LAKEWOOD/EAST DALLAS S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 I A D V O C AT E M A G . C O M
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contents LAKEWOOD/EAST DALLAS ADVOCATE VOL.33 NO.9
OPENING REMARKS 12 NTX Giving Day PROFILE 16 Walt Davis & the diorama-rama DINING 20 Spilling the tea on the local dining economy FEATURES 14 It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a flying squirrel! 22 Dallas’s TNR troubles COLUMN 28 Big Tex champ Abel Gonzales
The dioramas of the Dallas Museum of Natural History are finally seeing the light of day after 14 years in the dark. Read more on page 16. Photography by Lauren Allen.
sep 26
D I ST R I B U T I O N / A D V E RT I S I N G 2 1 4 . 5 6 0 . 4 2 0 4 President/Editor-in-Chief: Jehadu Abshiro jabshiro@advocatemag.com Chief Operating Officer: Alessandra Quintero 786.838.5891 / aquintero@advocatemag.com ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Frank McClendon 214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com Catherine Pate 214.560.4201 / cpate@advocatemag.com John Lynch jlynch@advocatemag.com Classified Manager: Prio Berger 214.292.0493 / pberger@advocatemag.com E D I TO R S : Alyssa High ahigh@advocatemag.com Madelyn Edwards medwards@advocatemag.com Victoria Hernandez vhernandez@advocatemag.com Syra Castillo scastillo@advocatemag.com Digital Editor: Cloi Bryan cbryan@advocatemag.com Chief Creative Officer: Jynnette Neal jneal@advocatemag.com Creative Director/Photographer: Lauren Allen lallen@advocatemag.com Contributors: Patti Vinson, Carol Toler, Hailey Smith, Elizabeth Truelove, Austin Wood, Lisa Petty, Leslie Chatman Contributing photographers: Kathy Tran, Yuvie Styles, Victoria Gomez, Amani Sodiq, Cat Iler, Jenni Cholula, Austin Gibbs, Ethan Good, Tanner Garza, Gabriel Cano, Brandon Gonzalez, Jessica Turner, Justin Schwartz Interns: Surya Assar, Bella Portera, Leannette Neal, Shiv Bhandari, Paloma Rudnicki Advocate (c) 2024 is published monthly in print and daily online by Advocate Media - Dallas Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in Dallas and first published in 1991. Contents of this print magazine may not be reproduced. Advertisers and advertising agencies assume liability for the content of all advertisements and sponsorships printed, and therefore assume responsibility for any and all claims against the Advocate. The Publisher reserves the right to accept or reject ay editorial, advertising or sponsorship material in print or online. Opinions set forth in Advocate publications are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the Publisher’s viewpoint. More than 180,000 people read Advocate publications in print each month; Advocate online publications receive more than 4 million pageviews monthly. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate print and online publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one print copy per reader. For information about supporting our non-profit mission of providing local news to neighborhood readers, please call 214-5604204 or email jabshiro@advocatemag.com
ABOUT THE COVER Pepe’s & Mito’s Mexican Cafe & Cantina in Deep Ellum has a sign featuring a parrot holding a margarita and a guitar. Photography by Lauren Allen.
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For 35 years, the Advocate has been part of Dallas neighborhoods — telling the stories that matter most to the people who live here. And for much of that time, people like you have made that work possible. This year for Nor th Texas Giving Day, we’re fo cusing our Giving Day campaign on something very tangible: getting the Advocate into more streets in your neighborhood. We want to make sure that more neighbors have the opportunity to find the Advocate on their street, at a local rack or at a local business. It costs ap proximately $15,000 every month to distribute the Advocate throughout our communities. O u r No r t h Te x a s G i v i n g D ay g o a l i s $ 2 0 , 0 0 0 . Reaching that goal will help cover approximately one month of neighborhood distribution and about three months of rack deliver y. That’s more than a number. It’s more opportunities for a neighbor to pick up the Advocate. More people discovering a s tor y about their community. More local businesses, schools, leaders and residents being seen and heard. Will you consider making a North Texas Giving Day gift to help us reach our $20,000 goal? Text ADVOCATE to 844-844-6844 to make a donation today. Thank you for believing in local journalism and for being part of the Advocate’s story. After 35 years, we couldn’t be more grateful for the community that has helped us get here — and we hope you’ ll help us bring the Advocate to even more neighbors in the years ahead. With gratitude,
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falling with style Neighbors find flying squirrels in Vickery Place. Here’s how you might be able to spot one, too Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
witnessed something rare. In this case, Jody Gilliam and her husband Mike Mulcahey have been fortunate multiple times. The Vickery Place homeowners, who have since moved to Austin, have seen the flying squirrels on four to six occasions, particularly last fall and winter. “Who doesn’t love little fuzzy things?” Gilliam says. “When we first heard about this whole flying squirrel thing, we were instantly mesmerized.” Well, Gilliam had heard of these creatures before but didn’t think they would be found in Texas. Mulcahey saw the first one on a pole in their alley, and since it was using “winged” arms to climb, he thought it was a bat. Then, the critter took flight. “Instead of just flying off like a bird flies off or a bat flies off, it did this bomb dive where it goes straight down before it goes out,” Gilliam says. After consulting the internet and a friend, she concluded that a flying squirrel had been in the alley. Gilliam is not alone in thinking of flying squirrels as existing outside of Dallas. Lots of people are amazed that these critters find homes within the Metroplex, says Sam Kieschnick, Texas Parks and Wildlife urban wildlife biologist. The Southern Flying Squirrel resides in the eastern half of Texas and the U.S., and Dallas-Fort Worth is as far west as they’re normally seen. Despite their name, the flying squirrels don’t actually fly, Kieschnick says. They don’t have actual wings but skin flaps between their limbs that allow them to glide on the wind. The squirrels live in tall trees, so this helps them get around to look for nuts and seeds or escape owls and snakes.
