaten in some of the best restaurants in Italy. “I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.” —Emily

Toman

Three more spots for feel-good food:

1 Hattie’s you had me at fried green tomatoes. This Bishop a rts establishment has an extensive menu of “low country” favorites. eighth & Bishop 214.942.7400 hatties.Com

2 Oddfell O ws

i f the gourmet coffee doesn’t put you at ease, the breakfast will. Beignets, French toast pudding, gingerbread pancakes and build-your-own tacos — need we say more?

seventh & madison 214.944.5958 oddfellowsdallas.Com

3 NOrma’s

Café

With daily specials featuring fried pickles, chicken fried steak, chicken and dumplings, and hearty veggies, this diner is sure to cure any comfort food craving. trinity mills & the tollway 972.380.8646 normasC afe.Com

Pictured: Fluke with Brussels sprouts leaves, sunchoke passato and hazelnut brown butter; Chef David Uygur

TILLMAN’S ROADHOUSE $$ODWB

Tillman’s is a place for really good food, drinks, and music in a fun, casual, come-as-you-are environment. An update on the classic Texas roadhouse with regional menu favorites, familiar tunes and no-one is a stranger hospitality — all energized with a modern take. A combination of both rustic and lush in everything from the menu to the décor make Tillman’s a good-time anytime destination. Bishop Arts District 324 West 7th St. 214.942.0988. www.tillmansroadhouse.com.

by charles gounod

ready to pop

Freixe N et CordoN r os A d A Br U t ($11) Spain>

Wine writers complain a lot about Thanksgiving, and how difficult it is to recommend wines for the turkey fest, but the holiday they really dislike is Valentine’s Day. What’s the point of pairing wine with chocolate?

Having said that, Valentine’s Day is — next to Thanksgiving perhaps the most requested wine recommendation holiday on the calendar. What can I buy my girlfrend? What would my husband like? and is there wine that goes with chocolate? I actually get more requests for Valentine’s Day wine than I do for New year’s eve.

Never fear, though. Champagne and sparkling wine fit Valentine’s Day like a red paper heart (and yes, you can even drink it with chocolate). Keep in mind that sparkling wine is made throughout the world, but that only sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France can be called champagne.

So if you’re wondering where to go with Valentine’s Day wine, here are three sparkling suggestions:

• Freixenet Cordon Rosada Brut ($11). Spanish bubbly is called cava, and this one is more fruity (some citrus) than similarly priced cavas. In this, it’s more like champagne and is a nice change of pace.

• Château Moncontour Vouvray Brut ($17). This sparkling wine is from the French region of Loire and is made with chenin blanc; most champagne and California bubbly is made with chardonnay. That means the Moncatour is a little more acidic and a touch sweeter.

• Pol Roger White Foil Brut ($45). The real stuff, with champagne’s classic green apple and great bubbles that stream to the top of the glass.

—Jeff Siegel

ask the wiNe GUy?

Wine is suPPosed to haVe aCid. What does that Mean?

Wine is made with grapes, which are a fruit, and most fruit has naturally occurring acid. Wine grapes have more natural acid than table grapes, which is one reason why chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon make better wine than concord grapes.

—Jeff Siegel

JeFF sieGeL’s weekLy wiNe reviews appear every Wednesday on the Advocate Back Talk blog, oakcliff.advocatemag.com/blog.

Oak Cliff

WiTH yoUr WiNe

Pineapple upside-down cake

This is one of those recipes people forget about, then make, and wonder why they haven’t done it sooner. and it’s not as difficult as it seems, either. The twist here? used canned crushed pineapple instead of the traditional pineapple rings. The cake will pair nicely with almost any sparkling wine.

Roughly 60 minutes for one 9-inch cake

1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, drained

3 Tbsp butter

3/4 c packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp plain yogurt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 stick butter, softened

6 Tbsp plain yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Place the 3 tablespoons butter in a 9-inch skillet or 9-inch round cake pan, and put the pan in the oven until the butter melts.

2. Tilt the pan to cover all sides with melted butter. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the bottom of the pan, and then cover the brown sugar with the crushed pineapple.

3. Whisk together the eggs, vanilla and 2 tablespoons buttermilk. Mix the dry ingredients in a food processor, and then add the softened butter and remaining yogurt. blend well. Then add the egg mixture, and mix until just blended.

4. Cover the fruit in the pan with the butter, smooth evenly, and bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Take the cake out of the oven, and tilt the pan in all directions. This will loosen it from the sides.

5. Let cool for a couple of minutes, and then — very carefully, using oven mitts — put a plate on the top of the pan and turn the cake onto the plate. Lift off the pan, and scrape any mixture off.

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Next, you plant! We have everything you need in stock now to get growing. In February, plant potatoes, onions, asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. Lettuce, spinach and other greens can be seeded directly into the garden. Also start seeds of peppers, eggplant and more warm season crops indoors.

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Grocery list

Major

WHAT’S INSIDE?

Learn

themselves.

These

COVETEDCORPORATIONS

They may be corporate chains, but these companies know how to make us want them.

in oak cliff?

story by keri Mitchell

Will they come?

What’s keeping them away?

Can local businesses meet the challenge?

When national companies decide to carve out a niche in Dallas, whether it’s a grocer or restaurant or retailer, they all look in the same place.

“almost 100 percent will start in the Park Cities to Preston Hollow corridor, and then follow the 75 and Tollway corridors, kind of a pie shape up to the north,” says David Shelton of united Commercial realty.

“The main reason for that is demographics. It’s that plain and simple — the highest concentration of population and the highest concentration of incomes in that corridor.”

Commercial real estate folks tend to sound like broken records when talking about the retail formula: a high number of people living in a given area (population density) who have a lot of money to spend (income) and regularly travel near a specific site (traffic counts) equals a successful business.

