Perry Heights People

The Lows of the Heights

Any good southern neighborhood celebrates not only its accomplished neighbors, but also its dirty laundry. Here are some stories old timers have told about Perry Heights over the years (but only in whispers). They may be factual or truthful, but they are unquestionably gossip. Gore Vidal said “History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.” And as Oscar Wilde said, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.”

The Convicted Murderer Down the Street

In the early morning hours of August of 1991, Walter Lewis (Lew) Perryman killed a 53-year-old Texas Instruments research technician who was working her side job delivering newspapers with her son-in-law in University Park. He then held a judge and his family hostage for three hours before being arrested. Lew was the stepson of a former University Park mayor. He was acquitted by reason of insanity a year later and spent a year in a psychiatric hospital before being released to his wife, who was a resident of Perry Heights. She died in 1994, but Lew stayed in the house in Perry Heights. Soon afterward, Lew parked his truck on the tracks in Argyle, Texas, and was hit by a freight train. He survived. He lived in Perry Heights for years afterward, intensely maintaining his privacy by surrounding his property with dense bamboo and keeping a low profile.

Disastrous Driveway

In September of 1972, the owner of a house on Hall was run over in his driveway by an out-of-control car driven by a teenage girl. He was elderly and eventually died of his injuries. Five years later, his wife was in the same driveway and died of a sudden heart attack.

Neighbor charged in Crime!

In the early 80s, a resident was charged by the State of Texas with practicing law without a license. He had a business with an office that advertised legal help for divorces and traffic violations. No one in the office had a law license. In one case, the office accepted a fee from a person in a divorce case. Later, when the client attempted to remarry, he discovered his divorce was never finalized and no action at all had been taken by the legal assistance firm. In other cases, motorists were arrested by patrolmen for ignoring their speeding tickets, even though they paid the company a fee to have their tickets settled. The same neighbor was arrested five years earlier for operating a nationwide mail-in raffle contest that required a $5 entrance fee, but produced no prizes.

Horrific Explosions!

In 1979 at 11:30 am, the second floor of a home on Rawlins that was being remodeled exploded. The owner was badly injured, but survived. A gas leak was believed to be responsible.

A second explosion occurred up the street on Rawlins later in the 80s, however, several neighbors suspected the renters in the home were making methamphetamine when the explosion and fire occurred. The house had extensive damage and could not be rebuilt.

The Weed House

In the 1990s and early 2000s, a strange glowing light emanated day and night from the windows of a certain house on Hall St. Every day, the unassuming home had numerous visitors. They usually only stayed for a few minutes. Despite several neighbors telling police about the suspicious activity, nothing happened to disturb the pot farm. That is, until the resident reported a burglary. Police arrived, only to realize what type of business it was. The owner was arrested. After that, the glow permanently dimmed.

The Porn House

Years ago, there was an attorney who lived in the neighborhood. His way of giving back to the community was to help recently released ex-convicts find a place to stay. In his home. The second floor had a dormitory-style room furnished with several beds along with a large 10-seat hot tub he purchased from a nearby defunct B&B. Several times a month, vans with filming equipment arrived at the home. Neighbors insisted that in exchange for room and board, the men starred in several hard-core porn movies being filmed in the house and backyard.

Sadly, years earlier, the same house had renters who had been evicted. They had been running a house for runaway youth, but it was discovered that the children were being abused.

That’s Not Neighborly!

A couple was awakened at two in the morning by the headlights on a car that was running in their driveway. There was movement in the car, but what they were doing in the car was a mystery. Police were called and came to find a man slumped over in the front seat. The man was arrested for a DUI and taken to jail while his car was towed to the pound. It was later discovered that the arrested man was a new neighbor who lived a block away, got lost, and couldn’t find his home that night.

Vandelia Tragic Suicide

In October of 1955, a man returned to his home on Vandelia St. after a business trip, only to find his 56-year-old wife, Isabelle, dead from what was ruled a suicide. A rubber tube from a floor gas line was run into the bedroom where she was found.

Next Door Is Where The Heart Is

Once upon a time, not too long ago, a couple lived in a peaceful home in Perry Heights. Unfortunately, the peace was broken from time to time by the sounds of screaming and arguing. The arguments sometimes spilled out into the front yard, even in the middle of the night. The couple eventually divorced. Weeks after the husband moved out, the neighbor next door sold his house and moved in. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

Gentle Reader, they say, Petty, I mean Perry Heights is like a small town within the city, and this small town has many secrets and even more gossip. You are welcome to discuss these stories, however any connections to real persons are purely coincidental. We do not repeat gossip in this neighborhood, so be sure to listen close the first time!

