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. :-)
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