It’s a formula that works, they say.

“The fact of the matter is that stores have to go where there are people, people, people,” young says. “We’re not in the rocket science business; we’re in the logic business: established dense areas with income.”

For the most successful merchants, he says, “in addition to having a good product and good service, you’ve got to be able to have traffic and predict your traffic.”

Not to mention the herd mentality central to the retail world — most companies follow others like cattle into new markets or even specific properties. This is called “tenant mix”, with discount stores or high-end retailers wanting to be grouped with other companies attracting similar shoppers.

That explains, for the most part, why retailers wind

up in some areas of the city and not others. but how do they get here in the first place?

That can be attributed to the sheer buying power of Dallasites. Dallas and Fort Worth combined hold nearly 28 square feet of retail for every person living here — “almost more than Manhattan,” young says, and substantial compared to the national average of roughly 23 square feet per person.

Dallas also lacks barriers that generally deter new companies, says Mike Geisler of Venture Commerical.

There’s More!

What are the next retail trends? Should we hold out hope for a Market Street?

Trader Joes’s? Find answers at oakcliff. advocatemag.com/ retail.

“It’s an affordable place to buy real estate, affordable construction, easy to find labor and comparatively easy to get through city processes,” he says, adding that the biggest barrier for most companies is competition from those who arrived here first.

as for other companies that should be making Dallas their home, “the list is almost endless,” Shelton says. “There are a lot of folks that probably should be in Dallas that aren’t here, and on the flipside, a lot of people that shouldn’t be in Dallas are here. Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country and will continue to be a top-of-the-list high point for anyone expanding in the retail and restaurant world.”

“Retail works in Dallas-Fort Worth,” says Robert E. Young Jr. of The Weitzman Group.

“Whether companies are home-grown and going out, or outside coming in, they know that DallasFort Worth is a pretty good place to place their bets.”

Coveted Corporations

they may be corporate chains, but these companies know how to make us want them.

Hennes & Mauritz (H&M)

First store Västerås, Sweden in 1947

First u.s. store Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, N.Y., in 2000

CoMpany HoMe

Stockholm, Sweden

total stores

2,000 in 37 countries,

including 200 in 27 states

Closest store to dallas Des Peres, Mo. (St. Louis area), 637 miles

size oF tHe new nortHpark Center FlagsHip store 24,000 square feet, slated to open in the second half of 2011

otHer FlagsHip stores in tHe u s Only three: Manhattan; Westfield Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.; Michigan Avenue in Chicago wHat’s tHe big deal? Sought-after by fashionistas on a budget, H&M is widely hailed as the originator of the “fast-fashion” retail format with high-volume merchandise and constantly changing styles. H&M carries both men’s and women’s clothing and accessories, plus maternity and children’s lines. The company does not have online stores in the United States — another reason its storefronts are in high demand. expert opinion “It’s a fashion-forward product for a great price obviously there’s a need and a demand for them, especially in this economy.” —kent arnold

“In some respects, I’m surprised they haven’t gotten to Dallas more quickly because Dallas is such a huge fashion market. It’s a European company looking at the whole globe as their market, with moderate expansion in the U.S. as opposed to a fervent pace. One of the reasons we’re all impatient about it is they’re a great retailer.” —Mike geisler

“If you look at some of the most successful locations they have, they’re urban with high density, meaning a lot of people. Even though their merchandise is not extensive, they still have to do high, high, high volumes. These merchants don’t go anywhere where they think they can’t generate high sales. They will find real estate they can get at relatively low prices in their core markets. The price for a former Macy’s that closed at a mall might turn out to be pretty attractive to an H&M.” robert young

Retailers eyeing the urban core

The tables are turning, and cities are starting to look better than suburbs to retailers. Why?

“Density cures a lot of problems these days,” says Gerald Crump, Weingarten realty central region vice president and director. “retailers are willing to pay more for urban infill sites where they don’t have stores, rather than greenfields.”

Greenfields are massive expanses of undeveloped land, usually on the outskirts of a city or metropolitan area. up until the recession, these areas were hotbeds for new retail developments.

These days, however, the commercial real estate realm is focusing on urban infill — filling vacant spaces in cities rather than constructing new spaces on far-flung vacant land.

It’s not that people have stopped moving to the suburbs; it’s just that they are thinking twice about moving away from urban areas like our neighborhood, and sometimes people are even deciding to move from the outside in. The result is that “everyone is looking inside the loop, because you’ve got a growing density of population. Sometimes everybody wants to go and get part of the urban world — it’s a reversal of how we grew to the ring cities,” young says.

Crump recently attended a conference attended by top retailers, the kinds that typically anchor shopping centers. They asked when new construction would start up again, and Crump’s response was a question: “When are you guys going to pay new development rents?” He already knew the answer: Not until the many vacancies left in the wake of the recession are leased.

These vacancies, sometimes called “second-generation spaces”, are leasing in DallasFort Worth, young says. another switch from the greenfield era is that retailers are no longer limiting themselves to a prototype store that they can plop onto a developing property. One factor that made undeveloped suburbs so enticing to the so-called big-box stores — the Targets and Office Maxes and Old Navys of the world — was the difficulty of finding enough existing real estate for such prototypes in cities. but “all merchants are looking at new formats in this economy, and that’s going to help us lease up the empties,” young says.

One good example is grocery stores. united Commercial realty handled roll-outs for 11 new Sprouts Farmers Market locations and nine aldi’s grocery store locations during the past two years, and both stores “back-filled a lot of old grocery spaces,” COO Jean Smith says.

