Advocate Magazine

Look at these vintage Oak Cliff hipsters

Rachel Stone — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:59:41 +0000

Those adorable tinks are Emmet D. Riggs and his wife, Dorothy Crabtree Riggs. The Riggses were featured in the Dallas Morning News on Dec. 25, 1955 because they had built and were finishing out a 1,600-square-foot house on North Oak Cliff Boulevard, near Stevens Park Golf Course, mostly with their own hands. Emmet Riggs was 41 at the time and a senior electrical engineer for an oil company. Dorothy Riggs was a Spanish teacher described as “a 110-pound, blue-eyed redhead.” Both were Oak Cliff natives who had moved around for Emmet’s career, and by 1953, they had decided to settle in their hometown, according to the newspaper story. Neither had “built so much as a backyard chicken coop” before taking on their home-building project (although we assume they quickly built one, along with an organic garden and dumpster pool). They both had masters degrees and were amateur photographers — they had plans to use one of their bathrooms as a darkroom. And they had a dachshund named Cindy. “Our terrace eventually will overlook No. 12 hole,” Riggs told reporter Francis Raffetto in 1955. “We may get an occasional golf ball, but not on the fly.” As far as I can tell, the house isn’t there anymore. The address, 843 N. Oak Cliff Blvd., no longer exists. But we suspect the Riggses’ DIY spirit will live on here for many decades to come. A search for the Riggses names produces no obituary, and I suspect they are still alive, in their 90s, but I couldn’t find a working number for them. Does anyone know their Instagram handles? © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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Picture day: Spotlight on a dead bee

Danny Fulgencio — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:22:27 +0000

Can you keep a little secret? Our upcoming cover story is about the possible demise of the little bee in our neighborhood. A sad prospect to be sure. Want another insider scoop? The above concept photo was pieced together using stuff around my home. Here’s a checklist of what I used: - Nikon D800 - 105mm f/2.8 macro lens - Two SB-900 flash units - Tripod - Gaffer tape - Flash stands - Two dozen dead bees - White seamless - 8×10 sheet of glass (from a photo frame hanging on my wall) - Spray bottle - Poster tube (from having ordered large prints) - Black drinking straws (a gift from a friendly neighborhood bar) - Sheet of white printer paper It’s really the last three ingredients I wanted to draw your attention to: It’s how I achieved that spotlight on the center bee. You see, there’s this thing called a snoot – a typically conical light modifier that’s simply a barrel for focusing light. Snoots come in different shapes and sizes, but they seem to always come in one of two price ranges: super-cheap and you-can’t-be-serious. I don’t actually own a snoot, not the manufactured variety anyway, so I made my own. Here’s how: I took a poster tube large enough to fit over a flash head and sawed off a 10-inch section using a serrated bread knife. Then I filled the tube with black drinking straws to create what’s called a grid (to help further focus and soften the light output). After that, I curled a piece of white printer paper into a funnel which I taped to the end of the straw-filled tubed. The completed contraption resembled a pointy grain silo. Finally, I wiggled the unit onto the flash head and then painstakingly aligned it with the center bee. Easy, right? Aside from the time investment, it actually was. The most difficult part of the project was probably having to explain myself to my wife when she asked, “Why are there dead bees in our refrigerator?” So the next time you’d like to shape light on the cheap, consider using household items. You might be surprised how easy it is to achieve the kind of professional-looking results that would make MacGyver nod in approval. © Danny Fulgencio for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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New homes planned near Kidd Springs Park

Rachel Stone — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:15:03 +0000

The Austin-based real estate company that recently received approval to build 32 new homes in the Kings Highway Conservation District has plans for another 44 new homes near Kidd Springs Park. PSW Real Estate is expected to meet with neighbors in the Kidd Springs Recreation Center at 6:30 tonight to explain development plans. The land at Cedar Hill and Fifth is the second of two properties in Oak Cliff that the company acquired from the now-defunct Incap Fund. The new development would have about 44 homes comprising 1,600-2,400 square feet each, according to the Kidd Springs Central Neighborhood Association. Prices would start at $300,000, and the homes would be available as soon as next year. © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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Jonathon’s seeks kitchen expansion

