A 1942 drive from Fort Worth to Dallas, recreated

Now fast forward to 2025, when a part-time hobbyist blogger in Dallas has decided to revisit Rothstein's earlier route with a modern day digital camera. Over a period of a few months late in the year, I reconstructed a version of the original 1942 jaunt, having managed to identify twenty-two of Rothstein's original locations. These have been arranged into a single trip heading eastward across the DFW metroplex. So join me for a drive along the remains of the old Bankhead Highway, later the Fort Worth/Dallas Pike, traversing Lancaster, Division, Main, W. Davis, Fort Worth Avenue, and W. Commerce Streets, aka the former State Highway 1, former U.S. Hwy 80 and U.S. Hwy 80 Business, and current (partial) State Highway 180, from Fort Worth to Dallas, to see how things today compare to what existed eighty-four years ago.

Note: The exact routes that historically made up Hwy 80 west of Big Town Blvd. were slightly varied depending on the specific time period; for this tour, I'm tracing a route that connects the twenty-two locations being featured.

Facing east near the Fort Worth boundary line in 1942. The precise location of this original starting point is up for debate, as period maps, city directories, and other available sources provide contradictory information regarding the city's exact western terminus at the time of Rothstein's photo.

We pick up the trail west of downtown, where billboards promoting Southern Select beer and Bill Wood's Photo Co. flanked the W. Lancaster Avenue bridge over the Trinity River's Clear Fork.

The view at the West Lancaster Avenue bridge in late 2025.

In 1942, decades before the construction of the Fort Worth Convention Center and the Fort Worth Water Gardens, Main Street directly connected the Tarrant County Court building with W. Lancaster Avenue.

Today, the former Monnig Dry Goods building, now Water Gardens Place, stands as a reminder of what once existed in the former 1600 block of Main Street. The former Main Street route is now messily redirected around the Convention Center and Fort Worth Water Gardens via Houston and Commerce Streets, and via a fragment of East 15th.

Jack Walton's Hot Barbecue stood at 1900 E. Lancaster Avenue for about two decades beginning around 1940. The building was engulfed by fire in January 1959 and ultimately sold in 1960 to Pete Vouras, becoming Pete Vouras' Barbecue Drive-In. It later became part of the Mr. Quick chain.

The 1900 block of E. Lancaster, as of late 2025, was the site of Cavenders Motors, situated at the southeast corner of Lancaster and Grafton.

The Mayo Courts, located at 1917 E. Lancaster, offered forty-one units of "Modern and Cool Hotel Accommodations" to travelers motoring along the Dallas Pike.

Today the Mike Carlson Motor Company building stands at 1917 E Lancaster Ave. on the other side of the highway from Cavenders Motors, one of eight such locations in the Fort Worth area.

The Broadway Inn Tourist Courts were situated on the 5200 block of E. Lancaster, owned by H.J. Erback, also the proprietor of the eponymous Erback's Famous Fried Chicken. The entire complex was sold in 1943 due to a court judgment against Erback.

Today, 5200 E. Lancaster is the site of the Lancaster Apartments, an eighty-five unit complex on Fort Worth's near east side. The complex was formerly the Park Central Apartments, a one-time luxury facility that fell on very hard times by the 1990s.

The Arlington Downs complex operated for nearly three decades from its opening in November 1929, functioning as a horse racetrack with legalized pari-mutuel betting from 1933 until 1937, and afterward as site for rodeos and events until its demolition in 1958. Prior to 1933, pari-mutuel betting was illegal, forcing the track to be utilized for non-betting purposes.

In 1942 the racetrack extended to the highway, with an entrance just off the main route.

Today the former outer bounds of the complex are lined with commercial businesses and parking lots. Journey farther in, to present-day Randol Mill Road, and you'll find the Arlington Downs Tower, a six-story, 87,000 square foot office building named for the racetrack which once occupied the grounds. The location is now designated as a historic site.

The Hangar restaurant in Grand Prairie appealed to workers from the North America Aviation plant some 2 1/2 miles away, providing a gathering place for those employed in support of the aircraft industry and war effort.

A view down the now considerably busier W. Main Street in Grand Prairie in late 2025. Present-day development in the area makes it difficult to replicate the original composition and angle.

The Bagdad Supper Club, whose dance floor was billed as the largest in the Southwest, opened to the public on January 23, 1929 as a combination dining and entertainment hall. Constructed following an (alleged) Moorish motif and intended to project a Persian-style allure, the Bagdad was conceived not as a typical cabaret but rather as a destination for clubs, organizations, and families seeking a night of "high class" entertainment. The 7,000 square foot club was acquired in 1945 by Dr. Cosette Faust Newton and her husband, surgeon F.H. Newton; it was subsequently remodeled and re-imagined as a permanent museum for Mrs. Newton's collection of cultural items from across the world. Instead, the club went up in flames on April 19, 1953, destroying the collection and leading to an estimated loss of over one million dollars.

Today, the site that once hosted the Bagdad is now just an empty field.

