OAK CLIFF, Dallas, Texas

A picture of the Oak Cliff bridge in 1918 -- "Longest concrete structure of its kind in the world" -- from Steve Fisher.

Michael Rivera remembers -- I am only 39 years old but I still remember a big slide by Lake Cliff Park and the infamous Polar Bear Ice Cream ...I remember working at Tom Thumb off of Hampton and making extra money collecting Bottles....Man I can go on and on and on ...Keep up the great work!

Denise Crumpton remembers -- The apartment in Oak Cliff that Oswald lived in was located at 603 Elsbeth. He was evicted because he was “disorderly” and on a couple of occasions beat his wife Marina. My grandmother was the manager there at the time and later had to testify before the Warren Commission about him.

Charles "Benny" Kirtley remembers -- a large portion of my family grew up in Oak Cliff. All of my cousins including myself was born at Methodist Hospital Central. I was born in 1942 and resided on Oak Cliff Blvd. for the first five years. To cut to the chase, my great uncle R.D. Suddarth founded Oak Cliff Bank & Trust. Don't know the exact year. He and his wife Laura built a famous landmark for their living space at the corner of Hampton and Camp Wisdom Rd. The house was erected in 1937 and was drawn from the plans of an old southern plantation in Kentucky where all my kinfolks are from. Oak Cliff Bank & Trust originated at the corner of Jefferson and (first cross street west of the Texas Theatre). I know my great uncle was instrumental and a vital part of early Oak Cliff.

I attended Sunset High School in 1957 and when J.F. Kimball opened in the fall of 1958, finished there in 1960. Tony Evans has recently bought the Suddarth house and has plans to have weddings and social functions there. I have fond memories of Oak Cliff and many classmates from as far back as grade school that I'm still in touch with.

At the age of five years old, we moved from South Oak Cliff Blvd to 3402 Brandon St. It was only a block away from Wiess Park. What a dream come true for a kid. There was Coombs Creek to play in and the park offered a lot of activities in the summer. Then came the swimming pool! Biggest pool I had ever seen. Nothing would have it, I had to be the first kid in the pool on opening day.

My dad had a grocery store on Clarendon Dr. at Oak Cliff Blvd. across the street from Red Top Poultry. There was a beer joint next to my dad's store. I would sneak in the bar and listen to the juke box and can remember hearing Les Paul and Mary Ford singing "How Highs The Moon". Oak Cliff had a distinctive smell about it that you wouldn't forget. The aroma of green grass early in the mornings. I still smell those familiar things and it reminds me of Oak Cliff.

Leila P. Cowart, L. V. Stockard and Kimball High were my schools with the exception of Sunset for one year. I was proud to be in the first graduating class at Kimball. Cruising on Friday nights was the main event. The Dairy Queen on Hampton, Sivils, and Austins, plus Kips on Zangs. If you really wanted to have a neat (fifties word) time and go dancing with your steady, you could go to Lou Ann's across the river!

What is it about growing up in Oak Cliff that sticks with you. There's no way to get it out of your system. Its like part of your heritage I guess. My kids used to ask me what it was like in the "old days" and I would tell them to watch the video tape, American Graffiti and that would be pretty close. I still love Oak Cliff and love the fond memories that I and thousands of other can recall.

How about the "Albin Watermelon Garden" on Davis Street? My Uncle owned it, his name was Cliff Albin and my Grandfather worked with him, his name was Ollie Albin. In the winter it was a Christmas tree stand. This was in the 50's. In the summer it had tables with umbrellas and you could stop and eat a slice of watermelon. Those were the good old days for sure. Also my father in law Lloyd Pullen was the manager to all the theaters in Oak Cliff. His office was in the Texas Theater. In 1959 he opened Zangs Bowl in Oak Cliff and sold it in the middle1970's.

In the early 60's, my mom used to take me to Austin's Bar-B-Q. [now a CVS] Officer Tippet seemed to hang out there a lot and used to say hello to us as we got out of our car. He was a very nice guy and was known for his friendliness. I didn't like the BBQ much, but the chicken fried steak AND their french fries were awesome. - Rick Woods

Sivils pics courtesy of Frank Goodloe...

Plus a Pig Stand Photo and Pig and Whistle...

Jim Terry, Arcadia Park Elementary, L.V. Stockard Jr. High, SOC Class of '61 remembers: As a high school youngster, many Friday nights I found myself along Hampton Road either cruising through the Dairy Queen or pulling into Austin’s BBQ. Although I know the food was great there, my friends and I didn’t go there for the fare. Since Austin’s was a drive-in as well as an eat -in restaurant, we drove in and parked and waited for the carhops to attend to our needs. In those days it took all the money we had to buy the gasoline, usually fifty or seventy-five cents at a time, to make our nightly rounds through those famous Oak Cliff drive-in eateries. We frequently picked up another chum who had been set afoot because his ride had picked up a babe. We were glad to have him along, if he had another fifty cents for gas. On any given night we often made as many stops at the gas stations of oak Cliff as we did the drive-ins.