Witness to History

The Glanges family lived at 4331 North Hall in the ’60s and ’70s. James John Glanges and Lottie Mae Bell moved into the home while their two daughters went to North Dallas High School. They had been in the Oak Lawn neighborhood for years. James Glanges was a Greek immigrant (original name Glantzis) who emigrated from Lavrio, Greece, a small Aegean coastal town off the southeast of Greece in 1923. He was a chef and cafe owner in Fort Worth and Dallas, working as a chef for the Worth Cafe on Fitzhugh. He married Lottie Mae Bell and had two daughters, Evalea and Joanna.

Lea Glanges, Valedictorian, North Dallas High 1958

Joanna married Roy Douglas Sikes in 1962 and had three children, settling in Grand Prarie. Evalea, or Lea, as she was called, was valedictorian of her North Dallas High School class. She was also the school newspaper’s editor and had several articles about the high school in the Dallas Morning News. She became a prominent Fort Worth surgeon and in the late 90s was the Chairperson of Surgery at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. She was married in 1967 to a fellow physician, Dr. Tommy Gene Gleghorn, meeting at Southwestern Medical School, but divorced 9 months later and reverted to her maiden name. She later met Dr. Bena Tomlinson who became her life partner until she died in 1999.

On November 22, 1963, Lea was a second-year medical student training at Parkland Hospital when Kennedy was assassinated and transported to Parkland. She and other students ran to the emergency room ambulance bay area to witness the tragic events. She can seen in various photos and films close to the Presidential limousine. In 2003, after a lifetime as a surgeon, she bravely came forward as one of the numerous eyewitnesses to a bullet hole in the windshield of the Presidential limousine in the History Channel documentary series, “The Men Who Killed Kennedy”. This is her account:

“I was a 2nd-year medical student at Southwestern Medical University in Dallas, Texas. We ran around the side of the building to the Emergency Room exit, and the Presidential limousine was there. Had been standing there for some time just watching the back of the Emergency Room, when I realized that there was a *bullet hole* in the windshield. Talked to my friend standing next to me, and said, ‘Look there’s a *bullet hole* in the windshield!’ and pointed it out to them. At the time I did not know any of the details of the shooting. I was quite shocked when I looked up and saw the *bullet hole*. But it was very clear – it was a through-and-through *bullet hole* through the windshield of the car – from front to back. I don’t believe there were even any cracks associated with that bullet hole. It seemed like a high-velocity bullet that had penetrated – from front to back – in that glass pane. At which point, a security officer of some type raced forward and jumped in the limousine and drove it off – even as I was leaning against it – to an area back of us somewhere. And that was the last time I saw the limousine.”

See her filmed account here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TisPzyrM-0

The Rise and Fall (and Rise?) of Lemmon Ave.

As Perry Heights developed house by house in the 1920s, Lemmon Avenue was the address of some of the grandest homes in the city. Prominent houses and trees lined the avenue from Downtown to Lomo Alto Drive.

November 1939 Dallas Morning News article

Lemmon Ave. was named after William H. Lemmon who was a Confederate captain turned real estate developer in Oak Lawn. He lived at the intersection of Lemmon Ave. and Cole St. Along with Oliver Bowser, he is credited with developing what is now known as Turtle Creek Park. Lemmon, one of Dallas’ first paved streets, was considered a beautiful, long drive from the city. With the rise of automobiles, people drove on Lemmon to not only Oak Lawn Park (currently Turtle Creek Park), but to the Country Club at Lemmon and Walnut Hill Lane to play golf and tennis. There was also Love Field military base, which the City of Dallas purchased in 1927, to watch the small planes take off and land. In 1930, just opposite Love Field, a polo field was opened called the Dallas Polo Association, where matches were held through the 1940s . Craddock Park also had a rose garden that was an attraction in the 1930s.

The late 1940s and 1950s saw more traffic along Lemmon Ave. and the first “suburban retail strip center” at Lomo Alto that was built in 1939. By then, Love Field tripled in size and was flying passenger planes. Lemmon Ave. was the most common route to and from the airport. Even President Kennedy made his way along Lemmon Ave. from Love Field to Downtown Dallas for the parade in his honor on that November day in 1963. Increasing pressure from developers to change the residential zoning to commercial was felt as Lemmon Ave. was widened. Exceptions to the residential zoning began to appear. Moore’s Grocery and later Simon David Grocery were built at the corner of Wycliff Ave. and Lemmon Ave. while small businesses rose beyond the train track bridge on Lemmon Ave. These included Prince’s Hamburgers, BBQ joints and filling stations. Once the city made the decision to change the zoning to commercial, some businesses purchased the older homes and converted them to bars, restaurants, and stores. Others were torn down to create new mid century modern buildings such as Chantly’s Sea Food Restaurant at Lemmon Ave. and Throckmorton St.

