If you like those PBS shows where a sophisticated British woman walks around and talks to you about the Cotswolds or the Roman Empire, then you will love Rebecca Brooke.
“I am a lover of community and of history, and I thought, ‘What a better place to explore than my own backyard of Oak Cliff,” Brooke says in the intro to her online show, Oak Cliff Connections.
The actress and filmmaker, who lives in Beckley Club Estates, created the show over about a year, starting pre-production in June 2021.
The first episode launched May 20.
It runs a little over 26 minutes with an introduction to Oak Cliff that touches on our neighborhood’s beauty, history, culture and climate. The quality of the production could put most visitors bureaus to shame, and it has a hyperlocal edge that cuts a little deeper.
“If you want to meet the real Oak Cliff, you can’t accept the beauty without acknowledging the pain,” she says in the show.
With a change of tone around the 5-minute mark, Brooke dips into topics of racism and gentrification.
“When you enjoy the amenities of a fun new development, you need to know that while that was growth for some, it was most likely loss for others,” she says.
After a history lesson about Hord’s Ridge, Thomas L. Marsalis and the historic Oak Cliff Cemetery, Brooke gets into the expected format of profiling people, places and businesses.
At about the 14-minute mark, she visits Tyler Station, where she has an Oak Cliff Brewing Co. beer and interviews the owners of Trade Oak Cliff.
Brooke has lived in Oak Cliff for seven years and has two kids. The episode was shot in October and November 2021, and she did editing and post-production from then until May, as she had time as a stay-at-home parent.
The Tyler, Texas, native says she hopes to have the next episode finished by the end of summer.