Target and Kroger have urban formats, he says, and the businesses are looking to move into reemerging urban markets where young singles and empty nesters live. Target’s urban store, called CityTarget, can wedge into spaces as small as 60,000 square feet, Smith says, compared to a typical 85,000-square-foot SuperTarget.

“We don’t need 10 types of ketchup to choose from,” says Kent arnold of Henry S. Miller. “everyone’s getting smarter, and so the 60,000-square-foot store can go into 30,000 square feet — and it is.”

Walmart will be a major player in the urban infill grocery store market. Smith cites statistics that Walmart has grown from 8 percent of the grocery market in 2001 to more than a third of the market today, and the company has plans for an even smaller store than its Neighborhood Market concept.

“They were the first ones to do a supermarket, and they were the first ones to scale back,” arnold says. “They will always be the trendsetter.”

Meet tHe experts

kent arnold, ForMer assistant viCe president oF Henry s. Miller retail division Henry S. Miller was established in 1914, and today is one of the largest independent commercial real estate firms in Texas. The company owns and manages properties such as Preston Royal Shopping Center, Pepper Square Shopping Center at Preston and Belt Line, and Lakeside Village Shopping Center at Central and Walnut Hill.

david sHelton, viCe president oF united CoMMerCial realty urban United Commercial Realty manages and leases more than 40 million square feet of retail properties, nationwide, and currently represents more than 100 regional and national retailers and restaurants, including Galleria North, Preston Forest Village and The Shops at Park Lane.

HOMEGROWN HITS

These restaurants have Dallas roots, and now they’re sprouting all over the map.

CAFÉ BRAZIL

cafebrazil.com

FIRST RESTAURANT Lakewood (now demolished), December 1991

TOTAL RESTAURANTS 10

IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD Lower Bishop Arts, Bishop and Davis

COMPANY PHILOSOPHY “History has shown we’ve been successful in taking over previous restaurant locations,” Café Brazil CEO Brant Wood says. “I think people feel more comfortable in established buildings in established neighborhoods.” This means the layout varies from one location to the next, with each restaurant featuring local artists’ work in urban locations and schoolchildren’s art in suburban locations. Menus, however, are the same across the board. “Most restaurants are open for two meals,” Wood says. “We’re open breakfast, lunch, dinner and late nights, and we have a broad menu to meet the needs of both the suburban housewife and urban late night fans.”

EXPANSION PLANS The most recent Café Brazil opened in Oak Cliff in July 2008, right as the recession hit. The company hasn’t opened any other locations since then, but “never stopped looking,” Wood says. Most of its current requests for new locations are coming from Fort Worth and Denton, and Café Brazil is interested in spots near college campuses because its existing locations near colleges perform well. Most Café Brazil restaurants are in the city of Dallas, so any future Dallas locations “would have to be more strategic, but I certainly wouldn’t say that we’re finished.”

The company’s eventual goal is to take the concept outside DallasFort Worth to growing fan bases in Austin, Houston or Oklahoma City — “people within a Southwest Airlines flight of here,” Wood says.

LOOKING FOR A NEW CAREER?

Are you ready to find a fulfilling career that would provide unlimited earning potential and the opportunity to have a flexible work schedule? You should consider a career in real estate an exciting and dynamic profession that makes difference In

If this sounds interesting to you, Call Mark Kohutek at 214-217-5735. for a confidential interview.

The enigma of the cult-creators

In-N-Out. H&M. Trader Joe’s. H-E-B. White Castle.

Each of these companies has a loyal following in Dallas, almost cult-like, even though each has yet to open a store here. Their secret to preemptive success is not just a great product (though some neighbors might swear by the tastiness of a Double-Double or the ability to don this season’s faux fur on a budget). The other quality they share is that each is a family-owned private company that keeps its practices close to its vest.

“Family-owned companies don’t share a lot of information, and that’s part of the reason they get that cult following — not just the food or the product, but that there’s not a lot of information out there,” David Shelton says.

The fact that “the world is getting smaller every day” helps these companies, too, Robert Young says. Travel within the United States is accessible, and as more Dallasites dine at an In-NOut on the West Coast or shop at H&M on the East Coast, more customers are created. Dallas also is home to a number of coastal emigrants, and these new residents who miss their homelands may be these companies’ best advertisers.

It’s not that these companies are ignoring Dallas. Commerical real estate experts agree that if they haven’t yet made plans to move here, they will eventually, if for no other reason than to make more money in one of the country’s retail hubs.

However, “with the precious nature of capital and money, they’re all very careful about expansions — all of them,” Young says. “No one with any major concept would come to town and go into any neighborhood or key trade area unless they felt very comfortable that they can

MEET THE EXPERTS

MIKE GEISLER, VENTURE COMMERCIAL FOUNDING PARTNER

Brokerage and property management company Venture Commercial lists roughly 17 million square feet of shopping centers and represents more than 120 retailers and restaurants. It has a presence from Oak Lawn and Uptown to Burleson and Rockwall, and has leased the Plaza at Preston Center for almost 20 years.

have an efficient distribution of what they do.”

In-N-Out, for example, built its empire on “a fry that tastes a certain way, a burger that tastes a certain way,” Kent Arnold says. “You’ve gotta have the exact same product whether it’s here or Las Vegas.” The company has announced two locations in Dallas one at Central and Caruth Haven, another at Coit near the junction of 75 and 635 — plus a few more in suburbs and ring cities.

OTHERS WISH THEY HAD ‘EM

“A company like that, doing one store doesn’t add to the moxie or panache of the brand. They need to pop up in what we’ll call ‘home run sites’ — where there’s density, access and incomes,” Young says.

And in order to open more than one store, In-N-Out needs a Texas distribution center. (The company says it will lease space west of Dallas along I-30 until it finds a permanent home.) Any other company would also need a nearby distribution center because none of them will come to Dallas and open only one store, or even just a couple.

