Halloween In The Hood

Halloween over the years has gone though many changes.  I think it is amusing that it is the only holiday that some people HAVE to tell you, "I don't celebrate Halloween".  Halloween started as either a Roman feast of Pomona the goddess of fruits and seeds OR a Celtic festival of Samhain which celebrated the end of summer. My husband and I saw something on TV last year called A Haunted History of Halloween.  It was very interesting.  However in this day and age there are a lot of folks who do not celebrate Halloween for one reason or another.  In Oak Cliff that is not the case.

When we were growing up in Oak Cliff,  Halloween was the best holiday next to Christmas.  What other holiday can you go around to homes and people just give you candy?  I remember those store bought costumes they started selling when I was about 8.  They came in nice neat boxes which I thought were very organized but when I looked at them closely they all looked cheap, and they were.  I decided that I would always make most of my own costume and that I would NEVER wear one of those masks that look like a flattened version of the character we were trying to portray.  About a week before Halloween my friends and I would decide at whose house we were going to meet and where we were going to go trick or treating.  There were also school carnivals during the month of October that featured haunted houses.  I remember helping my parents change one portable at Rosemont into a place of horror.  It was such fun working with my parents and seeing the creation of a haunted house.   As a teacher now I cannot even imagine my room being taken over for this kind of event.  The school sold cakes and candies with spiders and ghosts.  We played games and got real gold fish as prizes.  My dad always said he thought Coomb's Creek was filled with fish from Rosemont's carnivals.  Halloween and October in general was magical.  We used our imaginations and faced our fears.

Then came the poisoned candy.  There were stories popping up all over about children being poisoned by tainted candy.  Other stories told of razor blades hidden inside apples.  People all over America freaked out and started refusing to let their children trick or treat. This media blitz affected Oak Cliff too.  However, we just had more rules than before.  We could only go to homes where we knew the people; our parents had to check the candy and we could not keep any candy that was not wrapped.  However, the spirit of Halloween was tarnished.  It felt like some of the magic was gone.  Years later it was revealed that there were only a couple of cases of poisoning.  One where a dad tried to poison his child and one where a child tried to poison himself for attention.  By the time all these facts came out we were in high school and the holiday had become an excuse for having another dance.

After I got married my husband and I realized that we both loved to dress up.  We started tracking down and going to ANY party where we could go to just to dress up and have fun.  Over the years we have worn many costumes and they have become more and more elaborate. Our friends Monty and Rodney have a party that we go to every year but this always falls the weekend before Halloween. We also found that Halloween had come back to Oak Cliff with a vengence.  Oak Cliff was getting a large Hispanic Catholic population that enjoyed the holiday.  It is so much like their Dias de los Muertos celebration. We were overjoyed that we could now be the adults who gave out candy!  Yet we were determined not to be the little old lady or man who came to the door.  We decided to scare them too.  So with my brother's help we staged elaborate porch productions featuring double and sometimes triple scares.  I swear we smelled pee sometimes.

About 10 years ago we moved to Winnetka Heights.  We bought a very old house that just looked spooky from the get go.  A friend of ours would not stay in the house for any length of time because he said if felt creepy.  We also discovered from the former owner that a girl had died here in the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919.  We have never seen anything but we loved playing up the spookiness of the place.  People around Oak Cliff also enjoy decorating their homes.  Every year we see more and more decorations popping up around the area.  We love to see the creativeness that people show.  What about the trick or treaters?  Well their numbers have increased to an amazing point.  We have one of those VERY large containers that we fill twice with candy.  We give out just ONE piece per child and by the end of the night we are out of candy.  We give good candy not cheap stuff.  It cost us a small fortune but it is worth it to sit on the porch every Halloween night and watch the parade of children and their parents.  It is heart warming to see older siblings refuse candy for themselves when they are taking the young ones around.  It is amusing to see grown adults in costumes out walking around.  AND it is GREAT that our whole block participates in this celebration.  It is like a great block party each and every Halloween.

I can not think of a better place to spend Halloween than in Oak Cliff.  People here know how to celebrate this holiday right!

Yard Art?

As we have been walking we have run across some odd yard "art".  Now these items we find are not the cutesy little items people find at craft fairs.  You will not see a cow with a sprinkler tail, a plywood fat lady/man picking weeds or wooden ducks with propeller wings. Here in Oak Cliff those items are few and far between I am happy to say.  We have our own unique way of expressing what we think art is.  For us this is far more interesting than any mass produced craft project.  The three photos above are great examples of Oak Cliff's creative voice.