14 lakewood.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
Since the first sighting, Gilliam has spotted the flying squirrels but has only been able to get a glimpse for a second as they flee from her flashlight beam. She recognizes them by the squeaking and chirping sound they make. In fact, she says anyone wanting to try to see one should get to know the noise they make and listen for them. “I was amazed at how loud and obnoxious their noises were and for how long they would make those noises because to me that would just signal a predator,” she says. “But they must have some reason for it.” That reason is communication, Kieschnick says, including when they travel in groups. The flying squirrels are active year-round, but they might be more visible in the colder months because they need to move around more to work up more body heat. And if they are living in trees that lose their leaves in the winter, you may have a better chance at seeing them then. “They’re super, super secretive, mostly because they’re nocturnal, too,” Kieschnick says, adding that they also need to keep hidden to avoid being dinner. “If you’re food, you don’t
want to be seen by someone that’s hungry.” Because of this, Gilliam has a hard time convincing others to believe they live in our neighborhood. Even Kieschnick has never seen one in the wild. “There was one day I came home from work, and I heard one in the neighbor’s yard,” she says. “I’m standing there in my neighbor’s yard just trying to get eyes on it because I know it’s in the top of this tree. The postman comes by, and I’m like, ‘There’s a flying squirrel in the top of this tree,’ and he looks at me like, ‘A re you crazy?’ He just keeps on walking, and I’m like, ‘OK, never mind. I don’t want to be that crazy lady.’” Kieschnick mentioned hearing of someone using a trail or game camera to catch a glimpse of flying squirrels. But anyone who tries this needs to be prepared to see all kinds of wildlife, including rats. Gilliam hasn’ t had the experience of the flying squirrels being as destructive as regular squirrels, but Kieschnick says they have the tendency to chew on things. Like all rodents, their incisor teeth never stop growing.
Getty Images: clu
I F YO U ’ V E S E E N A F LY I N G SQU I R R E L in its natural habitat, you’ve
“To keep those from growing into the back of their brain, basically, they have to chisel down those incisors,” he says. “If there’s something that they can use to chisel down those incisors, they will use that. That can sometimes mean the balcony of our houses or wires, even things like wires that they’re not using to eat; they’re using to chisel. Like all squirrels and like all rodents, they can potentially be pests or nuisances. What I tell people about basically all squirrels and rodents is just finding the ways around your home to prevent them from gaining access.” For anyone who has seen one up close, or at least has Googled a picture of them, prepare to fall in love. These flying squirrels are about 6-8 inches long (smaller than standard squirrels), soft and have big, doe eyes. “ They’re so dang cute,” Kieschnick says. “They’re just so adorable.” The flying squirrels’ big eyes have a purpose — because they are nocturnal, they need eyes that can absorb as much light as possible at night, the urban wildlife biologist says. He also points out that just because they’re attractive doesn’t mean they would make good pets. And if you do get a picture or sound recording of a flying squirrel, Kieschnick recommends uploading it to iNaturalist so that biologists and naturalists can gather data about them. “If we don’t see any reports of them for the next years and years and years, then we have an idea of, ‘Oh my goodness, something is happening here with flying squirrels,’” he says. “Or on the other side, maybe they’re doing well in urbanization, and we start seeing them spread more to the west. It’s by people that document this stuff that we can make those kinds of assumptions and get evidence for it, too.” Gilliam was in disbelief the first time she saw a flying squirrel and now is grateful for the experience. “It is kind of unreal, and it’s just an amazing moment of nature to witness something like that in an urban setting like Dallas, Texas,” she says. “The raccoons are one thing, and the opossums are another. But when you see a flying squirrel, it’s always special.”