The 1960s through the 1980s saw the explosion of franchises along Lemmon Ave. Every fast food establishment wanted the temptation of a drive thru on Lemmon Ave. as more and more of the old homes were demolished. The few still standing became art galleries and second hand shops. In the 1960s the stretch of Lemmon Ave. between Oaklawn Ave. and Wycliff Ave. became known as “Gallery Row”. In the 1970s many of those shops became low quality resale shops and eventually were demolished. A few of the homes became popular live music clubs and restaurants such as Machine Gun Kelly’s, Mother Blues, Gerties, and Mother Pearl’s. Signage along Lemmon became excessive enough to have the city adopt a sign ordinance to reduce the “visual pollution”.

The last standing single family house along Lemmon Ave. was at 3922. It was built in 1915 and occupied by Shelby and Julia Gibson and, later, their children until 1964. After a few businesses inhabited the house, it was finally demolished in 2013.

3922 Lemmon, the last of the homes along Lemmon from the early 1900’s

While the last forty years have seen some improvements to Lemmon Ave., much of it is still in need of urban renewal. Groups such as the Oak Lawn Committee are actively working to make it a more attractive, walkable urban avenue in keeping with the intent of the area’s zoning overlay, PD 193.

E. Gordon Perry’s Dream Neighborhood

E. Gordon Perry, the founder and developer of the Perry Heights neighborhood, had an ideal neighborhood in mind for his family and built his dream from the ground up. Mr. Perry just moved to Dallas from El Paso after establishing the Perry Motor Company selling Model T Fords since 1915. He also began some housing developments there. He now was about to take his company to one of the top three automobile establishments in the country in the late 1920s by selling Chryslers. To do this he needed to relocate to Dallas. He built a three-story auto dealership at Pacific and Pearl and employed 150 people. It included a showroom on the first floor, a large cafeteria, library, club rooms, and lecture room on the second, and a mechanic facility on the third accessed by a huge elevator. If conscious capitalism was a term in the 20’s, Perry would epitomize this. A religious man, he believed that the everyman should devote a good portion of his time to some branch of social service to others. He also needed a neighborhood that reflected his values surrounded by like-minded neighbors. He then discovered a pasture of 53 acres sitting at a slightly higher elevation (Heights) than downtown, owned by Dan Craddock and O.P. Storm.

He is quoted in the initial 1922 sales brochure saying about Perry Heights “It is a little apart from the noise and dust and crowds, where the air is pure and invigorating, where children find more enjoyment at play and develop their bodies more naturally in the health-giving atmosphere-where beautiful breezes blow constantly during the hot summer’s day and afford cool, refreshing slumber at night- where always there is peace and every comfort, as there should be.”

He was active as a director of the YMCA, Boy Scouts, SMU, and the Better Business Bureau, as well as a chairman raising funds for the Salvation Army’s programs. Many of the first residents of Perry Heights were also involved in these same philanthropic organizations. He successfully encouraged the past owner of the Perry Heights development site to donate land for Craddock Park by promising to name the park after him. He had Fooshee & Cheek design the site to purposely have varying-size original lots from 50×150 lots to 75X150 lots to accommodate a variety of house sizes and price points. Perry wanted a variety of families in his ideal neighborhood mixing and encouraging interaction and community. He also demanded several trees planted and encouraged gardens for a natural family environment.

Besides his wealthier business friends, one of his company officers bought into his neighborhood. Jack Taylor started working for Perry in El Paso and moved to Dallas to be the secretary/treasurer of Perry Motors. He and his wife Lenore moved their family of three children (Jack Jr., Marjorie, and Robert) into 4314 Vandelia. Their children and the Perry children (E. Gordon Jr. and Vandelia) all played in the new park as well as the Perry estate which included an 18-hole putting course, a sunken garden, a tennis court, and a pool. Mr. Perry also had a playground on this estate that all of the children of Perry Heights could access.

To add more children to the playground, Mrs. W.H. Rucker, a widow, also moved into the neighborhood at 4512 Vandelia in 1923 with her 6 children (Jean, Mabel, Ethel, Clyde, Carl, and Grafton). Jean and Mabel became beloved local elementary school teachers. Her son, Grafton, and his wife inherited the home and lived there into the 1970s raising their children.