Jim Drew's Hatchery in Arcadia Park was a place to buy chicks, the "South's finest" according to contemporary advertisements. In late 1943, the year after this photo was taken, one hundred chicks retailed for $6.90.

The westernmost route of Loop 12 crosses W. Davis Street near the original location of Jim Drew's Hatchery. The southeast corner of the intersection is now given over to industrial applications.

The Canary Cafe stood at the intersection of Bagley and W. Davis in Arcadia Park, which had not yet been annexed to Dallas. Tennessee Dairy, advertised near the café's entrance, was a local competitor to Metzger's as shown on the next location in the tour. Hires root beer, first introduced in 1876, was phased out entirely by the mid-2010s. In 1942, a Canary Cafe hamburger retailed for 10¢.

Facing west at the intersection of W. Davis and Bagley in late 2025, when the Supermercado Monterrey stands as a busy attraction on the other side of the street.

Petty's Drive Inn, offering 25¢ lunches and 10¢ hot dogs, flanked the Canary on the other side of Bagley Street. Metzger's Milk was a locally based dairy outfit known for its home delivery, ultimately sold to Borden in the 1980s.

Today, a gas station/convenience store occupies the old Petty's site.

The 12.5 acre, 408 car capacity Chalk Hill Drive-In Theatre opened in July 1941 with The Invisible Woman as its first feature. The theater remained in operation until 1973 and was demolished the following year.

Hardie's Fresh Foods and Taylor Farms occupy the former theater site today.

The Texas Trailer Park resided at the northwest corner of Fort Worth Avenue and N. Montclair, sporting not just trailer spaces but a "fine food" café and nearby Lee's Garage.

A White Rhino Coffee & Roastery (and adjoining parking lot) occupies the old trailer park site as of late 2025.

The Rolling Home Trailer Park provided living space for residents at 1526 Fort Worth Avenue. By 1950, the trailer park had been replaced by the Kliff Motor Truck Company.

Today, a family owned and operated storage facility stands on the former trailer park site.

The forty-unit West Commerce Tourist Lodge/Blue Top Tourist Courts was one of a number of such lodges built to accommodate the rush of tourists expected for the 1936 Centennial Exposition.

A Chase Bank now sits near the location of the old tourist lodge on Fort Worth Avenue.

The Mission Courts at Fort Worth Avenue and W. Commerce were another forty-unit construction project whose impetus was the 1936 Centennial. As of June 2014, the old buildings were still standing, abandoned.

In 2025, the SYNC West Dallas apartment complex entices potential tenants along this increasingly gentrified stretch of the old highway.

On the other side of the highway, directly across from the Mission Courts, lay a fork in the road where the highway split off from Commerce Street. Adjacent to the turnaround sat Tommie's Calf Stand (later the Semos family restaurant), its roof adorned with a giant billboard advertising Louisiana-based Jax Beer as the "best beer in town." Farther off in the distance were the Sky-Vu dance club, a Gulf Oil filling station, and a Safeway grocery store.

The fork still exists today, with the Crab Pot (as of late 2025) now in place of the long gone Semos family restaurant, and industrial property taking up the one-time Safeway location. The dance club and filling station are long gone.

The Motor Inn Market at W. Commerce Street and Hardwick offered meat, produce, and grocery items alongside an adjacent "modern trailer camp."

Today, the Allied Fence company occupies the site once owned by the Motor Inn Market, and the adjacent trailer park is long gone.

Across the street from the Motor Inn Market and Trailer Park stood Jake's Auto Parts No. 2, which offered cash in exchange for old vehicles. Location #1 was situated at what is currently a parking lot in Deep Ellum.

As of late 2025, a vacant building sits at 255 W Commerce, constructed in 1954 as a drive-in grocery, later the home of a transmission exchange, and now an empty shell situated next door to another of gentrification-happy Dallas's newer apartment complexes. Each structure shares a portion of the space once taken up by Jake's #2.

The Bull Calf Stand, two doors down from Jake's Auto Parts, offered barbecued ribs and calf fries on its menu.

The old Bull Calf restaurant site as of late 2025, currently an empty lot.

Facing west toward downtown from the Bull Calf, at the intersection with Hardwick Street, a lone child stood gazing inquisitively toward the cameraman.

The view as of late 2025 is decidedly less attractive.

Approaching the Triple Underpass and downtown Dallas in 1942, the city skyline stretched expansively across the horizon. The Sexton building (formerly the Southern Rock Island Plow Co. building and, much later, the Texas School Book Depository building) and the Old Red Courthouse (sans clock tower), loomed recognizably in the distance. Towering triumphantly above all others was the Magnolia Petroleum Building, opened in 1922 and the tallest building in the city at the time.

A quarter of the way into the twenty-first century, this stretch of roadway has been significantly transformed, the view now completely dominated by modern high-rise skyscrapers that dwarf anything present in 1942. The Bank of America building, completed in 1985, towers above all at a height of 921 feet. Nevertheless, the old School Book Depository building (officially The Sixth Floor Museum) and the Old Red Courthouse (with clock tower now restored) are still visible as part of the modern Dallas skyline.