But that’s another plus about Dallas, by the way.

“If you think about where Dallas is located, it’s the natural point for expansion,”Arnold says. “From a supply point, it’s in central America, so from here they can serve a wide area.”

ROBERTE. YOUNG JR., MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE WEITZMAN GROUP

The Weitzman Group is a commercial retail estate brokerage firm leasing 41 million square feet of retail properties throughout Texas. Cencor Realty Services, its property management and development arm, manages 20.5 million square feet of retail space throughout Texas’ major markets of Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.

COVETED CORPORATIONS

They may be corporate chains, but these companies know how to make us want them.

IN-N-OUT

FIRST RESTAURANT Baldwin Park, Calif., in 1948

COMPANY HOME Corporate offices in Irvine, Calif., (the state where 201 of its restaurants are located)

TOTAL RESTAURANTS 251 in four states (Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah)

CLOSEST RESTAURANT Chandler, Ariz., 1,051 miles

FUTURE NORTH TEXAS LOCATIONS Former Steak ‘n Shake on Central near Caruth Haven; Coit near junction of 75 and 635; Firewheel Town Center in Garland; West Seventh in Fort Worth; Stonebriar Centre Mall in Frisco; The Village at Allen; Hurst; Las Colinas

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? Its food is fast, but never frozen: The company touts the fact that every hamburger patty is made fresh at one of its distribution centers. The menu is minimal — three burger options, fries, sodas and shakes — but the restaurant’s loyal cult following evangelizes an entire subset of off-themenu items with names such as “the Flying Dutchman” and “animal-style fries”.

What about Oak Cliff?

H&M is coming to Dallas, but it will not open a store in Oak Cliff. And neither will any other national retailer.

When discussing potential spots for corporate expansions, not one commercial real estate expert brought up our neighborhood. And when asked about it, Dallas real estate investor and former city councilman Mitchell Rasansky had this to say:

“I’ve lived in Dallas almost 74 years, and I don’t do any buying in Oak Cliff. I don’t like the demographics. To me, if people don’t have the money, they’re not going to go shopping.”

FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH “We are a private, family-owned company

We operate all of our restaurants ourselves, and we don’t franchise, so slow growth has always been part of our strategy. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is vibrant, strong, growing and filled with opportunities.We will have everything we need there — from warehouse/commissary and patty production facilities to a large, metropolitan area that those facilities can serve.Long term, we will also be able to serve other markets from that central distribution center.We are now under construction on our first two restaurants — Allen and Frisco. If everything goes well, we hope to open both in the spring. We should also start construction soon on the Caruth Haven site and, hopefully, a few others.” —CARL

PRESIDENT

EXPERT OPINION

VAN FLEET, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENTVICE

“They’ve been very tight-lipped about their expansion process. What I’ve heard is they plan to open Dallas-Fort Worth with five or six units, and open them all at the same time.” —DAVIDSHELTON

“They are a cult dynamo on the West Coast. Anybody that’s been out there, they just love the whole program. Food is good, fresh, quick and efficient.” —ROBERT

YOUNG

The cult of off-menu

In-N-Out’s website (in-n-out.com/ secretmenu) acknowledges the existence of its secret menu:

Double Meat “Two 100 percent pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, with or without onions, stacked high on a freshly baked bun.”

3 x 3 “Three 100 percent pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, three slices of American cheese, with or without onions, stacked high on a freshly baked bun.”

4 x 4 “Four 100 percent pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, Four slices of American cheese, with or without onions, stacked high on a freshly baked bun.”

Grilled Cheese “Two slices of melted American cheese, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, with or without onions on a freshly baked bun.”

Protein Style “Your favorite burger wrapped in hand-leafed lettuce, instead of a bun.”

Animal Style

Burger of your choice

with hand-leafed lettuce

tomato

Insulting? Perhaps, but for many Cliff dwellers, the your-neighborhood-doesn’tfit-into-our-box mentality is worn as a badge of honor. The rest of Dallas can keep its Olive Gardens and JC Penneys, thank you very much. We’ll take independent restaurants and mom-and-pop boutiques any day of the week.

The crown jewel of this type of retail in our neighborhood is, of course, the Bishop Arts District, the success of which is starting to trickle down West Davis and into other nearby intersections.

“With Hattie’s and Tillman’s and Eno’s, they all feed off of each other — those eclectic, fun, special, non-chain kinds of places,” Robert Young says. “People love it, but I don’t see Chico’s and White House Black Market and Sonoma or many of those people congregating there, probably because they’ve deemed that that’s not where their customers are and not a critical mass.

“Oak Cliff is a niche market, and a niche market does have the potential for unique restaurants and small shops. I don’t think that people who populate the malls or other shopping districts are worried about coming to Kessler Park or Bishop Arts or Oak Cliff.”

So no critical mass of national retailers, but Oak Cliff has reached “a critical mass of cool destination restaurants,” Mike Geisler says. “I think now that they’ve broken that barrier, they have all kinds of potential for additional dining.”

pickle

extra spread

Great, but what about more grocery stores, especially the boutique sort?

Geisler’s brokerage company, Venture Commercial, has been working on the Sylvan | Thirty Project along Sylvan between I-30 and Fort Worth Avenue, trying to identify a grocer for the site. At

press time, the project’s developer, Brent Jackson, stated that a grocer has signed a letter of intent, but he hasn’t identified the grocer because the contract isn’t final.

“We’ve just had a hard time,” Geisler says of luring a grocer to the project. “It’s hard to see how deep a market it is. We’ve shown it to many specialty grocers — the Sprouts and Newflowers and Whole Foods of the world.”

