Steve Watson submitted this great collection of vintage Dallas pics.  Let Steve know how much like them.

Dallas Back In The Day

Garland Road at the Spillway - the intersection of Gaston Avenue. Bob White's Barbecue is seen on the right. Bob White's was owned by the family of Frankie White - BA '6

Above: The Village Theater Interior    Below: The Village Theater Exterior

The Cowboys' first quarterback and first owner: Eddie LeBaron and Clint Murchison in front of the Cotton Bowl

Members of "The Big D Jamboree" pose outside of Ed McLemore's Sportatorium.

Wow! This picture was taken in the 60s while the photographer rode in the first car of the Comet Coaster at Fair Park.

At the Soutwest Historical Wax Museum in Arlington, by the mid-60s they had re-created the tragic day in Dallas - November 22, 1963.

Abrams at Gaston in the mid-60s. The Lakewood Theater is in the background. Harrell's drugstore is in the center.

Tietze Pool in the '50s. The pool was located on Skillman near Lovers Lane.

Lakewood Shopping Center, Abrams Road - Mid 60s. That's the old El Chico in the center of the picture. 

One of those great phone book covers by Janet Hoefle's dad Karl. Zoom in to see how many tiny funny things he's drawn in on the streets of Dallas

World's Largest Salad Bar - Back then you could have the complete Steak Dinner for under 2 bucks.

Why didn't our folks buy TEN of these???

The pool at Harry Stone Rec Center in the mid-sixties.

Above: Two shots of the Lakewood Library. Prior to the Casa View Branch opening, this was the closest library to our neighborhood.

Heading into Dallas from Oak Cliff - 1950

Downtown used to be a hoppin' shoppin' locale. This shot from the early 50s shows a crowd of workers and shoppers dodging cars and electric streetcars.

Dallas Theater Row in the '30s. Some of the main theaters were already gone by our childhood - The Ritz, The Capitol, The Old Mill.

Honest Joe's Pawn Shop

This amazing shot of downtown in the late 40's is looking down Main Street toward theater row.  Can you spot all of these businesses - Titches, Morton's Cafeteria, Texas Loans, The Majestic Theater, The Palace Theater, Haverty's Furniture, and Hart Furniture?

This classic photo shows Dallas in transition from a cowtown to a metropolis. From the late 40's

Couples Only On The Skate Floor!

The interior of Broadway Skateland. On Saturday night they would hold a dance here, with the band set up at the far end.

Field Trip! A visit to The Dallas Health Museum at Fair Park. Human bones, skulls and that creepy see-through man with every vein showing. It was better than a haunted house on Halloween!

This Skillern's store was the one in Highland Park village in this photo from the 40s or very early 50s.

Central Expressway in the early 50s.

Remember the Dallas electric streetcars? This one carried folks along the Oak Lawn route.

State Fair - Late 50s

Baseball legends Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and Duffy Lewis in the uniforms of the Dallas Eagles. Although none of these superstars ever actually played for the Eagles, they were in attendance for the Oldtimer's Game in 1950. The Eagles played at Burnet Field just across the Trinity River in Oak Cliff.

Preston Road at Lovers Lane in the 1940s.

Six years of severe drought conditions beginning in 1951 caused concerns and serious problems in Dallas. By the end of 1952 the water shortage was critical; Lake Dallas for instance held only 11 percent of its capacity. Streams only trickled or dried up completely. In 1956, the final year of the drought, the Bonnie Barge cruise boat was high and dry as conditions completely dried up White Rock Lake (pictured above).

The annual droughts became so bad that the city rationed drinking water. I remember as a 9 year old standing in line at a dispensing location near Norbuck Park with my mother to fill the single gallon jug they allowed us per day.  My folks and I actually walked to the very center of White Rock Lake in the summer of '56. I was shocked not only by the dry, broken dirt under our feet, but by how shallow the lake would have been even if it were full.

But when it rains, it pours, and in 1957 rainfall not only filled the lakes again but caused severe flooding in our area.

Three related articles are reprinted below:

The Dallas - Fort Worth Turnpike. 25-cent toll in the 60s.

El Fenix in the 50s. Very little has changed except the big sign on Buckner Blvd.

Vick's Northlake Cafeteria - Easton at Northwest Highway

Downtown in the 50s

Back in the 50s they sprayed us all with insect poison from airplanes. Yikes! The caption tells us that only higher speed aircraft were used so that the droplets don't damage cars. Cars??? What about damaging US?

The Majestic and Tower Theaters downtown, early 1963

One of our all-time favorite hangouts - Charco's. Can't tell if this one is the Garland Road location, the Mockingbird at Abrams location of the one over on Lemmon Ave.

An old-style Dallas Streetcar stops in front of Skillern's in the '50s. Remember the sparks from the overhead electric wires whenever the streetcar would change from one line to another?

When The Beatles came to Dallas in 1964, they stayed at the Cabana Motor Hotel on Stemmons. The hotel is now a minimum security jail.

The KLIF studios in downtown Dallas

These two motels were on Buckner, across the street from the Circle Grill Drive In Restaurant. Are 

either of these motels still there? The Circle Grill is... 

In the 50s...The Marsalis Zoo - Main Gate? 

Here's a very old picture of White Rock probably taken soon after its contruction, based on the age of the car shown (which today would be under water). Notice how few structures are seen, not even the old smokestack. My favorite part of this pic is the "UFO" in the sky at the top.

Downtown Theater Row, November 1965

The movies that week:

The Ipcress File at the Majestic

The Great Race at the Tower

Bunny Lake is Missing at the Palace

The Bedford Incident at the Capri

50s Era Postcards

The Old St. Paul's Hospital, Downtown

Doran Chevrolet, The Main Library

Titche's downtown store

Big Town Mall shortly after its opening in 1959

Dallas' Majestic Theater - one place that actually lived up to its name.

This is a shot of Central Expressway in 1959, looking south toward downtown.  The overpass at the bottom of the photo is Walnut Hill Lane. Park Lane is the next overpass and then the cloverleaf overpass is Northwest Highway. Don't you wish your folks had invested heavily in some of that unoccupied land !

(Photo contributed by David Ellis)

Elm Street Downtown - Mid 50s

Dallas Skyline - Probably early 50's

Streetcars bring passengers to the State Fair gate - Early 50s

 

"The Bonnie Barge" took passengers on White Rock Lake through the early 60s.

Remember the tornado that hit Dallas in 1957?

White Rock Skating Rink - 1950s

Dallas - Central Expressway - 1962