Greyhound Bus Terminal

Corner of Lamar and Commerce Street in Downtown Dallas, circa 1960.
Photo by Leonard Raef

Tropicana Inn

Artist's rendering of the motor hotel at 3939 North Central Expressway, U.S. 75 North at the Haskell St. exit. Below, the real thing, circa 1960. It was part of the Western Motel network. The copy from the postcard reads in part: "3 minutes from downtown Dallas. 97 rooms, air-conditioned for year 'round domfort. Restaurant, banquet rooms, swimming pool, TV, muted background music. All the facilities and services of a downtown hotel with a resort atmosphere. " Phone LAkeside 6-8881

Finally, a newer piece of advertising touting All Color TVs and Direct Dial Phones. Same phone number, but updated with the area code, probably from the 1980s. The building is now gone, and the site has been excavated in preparation for new construction.

The Blue Front

One of the oldest and longest continously operating restaurants in Dallas, The Blue Front was located in a narrow blue-painted brick building at 1105 Elm Street. William G. "Papa" Schliepake was a German immigrant who started the place in 1877. He died in 1956, but his son Willie carried on as owner and chef. The family continued to run the restaurant until at least 1975, when it seems to have relocated to one of the underground venues on a revamped Elm St. There are no current listings for either the cafe or the Schliepake family in the current tax records.

Paul Crume, who wrote the "Big D" column for the Dallas Morning News for 24 years, had this to say about The Blue Front in 1960:
        They have said of Willie Schliepake that he is the only bull with his own china shop. Willie is chef at the incomparable Blue Front restaurant, and he is not inclined to look with charity on any variation in the quality of the polish sausages or he customers.
        The Blue Front, of course, is on lower Elm Street. A customer came in during the week from the upper part of town and complained about the trouble he had in parking.
        "Willie, why don't you have a parking lot?" he asked.
        Willie greeted the suggestion with a scornful humph.
        "If we had a parking lot," he said, "we wouldn't need a restaurant." 

Reader Al was kind enough to send a photo of this anniversary fob.

 

Baylor Hospital

circa 1958, on Gaston Ave.