Whole Foods in particular knows it has extremely loyal customers in Oak Cliff, Geisler says, in part because one of the Whole Foods Oak Lawn store managers lives in our neighborhood.

But “they cannot figure out if there are enough real Whole Foods types of customers to support a Whole Foods type of store,” Geisler says. “There’s a real need, and a sophisticated, educated, qualityconscious customer. All the grocers are saying, ‘I see those customers, but are there enough of them?’

“I think it’s a matter of time. Oak Cliff is continuing to turn over, and lot of people are buying homes and updating. It’s one of my favorite markets.”

A number of large retailers are starting to look seriously at Oak Cliff, whether neighbors want them or not. Geisler mentions Target as one such retailer and says that “a huge theater needs to service that population somehow.” The challenge for both is land availability.

“Oak Cliff is very built out, so trying to find a larger parcel for a Target is hard,” Geisler says, “and the land values are expensive enough that it’s almost prohibitive at times.”

This won’t be enough of a barrier for much longer, predicts Mark Miranda. He and partner Craig Schenkel own and manage various properties in our neighborhood, including Jimmy John’s and medical offices on the corner of Bishop and Colorado across from Methodist hospital, and Café Brazil,Anytime Fitness and others at the corner of Bishop and Davis.

“A real estate representative from fillin-the-blank company, I’m assuming that they have to make so many deals a year to justify their existence at the company,” Miranda says. “It’s a lot easier to go to Preston and Forest, Frisco, Rockwall. There are corners there with 10 acres,

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HOMEGROWN HITS

These restaurants have Dallas roots, and now they’re sprouting all over the map.

SINELLI CONCEPTS: WHICH WICH AND BURGUESA BURGER

FIRST RESTAURANT

Which Wich: Downtown Dallas, December 2003

Burguesa Burger: Inwood and Harry Hines, May 2009 (closed)

TOTAL STORES WW: 115; BB: three

IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: Burguesa Burger on Fort Worth Avenue and Sylvan — it’s the only one in Dallas.

COMPANY PHILOSOPHY Dallas’ Jeff Sinelli founded Genghis Grill before selling the company in 2003, then launched Which Wich — more than 50 varieties of sandwiches with a unique ordering system (grab a paper bag; mark meat, topping and condiment selections; wait for sandwich to be made and delivered in same paper bag). The concept quickly spread across Dallas-Fort Worth, then Texas, and then the country. He still owns the original location; the rest are franchised. Whereas Which Wich is a “new, current, hip, young sandwich brand,” Sinelli says, his latest concept, Burguesa Burger, was developed with longtime Hispanic employee Pablo Gallegos and is a burger joint with both Mexican and American influences. The restaurant’s menu is in both English and Spanish, and restaurants accept both dollars and pesos.

and the demographics are appropriate. I think the demographics are appropriate in Oak Cliff; it’s just finding a space.”

Miranda believes the chains are seeing the success of independent stores in our neighborhood and are changing their thinking. He hears from real estate brokers that major companies have demanded the brokers to “get creative and find us a spot” in Oak Cliff.

“I think one person or one company takes that leap, and that others will follow that herd mentality,” Miranda says.

Jackson, a Kessler Park resident, says he hopes his mixed-use project will be the tipping point. Sylvan | Thirty’s design includes roughly 11,000 square feet for the grocer anchor, spaces for residential and office, and more than 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

“Our site sits at a very lucrative location,” Jackson says. “It serves truly as a bridge — from a macro standpoint between North and South Dallas, and on a micro standpoint, it serves as a bridge between Oak Cliff and West Dallas.”

Monte Anderson lives in our neighborhood and owns Options RealEstate, a firm focusing on properties in Oak Cliff and Southern Dallas. He also owns the Belmont Hotel caddy corner from Jackson’s development.

Anderson agrees with Jackson that “right now at this time in history, the only place a grocery store would go is Sylvan and I-30,” which would “take care of all of Kessler and all of the traffic going to Grand Prairie and Arlington.”

As for any other soft good stores — textiles, clothing and such “it’s coming, that’s all I can tell you.” Anderson is on a personal mission to convince Buffalo Exchange, a national consignment store with an independent feel, to move into our neighborhood.

A dense population of lunchtime eaters drove Sinelli’s decision to open the original Which Wich Downtown. “That’s where you start — you want to make sure you have a core of customers,” he says. “But as the brand developed, we found that we had customers in the suburbs the schools, the families, the soccer moms” who patronize the restaurant at dinner or after practice. More than 115 restaurants later, Sinelli says Which Wich is looking to fill in areas where the restaurant already exists and is fielding calls from throughout the country, plus Canada, Mexico and even Europe. Does that mean more Dallas locations? “Absolutely,” Sinelli says. “We would love to have more 214 [area code] locations, pretty much inside the 635 loop. We’re actually concentrating in the next couple of years to fill in those areas.” After the recession, he says, “new construction kind-of died, so some new projects are starting to get ignited again, and we want to be on the front end of them. We’ve found the model to do quite well in lifestyle centers, a combination of residential and restaurants.” Burguesa Burger, however, is Which Wich’s “polar opposite,” Sinelli says. “We’re still exploring with the model, and as we know more, it really belongs to the Hispanic community. You won’t see a Burguesa in Highland Park Village. It’s not that they don’t enjoy it, but there are just threads within the concept that belong in other areas.” He’s looking next toward San Antonio, El Paso and Brownsville, and unlike Which Wich — a restaurant that “needs to be in a place that’s brand new because we expect Which Wich to be there 20 years-plus” — Burguesa fits best in second-generation restaurant space. “There are more restaurants than needed right now, so why not recycle old ones instead of building new ones?” Sinelli asks. “And if you do it right, you can literally save hundreds of thousands of dollars — or pesos, as we say in Burguesa.”