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p ro f i l e
Top: Eagles at the Dallas Museum of Natural History. Above: Granville Bruce applying finishing touches to the background mural, 1976. Right: Walt Davis says there’s only one record of a grizzly bear found in Texas. Below: Herb Klein and Hal Kirby in front of the desert bighorn habitat group, ca. 1965. Display photography by Lauren Allen. Archival photos courtesy of Building an Ark for Texas: The Evolution of a Natural History Museum.
Cutline + Photography by sentence. No photo credit if byline.
16 lakewood.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
THE ORIGINAL TEXAS Historic wildlife dioramas are back on view Story by MADELYN EDWARDS Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
T
he exhibit hall floor of the Dallas Museum of Natural History (or the Fair Park Visitor Center) creaked as Walt Davis walked across it while giving a tour of the wildlife dioramas. These aren’t the shoebox dioramas you made in third grade but preserved animals mounted behind glass, surrounded by fabricated foliage with a painted landscape in the background. Davis, an 84-year-old CC Young Senior Living resident, oversaw the creation of a handful of the nearly 50 dioramas, which were built from the mid-1930s until 1978. Scenes from nine out of 10 of Texas’ ecological regions are shown, and coyotes, wolves, elk, deer, otters, foxes, various fowl and birds, wildcats, and bears are on display via taxidermy. “They can see things that are disappearing,” says Davis, when asked what younger generations can gain by viewing the historical dioramas. “They’re not going to walk into the Trinity Forest and see an ivory-billed SEPTEMBER 2026 lakewood.advocatemag.com
17
“If you were interviewing the people who built these exhibits, we’d have a roomful,” Walt Davis says of the historic wildlife dioramas in Fair Park. “Many of them we don’t have records of even the names. So, there are unsung heroes behind this achievement.” Portrait by Lauren Allen. Right: Director and curatorial staff of the museum, (standing) Hal Kirby, Chuck Finsley, Wayne Seifert, Steve Runnels, Walt Davis and Lane Howard, (seated) Bill Wilson and Richard Fullington, ca. 1970. Courtesy of Building an Ark for Texas: The Evolution of a Natural History Museum.
woodpecker. You can see one here from the Trinity Forest. So it is a record of change. And I would hope that it enables people to take action to preserve some of what was originally here. It’s the original Texas.” The museum itself, which opened in 1936 and has been closed for years, is also an artifact of Dallas’s past. It was merged with The Science Place and the Dallas Children’s Museum to make the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in 2006. Collections were taken, and dioramas were left. Davis had stories to go along with nearly all of them about the wildlife on display, the background artists and the process to create the large 3D portraits. Plantlife was crafted, but real dried grasses, dirt and rocks collected on-site are also used. Snow is made of salt. Larger elements were put in front and smaller ones in the back so the dioramas look like they are receding into the distance, connecting with the background paintings. They took months to build from the ground up, at least for the ones from Davis’s era, though he split his time with other work duties. “All of the techniques were very simple,” Davis says. “Leaves were made of wax. Some of the leaves were made of paper. We didn’t have much in the way of plastics to work with back then. So it’s very much a handmade diorama.” Davis’s relationship with the museum began in high school when he was work-
ing on an assignment. He was tasked with interviewing someone doing his dream job (narrowed down to teaching or museum work), and he was able to reach F.W. Miller, then-director of the Dallas Museum of Natural History. “I came down. I interviewed. I wrote my paper. I made an A minus,” Davis says. And in May, he called me with a job offer.” He served as a student assistant each summer through college and returned after he graduated from the University of Texas. Davis’s career is at the intersection of wildlife science and art. Growing up, he had an interest in birds and would wake up before anyone else and roam the creek with a pair of binoculars. In college, he wanted to switch his major from sciences to art, but his adviser discouraged that decision because of the number of credits he had. Still, he found the convergence of the two subjects when he had to observe and draw things in labs. “When I came to the museum and I realized what these dioramas required, that was exactly what I wanted to do,” Davis says. “By accident, it came about that I got to do both things.” He handled a variety of roles, but it became clear that he was best at building the exhibits, specifically, “taking your scientific specimen and using some artistic sense about how you display it.” The field work
18 lakewood.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
required for the dioramas — collecting materials, making molds, camping out on location — was Davis’s favorite part. “You saw it in your head. You knew what you were aiming for, and it was a matter of collecting everything that you needed to make that thing new,” he says. Davis thought the museum would continue the dioramas forever, but Louis F. Gorr, museum director from 1979 to 1986, turned toward paleontology and archaeology instead. Thanks to volunteers staffing the museum, the dioramas are on display for the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays through at least Sept. 20, according to Fair Park’s website. The exhibit was originally supposed to close in July but was extended into the “foreseeable future,” Davis says. In fact, the creation of a Friends of the Natural History Museum group of outdoors enthusiasts and conservationists is in the works. The museum saw thousands of visitors upon reopening this summer. “We were thinking we’re going to bring in all these FIFA people. Well, it turned out these are people who had been to the museum as children, gone to classes here,” he says. “It’s like a family reunion, the building full of people with a common memory, sharing it. It’s a beautiful thing to see.”
