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PROFILE
Lakewood musician honors Romani heritage DINING
Drink me, I’m Irish
FEATURES
Public transportation powers an economic engine that produces returns and creates jobs.
From 2022 to 2024, the 37 development projects near DART light rail stations created a total of 9,422 new jobs and $724.2 million in wages for workers in the region.*
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smash it
Casa Linda Forest teenager serves the community by teaching tennis
Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
To host a free tennis clinic for local youth, 16-year-old Isabella Tripathi fundraised the old-fashioned way — by knocking on doors in her Casa Linda Forest neighborhood.
At first, Isabella was nervous approaching people this way, but once she got used to it, her passion replaced those anxious feelings.
“I saw that fire in her eyes,” her father Bob Tripathi says. “Then around 6 [p.m.] or something, I was like, ‘Oh, are you going to come back home?’ because she was in the neighborhood. She’s like, ‘Three more houses, three more houses.’”
Isabella could have just put up flyers about her fundraiser to host Smash IT Tennis –Rally for Hope, which makes tennis accessible to local children, in Kroger or another public place. But she saw the benefit of being able to look people in the eye and tell her story.
“It’s another thing if people really hear the passion in my voice when I speak about it,” she says. “I’m a tennis player, and this cause really is dear to me just because of all the support I’ve received, so I think for people to really hear that and be aware of that when I speak to them is really important. And it would drive them to support even more.”
Her method worked. She raised more than $2,000 to buy equipment for the free clinic.
Tripathi introduced his daughter, who is currently homeschooled, to tennis when
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Isabella Tripathi loves tennis so much that she started a free clinic for local children. Photos courtesy of Isabella Tripathi.
she was young. She started playing around 9 years old and was entering tournaments by the age of 12.
Isabella says tennis is an outlet for her to express herself, and she has learned problem-solving and decision-making skills through the sport.
“I love it, and I couldn’t imagine my life without it,” she says.
Isabella knows that she is able to play tennis thanks to the support from her family and her coaches. But not all children have that.
“I really felt the desire and the want to give back to others in the way that I’ve been helped a lot,” she says. “I kind of had the idea, like, what could I do to help kids who maybe weren’t afforded the same opportunities that I was with the support system that I’m so grateful to have.”
Thus, Smash IT Tennis – Rally for Hope was born.
The name even has a few Easter eggs. The “IT” is capitalized in reference to Isabella’s initials, and “rally” is the term for a sequence of backand-forth shots between tennis players until a point is scored.
More than 30 children ages 5 to 15, most of whom had never played before, showed up to her free half-day clinic in December at the Lakeland Hills Park tennis courts. The money she raised paid for equipment (rackets and balls), goodie bags, snacks and lunch for the participants. The
children were split into groups based on their age, and Isabella and her friends (who also helped her organize the clinic) led them through warm-ups and taught tennis basics. The children practiced hitting the balls with their rackets and played a game related to that skill. Isabella and her team also raffled off some of the rackets for the participants to take home.
Isabella garnered support for her clinic from Dallas Park and Recreation Department, Dallas ISD and the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, which collectively helped at the event and spread the word beforehand.
“It was a really fun event, getting to help all the kids, cheer them on and watch them make friends there, too, and learn,” Isabella says. “It was such a great thing to witness and be part of.”
Another rewarding part of the event was getting to meet with parents of the participating children.
“They were really grateful for the event and to be able to give the kids an opportunity to pick up a racket,” Isabella says. “I really wanted to connect to them. My mom is Chilean, so I speak Spanish, and a lot of the kids were of Hispanic descent, so I was speaking Spanish to the parents as well, and it was a great community thing. And I learned a lot about being a leader off the court and just
Isabella Tripathi and her friends taught tennis basics to more than 30 children during her free half-day clinic in December at the Lakeland Hills Park
giving back to the community.”
Now, Isabella is planning another free tennis clinic for March during spring break, this time held at Ferguson Park. The goal is to host it quarterly and find new places for it in Dallas instead of sticking to one location and group of children.
As Isabella cheered on the children at the clinic, her father had been rooting for her while she worked to organize the event and was there to help on the day of.
“It was beautiful,” Tripathi says of watching Isabella take charge at the event. “Obviously, I choked up. I had tears in my eyes to see this happening and so many kids, everyone happy. And turns out, it was the most perfect weather day of that whole week. It just worked out. It was heartwarming, and it just fills your heart with bliss, to be honest.”
tennis courts.
ION ZANCA’S U NT OLD STORY
Dallas String Quartet founder reflects on his career & culture
Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
Photography by ETHAN GOOD
When he came to study music performance at Louisiana State University from Romania, Ion Zanca’s peers made assumptions about where he was from.
Zanca was in school when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. He laughs as he remembers his peers looking at him with suspicion because of his darker complexion as he carried his instrument case around.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I’m from Romania,’” the 45-yearold Lakewood neighbor says. “‘It’s a different part of the world.’”
The career musician’s culture isn’t just a footnote in his biography. Understanding his heritage and the violence Romanis suffered is what moved him to compose the album Romani: The Untold Story , featuring the Dallas String Quartet (which he created) and the London Symphony Orchestra. He says this project, which came out in 2024, is among his best work.
“I wanted my son to know his heritage,” Zanca says, “why we’re better at music than football.”
The viola player got to Dallas in 2003 when he
transferred to Southern Methodist University, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In addition to the Dallas String Quartet, he founded Q The Band, Sapphire String Quartet and the music agency IMZ Artists. He plays in Q The Band and Dallas String Quartet, which ironically has more than four members and is made of people who did not originate from Dallas.
The musician shared his story with the Lakewood/ East Dallas Advocate.
WHEN DID YOU PICK UP PLAYING THE VIOLA?