Clockwise: Elementry school teacher, Mabel Rucker in the 1930s, an Ad in the Dallas Morning News showing the names of the first residents of Perry Heights, an Article in the DMN showing a party for Gus Thomasson’s newly married son at the Perry’s home in 1939. Picture from a DMN article from 1965 about the neighborhood. Children’s party for 10-year-old Marjorie Taylor in an article, 1931 DMN article about Marjorie’s 10th birthday party.

The families were constantly hosting each other’s birthdays, showers, weddings, and special occasions as seen in the social pages of the Dallas Morning News. They all participated in various social clubs such as garden club, women’s club, and charity events.

This close neighborhood spirit was also evident later in the 1970’s when traffic was eroding the neighborhood and the neighbors fought for the blocked streets to preserve the neighborhood. When developers became a threat in the 1990s and wanted to take more of Craddock Park and disturb the neighborhood, the neighbors banded together and fought back.

Today, several close neighbor bonds have formed on various blocks of Perry Heights and there is still a close neighborhood spirit as we get to know each other. I think Mr. Perry would be happy that his dream neighborhood of cooperation and community is still alive and ready for any future threats and challenges that our urban location may encounter with our active Perry Heights Neighborhood Association. By keeping that sense of community and service growing to preserve our neighborhood, future generations can experience the peace and comfort we enjoy now.

The Outlaw of Perry Heights

Otto and Norma Beutel married in 1916 and moved into a home on Hood St. in Dallas. Along with Norma’s mother and brother, the household soon added a daughter, Betty G, and a son, Jack Allender Beutel. In 1928, the four members of the young family moved to 4338 Vandelia St. in Perry Heights. Otto was a sales manager for P. F. Collier & Sons Publishing Company and Norma was a soprano in a singing ensemble. The two children eventually attended North Dallas High School. While in high school, young Jack began acting in the Dallas Little Theater, a community theater.

Otto had been born and raised in Dallas. His parents, Fred and Henrietta emigrated from Germany in 1872. They lived on Masten St. (now known as Maryland Ave.) in Oak Cliff. Fred and Henrietta raised eight children with the help of a housekeeper and a cook named Earline. Fred supported his family as a barber. As a teenager, Otto worked in a shoestore.

Otto and Norma lived in the house in Perry Heights until the late 1930s. Betty married and moved out and Jack headed off to Hollywood to break into the movies. The empty-nesters soon moved to a different small house on Hood St. near their first home.

In Hollywood, Jack was working as an insurance clerk while auditioning for film roles. The 5’11” dark-haired, blue-eyed actor soon met millionaire and film producer Howard Hughes. Hughes was looking for an unknown to play Billy the Kid in his new Western to be called “The Outlaw.” In 1938 Jack visited Hughes at the producer’s new offices at 7000 Romaine Street in Hollywood where Hughes signed Jack to a $150 per week contract. Jack’s agent was Gummo Marx of the Marx Brothers and couldn’t strike a better deal. Hughes insisted Jack change his name Beutel to Buetel because Hughes was concerned that people would pronounce it “beetle.” Jack returned to Dallas briefly in 1939 to marry his high school sweetheart, Cereatha Browning then returned with her to Hollywood. The movie was filmed later in 1939 along with another unknown, Jane Russell, in the leading female role.

Although filmed in 1939, the film wasn’t released until 1943. It didn’t receive a wider release until 1946. The Hollywood Code censors had made significant changes to tame the film as the movie’s “sex” scenes, especially those in the hay, shocked them. The movie turned out to be a springboard for Russell, who became a major Hollywood star. For reasons not fully known, Hughes made sure Jack’s career did not take off. Jack had signed an eleven-year contract with Hughes and Hughes used him sparingly in roles. Hughes also refused to lend Jack out to studios that wanted him. Jack, meanwhile, collected his $150 per week from Hughes (the annual equivalent of about $165,000 in 2023). With little to do in Hollywood, Jack joined the Navy for a couple of years to fight in World War II.

Over the years Jack married and divorced several times. He married Cereatha, Jill Meridith, Gloria Jean Bailey, and then finally Joann Jensen in 1962. After his contract with Hughes was over, Jack returned to the movies in 1951 with “Best of the Badmen” and four other movie westerns. He later appeared on television in 1955 as Deputy Jeff Taggart in 39 episodes of Judge Roy Bean. He did several other television projects until 1961. In his later years, Jack lived in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Joann, and his mother, Norma. Joann passed away in 1984, followed by Norma in 1986. After a lengthy illness, Jack passed away in 1989 at the age of 71.

How Luby’s Really Began

Luby’s Cafeterias and Dallas go together like peas and carrots. While Luby’s own company history calls San Antonio the birthplace of the Company in 1945, the reality is that there were Luby’s Cafeterias all over the Dallas area for years before then. So why the disconnect? Not surprisingly, the answer lies in family dynamics.

