When I first started this blog over ten years ago I had this long descriptive paragraph about what the blog would encompass. One of the things I said was I would talk about Dallas some. Well that some has been pretty infrequently, but I had a nostalgic moment today so I thought I would talk about a part of Dallas that as a resident of Dallas you take for granted.
You always hear about going down the uncharted path, the road less traveled, well in this post we are going to talk about a well worn path, a road not untraveled but a beaten down path. I am referring to Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, TX.
And this is not going to be some historic journey, but more just a moment in time about one street that cuts from I-35 on the west side of Dallas to the eastern side around White Rock Lake so lets get started, yet covers so much of Dallas both in miles and the make up of the city.
Mockingbird Lane is a few miles north of Downtown Dallas and starting at I -35 you find a few office buildings there on the corner and heading east you go under Harry Hines just north of the Parkland, Southwest, Children’s hospital and a few other medical facilities. And yes Parkland is the County hospital where John F Kennedy was taken when he was shot in Downtown Dallas.
Leading up to Harry Hines you come across an area of older businesses, buildings on the side that have seen better days, an old restaurant that barely exists with a sign that says good old fashion hamburgers or something similar and looking at the building you would think to yourself, how old fashion are those hamburgers. After Harry Hines it is somewhat non descript for a short bit, general businesses, a convenient store or two, some fast food restaurants, a hotel, nothing that says anything spectacular is around here. You do cross Maple which if you go south will eventually lead you to downtown and a bit more flavorful restaurants, but that is getting much closer to downtown.
And as you keep going you catch up to the entrance to Love Field Airport. This is Dallas’ original major airport and where Southwest Airlines grew to the company it is now. Airplanes are only a few hundred feet above your head at this point as they approach the runways just to the north of Mockingbird.
Going on you pass Lemon Avenue a somewhat unique north south running road, that mainly is car dealerships, restaurants, and small businesses and eventually heads into old east Dallas. For the old hat rock and rollers in Dallas, Lemmon Avenue was where you found Dallas main rock club and for the life of me right now I cannot remember the name of it, yet I probably spent more than one too many nights there.It was a two story building, but the club, stage, dance floor and seating were all primarily on the ground floor. It even had after hour bands. There were other clubs, but this one was probably the largest club facility. Major bands didn’t come through. It mainly was local cover bands. Soon after this point in my life I moved to Austin and experienced a completely different music scene where Raul’s Club was the major draw. Here bands played all original punk or “new wave” music. Raul’s was much smaller overall, but did attract touring bands from around the country and a few from England and maybe other places. My memory is saying the Dallas Club was Mother Blues, but not 100% sure of that, but enough of this right turn so to speak. Dallas is very commercial so not having a rock club that attracted touring acts is not a surprise. Now there were bigger venues that did, but not a club that created a vibe.
Back to Mockingbird and passing Lemon the tone of the street changes dramatically as you move into Highland Park. This is a small city completely surrounded by Dallas. Highland Park is that exclusive feel kind of city. Directly on Mockingbird there are older houses and some Macmansions crammed together, but just off Mockingbird there are some real beautiful houses. And there are quite a few. Highland Park has its own police department and they definitely are out and about. As you go through Highland Park you cross the Dallas North Tollway, and continue to see older one story houses with the cramming of newer houses.
Once past the tollway you come up to Preston and Mockingbird where the shopping center there is a bit haute or hoti totti depending on your view point. For as much as Dallas wants to be a destination or shopping Mecca, you really won’t find something comparable to a Rodeo drive or 5th Avenue, but Preston and Mockingbird is worth a quick look if you are around.
Next up is Hillcrest and Mockingbird and here is the southern tip of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Along Mockingbird you see the football stadium and the tennis stadium before you get to what is called Central Expressway or 75. If you happen to take a left on Hillcrest at this juncture you run along the west side of SMU and there is a series of shops, restaurants that are worth taking a moment to explore and they do run a bit of a gamut of choices, however the stadium is past Hillcrest and very quickly you hit 75. Speaking of the tennis complex, it is now on the location where Mrs. Baird’s Bakery had a large complex. When we were children we use to go on tours and the smell was fantastic, baking bread filled your nostrils throughout the hour or so you were there and at the end you were provided a sample to enjoy which after the tour was so good.