My parents are musicians, and my grandparents are musicians, and it’s like three, four generations of musicians. So I didn’t pick it up. They gave it to me. I started with piano when I was 6, and then I started viola when I was 10.
WHAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH MUSIC AND PLAYING VIOLA?
To be honest, at that time, I didn’t. My dad just saw
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that I was talented. I have perfect pitch, so I can hear any note, and I can tell you what it is. They said, ‘Oh, he’s a musician, one of us.’ Then, my mom put me in a boarding school when I was 10. So basically, I left my house when I was 10.
WHAT WAS ROMANIA LIKE?
Romania when I was there was coming right after the communist regime fell, so a lot of instability, but the food is delicious. The country is beautiful. It’s kind of like Greek food.
WHAT IS IT LIKE LIVING IN THE AFTERMATH OF COMMUNISM?
We threw everything out, like everything good and bad. Romania has really good fruits and veggies and natural things because we never did like stuff outside. You didn’t have to ask for organic. But now, last time I went, we’re importing our apples from Chile. I was like, ‘Why are we doing that? We have apples right here.’ And so it kind of got into this globalization of things. They have all the references from the movies, from the music, they watch everything we do here, and then just try to imitate it.
TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU FORMED YOUR BANDS.
We started with Dallas String Quartet, and we were touring, but we still wanted to play some of the local stuff, so we’d alternate between private events and concerts so we didn’t have to always be on the road. I have a little boy, so I wanted to be home, too. But there were parts of the tour that people still wanted music. So I created this other group, Sapphire, that would take over whenever we’re not in town. So that’s how it started with Sapphire, and then Q The Band, we were playing all these events, and our group is very modern with drums and bass and guitars. And I was like, ‘How hard can it be to add some singers?’ We added a new dimension to it and then spent three years figuring that out. It was not easy because it became this massive 16-piece band. We had to change all the music, everything we knew.
ARE YOU THE ONE WHO DECIDES WHAT THE DALLAS STRING QUARTET PLAYS?
To a certain degree, I am the one. They all have input on what we play, but most of the things that we play we modify because it’s a little bit of a crossover between some classical elements and pop rock music. So like we do a piece that starts with a classical violin concerto that goes into “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. So it’s that crossover that people love about the group.
AND THAT’S THE MUSICAL STYLE THAT YOU LIKE AS WELL.
Well, it helps with my ADD because I get to play a little bit of everything. I played in the orchestra for a while, but every time I would hear a part, I would be like, ‘Oh, this would be really cool with this other music.’ I loved combining different genres. And so it really worked for us because we never take ourselves too seriously. It’s kind of fun and keeps it fresh.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE RECORDING WITH THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS?
I literally played the piano that The Beatles were playing on. It’s crazy. We’re in the biggest studio with the London Symphony — like 65 to 70 musicians in there — and we had pretty much the same configuration, the orchestra, the studio and the mixing engineer that did soundtracks from Star Wars to Harry Potter. So, you get this massive sound that was so beautiful.
DID YOU GET TO SHARE ROMANI: THE UNTOLD STORY WITH YOUR PARENTS?
My parents died that year earlier, and it was my tribute to my dad. I didn’t know how to deal with all those feelings because it happened two weeks apart. I had to fly to Romania twice for their funerals, so it was really sad, and I wanted to do something to give homage to them.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
FISHIN’ FOR MEMORIES
The
origins of the White Rock Fish Hatchery
Story by
JOHN H. SLATE, DALLAS MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES & MADELYN EDWARDS
Photo courtesy of Dallas Muncipal Archives.
Ever since White Rock Creek was transformed into White Rock Lake, the former reservoir has been a draw for local anglers. With the exception of the extreme drought years of the 1950s, fishing enthusiasts can be found at a number of spots, from the mouth of White Rock Creek to the south end piers at Garland Road.
Now called the Old Fish Hatchery Nature Area on the southwest side of the lake, the hatchery was part of the state network of hatcheries established by the Texas Game, Fish and Oyster Commission. It was built by the City in 1930 for about $23,700, according to Dallas Park and Recreation Department records, before being given to the state. The Park Board made a land swap with the original hatchery at Fair Park, which was a part of the land needed for a new racetrack and later for the Texas Centennial Exposition of 1936.
“The lake did not become a park until December of 1929. The lake was built by Dallas Water Utilities, and they completed the dam in 1911. The lake was filled in April of 1914 by a flash flood,” historian and former Dallas Park and Recreation staffer Sally Rodriguez says. “And so it wasn’t until 1930 that the Park Department began developing.”
partment returned to propagating fish for White Rock and other City parks.
Hatcheries in our state are now overseen by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. None are in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex but in rural areas instead.
“Hatchery-reared fish are used to establish new populations, enhance existing populations, support research efforts and maintain fisheries in small urban reservoirs where natural production will not meet anglers’ needs,” reads the department’s website.
After it ceased operations, the hatchery “wilded over” (with the ponds still in place but not refilled) and is now a gated area with a hiking trail in and around it. Rodriguez supposes that buying fish from the state instead of running a hatchery made more sense for the City financially. In the 1980s, the Dallas Audubon Society adopted the grounds and worked with the Park and Recreation Department to create a landscaping plan for pathways that don’t disturb the natural surroundings.
In 1936, the state transferred hatchery operations back to the City of Dallas. This was in exchange for about $1,450 and salvage pipe to build a new state hatchery at Lake Dallas (now Lewisville Lake), according to the records.
It’s unclear if or why the City wanted the Old Fish Hatchery at White Rock Lake back. Rodriguez says it’s possible that Dallas’ leaders prioritized local ownership as opposed to state control of the property near the lake at the time.
“The Park Board was really conscientious about maintaining park land for the citizens of Dallas,” she says.