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SEPTEMBER 2026 lakewood.advocatemag.com
19
WHY DON’T WE
DINE OUT ANYMORE? Let’s talk turkey about grabbing a bite Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
“N
obody really cares about supporting local.” That bold statement comes from Russell Birk, owner of the nowclosed Maya’s Modern Mediterranean in Casa Linda and current Venturity advisory services chief financial officer. Birk says the only time “shop local” mattered was during the COVID-19 pandemic. But now, using that kind of language to get people into local restaurants isn’t enough to really move the needle for businesses. Maya’s, which opened its East Dallas location at the end of 2018, actually saw an increase in sales during the pandemic and hit its peak in the years following 2020. “Then, 2024 rolls around, and it’s like the rug just got pulled out from under us,” Birk says. If you’re wondering how an establishment can make it through 2020 but not 2025, remember the emphasis put on supporting local restaurants
during the pandemic by ordering takeout. Those attitudes have faded as restrictions were lifted and customers were able to return in full force. Then came inflation. In 2021 and 2022, the rate of change in prices over the course of a year reached highs that hadn’t been seen in decades, though that has come down since. “Rising costs of food, rising costs of labor — people are feeling it at the gas pump to the grocery store to the dining room table at a restaurant,” says Corey Mobley, lead executive director of Texas Restaurant Association chapters. “Some of those costs are relayed back to the consumer. There’s really no other way about it. We have small, razor-thin margins as it is in this industry, so as prices increase on the product that we buy, unfortunately, the prices on the product that we sell have to increase to offset the rising costs.”
Y
T
Jon Alexis, CEO of Imperial Fizz restaurant group (operator of Birdie’s Eastside, among other Dallas neighborhood eateries), has seen this significantly, even as sales are up. “It costs more money to be busy,” Alexis says. His establishments are avoiding radically raising prices and becoming “fancy restaurants.” “The restaurant that’s charging $80 for a steak can charge $85 for a steak tomorrow, and nobody really notices,” Alexis says. “But a $20 entree that becomes $25 is a much bigger shock to a guest and changes who you are in the DNA of a restaurant.” If menu prices aren’t going up, then in Alexis’ experience, inventory stewardship has to be more efficient. “It’s twice as expensive now to overorder something. It’s twice as expensive now to burn a piece of fish,” he says. “Restaurants are like sports. You win on the good plays, but you also get penalized on the bad plays, and every single little mistake costs more now, so you have to be even more of a detailed manager of the restaurants.” Some operators also noticed changes in consumer habits. “The people who are at my price point are dining out less, and then people gravitate toward more comfort foods,” Birk says. “Maya’s food was perceived as healthy and perceived as a little bit more expensive, even though we really weren’t (more costly).” Jen and Marty Reyes, owners of the tiki bar Swizzle, the physical location of which on Greenville Avenue closed last year, noted a troubling trend in their industry — people are drinking less alcohol. “We were making some great mocktails, and so I was like, ‘Man, but no one knows about them,’” Marty says. “No one wanted to drink those. They just wanted to drink like Topo Chico or water.” Jen also described Swizzle as outside the realm of what Dallas folks wanted — whiskey and tequila while watching sports. It didn’t help that some folks had a different understanding of tiki than what the Reyeses created. “Tiki is dark and escapism through dim light and high-proof cocktails,” Marty says. “Tropical is sitting on a beach drinking piña coladas. It’s totally different cultures.” If Birk could do it all over again, he would have changed how he branded and marketed Maya’s, reminding customers to dine there again. “If you open a restaurant today, you need