EXPANSION PLANS

But according to Kerstin Block, owner of Buffalo Exchange, when her Lower Greenville store managers visited BishopArts, they reported back to her that “it’s just too slow over there.”

Bishop Arts has the vibe she’s looking for in a Buffalo Exchange locale — “artsy people, people who are into fashion, people who like to hang out at coffee shops, go to clubs” — but her other essential in a location is walking traffic. Bishop Arts is “just really dead,” Block says, “except for maybe Saturday nights, but we’re not really a nighttime business.”

Anderson’s other main target is AmericanApparel, known for keeping its clothing manufacturing inside the United States. He points out theAmericanApparel store in the Montrose area of Houston, “right in the middle of nothing — stuff that looks just like BishopArts. They’ve just got more density down there right now.”

Anderson is not a fan of density for density’s sake. As a board member and past president of the Congress for the New Urbanism North Texas Chapter, he is more interested in “quality density built into the fabric” — three or four stories of residential units integrated with retail, all of it “walkable”, or drawing customers that could walk, cycle or ride metro transit to the site. This is the kind of retail that would work with Oak Cliff’s terrain and appeal to its customer base, Anderson believes.

But traditional retailers don’t usually think in these terms, he says. “They want to see a big box, have all the cars in a parking lot, and get in, get their products and get out,” Anderson says.

This suburban style of retail won’t work in the urban environment of Oak Cliff, Anderson says.

For the most part, he says, “we haven’t learned yet to be urban in Dallas. If we had, they would come over to Oak Cliff and say, ‘Oh my god, look at the buying power.’ ”

COVETED CORPORATIONS

They may be corporate chains, but these companies know how to make us want them.

H-E-B

FIRST STORE Kerrville, Texas in 1905

COMPANY HOME San Antonio, Texas

TOTAL STORES 329 in Texas and Mexico

CLOSEST STORE Burleson, Texas, 49 miles

WHAT’S THEBIG DEAL? Customers love H-E-B’s highquality products, especially produce, for low prices no customer card needed. And unlike sister store Central Market, H-E-B carries staples like Cheerios, paper plates and 12-packs of soda pop. The company is in expansion mode, but doesn’t have plans to expand beyond Texas, according to an Austin American Statesman article quoting company president and COO Craig Boyan. In the same January 2010 article, Boyan said that the company’s move into Burleson was not indicative of expansion into Dallas: “It really is to serve Central Texas better. If you were going to go into Dallas, you’d put a warehouse in Dallas.”

FROM THEHORSE’S MOUTH “Our Central Market stores are the stores that serve the Dallas area. We have our distribution network that is largely

TERMS

URBAN INFILL

centered in South and Central Texas as well as in the Houston area, and several stores around Waco and Cleburne. Most recently we opened our northernmost store in Burleson, which was a natural progression of growth for us — 15 miles away from one of our existing stores in Cleburne that has a lot of traffic, and we need to relieve that store, and Burleson is a burgeoning community with lots of young families. We’re very proud of Central Market stores in Dallas-Fort Worth area. They’re serving customers well, and it’s working very well for us. We’ll continue to use that format.”

—LESLIE SWEET, HEB DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

EXPERT OPINION “Anybody that knows H-E-B loves them and wishes they were here. They’re what Tom Thumb was to Dallas 20 years ago. They’re a family business, and they’ll adapt a store to the area around it. ... H-E-B has pretty strong coverage throughout the state. You think, OK, Dallas has to happen. On the other hand, they’re thinking let’s be cautious. I think they’re always thinking what’s the trigger that will cause them to address Dallas.”

—MIKE

GEISLER

“The move to the DFW market is inevitable. It’s just a matter of timing for those guys.” —DAVID

GREEN FIELDS

Tenant MIX

SHELTON

The makeup of retailers in a particular shopping center, usually determined by the tenants’ target customers.

(A Louis Vuitton wouldn’t want to be placed next to a PetsMart, for example.)

RESOURCEBULLETIN

EMPLOYMENT

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people

ARTCURATORS LEILA GROTHEAND CYNTHIA MULCAHY won a $4,000 Idea Fund grant for a community project in Oak Cliff. They plan to host a square dance and potluck at the Trinity River Audubon Center this spring.

WALTER JOHNSON, DIRECTOR OF STUDENTS, AND ALLIE MEYERS, ARTTEACHER, BOTHATBISHOP DUNNE CATHOLIC SCHOOL, received the December Work of Heart award from The Catholic Foundation. The awards were selected from nominations, based on criteria including tenure, leadership, charity, mentoring and being a Christian example. For details, call 972.661.9792 or visit catholicfoundation.com.

volunteer

THE WELL, a faith-based nonprofit in Oak Cliff, hosts Saturday Night Life 3-8 p.m. each week when community volunteers can lead worship teams and help provide dinner for participants. For details about how to get involved, visit wellcommunity.net.

HAVE AN ITEM TO BE FEATURED?

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.

Leading

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sH attered glass and debris covered t H e car interior.

Gerardo Perez is a young man trying to create a nice future for himself. The recent high school graduate is very interested in computers and has been attending the university of Texas at Dallas in hopes of earning a computer science degree. recently, after a late night of studies, Perez became a victim of a crime — accompanied by an expensive repair bill that definitely would be costly for a young student.

“I don’t know exactly what time it happened,” Perez says. “I had gotten home from school about 12:30 a.m. and went to bed. My aunt wakes up at 4 a.m. because she works at the Neiman Marcus warehouse in Las Colinas. She woke my uncle and I up and told me my car had been broken into.”