The hatchery operated from 1930 to 1960 and was managed by the Dallas Museum of Natural History, which was part of the Park and Recreation Department. Originally, its estimated 23 to 26 ponds (ranging from 3 / 5 to 1 1 / 5 acres and depths between 4.5 to 7 feet) were stocked with perch, bass, channel catfish and bream. It fell into disrepair in the early 1950s but was cleaned up, and the Park and Recreation De -
The preserve is an excellent birding site, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. One can see Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Wood Duck, Warbling Vireo, Eastern Phoebe, and Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night-Herons. Beavers, gray foxes, bobcats and coyotes have also been observed here.
The real surprise, however, is the naturalized colony of noisy, wonderful Monk Parakeets. Their origin is not clear, but they’ve been nesting year-round in the hatchery since at least the early 1990s.
The need to preserve the Old Fish Hatchery Nature Area was brought to the forefront of neighbors’ minds when the energy company Oncor cleared multiple acres under its power lines there in 2020. In the aftermath, District 9 City Council member Paula Blackmon created an advisory committee to make sure that wouldn’t happen again without the City’s knowledge. Oncor worked with Texas Discovery Gardens to replant the area, and the Park and Recreation Department was slated to collaborate with the company on maintenance.
“We are fortunate to have a little bit of nature in the heart of an urban area, and it breaks my heart to see it in this state,” Blackmon said in a previous Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate article about the clear cutting. “I understand the need for reliable electric service, but I am confident that we can all work together to create a space for bird-watchers, nature lovers and wildlife enthusiasts in an area that is in the Oncor-owned right of way.”
WHEN THE GREEN WAVE HIT DALLAS
A surge in interest in all things Irish has translated into even more green for pubs
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
Last April, Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. performed at a sold out concert at the Bomb Factory in Deep Ellum.
The group performed hits from their latest studio album, Romance , which earned two nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. A year earlier, in 2024, Hozier’s song “Too Sweet” topped the Billboard Top 100, making him the first Irish singer-songwriter to have a No. 1 song since Sinéad O’Connor in 1990.
The Irish hot streak hasn’t just been confined to the music industry either. Irish actors like Paul Mescal and Cillian Murphy have won awards and landed films smashing box office debuts. In
2023, the Los Angeles Times coined the term “Green Wave” in an article referring to the fact that a single Irish-led film, Banshees of Inisherin, earned nine Oscar nods at the 95th Academy Awards.
American tourism to Ireland has surged over the last decade and despite some leveling out since the start of the Trump Administration, remains strong.
Back in Texas, the so-called Green Wave hasn’t missed Dallas, as evidenced by the Fontaines D.C. show last spring.
Peter Kenny, owner of Lochland’s Irish Pub in Lake Highlands and the Dubliner on Lower Greenville, says he’s been glad to see his native land enjoying so much popularity in his adopted home.
“I do love to see it. I love seeing the Fontaines D.C. being the great band they are. They keep breathing it out,” Kenny says. “I’m sorry I missed them in Dallas.”
Kenny is originally from Dublin and moved stateside in the ’80s. After a few years working in bars around town, he opened the Dubliner in 1994. Peter and his wife, Cheryl, now run it and Lochland’s as part of a family enterprise, having previously operated Capitol Pub in Uptown for over a decade.
He’s been in the pub business for over 40 years and says it’s the people who keep bringing him back.
“I just love to see everybody enjoying themselves and having a good time. I like the vibe of it. Kind of grew up in it,” he says. “Whether it’s people enjoying just hanging out and talking and different people meeting each other. Over the years, even at the Dubliner, we’ve had a lot of people even get married there. People who’ve got engaged there.”
The craze for all things Irish has been good for pub owners.
The owners of The Old Monk, The Skellig and Spider Murphy’s have opened up two additional pubs in Oak Cliff in as many years. Younger crowds seem to be seeking out darker, wooden-filled watering holes over conventional sports bars and clubs, which Kenny attributes to a sense of belonging.
“It’s like a community thing,” Kenny says. “Even when the young people come in, groups of them, we were seeing it a lot at the Dubliner on weekend nights, and now they’re familiar with it, and they feel comfortable there.”
And there’s another aspect of the Green Wave driving people to places like the Dubliner. Dark, frothy and slow to drink, Guinness, a ubiquitous symbol of the Emerald Isle, has seen record sales in the U.S. Propelled by cleverly marketed gimmicks like “Splitting the G,” the growth has been driven in large part by an increased interest from Gen Z drinkers.
Kenny, who estimates his Guinness sales have increased by around 30% since the Green Wave began in earnest around 2023, says it’s not just an older man’s drink anymore.
“It’s everybody, and the Dubliner gets a lot of young crowds on the weekends,” he says. “I can’t believe the amount of Guin -
ness we sell, they’re all drinking Guinness. So I guess maybe it’s some of them trying it out, and others just loving it.”
Aside from well-executed marketing campaigns, Kenny also attributes Guinness’s newfound popularity to more developed palates.
“I think, because of all the brew pubs and everything else, people drink good beers these days, whether it’s hazy IPAs or stouts or bourbon barrel stouts,” Kenny says. “And they realize Guinness is not this big high alcohol by volume beer. It’s like 4.2%.”
“It’s a good beer. It tastes well, and it’s not super alcoholic. You know, look at these IPAs, and they’re 7-8%.”
While it may be the poster child, Guinness isn’t the only Irish beer on taps in Dallas. Smithwick’s (the W is silent), a red ale, regularly comes in behind Guinness sales at the Dubliner and Lochland’s.
Sales of Irish whiskey, long second fiddle to Bourbon and Scotch in the States, have seen an increase in sales in the last few years, he says. Jameson has done well, as always, but Kenny says neighbors are expanding their tastes.
“There’s a lot of good Irish whiskeys, whether it’s Teeling and Red Breast and Midleton and they go on and on,” Kenny says. “It’s exploding, the Irish whiskey market.”
However, pubs aren’t just for those imbibing, Cheryl says.