to be TikTok ready, brand ready, Instagram ready,” he says, adding that it’s a “losing proposition” to use unbranded packaging for takeout orders. “You have to walk in, and this has to look like a place that you’re going to take a picture of.” The Reyeses’ Tiki concept has done well on social media, but it also projected an alternate reality where Swizzle’s physical location was more successful. “Social media was our friend, so that wouldn’t be something I would change at all,” Jen says. “I think social media is really the only thing keeping us afloat and still the only thing keeping us afloat. They only know about our pop-ups and our catering and stuff like that because of social media. So I think it’s our friend, but I also think it can make a place seem like it’s doing really well, even if it’s not.” People haven’t stopped going out to eat. Restaurants are still opening and remain a major attraction. But diners today are moderating their decisions to get the right bang for their buck in terms of value and experience, Mobley says. “You can go out to eat for lunch two times, and that would be the same cost to take your wife out to celebrate the anniversary for a nice dinner,” he says. “People are working; people are busy, too. I think we tend to fly through lunch hours sometimes and look down and say, ‘Oh man, we forgot to eat,’ which I guess is a good thing but also a bad thing for the restaurants.” The Reyeses are optimistic that the Dallas food and drink economy will recover. They recommend supporting local food and drink establishments, especially the independent mom-and-pops that tend to need the most help, before they’re gone. “If you’re going to go see a show at Granada and go, ‘Oh, we’ve always wanted to go over to this place here.’ Well, go that night,” Marty says. “Make it happen now because, more or less, you’re going to forget about it.” Alexis has another take on consumer responsibility — they don’t have any. Going out to eat or drink should be the part of life that feels easy, he says, where shoulders drop from ears, and the world’s problems fade away if only for a moment. “It’s our job to find the right value equation for them, and it’s their job to forget about life for a second and be the consumer,” Alexis says. “Everything is complicated. Man, your drink shouldn’t be. Your lunch shouldn’t be.”
A lot has changed since we wrote “Lunches for less than five dollars” in 2010. Compiled by Paloma Rudnicki Taquería Los Altos De Jalisco Mexican Restaurant Then: $4.99 » Taco lunch special. Our previous article: “The taco lunch special includes three tacos with your choice of meat plus rice and beans. Free chips with a selection of mild to hot salsas make it a steal. Add a soda or a beer for a buck or two.” Now: $14.99 » Crispy Taco Platter: three crispy tacos with your choice of ground beef or chicken. Served with sour cream, lettuce, tomato cheese, rice and beans. Most drinks are between $3 and $4. No lunch section appears on the menu. 6012 Abrams Road #102 Prices were found on the restaurant’s Yelp page.
Gloria’s Latin Cuisine Then: $4 » A pupusa and a tamale. Our previous article: “Pupusas, thick pockets of corn masa, are stuffed with spicy pork and cheese. Handmade tamales have chicken, potatoes and bell pepper. And you’ll receive all the chips, salsa and creamy black bean dip you can eat. A small chicken soup, $4.99, makes a good lunch on its own.” Now: Pupusas are scattered throughout the online menu. For lunch, you can order Glenda’s Favorite with two pupusas, gallo pinto, whole black beans and a side of salsa adobada for $11. Nancy’s Favorite, a Salvadoran tamale and pupusa with gallo pinto, whole black beans and a side of salsa adobada, is also on the lunch menu for $11. Sopa de Pollo, chicken soup with vegetables and rice, is $12 for small and $16 for large. 3715 Greenville Ave. Prices were found on the restaurant’s website.
Tony’s Pizza and Pasta Then: $4.95 » Mozzarella, ricotta & sausage calzone. $4.75 » Our previous article: “The artichoke salad — with mounds of mozzarella, Canadian bacon and artichoke hearts — easily feeds two. Start with an order of fried calamari for $3.95.” Now: $8.95 » Calzone with sausage, mozzarella and ricotta cheese. $8 » artichoke salad: with iceberg and romaine lettuce, diced artichoke hearts, Canadian bacon, black olives, tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers, and shredded mozzarella cheese. $10.95 » fried calamari. None of these items appear on the online lunch menu. 10233 E. Northwest Highway, Suite 504 Prices were found on the restaurant’s website.
WHO CARES FOR THESE CATS?
