Bike Friendly Oak Cliff is revving up again. The nonprofit, created in an effort to change attitudes toward cyclists in Dallas, gave away 55 refurbished two-wheelers and new helmets to neighborhood kids in September, the same day the group serviced more than 40 bikes for free. Plans for similar events are in the works for next year. Meanwhile, the group wants to show us a good time on our bikes. BFOC hosts a virtual Tweed Ride on Dec. 6 that leads riders independently on a historic tour of Oak Cliff, West Dallas, Fair Park and Downtown. Find the full route on BFOC’s social media, and if possible, make a donation to its mission of putting butts on bikes. Show us your best vintage look and time travel to destinations near or far. Tag #BFOCtweed, @bikefriendlyoakcliff and @advocateoakcliff on Instagram. And become more intimate with our city’s history.

Original 7-Eleven

This building is now the Dallas office of the LULAC National Education Service Centers, which provides academic sup- port to 130 low-income students in Dallas ISD. About 90 years ago, it was the site of the first 7-Eleven. Oak Cliff-raised Joe C. Thompson Jr., known as “Jodie,” started as a stable boy for Consumer Ice Co. in the days before refrigeration, when ice boxes kept food cool. He later became director of Oak Cliff’s Southland Ice Co. John Jefferson Green operated the Southland-owned ice dock on Edgefield at Twelfth. In 1927, he had the idea to sell milk, eggs and bread from the dock, and the concept of a modern convenience store was born.

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Kiest Park

The 263-acre park was donated to the City of Dallas in 1931 by Edwin J. Kiest, who was publisher of the Dallas Times Herald, and named for his wife, Elizabeth Patterson Kiest. Find the recently installed sculpture dedicated to Oak Cliff’s famous musical brothers, Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who grew up nearby. Kiest Park was known as a teen hangout from the get-go, and kids cruised their jalopies there from the 1930s. The Friends of Oak Cliff Parks restored the 2.5-acre historic memorial garden and pushed the City of Dallas to fund restoration of the Works Progress Administration-era pergola and water rill to its 1934 appearance. This park is also the site of a 1937 bike race, the Texas state bicycle racing championships, which included men’s and women’s races.

Sunset High School

Sunset High School was built in 1925 and became a Dallas Historic Landmark in 2016. A $46-million ren- ovation, expected to be complete in 2023, includes construction of a 1,000-seat competition gym but will not disturb the historic façade. Famous alumni include actresses Linda Darnell and Yvonne Craig; writers Terry Southern and Billy Lee Brammer; LPGA founders Bettye Mims Danoff and Betty Jameson; and former Dallas Mayor Robert S. Folsom.

Also see: Cedar Crest House, the white mansion across Jefferson Boulevard from Sunset, was built in 1905 and is also a Dallas Historic Landmark. Turner House, 401 N. Rosemont, was built in 1908 and is an event space owned by the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts, a club founded by artist Frank Reaugh in 1926.

J.D. Tippit memorial marker

This is the site of the most infamous cop killing in Dallas history. Police officer J.D. Tippit was patrolling the neighborhood near Adamson High School on Nov. 22, 1963, when he stopped Lee Harvey Oswald following the JFK assassination. Oswald shot and killed Tippit. The site received a historical marker at Tenth and Patton in 2012.

Also see: Top Ten Records, 338 W. Jefferson, is the Oak Cliff record shop that Tippit frequented. The Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson, is where the police ultimately arrested Oswald. Santos Mufflers & Radiators, 401 E. Jefferson, is the former Texaco station where Oswald dropped his light-color jacket. Hughes Funeral Home, 400 E. Jefferson, sent an ambulance to the scene of the Tippit murder.

The Barrow Filling Station

This building is the childhood home of Clyde Barrow, the outlaw who was half of Bonnie and Clyde. The original Barrow home was on Muncie at Sylvan, and it was moved to this location, where the Barrows ran a filling station and lived onsite for decades. An Oak Cliff-based developer bought the station last year and has plans to demolish it and redevelop the land.

See also: The Lillie McBride house, 3111 N. Winnetka, is another infamous location in the Barrow gang’s history that’s slated for demolition or relocation. Western Heights Cemetery, Fort Worth Avenue at Neal Street, is the final resting place of Barrow, his parents and siblings.

Lake Cliff Park

Lake Cliff Park opened July 4, 1906, and was part of developer Charles Man- gold’s vision for Oak Cliff as “the Southwest’s greatest playground.” It had an amusement park with a log ride, swimming pool, skating rink and three theaters. The WPA built the pergola on Colorado at Zang in 1934, along with other stone features. The park also featured a short-lived “motordrome,” a track for motorcycle racing, in 1912.

Also see: The Oswald rooming house, 1026 N. Beckley, is where Oswald was staying at the time of the JFK assassination. The Houston Street Viaduct was built in 1912 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. At the time, it was the longest reinforced concrete highway viaduct in the world, and it was the first connection from Oak Cliff to Dallas that could not be washed out.

Oak Cliff Cemetery

Venture east of Interstate 35 to find this sacred place that is one of the oldest burial grounds in Dallas, with the earliest graves dating to the 1860s. From the beginning, it was open to people of any religion or race. Many early Dallas dignitaries are buried here, including 1936 Dallas Mayor George Sergeant and real estate developer John M. Stemmons, for whom the freeway is named.

Also see: Tenth Street Historic District, the neighborhood surrounding the cemetery, was founded by freed slaves following the American Civil War, and many of the homes were hand built by their original owners. The Interurban Bridge remnant, on Clarendon between Corinth and Moore, was part of the passenger railway system that served Dallas, Denison, Corsicana and Waco for more than 30 years. Moore Park, 1900 E. Eighth, is one of Dallas’ historically Black parks. It now features the Santa Fe Trestle Trail, a pedestrian connection between Oak Cliff and South Dallas.

What is Tweed?

Tweed is a rough woolen fabric traditionally used in Scottish and Irish clothing. “Tweed runs” gained popularity in northern England in the early 1990s, with riders donning vintage clothing and pedaling antique bicycles. BFOC organized its first Tweed Ride in 2009. No tweed in your closet? That’s OK. Try out any vintage look that’s convenient or throw on anything comfortable and go exploring.