Dallas History Archives - D Magazine

Benji Turns 50, and the City of McKinney Honors Its Most Famous Movie Star

Matt Goodman — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:24:24 +0000

In October, the city of McKinney observed the golden anniversary of its most famous movie star: Benji, the canine hero of the eponymous 1974 film by Joe Camp. The Oct. 19 celebration was as modestly effective as its inspiration, with pet rescue operations set up in the city’s downtown square and at a local animal … Continued

The post Benji Turns 50, and the City of McKinney Honors Its Most Famous Movie Star appeared first on D Magazine.

Oliver Stone’s Dallas

Matt Goodman — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 16:08:34 +0000

Director Oliver Stone put Dallas on the map as a desirable Hollywood film shoot location in the late 1980s and 1990s with Talk Radio, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, and Any Given Sunday. He’s also the subject of my book The Oliver Stone Experience and has been a friend for 15 years. … Continued

The post Oliver Stone’s Dallas appeared first on D Magazine.

Derelict, Controversial City-Owned Downtown Building is Listed in National Historic Registry

Matt Goodman — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 16:49:26 +0000

Last month, the Dallas City Council voted to auction off the former Family Gateway building at 711 St. Paul. Still, local preservationists have pointed out that the structure, which fell into disrepair after the nonprofit transferred ownership back to the city, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (as 1722 Marilla St.) and is inside a 2008 … Continued

The post Derelict, Controversial City-Owned Downtown Building is Listed in National Historic Registry appeared first on D Magazine.

What an Old Jug Says About the 50-Year-Old African American Museum of Dallas

Matt Goodman — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 17:27:57 +0000

A jug tells the story of the African American Museum of Dallas. Harry Robinson Jr., the museum’s founding director, always wanted a piece made by David Drake. This artist was better known as Dave the Potter, the 19th century Black man was believed to be the first enslaved potter. “We never thought we’d get one,” … Continued

The post What an Old Jug Says About the 50-Year-Old African American Museum of Dallas appeared first on D Magazine.

The Forest Theater Is No Longer Trapped in Limbo

Matt Goodman — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 18:00:00 +0000

“Will this time be different for South Dallas and the Forest Theater?” Those words, printed in large type above the fold of the Dallas Morning News on November 10, 2021, “haunted” Elizabeth Wattley for “a long time.” Wattley is the president of Forest Forward, the nonprofit tasked with bringing the historic Forest Theater back to life. Which, … Continued

The post The Forest Theater Is No Longer Trapped in Limbo appeared first on D Magazine.

Mapping the Lost History of the Tenth Street Historic District

Bethany Erickson — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 13:23:45 +0000

Much of the historic Freedman’s town of Tenth Street has been lost to time and demolition. Even a Landmark designation from the city three decades ago did little to stop the destruction of its homes in this pocket just east of Interstate 35E, in Oak Cliff. Piecing together that lost history is daunting. But SMU … Continued

The post Mapping the Lost History of the Tenth Street Historic District appeared first on D Magazine.

D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: Working at Billy Bob’s, Circa 1982

Matt Goodman — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 21:54:45 +0000

Today, Amy Cunningham is a New York-based funeral director. In 1982, she was undercover at the world’s largest honky tonk. Billy Bob’s had only been open for about a year in the Fort Worth Stockyards, a cavernous barn that imagined Texas through dilated pupils: 127,000 square feet, a fourth of which was dedicated to dance … Continued

The post D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: Working at Billy Bob’s, Circa 1982 appeared first on D Magazine.

D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: When Will We Fix the Problem of Our Architecture?

Matt Goodman — Fri, 03 May 2024 20:52:48 +0000

In 1980, a few years before he became the architecture critic for the Dallas Morning News, the late David Dillon asked a bold question in our pages: Why is Dallas’ architecture so bad? Near the end of the story, he quoted Henry Cobb, one of the architects of One Dallas Center. “Dallas is now at … Continued

The post D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: When Will We Fix the Problem of Our Architecture? appeared first on D Magazine.

D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: Cullen Davis Finds God as the ‘Evangelical New Right’ Rises

Matt Goodman — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 21:07:29 +0000

In 1980, Cullen Davis, the richest person to ever be tried for murder, was back in his Fort Worth mansion after two years in prison. His highly publicized trial, in which he was charged with killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter during a home invasion, had ended with a verdict of not guilty following the wizardry of … Continued

The post D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: Cullen Davis Finds God as the ‘Evangelical New Right’ Rises appeared first on D Magazine.

Tales from the Dallas History Archives: Scenes from 1949, When the Mob Ruled Dallas

Zoe Roberts — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:42:33 +0000

A cool thing about working in an archive are the discoveries revealed through customer requests. While looking for a photograph of a cemetery, I stumbled across photographs related to the funeral of Mildred Noble. She was the wife of a well-known Dallas gambler from the 1940s named Herbert “The Cat” Noble, who was the intended … Continued

The post Tales from the Dallas History Archives: Scenes from 1949, When the Mob Ruled Dallas appeared first on D Magazine.

D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: The Explosion that Forever Changed West, Texas

Matt Goodman — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 18:32:42 +0000

I lived in West, Texas—the comma always pronounced or else it gets really confusing really fast—until I was 20 and moved to Austin to go to UT. It’s a tiny town that hugs I-35, built mostly by Czech immigrants like my great-grandparents. My dad was a schoolteacher, then an administrator, spending the last part of … Continued

The post D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: The Explosion that Forever Changed West, Texas appeared first on D Magazine.

D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: The ‘Bareknuckle Journalism’ of Early 1900s Dallas

Matt Goodman — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 20:09:45 +0000

For nearly 40 years—through two World Wars and prohibition—Dallas’ third newspaper made its name producing journalism for working class residents. The Dallas Dispatch fought the Klan and utility price hikes. Its reporters drank booze “the way most offices consume coffee.” They spent hours in the Trinity River bottoms, staking out Bonnie and Clyde. They jumped … Continued

The post D Magazine’s 50 Greatest Stories: The ‘Bareknuckle Journalism’ of Early 1900s Dallas appeared first on D Magazine.