Not enough active hands to help community cats Story by MADELYN EDWARDS
MOUNT AUBURN NEIGHBOR Rebecca Kornblum insists that she doesn’t try to find stray cats — they find her. “My husband jokes it’s my superpower to find animals,” Kornblum says. “I’m literally never looking. I just always see them.” The former veterinary technician and Dallas Animal Advisory Commission member was long active in trapping, neutering and returning (TNR) community cats but has tried to step back recently for lack of time. Still, she cares for 14 cats on her property, including multiple with illnesses, and co-founded a nonprofit rescue organization. She says people still ask for her help. In June, Kornblum attended a public meeting led by Dallas Animal Services (DAS) at the Lakewood Branch Library and was disappointed to hear the same things that were said 20 years ago. Neighbors expressed frustration with being overrun by outdoor cats, a process to get service request numbers that helps them access spay and neutering services for free, lacking clinical options and the feeling that
they weren’t being listened to as the City continues to have the same issues. DAS officials explained they are doing the best they can with what they have while trying to promote education among animal caregivers. Rock meets hard place. “I need a place to go,” Lakewood Heights neighbor Jennifer Woulfe said during the meeting. “I love (Texas Coalition for Animal Protection). I do most of my stuff at TCAP, but there have been times that I have to get there at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. I have to wait, and I can’t easily do that. So, for me, I need a place that’s an easier option to go. I’m willing to do it. You have free help right here, free. I’m doing it for free because I know it’s important for the cats. I know it’s important to my community.” Any animal reproducing quickly and unfettered leads to a bigger population with higher risks for “disease transmission, parasites, sanitation concerns, nuisance behaviors,” says Amanda Earl, DAS assistant director of operations. “One of the primary benefits of TNR is
22 lakewood.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
Dallas Animal Services is proposing updates to the City Code regarding community cats, but this would not add a trap, neuter, return program. Photos courtesy of Dallas Animal Services.
that participating cats are vaccinated against rabies,” Earl says. “They’ve been sterilized. They’ve at least been looked at by a veterinarian. They have an ear tip so that we can identify those animals. It does help stabilize colony size. It does help reduce nuisance behaviors, but there are only so many resources.” And it can be easy for colonies to grow out of control. Almost 8,500 service requests regarding stray cats were placed between August 2023 and September 2025 throughout Dallas but especially in East Dallas, Oak Cliff, Downtown and other southern Dallas areas, according to a City report. “A lot of elderly people live alone, and then a cat will show up, and they feed it, and then it has kittens, and then the kittens have kittens,” Kornblum says. “Suddenly, they’re on social security, and they’ve got 20 cats on their porch.” TCAP doesn’t have an affordable spay and neuter clinic in Dallas. The most accessible locations for our neighbors are in Garland and Allen. To participate in TCAP’s Feral Fix Program, it is recommended to arrive
“well before 8 a.m.” to secure one or more of the 12 slots available, according to the clinic’s website. “And I’m telling you, it’s a hard stop at 12,” Woulfe says. If you miss your chance, you have to try again or schedule an appointment (which can be difficult as TNRers can’t predict how many cats they are able to trap) and pay $20, according to TCAP’s website. And not all clinics perform feral cat surgeries every weekday. At Spay Neuter Network on South Buckner Boulevard, cats are accepted first-come, first-served on open surgery days until capacity is reached. This service costs the same as for owned cats, unless a Dallas resident has a service request number, in which case the spay or neuter is free and funded by DAS, according to the clinic’s website. TNRers can get a service request number through 311, but some said at the Lakewood meeting that the process to receive that is inefficient. (Woulfe says TCAP also offers free services for Dallas residents with a service request number.)
COMMUNITY CAT ORDINANCE Dallas Animal Services is putting forth a new community cat ordinance to be passed by the Quality of Life, Arts, & Culture Committee and the Dallas City Council. The ordinance would set clear definitions and expectations for responsible community cat caregiving. Earl heavily emphasized that it would not create a City-run TNR program. “It’s supposed to also establish standards for community cats participating in the TNR program,” she says. “Sterilization, rabies vaccination, ear tipping, microchipping, all of the little things that people don’t realize are part of managing a community cat colony. Ultimately, it’s intended to provide clarity and consistency and accountability, while supporting community cat management, education, partnerships, responsible caregiving.”