This picture was taken early one morning on a quite busy street.  It was an old trophy that had been taken apart and stuck a top a 5 foot pole.  The pole was right against the chain link fence that was bordering the property.  As we passed I immediately stopped and took a picture.  I would like to think this represent someone's pride at an accomplishment. However when we went back a few weeks later the object was moved to another spot in the front yard.  So maybe it was just a toy or maybe in was performance art.

This picture was taken on another busy street.  The yard was filled with cars in all stages of working condition.  There were garbage cans, weeds and a basketball hoop in other parts of the yard but the area immediately surrounding this sculpture was pristine and clean.  It also had its own makeshift base.  I think it is a image from a Greek myth but I could not tell which one.  This was a take the picture and run shot.  There were dogs in the yard and even behind a fence I did not want to stay around and chat.  I just thought the contrast of this sculpture that you might find in a European country estate and the surroundings it was in was great.

This last picture was the most original one I have ever seen.  This was taken on another busy street.  I think I am seeing a trend here.  As we came down the connecting side street we noticed this basket hanging in a tree.  At first we thought there was some live animal in the cage.  Then as we got closer we thought it was something they had trapped and had died there.  My husband said, "If there is a real animal in there I am calling SPCA."  When we finally got close enough we discover that it was a stuffed gorilla.  We really could not believe our eyes. WHY would anyone put a stuffed gorilla in a cage, in a tree and in their front yard.  Oh they yard is covered with cinder block tiles.  I guess that is one way to not mow.  This place cracked us up!  When I up loaded it on Facebook my friends were just as amused.

• Michael: What the heck is it?
• Sara: ummm.....stuffed monkey in a cage?
• Dixie: interesting
• Alison: They change things around in the cage. But I have never seen a real animal in there. Thank goodness :)

You would never see something like this in other parts of Dallas.  Life would be so boring without the Cliff. :-) 

The Photo That Started it All

This was the photo that started my blogging.  I had started posting the photos I had taken on our walks the summer of 2010 on Facebook.  My friend Geniva (Karen) commented on this one and suggested that I put a book together of all my photos.

I met Geniva while my husband and I were playing an on line game called Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC).  She and I started chatting and I knew that she was a "normal" person with some of the same interests and  values as me.  Geniva was born in Canada and met her husband playing Everquest (EQ).  She moved from Canada to Memphis, TN to marry him.  We met them a few months after they were married  while they were playing DAOC.  I can not even imagine the culture shock she went through with a move like that.  She convinced my husband and me to follow them to a new game called World of Warcraft  (WOW)  After our move there we decided to actually go and meet the two of them.  We had a blast with them there and one day I hope they will come an visit us here in Texas.   I thought it was amusing when she told me how nervous she was in meeting me.  I mean come on she met her husband on line.  I was just some chick that she clicked with. LOL  Anyway, she and I have remained friends through all different games.  We do have a lot in common even though she likes the cold and I like the hot.  I like pizza and she does not. ;-)

I got her to join Facebook and that is where she saw this photo.  She is very good about looking at my page and commenting on my things I post.  She said, "oh I love this ... you need to put all these pictures in books ;)"  I smiled and thought yea right!  Then my friend Michelle said, "Or a blog that others can see and share! Terrific collection that really shows off the uniqueness of the hood!"  Now that I thought was a great idea!

Michelle is the wife of a guy that my husband and I knew in church while we were growing up.  Michelle is not a home grown Oak Cliff person but she got here as soon as she could.  Michelle has a voice that is to die for.  She sings with her hubby in a band and every time we see them we are blown away.  She always has a very unique take on things and I value her opinion and thoughts.  When she suggested this blog, it got my mind racing.  I grilled my friends on Facebook and decided on blogger.com.  I have told my father about this and he was thrilled that I was writing again.  He had no idea about what what a "blog" was but as long as I was writing he did not care.  More about that conversation later.

I am not sure why this photo intrigued folks but I have had lots of comments on it.  It was taken outside a small theater company here in Oak Cliff.  Personally I have never been to a production there but I know folks who have.

It is interesting how one little comment like, "Hey sweetie hold on a sec and let me get a picture of this." can change so much.

Trouble

Sometimes when we are walking we actually run errands too.  Even though I am better at multitasking, Paul loves to do it too.  This picture was taken at a local store the first time we went there after I had started documenting our walks.  Yes I know you all know which store it is. :-P

This new building was opened in the 90s after much anticipation.  The building across the street had kind of outgrown its usefulness and even though it looked ok I could start to see the years of wear and tear on it.  I remember there use to be a funeral home and car wash on this same site where the new building now stands.  I had never been in the funeral home but the car wash was a source of many problems for people in the neighborhood.  I think everyone was so happy to see the car wash go and this building come in, even if it was smaller than other stores of the same chain around the Dallas area.