Perez raced outside into the darkness. The door was open, and the window had been smashed. Glass covered the vehicle, and the stereo had been ripped out. The thief also destroyed the dash in the process of stealing the stereo.

The theft compounded an already bad day for Perez.

“I was disappointed because I had already been getting sick and had come down with a fever,” he says.

Perez had the window repaired the next day for $150, but still has not completely

repaired the dash, which was expected to cost several hundred dollars. The break-in was not the first he or his neighborhood had experienced this year.

the v ictim: g erardo Perez the c rime: car burglary date: thursday, d ec. 9 time: b etween 12:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. location: 900 block of Hollywood

“We think it might be the same guy because other cars parked along the street have also been broken into,” Perez says. “Now they’ve gotten me twice.”

Dallas Police Deputy Chief Vernon Hale of the Southwest Patrol Division says the basic idea to avoid these types of crime is to hide valuable belongings to reduce the chances of becoming a target.

“burglary of a motor vehicle is typically a crime of opportunity, so thieves do not want to break into a car to see if they can find something good,” he says. “They break into cars where they see a potential gain such as a laptop bag, phones, etc. Of course, parking in residential garage will reduce your chances further because there is no access to your vehicle.”

Other ways to prevent thefts, Hale says, are vehicle alarms and detachable stereo faces. se An chAffin

Building a better roof for you. 1105 North Bishop Avenue 214·698·8443 arringtonroofing.com

20

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LIVE LOCAL

THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT’S UP WITH NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESSES 2

The Cozy Cottage 1 recently won Best of the Metroplex 2010 for Best Kid’s Clothing Store. Owner Cynthia Herndon says, “You had to have 50 nominations just to be on the ballot, and there were only three stores in the metroplex that made the 50 cut off. We couldn’t believe we had 50; we didn’t even know we were nominated!” The store was nominated for the WFAA AList Best Children’s Clothing award. “Last year we came in third, which was really cool because Hollywood Ranch, which makes and designs all of their own clothing, won, and then in second place was Baylor Medical Center’s Simply Mom’s. We were tickled with third; we couldn’t believe it.” It didn’t make it to first place in the contest this year, but the store did come in second. 214.941.1110, cozycottageboutique.com, 336 W. Eighth.

Craving some locally made chocolate? Coco Andre 2 will be this month’s social butterfly. The mother-daughter tag team, Andrea and Cindy Pedraza, who have been in our neighborhood since November 2009, are whipping up delectable events during month of February.

On Feb. 11, the chocolatier will be featured at the Oak Cliff Cultural Art Center at 7 p.m. for a free event of The History of Chocolate presented by Andrea Pedraza. “We’ll be talking about the history of chocolate, and my mom will be giving a 30-minute speech. Then people are going to sample chocolate and wine,” says Cindy Pedraza. The shop will also host Chocolart 2 (an all chocolate art exhibit) Feb. 12 from 7 p.m.-midnight, featuring Three of One production company. One of the production company’s members, Jerod Alexander Davies, also is the logo designer for the chocolatier. This is the second Chocolart the shop has hosted; the first was in November. The theme is Valentine’s Day, and the event will include pre-made and live art. 214.941.3030, cocoandre.com, 831 W. Davis.

Zola’s Everyday Vintage will have a soft opening for its newest gem, a “pocket boutique” (mini boutique within the store) beginning Feb.

19. The boutique will feature the vintage designs of Tracy Popken, a seamstress and designer who collaborates with the store. The pocket boutique features remade and vintage-inspired clothing by Popken. Some of Popken’s signatures include one free alteration on any of her items and extra wide seams for clothing adjustments. “I’m working on beautiful classic dresses,” Popken says. “One thing I’ve noticed in the last couple of years of working in various boutiques is that the dresses that people just melt for are the ones with the really classic, beautifully feminine, silhouettes: the ’50s and ’60s, and even the ’40s What I think people really want, and what I really want, is something beautiful and simple and flattering.” 214.943.6643, zolasvintage.com, 414 N. Bishop.

BEE: Best Enchiladas Ever 3 , the new concept from Dallas-based restaurateur Monica Greene, opened last month. The restaurant, which is taking the old Quinn space on West Davis near Zang, is similar to the build-your-own concept of Chipotle and Freebirds, except with enchiladas instead of burritos. Greene hopes the Oak Cliff location will spin off into franchises like the burrito joints have done. facebook.com/bestenchiladasever, 202 W. Davis.

The original Gloria’s 4 at West Davis and Llewellyn is moving to a new spot in the 90-year-old former fire station at the northeast corner of West Davis and Bishop. The new Gloria’s is expected to open this month. 214.948.3672, gloriasrestaurants.com.

Texas Dance Theatre artistic director Wil McKnight is opening the School of Texas Dance Theatre on Jefferson Boulevard. Classes for ages 2 through adults begin the first week of February. The school also has an apprentice program for aspiring professional dancers who may have the opportunity to perform with the professional company, as well as a young men’s class for male dancers ages 8-15. 817.773.1354, texasdancetheatre.com/texasdancetheatreschool, 907 W. Jefferson.

DO YOU KNOW OF A NEIGHBORHOODBUSINESS renovating, expanding, moving, launching, hosting an event, celebrating an anniversary, offering a special or something else noteworthy? Send the information to livelocal@advocatemag.com or call 214.292.0487.

Bishop Arts Village LLC is seeking a $2 million grant from the city of Dallas to acquire land and build a residential/commercial development that would cover more than 1 million square feet of Oak Cliff. The area is bound by Interstate 35, Colorado, Twelfth and Tyler.

Edwin Cabaniss received the 2010 Ruth Chenoweth OOCCL Conservation Achievement Award from the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League for his efforts in restoring the old Kessler Theater and turning it into a thriving live music venue.