Rachel Stone — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:53:06 +0000

The owners of Jonathon’s Oak Cliff are seeking relief from the challenges of its famously tiny kitchen. Jonathon and Christine Erdeljac have created one of the most popular neighborhood restaurants in town despite having just 161 square feet of kitchen space. The Erdeljacs started working with their landlords last year on plans to expand their kitchen by about 400 square feet. To do that, they need a zoning variance that would allow them to take the building all the way to the property line on the side that is nearest Spiral Diner, and a 10-foot setback from the property line is required under the building’s zoning. Their case is headed to the Plan Commission’s board of adjustments Wednesday, and city staff has recommended denial. “If the city decides they won’t let us do this, then we have to decide if we want to stay here,” chef/owner Jonathon Erdeljac says. “It’s really a crossroads for us.” The kitchen currently has a two-door cooler and a couple of “low-boy” fridges beneath the counter tops, he says. That means he buys groceries at least four times a week and sometimes more than once a day. Besides that, the dishwasher is too small to meet the demands of weekend brunches, he says. The new kitchen would have a walk-in cooler, a more efficient dish-washing station and a waiters station. Construction plans also call for a reconfigured back door with a ramp to keep the 1940 building compliant with ADA regulations. Erdeljac says he and his wife knew what they were getting into when they opened the restaurant at 1111 N. Beckley. But Jonathon’s has become enormously popular since it opened about two years ago, and they would consider moving the restaurant, perhaps out of Oak Cliff, if the city doesn’t approve the expansion. “We’re not trying to build a roof deck so we can throw big parties,” Erdeljac says. “We’re just trying to get clean dishes out faster and enhance the way we do business.” © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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Zoli’s NY Pizza Tavern is so close we can smell it

Rachel Stone — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:36:38 +0000

The New York-style pizza place from Cane Rosso’s Jay Jerrier is opening soon. “Summer 2013,” according to the restaurant’s first printing of staff T-shirts. The summer solstice is this Friday, June 21, the official start of summer. And this is 2013. Plus, Zoli’s NY Pizza Tavern, which is taking the old BEE enchilada space at Davis and Zang, installed ovens last week, according to its Instagram feed. Instagram also tells us they took a research trip to Brooklyn at the end of May. And they’re at work developing “grandma-style” slices. The Internet tells us that a grandma pizza is square or rectangular with tomatoes, mozzarella and a crispy crust. It has become popular in New York over the past 10 years or so. Here are grandma pics from Zoli’s Instagram: © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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Conservation league gives $10,000 to neighborhood associations

Rachel Stone — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:14:59 +0000

The Old Oak Cliff Conservation League awarded $10,000 in grants to neighborhood associations in its annual meeting at Turner House Monday. The funds mostly come from the league’s fall home tour. Here is a list of the awards: The Dells District Neighborhood Association, $400 to finish their street-sign toppers Elmwood Neighborhood Association, $1,000 for an Elmwood Business District mural Kidd Springs Neighborhood Association, $1,650 to provide school uniforms, neighborhood challenges, communication and copying costs Kiest Park Community Group, $600 to install neighborhood crime watch and VIP signs Kings Highway Conservation District, $607 to paint the neighborhood association logo onto two retaining walls, on North Polk near Kings Highway Sunset Hill Neighborhood Association, $1,475 for sign toppers West Kessler Neighborhood Association, $327 for a membership directory and electricity for the Stevens Woods Court island garden Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association, $3,000 for sidewalks and website improvement Wynnewood Heights Neighborhood Association, $500 for landscaping in medians and crime watch signs Wynnewood North Neighborhood Association, $1,107 for sign toppers © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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Oak Cliff Chamber plans move to Bishop Avenue

Rachel Stone — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:29:35 +0000

The Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce plans to renovate this 4,000-square-foot former medical office building at 1001 N. Bishop, which it has under contract, for its own offices, plus other office space to lease. That is, if they can get it rezoned. Even though it was built as a medical office building in 1965, “pure office” is not a use that is allowed under the Bishop-Davis zoning, chamber president Bob Stimson says. “Office is allowed only in a residential/office mixed use,” he says. “You’ve got several buildings there that have flat roofs, and they’re offices, but under the zoning, you can’t use them as office.” About 350 acres surrounding Bishop and Davis were rezoned in 2010. The original rezoning plan allowed office, but by the time it was approved, that had been changed, Stimson says. The chamber’s case for a zoning variance goes before the City Plan Commission Thursday. © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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Should you pay that red-light camera ticket?

Christina Hughes Babb — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:00:46 +0000