Earl Emerson Luby was the youngest of six boys (Frank, Clyde, George, Mack, Ralph, and Earl) and four girls (Opal, Hazel, Helen, and Lola) born and raised in Matoon, Illinois by Joseph E. and Jerusa Paradise Rosanna (Rose) Luby. Joseph’s brother, Andrew, had one son, Harry, and two daughters. Harry and his sisters were very close to their first cousins.

Shortly after the turn of the last century, Harry and his wife Julia were living in Decatur, Illinois, where they owned and operated a millinery store. One day Harry found himself in Chicago eating at The Dairy Lunch, a diner. It was there he had the vision of opening lunch spots in the nation’s growing downtowns. Harry and Julia soon moved to Springfield, Missouri to open the “New England Dairy Lunch” in 1911. They opened a second location in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1914. His cousin, Earl joined him in 1919 and they soon expanded the business into Oklahoma, with a third location in Muskogee. It was the Muskogee location that first used the family name – Luby’s. It was also the first location to catch the attention of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan didn’t like the fact that the cousins employed African American workers to cook and serve. Harry and Earl were told to fire their workers and join the Klan. The cousins didn’t share those views and decided to close the location at a loss and leave town. Next stop: Dallas.

The Farmer’s Market downtown Dallas where Luby’s managers would go to order fresh food for the week.

In 1929 Harry and Earl opened their first Dallas location downtown in the Southland Life Building on Browder St. It was called Luby’s. The cafeteria provided fresh food served in the quickest time possible in pleasant surroundings and included tablecloths and staff to fill glasses and keep the restaurant clean. Each dining room had an organ or piano. The cafeteria was a hit with the downtown crowd who usually had less than an hour to have lunch. An organist would play songs of the day while patrons ate their lunch. A locally famous organist named Miss Inez also played for a sponsored radio segment each day sponsored by Luby’s. Most of the Luby family came to work for the Dallas cafeteria and used the downtown location as a training model for the other locations soon to be opened across Dallas.

In 1925 Earl bought the home at 4327 Vandelia St. in Perry Heights and lived there with his first wife, Bulah, and her mother, Daisy Fisher. They lived in the house until the late 1930’s when the couple divorced and moved out. Earl married Marge Laughlin, who was widowed with a son, in 1941. Marge’s son, John Pat, would eventually join the family business. Marge died in 1957. Earl married a third wife, Dorothy Rose Haber, in 1958 and they remained married until his death in 1990.

By the mid-1920’s, Harry had begun selling his ownership in the business to other family members and retired early. By 1953, Earl, Joe, and George Jr. owned seven cafeterias in the Dallas market and were drafting plans to open additional Dallas locations and cafeterias in Denver. The Dallas locations included one that opened in 1951 on Lomo Alto where Whole Foods sits today. The Lomo Alto location was fully air-conditioned.

Earl’s stepson, John Pat, was asked to participate in the family business as an investor and manager of the new Lockwood Village location. In order to open more locations in Texas and Colorado, the family eventually allowed non-family owners in as franchisees at a 60/40 split.

In the early 1950’s Harry’s son, Bob, founded Cafeteria’s, Inc. in San Antonio. He did not involve any of his cousins or other family members. In 1955 Cafeteria’s Inc. opened its first location in Beaumont. He quickly opened locations throughout the country. After buying numerous existing Luby’s locations from his cousins, Bob resigned his operational control in 1971 and the company went public in 1973. Bob’s company never had the rights to the Luby’s name in Dallas so he couldn’t open any new locations in the city. Because he felt his uncle Earl and Earl’s family never treated him well, Bob never approached his uncle and cousins to purchase any of the Dallas locations owned by them.

In 1970, Wyatt’s Cafeteria made an offer to Earl and his son to buy all but three of their locations in Dallas. This brought Earl’s involvement in the family business to an end. Earl’s stepson John Pat would retain ownership of the Lockwood Village location. The Dallas locations are now owned by Wyatt’s and still operate as Luby’s.

There will never be a cafeteria as special or as integral to life in Dallas as Luby’s. Thank you, Earl.

Thank you to Lawrence P. Luby’s Book “The Untold Story of Luby’s Cafeterias” for photos and some content.