“We have a lot of people that actually don’t drink at all, they just like that camaraderie,” she says. “And I think that you hear of people traveling all over the world, and they always seek out an Irish pub wherever they go.”
The Kennys will hope for the trend to continue as they gear up to host St. Patrick’s Day events at both pubs this month. Preparations begin a year out, and Peter laughingly admits his staff probably “get tired of listening to Irish music.”
Dallas, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be escaping the Green Wave anytime soon.
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LEGACY STARTSHERE!
A LOT OF DIGITAL AND ACTUAL INK HAS BEEN SPILLED ABOUT DEEP ELLUM OVER THE YEARS.
As Madison Partners managing partner Jon Hetzel put it, a Metroplex native’s favorite version of the entertainment district is the one they experienced as young adults. Local musician Ward Richmond likened his first visit to discovering a whole new world.
But the neighborhood has its critics. A Facebook post about a fatal double stabbing near the DART Station garnered comments like, “Uhm, when has Deep Ellum NOT been sketchy,” “I’m glad I got to experience Deep Ellum before it got like this, had some good times over there,” and, “This is why I stay away from Deep Ellum at all cost.” (And yes, others wrote that this area is technically not in the district.)
There are other spots in Dallas known for culture, nightlife and music. And crime happens all over our fair city. Yet, we can’t stop talking about Deep Ellum. There’s something magnetic about those blocks beyond the tracks, and there are rarely neutral opinions to be had.
“I really, truly believe that Deep Ellum is the heart and soul of our city,” Dallas Mayor Pro Tem and District 2 Council member Jesse Moreno says.
ORIGIN STORY
Black communities (Freedmantown, Stringtown and the Prairie) popped up around Dallas, and men were able to find work around and because of the railroad tracks. William Sidney Pittman, a son of former slaves, designed the Grand Lodge of the Colored Knights of Pythias state headquarters (now The Pittman Hotel), which was completed
Not another deep ellum
The past, present & future of an iconic neighborhood Story by MADELYN
EDWARDS
in 1916 and included offices for Black professionals.
Around that time, Eastern Europeans fled oppression, came to Dallas and started businesses, including plenty of pawnshops. The most famous of these pawnbrokers was “Honest Joe” (aka Rubin Goldstein), who the history book Deep Ellum and Central Track calls a “publicity genius.” He got his name after a “drunken house painter” and customer discouraged a woman from getting a receipt at the shop because, “This is Honest Joe.”
Music made Deep Ellum what it is today. Deep Ellum and Central Track describes Blind Lemon Jefferson as “the most significant blues singer to perform in Deep Ellum” by the time he died in 1929. Jefferson met fellow musician Huddie Ledbetter (aka “Lead Belly”), and the two of them played together. Henry “Buster” Smith, Willard “Ramblin’” Thomas, Blind Willie Johnson, Alex Moore, Marvin “Smokey” Montgomery and others shaped the music scene for blues, jazz and related subgenres.
As Deep Ellum’s music scene has a long history, so does its reputation for being seedy.
“Some television person asked me, ‘What do you think about Deep Ellum’s bad reputation?’ And I just laughed,” says Frank Campagna, prolific Deep Ellum muralist and Kettle Art Gallery founder, in an interview last year. “It’s had a bad reputation since it started, which used to be good because it would keep the riffraff out, but now, it’s not good.”
Alcohol was flowing both during and after Prohibition, and marijuana was “sold by the stick” in the 1940s. When elected district attorney in 1946, Will Wilson took a stance against organized crime, specifically against gambling boss Benny Binion, but that didn’t fully end gambling. Sex work was part of the neighborhood’s economy, but that was all of Dallas, according to Deep Ellum and Central Track.
As those in Deep Ellum today know, a reputation for bad behavior sticks like glue, even when it’s not exactly fair. (And considering the neighborhood was occupied by Black people and immigrants, racism could have shaped early narratives about the neighborhood.)
Blast to the present: that sentiment
was echoed by nightclub and bar worker Sloane, who spoke to the Lakewood/ East Dallas Advocate last year.
“I’m down here six days a week for eight, nine, 10 hours of time, and I rarely see an issue,” Sloane says. “It’s nowhere near as bad as people have made it out to be, and then because of that, people won’t come down here.”
Put differently by Hetzel: “Stories about crime in Deep Ellum are more interesting than stories about crime in other parts of the city, particularly areas that routinely have crime that a lot of readers don’t care as much about. And I get that. But we almost never escape notice on anything happening down here.”
Moreno says Deep Ellum is not more dangerous than other nightlife areas in Dallas, but it should only be compared to other entertainment districts.
Then again, last summer was cruel. Three people were killed in Deep Ellum, and that resulted in expanded nighttime vehicular street closures.
Moreno, who is also vice chairperson on the council’s Public Safety Committee, ushered in the first dedicated police unit for a single community in Deep Ellum. Because of its success, he expects this strategy to be replicated in other areas of the city. But the police presence shouldn’t feel overwhelming and should be balanced with other security measures.
After the bar Rodeo Dallas closed, crime dropped by nearly 30%, Moreno says.
Rodeo was pulled into legal drama by its landlord Westdale and neighboring property owner Asana Partners last year. Rodeo’s owner rebutted claims that the bar was contributing to crime in Deep Ellum and accused property and development firms of trying to get rid of Black and Hispanic patrons.
Moreno says businesses have to be accountable for what happens in their establishments and how that contributes to violent crime.
“There were a lot of allegations that we were trying to wash Deep Ellum, and we were going after establishments that played a certain kind of music,” he says. “Well, guess what? That’s the type of music that I love. So it’s definitely not that we’re trying to shut down people that are playing hip hop or venues that
are playing rap music. I believe it comes to the business practices such as overserving, allowing minors in, not having de-escalation policies in place. As a business owner, that’s your responsibility.”
