The adventures and various works of a photographer, road tripper, former patron of the local arts, aspiring app developer, and late night coffee drinker and conversationalist.
June 12, or Loving Day, is an unofficial holiday set aside to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision. Loving finally affirmed the right of interracial couples to marry in all fifty states - and, not incidentally, legitimized the very existence of people like me into law - in the sixteen states where such unions were still illegal. In recognition of this anniversary, I have assembled a collection of thirty-two photos depicting both obvious and likely examples of such couples, most of them everyday people, from both before and after the Loving decision, as immortalized via the photographer's lens. Most are drawn from my vintage and antique photo collection.
Montana couple, circa late 1900s/early 1910s
Late nineteenth century Montana had its share of discriminatory practices, even if it was something of an outlier in the U.S. as a whole with its lack of enforced segregation in public schools, universal (male) suffrage, and (until 1909) lack of a law prohibiting interracial marriage between whites and non-whites. Discrimination and prejudice did of course exist, but this couple - if they were a couple, as they appear to be - apparently decided to weather those particular storms together. Photographer Victor Grigsby opened his first Livingston studio in early 1908, placing the time of this photo at around the end of the aughts or the 1910s.
Montana couple, circa early 1900s
Continue reading "Loving Day"
The first fifty years or so of the twentieth century were the heyday of Dallas's "Theater Row." If you're not familiar with that term, it refers to the now long gone entertainment district that once comprised approximately four blocks of Elm Street, just to the west of pre-Central Expressway Deep Ellum. For several decades, this stretch of Elm between Akard and Harwood was lined with theaters showcasing the latest in modern entertainment. Before the ascent of Hollywood, a theatergoer might find a vaudeville show or Nickelodeon-style film to his or her liking. By mid-century, it might instead be a big budget Cinerama feature showing inside one of multiple big picture palaces. The brightness of the marquees and street lamps illuminating the night sky gave Theater Row the nickname of Dallas's "Great White Way."
Looking down Theater Row in 1942
Continue reading "A night at the Majestic, March 1913"
Corner of Elm Street and Hawkins in Dallas, Texas, courtesy DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University
Collecting vintage and antique photos is a pastime of mine, and I have an interest in local (mostly Dallas) history. Combining these two interests together into an exploration of early Dallas photography and photography studios thus came naturally to me. This series will cover the history of Dallas-based photography through the beginning of the 20th century, telling the story through both historically-minded blog posts and authentic historical images.
There will be no regular blog post this week, as I'm hip deep in research and interviews for a few upcoming pieces I am excited about publishing. Instead, I'm going to give a quick update on what's been going on behind the scenes. Over the past several weeks, the dam has burst as far as the "Ghosts of DFW music history" blog series. Thanks to a few very important new contacts, I've been able to procure a treasure trove of valuable information concerning a trio of west side music venues of the 1980s, and have been given access to another trove of reminiscences and potential illustrative content for these and another set of venues I'm researching on the east side of town. I've also made enormous gains when it comes to getting access to hitherto unpublished information about one venue in particular which I am very excited about. I think these will be worth the wait.
Aside from the "Ghosts" series, work also continues on a few other long-term blog projects, some of which have been in the pipeline for as long as a year or more. I expect to have these completed and published sometime during the summer. All this means that 2025 should be the best year to date for this blog, not to mention a good year for finally getting out a lot of other content that's been on the sidelines for years - more concert photos and other photo galleries, more road trip travelogs, maybe even additional old footage of the local scene (working on this!). I also expect to roll out a long-needed e-mail newsletter by the start of next week so I can (hopefully) drive engagement for the website as a whole. Overall, when it comes to projects, things have been very productive as late and will continue to be so for quite some time. I originally created this website in 2008 as a showcase for my work, but it's never really shown its true potential until now. Here's looking forward to a productive and fulfilling next chapter.