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“They receive information about participating partner organizations that will provide services like sterilization, vaccination, ear tipping, depending on funding or appointment availability,” Earl says of the service request number system. “It helps connect the residents with available resources while allowing DAS to continue to support all of that through community partnerships. It also helps us track the community concerns and develop that heat map or identify trends, where they’re at and to better understand where our outreach and education efforts may be needed.” And no, the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) of Texas, headquartered in Dallas, is currently not accepting trap, neuter, return surgeries, according to its website. Woulfe says SPCA had a TNR program but stopped after the pandemic. “(A neighbor) managed to get connected with SPCA, and they were doing transport,” she says, though this wasn’t an option provided to everyone at all times. “We would actually trap the cats. They would come in a van. They would pick up the cats in the morning, take them, and bring them back and release them. So we had help.” Some advocates think Dallas Animal Services should participate in TNR. The department calls the practice “the only proven, humane method to control outdoor cat populations” on the City’s website but currently isn’t proposing a City-run TNR program. “How amazing would it be if there was a feral cat program at the City of Dallas, and there was a feral cat coordinator?” Kornblum says. “(If ) we had all of these traps, and people who trap could go to DAS, borrow traps, take the cats that they trap to DAS, get them TNR’ed and return them. Or even have animal control officers who do this instead of being dependent on just regular, individual people.” But that’s not something that Dallas Animal Services will do anytime soon. “We would need the staff support. We would need the funding support. We would need community support. We’d need those partnerships,” Earl says. Put plainly, the department doesn’t have the medical staff to manage those surgeries. Recruiting veterinarians tends to be a challenge since there are less than 40 American Veterinary Medical Association-accredited colleges in the U.S. On top of that, shelter medicine tends to be a niche study, Earl says, and filling those roles is difficult. Not every
vet can manage 30 or more surgeries in a day. Case in point, Dallas Animal Services has had a full-time veterinarian vacancy since last fall. “We can’t compete with private enterprise,” Earl says. “ We can’ t pay off their student tuition costs that they’ve incurred. We can’t offer them the same salaries and benefits as others because we are a municipal organization.”
“There’s a lot of need, not only with the trapping but also getting medical.”
As of writing this, the department currently has veterinarians for treatment (one full-time and one temporary part-time), telehealth, and forensics, plus two surgeons, one full-time and one temporary part-time. Compared to the almost 29,000 animals DAS takes in per year, this is a small team, Earl says. They have specialized roles that include providing intake exams, emergency care, illness and injury treatment, surgeries, and medical support for fosters. Dallas Animal Services also partners with organizations to expand their staff ’s bandwidth just to care for shelter animals, and that’s still not enough to do TNR surgery. “It’s not through lack of desire,” Earl says. “It is lack of resources right now, and that’s nobody’s fault.”
24 lakewood.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026
Feline concerns are handled by the community engagement team. Among other tasks, these staffers respond to cat-related calls and evaluate situations, point locals toward resources and aim to educate the public. In fiscal year 2024-25, the City used to have a specific program for unowned cats, but that was discontinued because of budget cuts, Earl says. The program included the so-called Team Tabby, in which 1,451 cats were fixed, preventing thousands of kitten births and newborn intakes, according to the City report. TNRers interviewed by the Lakewood/ East Dallas Advocate are mostly sympathetic to DAS’s position and would like to see the department get the resources needed. “Apparently, we need to start attending city council meetings and being a voice for DAS and for these animals because a lot of people aren’t speaking up,” Woulfe says. Dallas County’s veterinary care accessibility score is 66 out of 100, and, while not the worst, well below that of neighboring counties. DAS is working to help identify where those deserts are and rebuilding infrastructure to better manage animals in the shelter and outside of it, Earl says. Far Northeast Dallas neighbor Mar y G erman star ted TNRing on her street before connecting with other neighborhoods, including Oak Cliff, Arlington and Grand Prairie. She manages colonies in Dallas, Garland and Mesquite, feeding the cats even on special occasions and despite challenges brought on by apartment complex rules. She noticed Hispanic communities tended to require the most help. “ There’s a lot of need, not only with the trapping but also getting medical,” German says. Earl says Dallas leadership has been supportive, but even in a perfect world, she imagines that everyone would step up for DAS, including businesses and neighbors. “We can’t do it by ourselves,” she says. “We can keep spinning our wheels, we can keep doing sterilizations, we can keep taking the owners’ surrenders, but our most important thing should be to help keep animals in their homes and help provide those resources. But we can’t be the one that’s providing all the resources. We’re not that big. Our community is huge.” On that point, Earl’s message to those practicing TNR is “keep doing what you do. If we can help, we will.”
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Deep fried heart of Texas
East Dallasite Abel Gonzales is a five-time winner of the State Fair’s Big Tex Choice lakewood.advocatemag.com SEPTEMBER 2026 Award. Photography by Lauren Allen.
