LAKE DALLAS
HARDWARE by Diane Ciarloni | photos courtesy of Diane Ciarloni
L
ake Dallas shares several common denominators with other Texas time-warp towns, but the most prominent one is the prevalence of old buildings. Most have a minimum of five layers of paint. Each new color is brighter than its predecessor to distract from the chips and cracks running through the once-upon-a-time smooth wood. Use Lake Dallas Hardware (Do It Best) as an illustration. A bold, forward-moving coating of truly bright, bright green, clipped off at all the edges by crisp, spotless white. A front porch running the length of the building. Benches and wheelbarrows and garden carts outside, waiting for a permanent home. Faded stickers on the windows. They’re all elements of the store’s personality. Lake Dallas Hardware launched as a simple general store, sort of like the old farmer's mercantile. Then, as more coats of fresh paint were added, it morphed into a hardware store. Norman Beaty began filling out his timecard as an employee when he was just 16 years old. He met his wife Marilyn there when he was 17 and required parental consent when they decided to get married because they were still so young.
photographed above is Norman Beaty
HE WAS JUST 16 YEARS OLD. 26 | LAKE CITIES LIVING | JANUARY 2021
Norman aged in place at Lake Dallas Hardware, standing solid through name changes, through one set of difficult owners, through a couple of recessions, and one armed robbery with the barrel of a Glock punched into the back of his neck as he opened the safe. He bloomed as the store’s centerpiece. He trained current owners, Bill and Dru McDonald, as well as their sons Curtis and Troy. He’s been there nearly five decades, so
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