UPS AND DOWNS
Shifts in Deep Ellum are apparent not by crime rates alone, but by the number of businesses open.
In the mid-20th century, Central Expressway replaced the railroads that birthed Deep Ellum in 1873.
“Development changed the neighborhood,” says Alan Govenar, co-author of Deep Ellum and Central Track . “After the Great Depression and during the Great Depression, the 1930s, Deep Ellum declined, and then by the 1940s and ’50s and ’60s, ’70s, it became a warehouse district.”
Madison Partners came into the picture in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Owner Susan Reese and her husband were buying property in “neglected areas,” which included Deep Ellum, Hetzel says. This was at the peak of “white flight,” in which white people left urban areas for the suburbs. As a result, pictures of Deep Ellum from that era show “grass lots, falling down buildings, tumbleweeds.”
This is the environment that led to a revival as a punk rock music scene in the 1980s.
“It was people like Jeff Swaney and Mark Cuban and Russell Hobbs, these people who decided to start these nightclubs where they would bring shows in,” Deep Ellum Foundation Archive Manager Cathryn Colcer says. “And it was at Theatre Gallery that they brought in the Red Hot Chili Peppers back then. They played here in the neighborhood when they were just getting started.”
So Deep Ellum embraced punk music. Great! But this also coincided with the presence of racist skinheads (though some were reportedly anti-racist), who were linked with incidents of violence and harassment. Not great. Dallas was a microcosm of a trend happening nationally.
Yet, that wasn’t everyone’s experience. In the ’90s, Reno’s Chop Shop co-owner Amber Haldiman remembers being welcomed and accepted.
“I never really fit in anywhere until
“When
I moved back to Dallas in 2008, Deep Ellum was dead”
I came here, and then, it made sense that we can all be different, and that’s OK,” Haldiman says.
The skinhead period seemingly peaked when a man was brutally attacked by someone with ties to the notorious Confederate Hammerskins in 2004 at the former Gypsy Tea Room. The district went quiet afterwards.
“When I moved back to Dallas in 2008, Deep Ellum was dead,” Colcer says, adding that the Great Recession likely played a role in the decline. “There were ‘for lease’ signs on almost every building.”
Mike Ziemer, who founded Third String Entertainment and opened the music venue Puzzles last year with Orlando Mendoza, remembers this drought, too. They were music promoters, and the vacancies affected their work over a decade ago.
“All these places had gone under, and we weren’t doing too much booking down here at that point, but we were wanting to,” Ziemer says. “We just kind of both have the same vision of not letting Deep Ellum get to that point again where there’s just endless empty buildings.”
Gradually, a few of district’s most noteworthy restaurants opened — Twisted Root Burger Co. in 2006, Cane Rosso in 2011 and Pecan Lodge in 2014. Hetzel called the district an “incubator neighborhood” for innovative businesses.
Around 2012, zoning changes allowed adding more apartments and office spaces to be developed, moving away from the perception that Deep Ellum is only for nightlife, Hetzel says. The changes also aimed to prevent old buildings from being turned into parking lots.
“What that’s done is it’s allowed our old building stock to be almost entirely activated,” he says. “It also encourages people to take an Uber if they’re going to spend a night out going to dinner and drinking.”
As the Deep Ellum Foundation Executive Director, Stephanie Keller Hudiburg is the face of the district. The nonprofit foundation manages the Deep Ellum Public Improvement District, created in 1999.
When Hudiburg joined the foundation in 2018, the neighborhood was booming. The Dallas Morning News declared it was “reborn,” as patrons packed into bars and restaurants and filled up the sidewalks and streets.
Enter the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest villains of the 21st century so far. Telling Deep Ellum to stop hosting in-person experiences for people is “not what this neighborhood specializes in,” Hudiburg says.
The days of Dallasites wearing masks and social distancing are gone, but when asked if the pandemic still has lingering effects, Hudiburg says, “100%.”
“If you ask people that have come down here post-COVID, they’ll describe what a busy night looks like. It is different than what a person who was here before says a busy night was like,” she says. “Back in 2018, 2019, at a certain time of night, it would be hard to walk down the sidewalk, there were so many people. You’d just have to kind of navigate slowly. And that still happens on occasion, but it’s not like it was, so that volume, it’s relative.”
Moreno has a different perspective. Thanks to accommodating landlords and the true grit of business owners,
it fared better than most during the pandemic, he says.
“One of my priorities was I don’t want to see Deep Ellum boarded up the way I saw it as a teenager,” he says. “I’m happy to say during COVID, Deep Ellum was one of the few places that actually attracted more businesses than actually shut down. A lot of people don’t know that, but during COVID, Deep Ellum was extremely successful.”
So what’s happening now?
SMALL BUSINESS BLUES
Business was slow at almost 7 p.m. Friday at Reno’s in August. The bartender served drinks to a few customers, and two guys played pool. A group of friends in the nearly empty parking lot next to Reno’s asked which streets are closing because they’re afraid that their car will get locked in. One of them remarks that the lot is usually full by now.
“This would be packed,” Reno’s regular Manda says about the bar.
Haldiman acknowledged then that the street closures hurt Deep Ellum businesses by cutting off parking, ergo limiting much-needed support from patrons.
Reno’s has been open for over 21 years. Haldiman has worked at the heavy metal bar for many years, and she and her husband Steve bought it over 5 years ago to prevent it being turned into a sports bar.
Manda hasn’t been around for a relatively long time, but she quickly found a community at Reno’s. She went out of her way to buy a fan for the patio when she noticed the old one broke. And when her mother was in the ICU, people at Reno’s checked in on her.
“I love this bar, and they love me,” she says. “They take care of me and look out for me.”
Campagna recognizes the beauty of the community, too. When a leak flooded Kettle Art Gallery, he didn’t deal with it alone.