Now you are crossing 75, Central Expressway which is not an interstate, but Dallas main highway through the center of town then north through suburbs and eventually to Oklahoma. In case you were wonder it is I-35 that the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma use to meet for their annual October football game at the State Fair.
Once across 75 there is Mockingbird Station which is a small shopping, restaurant area that was built up when DART built their train stops.There is also one stop north close to Northpark called Park Lane station. Northpark is Dallas main shopping area for decades. First built in 1965 and still to this day the main not just Mall, but it is a Mall, shopping place in Dallas. People go there just to gawk. It is modern, yet still holds the same simple architecture of the 60′s when it was built.
Next light from 75 is Greenville. You can head south on Greenville and get to South Greenville where locals and tourists go for eating and entertainment. This is definitely an area to explore that still holds onto some historic and local flair. Many of the places are new, but enough have been around awhile to give out somewhat of a chill vibe.
At Greenville and Mockingbird there is a grocery store where the sign says Dr. Pepper Station. This was the location of the Dr. Pepper bottling company for decades, now since gone.
Going further you run across a restaurant you must visit just because and that is the Egyptian Restaurant, Campisi’s pizza. This has been around since who knows when and had I’ve gone since I was a young teenager. We are talking a fixture in the history of Dallas.
Couple other restaurants are further down from the Egyptian once you cross Skillman, but you can sort those out on your own, oysters, burgers, and some other interesting places at Abrams and Mockingbird. If you take a right on Skillman and go south there is some interesting places and restaurants in an area called Lakewood. You can get to Lakewood via Skillman or Abrams, but if you are out and about there are more than a few unique places in this area.
Once you pass Abrams you are on a home stretch so to speak as it turns into a neighborhood. Small older houses again appear on the left and right and eventually lead to much more exclusive neighborhoods. There is still a sign leading off one street for the “Cloister” which when I was very young was that neighborhood that was out of reach for the son of a single mom school teacher. I remember my Mom always talked about living there if she could.
This neighborhood and other neighborhoods of large houses to mansions are just west of White Rock Lake. The north western half of the lake and just inland are a sight to behold if you like house hunting for visceral thrills. It may not be what it once was in stature, but it is still very impressive. And the infamous Hunt mansion is on the drive that hugs the west side of White Rock Lake.
As you pass by the north side of this area I speak while driving down Mockingbird, it doesn't give you much to suggest these neighborhoods are just right off the street except for that one sign that says the Cloisters and if you blink you miss it, but it is here. Also along or just off of Lawther drive (the road that runs along the lake) is the cemetery where the girl known as the lady of the lake was buried (supposedly). That is a different story and well known enough that you could probably get a few paragraphs on doing an internet search.
Finally you cross the bridge at the north end of White Rock Lake and your journey has ended. Here you run into Buckner Blvd. a north south road that is just east of the Lake. If you go north here you drive straight into Flag Poll Hill Park. And on the rare time in Dallas when it actually snows, here is probably the best place to take your sled. I know I have a few times. It is not winter sports category hill, but when you rarely see snow it gives a child or teenager a wonderful afternoon of true fun.
So why bring up Mockingbird Avenue because we in Dallas drive down this road all the time. And most of the time forgetting how much of Dallas is connected to each other through this Avenue. It is historic, but there are no historic landmarks, it is residential, commercial, fun, and drab. Traffic can be horrible most of the time anywhere on it, but we use it day in and day out to get from one place to another never thinking how much of Dallas’ history has gone through this street. And there are other roads in Dallas that offer just as much history that are just as much ignored. I chose Mockingbird Avenue because I had to drive down it today and it just got me to thinking. Mainly because I was stuck in traffic most of the time. It can be that bad.
So if you ever come to Dallas and you don’t want to go down the trail not traveled, jump on Mockingbird and tick everyone off by adding to the traffic and just look around. Much of who is Dallas, Texas will be just to the right or left.
And a clarification note. I started this blog on blogger or blogspot over ten years ago. I added the exact same blog to Tumblr and Wordpress a few years later so if you are reading on the two latter sites then you do not have the entire ten plus year history.