28
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
By PATTI VINSON
Fried butter creator reflects on his rise to fame
E
a s t D a l l a s , Fr i e d Je s u s w a l k s amongst us. Calm down. It’s not blasphemy or sacrilege. It’s the nickname for our neighborhood’s own Abel Gonzales, famous (or infamous) for introducing Fried Butter, Fried PB&J, Fried Cookie Dough and other bizarre creations to patrons of the State Fair of Texas. He’s the five-time winner of the Fair’s Big Tex Choice Award, but he’s not resting on his deep-fried laurels, not by a long shot. He loves the State Fair and has attended every year since birth, first with his parents and now as a concessionaire and competitor. His roots with the Fair and with East Dallas run deep. “Born and raised. Still here, never left. Geneva, Long, Woodrow. East Side all the way,” Abel says. Growing up in the area, the fairgrounds weren’t far away, and he and his family never missed their annual trip. “Our family were — are — big Fair fans. My grandparents and parents made Fair days special. There was always a new shirt and a little extra money for rides for us. My grandmother would make us a fried chicken dinner to enjoy near the lagoon. It was a BIG deal for us. It still is.” One of his favorite memories happened when he was about 8 years old. “We were a once-per-year Fair family. Rarely were we able to go twice. One year my grandfather won some money on a Cowboys game. I remember it like it was yesterday,” he smiles. “As soon as the game was over, he said, ‘Let’s go to the Fair!’ I got a corny dog, and me and my sister ate cotton candy and rode rides. It was wonderful.” Abel started working in his father’s restaurant, A.J. Gonzales’ Mexican Oven, as a young boy, absorbing life in the kitchen. As an adult, he worked as a computer analyst by day and at his dad’s restaurant in the evenings. And he continued to enjoy the Fair. Around 1999, he had just lost a game
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of ring toss on the midway when he had a lightbulb moment: He could run a booth at the Fair. He pursued the idea but found it impossible to break into the system since the games were run by one organization. Then he realized he had the know-how in the kitchen: a food booth could work. He opened his first booth at the Fair in 2003, selling giant, Texas-shaped sopapillas. Two years later, the State Fair began a new contest, open to concessionaires only, which would ultimately change his life: the Big Tex Choice Awards competition, an opportunity for those with Fair concession stands to showcase creativity using a deep fryer. Because the Fair had an Elvis exhibit that year, Abel’s mind immediately went to Elvis-inspired foods. He settled on fried peanut butter, banana and jelly sandwich — and won the coveted golden statuette. Picture an Oscar with a Big Tex head, and you get the idea. Over the years, he has gone on to win the Big Tex Choice Award four other times, for Fried Coke, Fried Cookie Dough, Fried Butter and Fried Jambalaya. So how did it feel to win those awards? “It feels awesome! Especially the first few times. I don’t know what it feels like to win an Oscar, but it can’t be that much different.” Pun intended, it’s fair to say that the State Fair of Texas has changed Abel’s life, particularly his Fried Butter win, a spectacle which resulted in Oprah herself stopping by for a sample. “The next thing you know, I’m on Oprah, The Today Show, The View and many, many, many others. I was a regular on a couple of TV shows.” Abel appeared on the reality show Deep Fried Dynasty and was a judge on Deep Fried Masters, experiences he said he really enjoyed. “I was in New York for what seems like half of the year. Everything changed.” He loves the creativity and the awards, but he’s beginning to approach the process of inventing new dishes a little differently. “I will say as time goes on, that competitive process, though still very important and meaningful, shifts as your priorities and ideas shift,” he pauses, then adds, “The ideas in my head never stop. The past few years I’ve shifted my thoughts towards affordable product and more ‘chef-y’ products. Like right now, I’m thinking I should just stick to my mission of reinventing products that are affordable and fun. I really like that path.” But, c’mon: those golden statuettes! “I would still want a sixth win regardless of what direction I’m going,” he admits. As he’s done every year since 2003, Abel will have a couple of booths at the Fair this year, one at Nimitz and Keating, outside the Embarcadero Building, and the other on the Funway. Look for Abel taking orders at the booths emblazoned with “Vandalay Industries.” Seinfeld fans, you get the reference. What’s on the menu? “All the award winners along with Fried Lobster and Fried Pizza. My Funway booth was transformed into ‘Cheap Eats’ last year with more traditional-style event foods with a more affordable price. I plan to use that same idea there this year, maybe with some surprises.” Our neighborhood’s Fried Jesus has made us proud, but Abel Gonzales is not done. “I’m really not sure what my next step is going to be, but two things for sure: I’ ll always have an idea for something new, and I will always be a part of the Fair one way or another.”
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