“People from all over the neighborhood came by to help clean up and straighten it up, and within 24 hours, we were ready for our next event,” he says.
Supporting the neighborhood isn’t about making tons of money, Haldiman
says. She wants to ensure that the community and culture that was forged by its early inhabitants stays intact.
“There’s a lot of people that are so talented here, and if we can keep this community going, I think the talent that we’ll see come out of here will be to our (society in general’s) benefit,” she says, referring to Deep Ellum’s artists especially.
Still, establishments can’t survive on good vibes alone. Places like Reno’s still need people to come out and buy drinks.
“I think if there’s not an intentionality in investing in what’s made it special in the first place, in patronizing our small businesses, those things are not guaranteed,” says Hudiburg, while ironically sitting in the now closed Dot’s Hop House and Cocktail Courtyard. “Some of these places have been here for 30 years, but it matters to them, like month over month, if the customers are coming in or not.”
Campagna recalled admiring new businesses on Main Street before realizing that they would probably see more success outside of Deep Ellum.
If you could choose a song that embodied Deep Ellum’s spirit, reader, consider Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her.”
“We’ve got all this really great stuff going on, and it’s a good solid block, and if you pick that up and put it anywhere else in Dallas, it would be booming,” he says.
THE FUTURE
The Deep Ellum Foundation has been working with the City and community on developing an updated safety plan with “new policies, national best practices and local solutions to address the neighborhood’s current needs,” Hudiburg says. The original plan from 2022 was effective in reducing crime.
Street closures are working, Moreno says, so they will stay in place for the foreseeable future. But they may evolve based on what the needs are, and the locations and hours of the closures need to be more consistent and well communicated.
Hudiburg says the foundation is also working on a plan for infrastructure improvements, like lighting on Malcolm X Boulevard, adding parking and making Crowdus Street more pedestrian friendly. She even mentioned the idea of getting a trolley to transport people from parking lots on the periphery into the core.
Commerce Street construction,
which will turn it into a two-way road and improve sidewalks and drainage, isn’t expected to be done until early next year. Businesses have reportedly been struggling in the meantime, but Moreno says this project was approved by voters in a previous City bond program.
“We’re going to have better pedestrian access, we’re going to have better streetscape, and it’s going to be more inviting,” he says. “For those businesses that are able to make it through the heartaches, I know their sales are going to be up. I know they’re going to have tremendous success. Yes, construction sucks. We wish that it didn’t have to happen, but construction is a sign of progress.”
With all the highs and lows, it makes sense that Hudiburg would compare the district to the mythical phoenix that continually burns out and is reborn from ashes.
“You can’t keep Deep Ellum down,” she says.
If you could choose a song that embodied Deep Ellum’s spirit, reader, consider Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her.” Why? This line specifically: “No matter what they say or do, it ain’t no gettin’ rid of me.”
Deep Ellum is here to stay.
“This isn’t a neighborhood that’s just going downhill,” Haldiman says. “There’s a lot of feet on the ground that are actively working day and night to bring back the best entertainment district, in my opinion, in Texas.”
Pilates, pedals & pollination
’Tis
the season to be outdoors in East Dallas
Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
— Bluebeard’s Egg by Margaret Atwood
Barring torrential downpours or out of control twisters, spring is a time to embrace being outdoors before the weather becomes unbearably hot.
East Dallas is like a perennial, always blooming with activity, and springtime is no exception. Here’s a few outdoorsy groups built by and for East Dallasites that you can visit for a workout or to volunteer.
Pilates in the Park
Madelyn Knollenberg chose Pilates more out of necessity than recreation.
Knollenberg, who lives in the Ridgewood Park neighborhood, started Pilates a few years ago after being injured in a T-bone car accident. She broke bones in her pelvis and sacrum and couldn’t walk for two months afterward. Once she got back on her feet, she couldn’t lift weights like she used to or be able to work without pain.
“Because I’m an emergency room nurse, I got to go,” she says. “I kind of need to be able to move without any pain or anything.”
In addition to physical therapy, she turned to Pilates at the recommendation of her uncle, and this discovery led her back to a mobile and pain-free life.
Knollenberg created Pilates in the Park to lead free sessions for her neighbors based on her experience.
“I honestly just wanted to share that with other people,” she says. “Pilates is expensive. I know that because I was paying a lot each month for an unlimited membership. I wanted it to be accessible to everyone, people who don’t want to pay $200 a month. And then I really wanted that sense of community that I think a lot of women and men are seeking.”
Knollenberg sought out online certification to teach mat Pilates and launched the classes in Ridgewood Park at Trammel Drive and Fisher Road on St. Patrick’s Day weekend last year. She established the @pilatesintheparkdallas page on Instagram, put out flyers and encouraged her friends and coworkers to try it out. Only three people showed up for the first session, and Knollenberg was grateful to even have that many participants.
“I was like, ‘I’ll be happy if just one person comes,’ and then, three people came,” she says. “Now, we’ll have over 100 people come.”
Pilates in the Park is open to everyone, no matter their gender or skill level, she says. Classes are beginner-friendly, slow, easy on joints and come with modifications if needed. People should come dressed in clothes they can easily move in, and classes can be taken with socks on or barefoot.
Knollenberg expects the next year of classes will start again on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Because she’s training to be a nurse practitioner, she isn’t sure if she’ll be able to have classes on Sundays, but she says she will definitely lead them on Saturdays at 10 a.m.
The General’s Guard
The Facebook page for The General’s Guard, a group of cyclists who ride around White Rock Lake, uses a profile picture of Michael Martin’s late father. In fact, the group’s name is a homage to him.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Martin was diagnosed with intestinal cancer around 2006 and passed away less than two years later. While thinking of something he could do to show his support, Michael Martin remembered the Livestrong Foundation, which primarily aims to help cancer patients as opposed to focusing on research. He got together a group of his friends in the White Rock area to ride with him to Austin for Livestrong’s annual cycling fundraiser.