The day this picture was taken I had been taking some great shots of the produce inside.  I will post those later.  We were getting ready to go back home when I looked up at the sign.  There were all these little rods sticking out.  I think they are there to keep pigeons off the sign.  Anyway I thought they were such a cool effect so I got my little camera out and tried to get an interesting shot of those rods.

If anyone knows me they know that I am one of those people who IF I am doing something wrong I will get in trouble.  Now a hundred other people could do the same thing but NOOOO it is always me that gets caught.  When I was a senior in high school, I skipped school one day to work on a English paper.  My friends Homer and David were the ones who convinced me to go.  We went to the downtown library and spent the whole day researching stuff for our projects.  We got back to school just as people were getting ready to go home and I really thought I had gotten away with it.  I went home and nothing was wrong until about 9:30 when my father comes home from a Choir Boosters meeting.  Of course my choir director had asked my dad if I was sick.  I was so busted.

Then when I was in college I went with some friends to Hot Springs one day instead of going to class.  We were going there to drop off a car my friend Tim was borrowing.  We went with two other people so there were 4 of us.  I figured I was only missing one class.  We got down there and dropped off the car and were starting back in one car when BAMMMM!  A car came through the intersection and ran into one the cars we were traveling in.  This was before everyone and their grandma had cell phones so we went to the nearest Waffle House, called the school, called a tow truck and sat inside and waited for someone to come get us from the college.  When he finally showed up we saw that he had come in the smallest sports car he could find WITH a friend.  So the 6 of us piled into that small car and headed back to college.  The drive time was usually about an hour and a half but since the car had O ring problems we had to stop every so often and add more oil.  When we got back finally people asked us where we had been.  My friend Tim said,"Hell".  Oh and then I found out I had missed a major test. O.o

SOOOO anyway you can see that I am a type of person that ALWAYS gets caught when they are doing stuff they are not supposed to be doing even if I don't know it is wrong.  So this day as I snapped off a couple of pictures I heard behind me one of those golf carts that the security uses.  The security officer said, "You can not take pictures of the front of the building. You have to have permission.  I am going to need to see that camera and delete those photos."  I was freaking out!  Luckily my lucky charm , my husband, was there and convinced the guy that we would do that ourselves.  OMG he scared me.  However I think this is a good picture and I think the store would too no matter what Billy Bad Ass said. :-P

Eye Candy

Ok see THIS is what I am talking about.  THIS is the essence of Oak Cliff.  Here in Oak Cliff people feel free enough to express their creativity in so many different ways.  We were just walking home from the store and BAMM this was in front of us.  I was so excited to see this car!

There was this certain student that I had known since kindergarten.  He had ALWAYS been into cars and ALWAYS had an adult point of view every since kinder.  I always knew I could reach him if I related it to cars.  He was put into my art class as an 8th grader and I enjoyed every minute of his company.  He laughed at my jokes, discussed politics and finances and was ok with his mistakes.  He brought me an article from some car magazine about "Art" cars.  These were cars that were totally decked out with images.  I fell in love with the idea of decorating cars.  I scanned the pictures which were a on a full page spread across the fold and Photoshopped them together.  The student was as much impressed at my ability to do that as I was with him.  I hope someday he will see this blog and see himself in it.

The only thing this car lacked was the top lacquer coat.  The images were starting to  peel and flake off.  I am glad I got a picture before they were all gone.

Nature

I have been stuck by how beautiful simple things are in nature recently.  For example these Crepe Myrtle Bushes are just amazing.  The diameter of the one at the bottom is about 2 feet.  The feel of this bark is truly amazing.  It is so smooth you don't even think you are touching a tree/bush.  I took these photos for my friend Geniva who is from Canada.  She is now living in Memphis and told me all Crepe Myrtles there were ugly.  So I took these shots to show her why I loved them.  When I posted them on Facebook she agreed but still said the ones in Memphis were ugly. :-) I hope the one we planted in the back a few years ago will look like these one day!