Leader of the Band

Paul and Margarita Guerrero and their six children lived in New Braunfels and all played in the family band in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. They played dance-band music and Mexican boleros as they traveled regionally around Texas. The father, Paul Sr. also played trumpet and valve trombone in many top Afro-American bands, such as Cab Calloway’s, mostly due to Jim Crow laws at the time. At that time, African American bands could only have “non-white” band members fill in when the band needed local musicians. In the late 1940’s Paul Sr. moved his family to Dallas. His namesake son, Paul Jr. started playing the drums at 10 and by 14, he took his first job outside the family band, with the Marcelino Marcelena Orchestra playing live radio broadcasts. The Guerrero children went to Sunset High School and Paul Jr. then enrolled in North Texas State University (now, the University of North Texas or UNT) working towards a teaching degree. However, before he finished he was drafted. In the Army he played in the 4th Army Band and met such jazz greats as Vic Damone, Carl Fontana, and Jack Hanna (another great jazz drummer and band leader), who became a lifelong friend. After the Army, he went back to school, but his education was interrupted again by a huge break, an invitation to tour with the great Woody Herman Band. He said yes, but not before he asked his girlfriend and schoolmate, Celeste Roberts, to marry him and travel with the band.

After two years of touring in the early 1960’s, the couple settled in the house on N. Hall St. in Perry Heights. The Guerreros remained close to Woody Herman, and he occasionally would stop in Dallas and play with Paul Jr. at the club where he would be locally famous, the Bagatelle Lounge in One Energy Place on Greenville Avenue. Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, and Brasil 66 would also stop in as they passed through town. Most nights in the 1970’s and ’80’s, The Guerrero Quintet played with a vocalist, Jeannie Maxwell. To hear, click here (Dale McFarland posted a few of these performances).

Paul Jr. later completed his education with a doctorate degree in Music. He taught at North Texas State as well as Southern Methodist University, where he developed the University’s first stage band program. He also taught at Richland College. He did all of this while still playing with such stars as Henri Mancini, Sonny & Cher, the 5th Dimension, Vikki Carr, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He wrote the jazz curriculum for the Dallas Arts Magnet School. Paul Jr. died of Leukemia in March 1989. The West Dress Circle Stairway at the Myerson Hall is named in honor of him as a professional musician, educator, friend, and promoter of young jazz players and as a mover in the Hispanic community. Richland College and UNT established scholarship endowment funds in his name. Every November 5th (his birthday) is Paul Guerrero Day in the state of Texas, County of Dallas, and City of Dallas.

His wife, Celeste, was a big personality in her own right. After Paul’s passing, Celeste moved from the house on Hall St. to a townhouse in Park Place and lived there until her death in 20121. Celeste was very involved in Perry Heights. She was a driving force in getting Herschel and Prescott streets closed off to cross traffic in the 1970’s.

To celebrate that event, Paul’s band played for the neighborhood. She also was one of the founding officers of the neighborhood association. She donated much of her time to working with undocumented families in the 1980’s and 90’s, making good use of her fluent Spanish.

Emilio’s House 4327 Hall, as it looks now.

Paul Jr.’s brother, Emilio Guerrero lived across the street from Paul and Celeste on N. Hall St. He and his wife of 61 years, Angelina, had two daughters. Emilio, also Korean war veteran, was a well-respected businessman in his own right. For 55 years he was the owner and operator of Guerrero Barbershop on Lemmon Ave. Brownie’s Barbershop now occupies that space. Emilio passed away in 2015.

We love our park, but who was Craddock?

Our beautiful park, as you know, was donated to the City of Dallas by the Craddock family in 1922 when Gordon Perry platted Perry Heights. It was the first privately donated tract of land for the purpose of a public park in the City’s history. The land was just short of 10 acres and it was highly valuable. But what did Lemuel Craddock do to make all of his money? Who were the Craddocks?

Lemuel Craddock was born in Alabama in 1847, served in the Confederate army in 1864 and 1865, and moved to Dallas in 1875 where he opened a distribution business at Main and Austin Streets. He married Nanie Legg of Cleburne, Texas and had one son and two daughters.

So as we walk under the trees and breath some fresh air, which industry should we thank for this lush gift of a park? Oil, lumber, grocery stores, or maybe cotton? No, we should be thankful for liquor, specifically whiskey.

Craddocks Whiskey and Liquors was the largest direct to consumer shipper of whiskey in the South by the start of the 1900s. Craddock was well known for having the best whiskeys and Cuban cigars. Mr. Craddock was making massive amounts of money until one historical point in history arrived, Prohibition. He quickly sold off his inventory and retired to Denver, Colorado. He returned to Dallas often, including the visit he made to gift the park to the City. The one condition: it would be a public park. In 1922, the land was valued at about $90,000. Adjusting for inflation, that would be $1.6 million in today’s dollars, but it’s doubtful that it would sell for that little in today’s real estate market.