And they’ve been doing that each year since, even during the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone else was participating virtually. The General’s Guard, which consists of about 10 members today, kept going because they realized something as they grew the team.
“Everybody has a cancer story, whether it was their father or friend or themselves,” Martin says.
Since its inception, The General’s Guard has raised over $600,000 for Livestrong and other organizations to support those who live with cancer. They’ve also built relationships with each other that transcend cycling.
“Even if none of us could ride a bike again, we would still have our friendships,” Martin says. “And that’s really the most beautiful ongoing thing for us that we didn’t see coming.”
The General’s Guard is open to accepting new team members as long as they like to ride a bike for long distances and are willing to raise money for cancer patients. They tend to ride together on a weekly basis, but some will get together daily in good weather. They’ll also meet up at White Rock Alehouse and Brewery or The Old Monk to “rehydrate.”
“We talk about how that’s the third element of our team. First is (to) raise money for cancer survivors. Second, ride your bike 100 miles. Third is drink quality beer, not Bud Light,” Martin says.
Members who started in their 30s and 40s are now in their 50s and 60s. They may slow down a little, but The General’s Guard doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“We have to keep going until there’s no more cancer survivors to support,” Martin says.
Tenison Park Pollinator Garden
It all started in 2016 when the Texas Department of Transportation left some of its road grading equipment on the almost two acres of park area on Grand Avenue.
Hollywood/Santa Monica neighbor Karen Albracht and her neighbor alerted the City and got TxDOT to remove their machines. While walking around the area, a Park and Recreation Department employee made an off-handed remark to Albracht that the park space would make for a nice butterfly garden.
Albracht liked this idea. She collaborated with the City and her neighborhood association to bring the Tenison Park Pollinator Garden to life in early 2017. The garden is filled with native species that act as habitats and nourishment for pollinators — moths, bees and butterflies — and are beneficial to birds and other insects.
In addition to the pollinator garden, Albracht mentioned two other environmental projects near Clermont Avenue — abating soil erosion from going into the creek and a birding area that includes plants that birds like, nest boxes and a bird bath. These areas are no-mow zones, which makes them conducive to plant, bird and insect life.
“Our mission here is to restore habitat that’s been lost to urbanization,” says
Albracht, who is a master naturalist.
The pollinator garden and other projects are funded through grants and donations. Maintenance is powered by volunteers, who come out every second and fourth Saturday of the month. Albracht says she usually sees five to 12 volunteers at a time.
“You don’t need to know anything. You will learn by doing,” she says about volunteering. “You might go, ‘I really like that,’ or ‘That’s beautiful. I love that flower. I would like to have that in my home landscape.’ And that’s where I feel like we’ve made a success right there because the more people who put these native plants in their home landscapes, the better off we all are because what they’re going to discover is that they don’t need to irrigate it.”
People come through this green stretch to walk their dogs, have picnics and take photos, Albracht says. They say they come to the natural space to de-stress.
“We want all that. We want the birds and the insects and the pollinators and the native plants, but we want people to come and just relax and sit down and listen to birds,” she says. “That action right there is so good for everybody’s mental health.”
Legendary local restaurant chain bought by longtime employees & married couple
Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
Café Brazil is back in the hands of people who work there.
Kevin Pultz likes to brag that his wife Lindsay climbed the ladder from “hostess to CEO” at the local restaurant chain. After meeting while working at Cheddar’s, the couple joined the staff of Café Brazil near SMU Boulevard and thought the gig would only be a quick stint.
That was about 24 years ago, longer than they have been married.
“We drove up to the University Park location, and I said, ‘I promise we’re only going to be here a couple of months,’ because it was kind of an older building, it’s a little eclectic, and we’re used to working for major chains,” says Kevin, who started as an assistant manager. “Now, we own it.”
Obviously, something changed.
“The more we got into it, the more we really loved it here,” Lindsay says. “It’s kind of a different concept than what most people are used to.”
Café Brazil — which currently has locations in Deep Ellum, near SMU Boulevard, Carrollton, Richardson and Bishop Arts — serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and bottomless coffee. Some locations are open late for college students pulling all-nighters and party-goers sobering up but can also usher in families for Sunday brunch. After founder Michael Tate opened the original location in December 1991 in Lakewood, which almost burned down, Café Brazil became an iconic and reliable hangout. According to a previous Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate article: “Getting a Café Brazil is a big deal and seems to be a mark that a neighborhood has arrived.”
Café employees Beth Weidman and Ernest Belmore bought the restaurant from Tate in 1995 before investment firm Main Street Equity acquired it in 2004. While still working there, Kevin and Lindsay had made their desire to buy the cafe known. When the firm and its CEO were ready to move on (or at least go into a consulting role), the Pultzes got their wish. They bought the restaurant chain and bakery with a Small Business Administration loan, officially taking over last September.
“I’m still running operations like I’ve done for 24 years, and she’s taken over the CEO role because she’s uniquely qualified,” Kevin says. “She’s been a host, a server, assistant manager, worked in the office, done taxes, payroll.”
Visually, the couple reflects their previous roles. With her feathered haircut, big brown eyes and warm smile, Lindsay looks and acts like someone who would be good at greeting customers at the door and showing them to their table. Likewise, you can imagine Kevin, a soft-spoken and accommodating man with a friendly-looking face, stopping by to ask if you need anything or to amicably resolve any issues.
By now, Lindsay and Kevin are well used to working together. They balance out each other’s skills and are there for one another during stressful times. Some of their children also have jobs at the restaurant chain, making Café Brazil a family-owned and operated business.
Neither of the Pultzes are Dallas natives. Lindsay came to North Texas from Chicago when she was a teenager and has since lived in multiple Metroplex cities. Kevin grew up in South Texas and
then migrated to New Orleans and Baton Rouge before moving back to Texas. Lindsay had never heard of Café Brazil until she started working there.