The short of it is that we were on a limited budget, most of us making the grand total of seventy-five cents an hour at a grocery store, plus all the tips we could charm from the old ladies when we carried their bags to the car. The Austin’s carhops were not happy when our little crowd, I, from SOC, Ron, from Kimball, Sammy, from Kimball and sometimes Benny from Sunset wheeled in and flashed our lights. As I have acknowledged, the BBQ was good there, although it was some four or five years after graduating from high school that I had my first taste of it. We were there for the girls. But "Big Daddy" Austin didn’t allow free parking on his property. "What’ll it be boys," was the usual greeting from Austin’s carhops. They didn’t have time to make conversation-they were working girls. After we strained our eyes in the direction of the menu, we each agreed on the same thing, "Bring four ice teas." \n

Austin’s was famous for the large tea glasses, the forerunners to the Sonic Route 44. And at fifty cents, with free refills, that was the best deal in town. As long as we were paying customers, we could occupy a parking space at Austin’s.

On Friday nights in the summer we each could easily go through two or three glasses of tea without a blink because of the volume of girls cruising through. And that was long before we had ever heard of a prostate gland or felt any effects from such a large intake of liquid. If most of us guys had known then what we know now, we might have tried to stretch the night to five or six glasses of Austin’s tea.

The act of removing one’s self from the back seat of a two door fifty-seven Chevy hardtop with approximately sixty-four to ninety-six ounces of tea in the bladder and wearing a pair of Lee slim jeans is reminiscent of the last kidney stone I passed.

But we were strong young men then, especially in the presence of the carloads of blondes who we were trying to impress. And we could not show expressions of pain, although it is difficult to smile under the aforementioned circumstances. Nature’s call got louder in our ears and other places. The walk from the drive-in area into the restaurant could be quite a distance, or maybe it just seemed that way because of all that tea sloshing around our innards. "

"What’ll it be boys," was the usual greeting from Austin’s carhops. They didn’t have time to make conversation-they were working girls. After we strained our eyes in the direction of the menu, we each agreed on the same thing, "Bring four ice teas." Austin’s was famous for the large tea glasses, the forerunners to the Sonic Route 44. And at fifty cents, with free refills, that was the best deal in town. As long as we were paying customers, we could occupy a parking space at Austin’s. On Friday nights in the summer we each could easily go through two or three glasses of tea without a blink because of the volume of girls cruising through. And that was long before we had ever heard of a prostate gland or felt any effects from such a large intake of liquid. If most of us guys had known then what we know now, we might have tried to stretch the night to five or six glasses of Austin’s tea.

Nevertheless, that large amount of fluid, taken in over an hour or so does have an effect, even on an adolescent male whose hormones are raging and who is preoccupied with the beauties in the next car. And as the song goes, "Ain’t it funny how time slips away." And before we knew it, that tea had slipped up on us and nature began its call. The act of removing one’s self from the back seat of a two door fifty-seven Chevy hardtop with approximately sixty-four to ninety-six ounces of tea in the bladder and wearing a pair of Lee slim jeans is reminiscent of the last kidney stone I passed. But we were strong young men then, especially in the presence of the carloads of blondes who we were trying to impress. And we could not show expressions of pain, although it is difficult to smile under the aforementioned circumstances. Nature’s call got louder in our ears and other places. The walk from the drive-in area into the restaurant could be quite a distance, or maybe it just seemed that way because of all that tea sloshing around our innards. "What joy it was to finally enter the restaurant, that place of peace and calm and relief and spy the door with the sign that read, "Gentlemen." That is, until we saw the other sign: "Notice, the restroom is reserved for inside patrons of the restaurant. Drive-in patrons are prohibited." Signed, "The Management-Austin Cook."

Now, what we always called Lower Keist Park was an area south of the main park but left woodsy and rough and undeveloped by the Dallas Park Department. And those reported- to- be drag races along Hampton Road from Illinois Avenue south that took place several times a night on Friday and Saturday nights, they weren’t drag races at all. Those guys weren’t racing each other. Those were the tea drinking boys of Oak Cliff making tracks to Lower Keist before their pretty naugahyde seats got soaked by "Big Daddy" Austin’s ice tea. Lower Keist Park came to be known as Lower Relief Park and the creek was seldom dry. "

What joy it was to finally enter the restaurant, that place of peace and calm and relief and spy the door with the sign that read, "Gentlemen." That is, until we saw the other sign: "Notice, the restroom is reserved for inside patrons of the restaurant. Drive-in patrons are prohibited." Signed, "The Management-Austin Cook."

My dad started Safety Brake Service in 1945 at the corner of Madison and Zang (Zangs at that time) Next door to the A & W Root Beer Stand and in Sept 1949 moved to the location where we still conduct business today, 305 N Beckley across from Adamson High School (I graduated there in Jan 1957) I have many fond memories of the Texas, Rosewin, Wynnwood, Kessler, Astor, and a couple of other theaters in the OC area. Red Brians, El Fenix, Youngbloods, Lubys (Jefferson st) and others I have to think back, were great places to Eat when I was growing up in OC Incidently you were talking about, in one article the El Chico at Davis & Beckley, between beckley & Zang; I did not see it mentioned but that building was originally a Wyatt's Grocery Store and Wyatt's in the mid 40's extended the building on the East Side and Put in a Cafeteria Thus - Wyatt's Cafeteria. (first one as far as I know) My mom and dad would take me there to eat after church, other times El Fenix or Youngbloods I always enjoyed Sundays at Lake Cliff Park going Swimming. Got in for 5 cents stayed all day (sunburn) ouch -- Ed Bass

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