Restorations

One of the wonderful things that has been happening here in Oak Cliff in the past few decades is the restoration of many old homes.  I feel like Oak Cliff is one of the few places in Dallas that cherishes its past.  When we are in other parts of Dallas we see so many thing just GONE and something else in its place. My father in law always says, "That wasn't there last week".  In Oak Cliff you see the same places but with a fresh face.  The whole area feels like recently someone took it and gave it a good scrubbing to reveal the new skin underneath.   My husband and I play a game on our walks.  When we pass by a house that is in need of a good scrubbing we say to each other, "What would you do first?"  Amazingly enough it is usually the same thing.  I wanted to thank all the homeowners and flippers out there that have done such a wonderful job restoring these old homes.  I am going to have to put a plug in here for the Oak Cliff Home tour.  Folks really need to see some of the amazing work people in this area are doing.
http://www.ooccl.com/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=3&year=2009&month=10&day=10&Itemid=1

Norma's

Norma's Cafe, as the sign says, has been an Oak Cliff landmark since the 50s.  They serve good home made cooking that will fill you up.  There are many old photographs of Oak Cliff on the walls and many regulars in the chairs.  It has been said that Lee Harvey Oswald ate breakfast here before heading out to kill Kennedy.  Oh wait I need to add ALLEGEDLY kill Kennedy.  My friend James pointed that fact out recently.  I regret to say that personally I have only eaten there a few times.  Not sure why my parents never took us there growing up or why my friends and I did not go there when I was a teen.  I believe this sign was damaged in a tornado in the 90s so it is not the original one.  Personally I am very glad Norma's is still there. :-)

Walks in the Hood

In 1972 my family moved here from Austin.  This was a move on Nixon's part to get rid of my father's job by moving it to a more conservative town.  My parents chose to live in a section of Dallas that was more like Austin  So we move to Oak Cliff.  Plus my parents just could not see spending  $50 grand on a house in North Dallas and my father could catch the bus a few blocks from our home and be at work within 10 minutes.

The house we bought was a Charles Dilbeck house.  He was a Dallas architect whose work can still be seen around Dallas.  Well unless those folks in North Dallas have torn it down.  The yard was spacious, the schools were good and the neighbors were friendly.

Little did we know that Oak Cliff had a stigma attached to it.  We soon learned about the Oak Cliff OOOOO syndrome.  This is a reaction that Oak Cliff residents receive when people ask them, "Where in Dallas do you live?"  "I live in Oak Cliff"  "OOOOOO"  Our family soon relished living in this area and being part of the NON Dallasites group.  For anyone who has lived in Dallas you know what I mean by a traditional Dallasist.  Oak Cliff people are NOT that at all.  My parents loved that about the area.

I attended Rosemont, Greiner and Sunset schools here in Oak Cliff. My education was very well rounded.  I was on the softball team, played the viola for 10 years, took dance classes, art classes, Latin classes, as well as all the academic classes.  My father was always pleased with the amount of we were learning.

Our family attended a Trinity Presbyterian Church here in Oak Cliff on the recommendation of Gretta Hodges, a neighbor.  This is where I met the my husband's family.  They too were from another town and had found refuge in Oak Cliff.  Years later after being friends with their eldest, we ended up falling in love and getting married right back in the same Oak Cliff church.  I thank my lucky stars every day we
1. moved to Oak Cliff
2. met Gretta Hodges and
3. joined Trinity.

After getting married I moved into my husband's house in Elmwood.  This is a neighborhood south of what now is the Hampton DART station.  We then moved to Hampton Hills which is north of the DART station and then to Winnetka Heights.

We have always been fanatics of Oak Cliff.  We have always played up its strong points to anyone who would listen.  Lately Oak Cliff has come into sort of a boom!  We have gotten a lot more shops, restaurants and services here.  The DART station for one has been a great success.  The rail was run along old rail road lines.  The new station provided much needed transportation for many folks and is still a fun trip to take.

Bishop Arts was the latest lift to the Oak Cliff area.  This area restored some of the former uniqueness of Oak Cliff.  Small unique shops, restaurants and art galleries opened and received much acclaim.

Then came the snobs.  It seems in recent months there has become a snobbish nature to some folks here.  People only want the "best" of everything.  There have been some new decisions that might do away with the uniqueness of Oak Cliff.  SOOOO I decided to start documenting all the fun and diverse aspects of Oak Cliff before it goes away.  I hope that I am wrong in this observation but if not the following are pictures taken on our hikes and bikes (well as soon as we get our bikes up and running) through our neighborhood. All these photos are taken with my silly Iphone camera.  I keep it with us for timing of the walks.  I have a better camera but it is too cumberson to take while exercising.

Please enjoy these and feel free to comment.  However do not be surprised if I delete anything I find offensive or negative. :-)