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 …

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 …

The Opera Stars in the Kitchen

If you were lucky enough to get an invitation, your senses would be overwhelmed with garlic, lemons, and sweet oregano while listening to the chic couple talk about their adventures living all over Europe, singing in the most beautiful opera houses, and probably tennis. Plato and Dorothy Karayanis loved to entertain in their condominium at …

The House with the Best Plumbing

Why does this house have two huge master bedrooms on each side of the home? This was quite unusual in the twenties when it was built. Clarence L Dickerson and his closest friend, Ward Downs went into business together in 1918 after Clarence had the opportunity to buy the plumbing business he had been working …

Deep Roots in Perry Heights

William R Gilliland (Bill) lost his father when he was two. He was raised by his mother along with his younger sister Ann at 4511 N. Hall. He attended SMU where he met his future wife, Patricia. Bill’s father, Roy Chester Gilliland was only 39 when he died.  Roy Gilliland was born in 1890 to …

The Perry Heights Power Couple

Arch and Patsy Swank moved into this large craftsman, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home at 4316 Rawlins with over 6,000 square feet built in 1944 with a huge front porch to accommodate their family of four children in the Spring of 1958.  They were a Perry Heights super couple. Both were known to be smart, cultured, …

The Most Fabulous Party Planner in Dallas

The most fabulous event planner in Dallas! Perry Heights was home to one of the most sought-after men for decades. He lived at 4322 Rawlins with his life partner, Earl E. Jones in the ’50s and ’60s.  In the 1960s, no one who was anyone gave a party in Dallas without calling Harry Bullard.  It …

A Dairyman and Minnie

In the 1930’s and 1940’s. the owners of the home at 4403 Vandelia were William and Minnie Dieterich. William Herman Dieterich was originally from Bremen, Germany, and came to Texas when he was 18. Wilhelmina  (Minnie) Augustina Gunther was born in Chicago shortly after her parents emigrated from Germany. She married W.H. Dieterich in Nebraska …

Edward Gordon Perry, Sr

E Gordon Perry grew up in a little town called Woodville, Tennessee, about two hours east of Memphis.  As a young man in 1908, he moved to El Paso and was the first businessman in El Paso to begin selling Fords in 1912 (the model T type) along with his brother-in-law.  Three years later he …