Florida reporters recently discovered that lawmakers shortened the length of yellow lights, ostensibly in an effort to snare limit-pushing drivers who are accustomed to an extra second or two. Red-light cameras: the city and the red-light service claims the program’s purpose is increased safety. According to the red light services website, “The goal of the program is to reduce the number of right-angle collisions and related casualties citywide by 25 percent through the incremental expansion of automated photo and video cameras within the City of Dallas.” Read: they are steadily adding more of these cams that can, both physically and legally/financially get you in a jam. (Red light runners, however, can cause far worse problems.) But investigations earlier this year indicate that money — perhaps as much or more than the nobel desire for safer streets — is a motivating factor (not exactly a shocker). Some traffic lights near our neighborhood, by the way, are big moneymakers — Forest Lane-Plano and Mockingbird-Central are major players. NBC 5 secured, via an open records requests, emails between city officials noodling around ways to increase the revenue from both red-light cameras and parking violations. Essentially, according to the report, city management recently has been lamenting the decreasing number of red light runners (rather than cheering the effectiveness of the program in preventing reckless red-light running) and trying to figure out ways to ensnare drivers in the red-light-offender system. Of course, if it’s boosting safety, no problem. And if it helps balance the budget, super-great. Right? Well, there also are the nagging issues of a right to legal due process and temptation toward municipal-level sneakiness to push drivers into a law-breaking situation. Take Florida, for example, where it just was discovered that lawmakers shortened the length of yellow lights, ostensibly in an effort to snare limit-pushing drivers who are accustomed to an extra second or two. Not saying Dallas would do or has done this — or have they? And several cities have powered-down their red-light camera programs, citing constitutional rights breeches. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for example, shut down its cameras following a lawsuit claiming that “the cameras violate due-process rights because they don’t capture images of those who actually are behind the wheel,” Associated Press reports. In some cases, street cameras have come in real handy. Back to our ‘hood, if you receive a violation notice and you wish to dispute it, our city and the red-light company Safelight make it quite the hassle to do so. Say, perhaps, you sold your car the day before the camera caught it running the light, or you were issued a ticket for what you believe was a legal turn-on-red — not to mention if your sister borrowed your car and ran two red lights in one day (Why is the car owner responsible? If the car owner wasn’t in the car? If my sister was driving my car drunk and smashed into someone’s fence, I would not be jailed, right? Why is it different here — because it is civil and not criminal? Also note: not that any of this has necessarily happened) — and you wish to plead your case, well, you’ll have to jump through some hoops and endure painful dealings with municipal offices and paperwork and notaries. You can appeal at the municipal level through the Department of Court and Detention Services by appearing in person, paying a $15 fee, presenting a notarized statement of insurance, and filling out appeal forms. It’ll cost you some $10 to park down there at the DCDS. By the time the hassle is played out, you’ll likely wish you’d just paid the $75 ticket. Of course, you could do with your red-light violation what thousands in Dallas, Austin and presumably everywhere else have done: ignore them. While the red-light programs have been OKed in most cities, the tools and power with which to enforce the related fines are lacking. An Austin city official admits red light tickets are practically unenforceable. “While unpaid parking tickets can lead to booting and towing, and old traffic violations can prompt arrest warrants, ignoring a red light ticket doesn’t create serious repercussions,” an Austin municipal court clerk told KVUE. A Dallas-county officer concurs to the Morning News, “As long they don’t mind being badgered by a bill collector and that kind of stuff, there’s not a lot we can do.” Safelight can send the notices to a collection agency but, reportedly under state law, major credit agencies are not alerted to violators’ lack of payment, so a your credit score will not be impacted, should you choose to toss the ticket in the junk mail pile. Still, the majority of violators, about 60-percent, whether out of fear or habitual rule-abidement, choose to pay up. © Christina Hughes Babb for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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This weekend: Slow food, dog yoga, Superman

Rachel Stone — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:31:20 +0000

Slow Food Dallas presents “Why non-GMO and heirloom seeds matter,” at from 6-8 tonight, June 13, at Trinity Haymarket. Local farmers will speak and offer bites made from their produce, plus beer. The event is free, and donations to the nonprofit Slow Food Dallas are accepted. Doga, that’s dog yoga, aka bring your dog to yoga, is happening at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Twelve Hills Nature Center. Recommended donation is $7. The Texas Theatre has “The Man of Steel” through June 19, plus La Divina burlesque at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, June 15. The Kessler has Dave Alvin and the Guilty Ones Friday, Calhoun and the Orbans Saturday and Jake Shimabukuro Sunday. © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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‘Congratulations!’ wins Oak Cliff Film Festival

Rachel Stone — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:54:11 +0000

Congratulations, “Congratulations!” That film, by director Mike Brune, won best narrative feature at the Oak Cliff Film Festival this past weekend. The trailer is below, but if you missed it, you missed it. The film doesn’t appear to be available on DVD or online yet. Anna Margaret Hollyman won the special jury prize for acting in “White Reindeer” “Medora” by directors Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn, the film about a small-town Indiana basketball team on a mission to win a single game, won best documentary feature. “Social Butterfly,” by director Lauren Wolkstein won best narrative short, and “The Chair,” by director Grainger David won honorable mention. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” by director Scott Calonico, won best documentary short, and “Slomo,” by director Joshua Izenberg won honorable mention. “Feral,” by director Daniel Sousa won the special jury prize for animated short, and “Irish Folk Furniture,” by director Tony Donaghue won the special jury prize for experimental short. Director Sara Masetti won best student short for “Undocumented Dreams.” Honorable mentions were “GBFF,” by Atheena Frizzell, and “Latent,” by Nate Kantor. © Rachel Stone for Advocate Magazine, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

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