Sara Jane Semrad, founder of La Reunion TX and Art Conspiracy, was a finalist in the Dallas Observer’s MasterMind Awards Also on the list was filmmaker Eric Steele, who is a partner in Aviation Cinemas , which recently took over management of the Texas Theatre.

The Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce recently handed out awards to its neighborhood “best of” picks in 2010. The winners are: business of the year, Kessler Theater; event of the year, Opening the Giants of Savanna Exhibit at the Dallas Zoo; public servant of the year, Delia Jasso; community advocate of the year, Vicki Fitzgerald (posthumously); new business/ development of the year, Urban Acres; president’s award, Craig Schenkel; and chairman’s award, gooakcliff.org.

—ELIZABETH KNIGHTEN

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BarBecue with a side of heart

During the 1950s through early 2000s, Austin’s Barbecue reigned as the destination of choice for thousands of Oak Cliff diners. Just about everyone ate there.

Although Fred’s in Wynnewood Village and Red Bryan’s Smokehouse on Jefferson were also popular ‘cue’ stops, Austin’s pulled in more customers than all the others, not just because of its tangy-sauced barbecue but also because of its lunches, dinner plates and breakfasts.

Sitting mostly in booths, if you were seated in the front — or at tables, if you were seated in the back room — customers enjoyed sliced beef sandwiches, greasy fries (real ones, mind you), coleslaw, beans, ribs, steaks and to-die-for burgers. Some customers, however, opted for the outside drive-in slots, parking under the canopy to order food and drinks from Austin’s no-nonsense carhops.

The eatery provided south-of-the-Trinity high schoolers a place for after-game celebrations or simply a place to hang out. Families ate there, too, as did coaches, businessmen, moms and students from Dallas Baptist College — a concoction of patrons from various Oak Cliff socioeconomic groups. Gulping huge glasses of iced tea or

sipping Dr. Peppers, Austin’s was sort of the thenOak Cliff version of the bar in “Star Wars”. Because so many neighborhood citizens gathered there to discuss what was going on in the Cliff, Austin’s functioned, according to one local historian, as the unofficial Oak Cliff City Hall.

Inside, teenage customers always hoped to snatch one of the booths with the mini-jukeboxes mounted on the end panels. Students could enjoy a cozy confinement with friends while conveniently picking music selections for the main jukebox. Fun!

Outside, teen diners lingered as long as possible to observe other students coming and going. Often with little money to spend, only one (or maybe two) of those in the car actually ordered anything — perhaps an iced tea or soda shared with the others. Lingering over the drinks as long as possible provided the perfect maneuver to legitimately hold a drive-in slot. For the guys, it was a great vantage point for “chick observation.”

Originally named the Bull Pen, the restaurant at 2321 W. Illinois opened in 1949. (It sat on the northeast corner of Hampton and Illinois, property now occupied by the eastern portion of the CVS

Pharmacy building and the western portion of Compass Bank.) For the next decade, the Bull Pen welcomed dining room patrons as well as beer and liquor customers. The restaurant remained open till 2 a.m. Few places did in those days.

In 1957, when Oak Cliff voted itself “dry,” coowner Bert Bowman sold out his half interest to his business partner, Austin Cook, who changed the menu, the restaurant’s name and the hours of operation. Then, like the Texas Theatre, Austin’s Barbecue became a part of — of all things: the Kennedy assassination probe.

Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit moonlighted at Austin’s, working security on weekends. The Staff Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations reads “that he [Cook] had employed Tippit at the time of the assassination ‘as a deterrent’ to any teenage trouble from youths who frequented the establishment.”

Due to a web of coincidental liaisons between Bowman and assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, the FBI interviewed Cook and many of the Cook and Bowman family members, with Cook telling the investigators that he never heard Tippit mention Oswald or Jack Ruby.

LeFT//Ray Zauber (left) and Austin Cook (right) stand at the check-out counter at Austin’s.

PHOTO COuRTeSy OF JOe WHITney

A man named Ralph Paul had purchased the restaurant Bowman opened after selling his share of the Bull Pen to Cook. Bowman’s wife stated she had known Paul since his 1951 move to Dallas and that at the time of the assassination, Paul was living in the lower level of the Bowman home. She reported that Paul was a close friend of Ruby’s and had expressed great concern for his friend after Oswald’s shooting. She also stated that Paul had brought Ruby by her home approximately four and a half years earlier, but that Ruby remained for only a short time.

Nothing came of the investigation.

In 2002, Austin’s fell to the wrecking ball. The waitresses, most of them somehow related to the then-owner, John Zito (Cook’s stepson), had all been at the restaurant for 15 or more years.

On the final day of operation, now 57-year-old Cliffite Ken Holmes (who remembers first eating at Austin’s sitting in a high chair) waited for the restaurant to clear, then paid for his dinner and walked out the door. He was the last customer.

With the demise of Austin’s, another page of Oak Cliff history faded into the book of bygone days. But the establishment will always be remembered by those who frequented the place, whether walking through the doors holding hands with a sweetheart, bolting in with a group of friends, or perhaps sharing a Saturday breakfast with parents, or from the old days of beer and liquor.

The restaurant’s well-remembered slogan probably leaves about as good a eulogy of the old landmark as anything else — Austin’s Barbecue: “As Tender as Ole Austin’s Heart.”

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Gayla Brooks Kokel can date her neighborhood heritage back to 1918, when her father was born in what was then called Eagle Ford. She was born at Methodist Hospital and graduated from Kimball High School. Kokel is one of three co-authors of the recently published book, “Images of America: Oak Cliff”, and writes a monthly history column for the Oak Cliff Advocate. Send her feedback and ideas to gkokel@advocatemag.com.

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