Mr. Craddock was a great Dallas philanthropist in many other ways. In addition to giving the parkland, he worked with other civic leaders to help establish the Texas State Fair at the current fairgrounds. He opened a theater on the second floor of his liquor business on Main Steet. The Dallas Opera used this space from 1878 to 1883. The opera house was rather primitive and only held 500 seats, yet it kept the company together to thrive and it brought international artists to the City. He was also a senior member of the Dallas Lodge of Odd Fellows, which is philanthropic club that is still active in Dallas today. He held a deep belief that he had a responsibility to improve the lives of others.

Around the turn of the century, Mr. Craddock moved the business to a larger building at 911 Elm St. This building still stands today. The name of one of the more recent owners, Milliniar’s Supply Company, is still painted on the front. Mr. Craddock’s turn-of-the-century home at Ervay and Cadiz St. has long since been torn down. After his first wife’s death, Mr. Craddock married Mattie Long in 1881 and then after he was widowed a second time he married Belle Christy Craddock. He died in 1933, three days before the repeal of Prohibition.

Mr. Craddock would be disappointed that his donated park would be threatened several times over the following 100 years. First, in 1966, the city built a tollway along the unused Cotton Belt Railway that ran behind Perry Heights and the park. Dallas North Tollway bought 91,881 square feet of the park to put in exit and entrance ramps. Dallas sold that land for $213,762. (In 1970, the City park board decided to hold some of this money, along with donations from other private businesses in a park fund totalling $200,000.)

In 1985, developer Harvey McLean had plans to build a small “city” on 41 acres near the corner of Lemmon Avenue and the Tollway that would have taken even more of Craddock Park for an additional exit ramp. Thankfully, Cay Kolb, a Perry Heights resident at the time, led the charge to have the plan rejected by the city.

The park has held many memories for nearby residents. They remember the formal rose garden from the 1940’s to the 1960’s, the baseball diamond, the playground with a merry-go-round, and the picnics. Some residents even chose to have their ashes spread in the park. It is up to our neighborhood to preserve and improve this gift of a park so future generations can enjoy this slice of nature and a place to walk and sit under the trees.

The Preservationist

Catherine (“Cay”) and Nathaniel (“Key”) Kolb moved into the house at 4402 Rawlins in 1964 and in it raised three boys and three girls. They had met in Dallas in 1958 while Cay, who had just graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, was working as a buyer for Sanger-Harris and Key had just graduated from Texas A&M University. After receiving his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, Key began a distinguished career with the Omniplan firm designing commercial retail, office, and university buildings nationwide and serving as the firm’s president from 1972 to 2000. Key was president of The Institute of Architects in 1979 and was active in Dallas civic affairs such as urban design, historic preservation, the arts, and the environment. Key Kolb also served on various boards such as the Urban Design Task Force, Neighborhood Conservation Alliance, Dallas Ballet, Fidelity Bank, Peacock Alley, and DART. He served as chairman of the Dallas Historical Landmark Committee, helping the West End, Cedar Springs Fire Station, and the Mobil Building achieve landmark status. One of the couple’s three sons was Franklin Dial “Bubba Kolb”, a jazz pianist, and trombonist who, from 1975 to 1981, led a jazz trio, “The Bubba Kolb Trio.”

Cay shared many of the same interests and devoted herself to civic contributions in order to preserve and protect inner-city neighborhoods and advance the quality of life for its residents. She started by joining a few others in forming the Oak Lawn Preservation Society in 1973. The Society was formed in response to increased commercial development efforts to redevelop Oak Lawn’s quiet neighborhoods, such as turning Turtle Creek Boulevard into a highway. She became a neighborhood activist and community leader fighting for responsible land use, public transportation, airport noise abatement, and zoning.

In the 1970s, several houses bordering Perry Heights on Lemmon, Cedar Springs, and below Wycliff were being demolished and replaced with strip malls, fast-food businesses, and office space. The entire area was declining with absentee landlords not keeping up their properties, and an increase in crime, drugs, and prostitution. The Kolbs knew they would have to protect Perry Heights and the surrounding area so they formed what would become the Perry Heights Neighborhood Association. Their first challenge involved a house in the 4400 block of Vandelia, owned by an absentee landlord that had inherited the property and wanted to offer the house as a transitional home for recovering addicts that would spend six months living in the house. Their group raised money for an attorney and successfully denied the owner that specific use of the home. Cay and Key also knew they need to restrict access through the neighborhood if they were going to preserve it, so they worked toward closing off three intersections on Herschel and Prescott to vehicular traffic. They were finally successful in 1975 after some opposition from outside interests and even a lawsuit brought on by other Perry Heights residents. They first began with barriers and then after the city council approved it, the neighborhood created concrete curbs with flower beds that cut off the streets to traffic. The Kolbs and 100 other neighbors celebrated with a block party while a few longtime neighbors who objected continued to complain. Later, in the 1980s, another push to cut off pedestrian traffic at those intersections was also successful, led mostly by David Wagner and other neighbors to further reduce crime in the still transitional neighborhood.