“ I grew up in Duncanville and never really spent much time in Dallas,” she says. “But now, even living in McKinney, we always love to hear the stories when we’re like, ‘We work at Café Brazil,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I remember …’” before recalling their memories.
Being a late night spot is part of Café Brazil’s legacy. The Pultzes take pride that their stores that are open 24/7 serve as places for people to sober up before heading home. They also have a special interest in trying to help those recovering from drug addiction through employment after they lost a son to fentanyl.
“That also has kind of opened us to helping out those coming out of halfway houses or recovering from drug addiction and giving them a chance,” Lindsay says. “We have some now that we’ve given a chance, and they’re doing amazing, and we love it. We’ve given some a chance, and it hasn’t worked out, and that’s OK.”
Lindsay and Kevin had made some renovations and minor menu adjustments, but they’re careful not to throw out the cafe’s whole vibe. They plan to pay off their loan and expand when the right spot is found, likely outside of Dallas proper.
“We’re definitely not in it to change up the menu and change up the concept,” Lindsay says. “We love this concept, obviously; we’ve been here so long. Our goal is to make whatever we can better without changing what Café Brazil actually is.”
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Armadillo talk
Urban wildlife biologist answers questions about native Texan critter
It’s as iconically Texan as Willie Nelson, bluebonnets and brisket. It can be found all over the state, including right here in East Dallas. Keep your eyes open, and you just might spot the official small mammal of Texas: the armadillo. Bonus: It’s baby armadillo season.
Neighbor Stephanie Casey has had a few sightings of these fascinating critters. She’s seen armadillos several times recently in our neck of the woods, one crossing San Mateo Boulevard near Lindsley Park. Another time, she was near the park on Santa Fe Trail when she and her dog spotted an adult armadillo and a baby.
“They didn’t seem concerned about us,” Stephanie says, “and the baby ran right towards me and my dog when it saw us. I shooed it away not knowing what my dog or the adult armadillo might do if the baby got really close. They were just a few feet from us and continued, in a casual manner, across the trail and up into the tree brush.”
Stephanie posted about her sightings but had questions for her community. “Do you see them out and about?” she asked. “Are there tons of them but because they are mostly nocturnal, sightings are rare? Who knows things? Armadillo things?”
Let’s turn to Urban Wildlife Biologist Sam Kieschnick for some answers. “Armadillo talk! I love armadillos — they’re such cool animals,” he smiles. “I’d argue that they’re one of our most recognizable and charismatic animals here in Texas. How many times have you seen a cartoon of an armadillo with a cowboy hat to represent Texas?”
He continues, “They are relatively common throughout the state of Texas — wherever you have ‘diggable soil,’ you’ll likely find armadillos or at least evidence of armadillos.”
Sam pointed me to iNaturalist, a site where any and all can report their observa -
tions in nature. Filtering by type of animal and by location, you’ll find a good number of armadillo sightings in East Dallas, most concentrated around White Rock Lake and other bodies of water. Zoom in to see that these critters have been spotted at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, the Bath House Cultural Center, Flagpole Hill, Lakewood, Lakewood Hills, Hollywood/ Santa Monica, Forest Hills, Casa Linda, Lochwood, and near Ferguson Road, just to name a few locations.
Considering our notoriously clay-like soil here, it follows that these guys more commonly make their homes near the softer soil found on banks of water.
Highly recognizable by their protective shell made of tough, bony plate covered by leathery skin, the species found most often in these parts is the nine-banded armadillo. Contrary to popular belief, not all species of armadillos can roll into a ball when threatened, and any of these critters in this area will likely rely on their surprising speed to scamper away from danger.
This time of year, you might spot an adult armadillo followed by four little ones. Armadillos always give birth to identical quadruplets, which develop from a single egg. Young are born fully formed, with eyes open, and are walking within a few hours. They begin to accompany their mother on foraging expeditions within a few weeks.
Circling back to one of Stephanie’s questions about whether they’re more active at night, here is Sam’s response: “They typically are nocturnal, but it’s not uncommon to see them during the day, digging in leaf litter and in forested areas looking for bugs and grubs and worms to eat. They’re insectivores — so they’ll actively search for these.”
They favor grubs but will happily feast on beetles, ants, termites, larvae and other invertebrates, many of which are potentially harmful. Thank your local armadillo for providing natural pest control.
It’s true that holes dug on your property
aren’t always a welcome sight. “Unfortunately, sometimes they’ll be hunting for grubs in our yards and lawns. It can be frustrating, no doubt,” Sam sympathizes, “but I’d argue that they’re benefitting the soil by aerating it and eating some of the grubs that could also damage the plants.”
The aeration process helps increase oxygen levels around plant roots, promoting healthier growth. Their burrows and holes improve water infiltration during rain, resulting in reduced runoff and erosion. And their digging mixes organic debris such as leaf litter and dead insects into deeper soil layers, providing nutrients to the soil.
It’s notable that more than one comment to Stephanie’s post reassured worried homeowners that armadillos usually don’t linger too long. They feast on grubs at a location, then move on fairly quickly.
How about an armadillo superpower/ fun fact? These creatures get creative when it comes to traversing water. If they need to cross a fairly narrow stream, they can enter on one side, walk across the bottom and emerge on the other side. If the water is a bit wider, they will ingest air, inflate themselves and increase their buoyancy, thus transforming themselves into an armadillo floatie.
Like all wildlife, armadillos contribute to our ecosystem’s productivity and stability. Understanding and appreciating the official small mammal of Texas could go a long way toward an attitude of coexistence.
PATTI VINSON is a guest writer who has lived in East Dallas for more than 20 years. She’s written for the Advocate and Real Simple magazine.