In the early 1980’s Cay also thwarted attempts by one developer to take additional land from Craddock Park to create a northbound entrance to the Dallas North Tollway and another developer to build a large-scale rental development on Lemmon.

The then-owner of the plantation-style house on the corner of Rawlins and Hawthorn was the Director of the Dallas Museum of Art at the time and was also involved in that fight. When his family left the neighborhood, he gifted his neighbors a drawing showing how much he appreciated the strength of the neighborhood association in preserving Perry Heights. One of our neighbors found it in a recent estate sale.

Cay was involved in the Dallas Homeowners League, Love Field Citizens Action Committee to hold Love Field accountable for airplane noise, Friends of the Katy Trail, and the Oak Lawn Preservation Society. Cay spearheaded the push for the Katy Trail, starting with a petition and then pushing the new trail through the city. Cay was also behind the first tree preservation ordinances in the City of Dallas. She played a vital role in developing the master plan for Oak Lawn known as Oak Lawn Planned Development District No. 193, which was designed to protect the neighborhoods of Oak Lawn and provide limitations on new commercial development. PD 193 is still in effect today and the committee that Cay formed is upheld by the Oaklawn Committee. She was the chairperson and president through the 1980s and 1990s.

Cay was also involved in some controversies in her time.

She was the OLC president in 1991 when a push from the city council representative, Lori Palmer, to hold bars in her Oak Lawn district, which included many gay bars, to conform more to PD-193 by providing more parking for patrons. This caused many gay bar owners and gay rights activists to protest. Cay stated that this was not a targeted gay community issue, but unfortunately, it was taken as one. One of those bar owners was another Perry Heights resident, Howard Okon. The campaign was soon dropped. In recalling the controversy, Howard stated, “Cay was a tough cookie, but we always got along great. She had no problems with the gays.”

The Kolbs led the adoption of the Rawlins Conservation District in the early 2000s. Initially, the Kolbs and a few other neighbors wanted to preserve the character of Perry Heights by changing the zoning for the entire neighborhood into a conservation district. There was a great deal of opposition from homeowners on Hall and Vandelia streets. Those residents were concerned that they would be limited in what improvements they could make to their homes. After months of contentious meetings, the Kolbs along with supporters living on Rawlins decided to break off and make Rawlins the one street in the neighborhood protected by a conservation district. Some homeowners on Hall and Vandelia felt either abandoned by that decision or upset that a conservation district was pushed, and blamed the Kolbs. Still, the decades-long work that Cay and Key put into preserving Perry Heights as a quiet spot within Oak Lawn and establishing PD 193 has helped save Perry Heights from being transformed by developers in ways we see every day in the areas surrounding us. We continue to be a smaller, but cohesive, historic neighborhood at 100 years and counting.

Cay and Key were married for over 47 years until Key’s death in 2006. Cay passed away in 2014.

Cay Kolb deserves a collective thank you from each of us who enjoy this special neighborhood, Perry Heights. We also should feel a responsibility to preserve it and protect it for future generations.

Perry Heights Grocery?

Advertisement for Dallas Grocery Stores from 1939 in the Dallas Morning News

Perry Heights Grocery opened in 1929 just outside the neighborhood down Wycliff on the corner of Hartford boasting of their new refrigeration system. Felix Alfieri was the owner of the grocery which was a two-story building with the grocery on the ground floor and an apartment on the second. The grocery was sold to James DiCarlo in the early 1940’s. His name may sound familiar. James is the “Jimmy” of Jimmy’s Italian Grocery on Bryon Street in East Dallas.

James DiCarlo and his father bought Morningside Super Market on 2nd Avenue in Dallas as well as Perry Heights Grocery on Wycliff. Shortly thereafter in 1946, James met Marie Anna Duca and married her. James and Marie lived above the Perry Heights Grocery and started a family. She made a good meatball from her family’s recipes and James started selling them in his grocery. They kept the grocery until the 1950’s when the pair concentrated on Morningside and in 1966 opened Jimmy’s Food Store.

So, yes, there was a Perry Heights Grocery at one time and you can still find Marie’s meatballs at Jimmy’s, where the family is still running the now Italian-focused grocery.