Home, sweet East Dallas

Lunching in Lakewood. Dining and drinking on Lower Greenville. Scrambling for candy at the Woodrow homecoming parade. Catching a show at the Granada. Playing tennis at Samuell-Grand. Poll greeting at Mata Montessori. Running into friends at Matt’s. Admiring the scenery at White Rock Lake — which includes a passerby with a snake wrapped around his shoulders, a couple doling out free lemonade and salvation, and two men partaking in Medieval sword fighting.

The list of everything I love about East Dallas is endless. So much so that I’m loath to admit how long it took me to get here.

I was born in India, bred in Chicago and courted by a Texan. John moved from Dallas to Chicago in late 1999 — for me. We were young and in love and did everything the Windy City offered — Cubs games, pubs, museums, restaurants, festivals, beaches and bars. But no matter how much fun it all was, John longed for Texas.

It was the grueling, sunless, frigid days between October and April that finally did him in. After his fourth Chicago winter, he was done. I didn’t particularly enjoy the winters either. I’ve always maintained that my genetic makeup is not conducive to that sort of climate. That final winter, in the middle of a flu-induced delirium, I spontaneously decided I was done, too.

John introduced me to the M Streets back when we were long-distance dating by taking me to Café Izmir on one of our first dates. We drank margaritas on the patio at Gloria’s and drove through the cutest neighborhood I’d ever seen. Fast forward to 2003, and with a 9-month-old in tow, we traded our 1,200-square-foot townhome in Wrigleyville for a lovely, updated M Streets cottage complete with a backhouse and a yard.

Transitions are tough. I left family and friends and knew virtually no one in Dallas. We arrived in the middle of July and it was hot, like Africa hot. Our neighbors were welcoming and Southern hospitality was on full display, save for then-named Stonewall Jackson Elementary, and it changed our lives. It was here where we found lifelong friends — the ones you go on vacation with and put down as your emergency contacts. It was here where I witnessed public school parents work hard to support their campuses. It was here where I discovered my purpose. It was East Dallas and the since renamed Mockingbird Elementary that opened my mind and unlocked my heart. We were finally settling in.

And then we moved. Again. And again. First to Seattle and then to Bangalore, India.

In early 2013, near the end of our twoyear expat stint, John made me an offer: It was up to me where we landed for good. He put money down that I’d pick Chicago or Singapore. To his disbelief, I blurted out, “Dallas.” the woman three doors down who asked if I was our son’s nanny. (“Uh, no. I would be the mother.”)

Our stay was unintentionally short. The following year, John accepted an opportunity in Sydney, Australia. We returned to Dallas in April 2008 — now a family of four, perfectly timing our re-entry with the near-collapse of the U.S. economy. Many of the friends we had made during our original stay moved while we were away. I was lonely.

I didn’t know it at the time, but it was all about to get a whole lot better. We enrolled our son in kindergarten at

I often reflect on what made me answer so emphatically and without hesitation. It wasn’t the Arts District or Klyde Warren Park or the Katy Trail or Cool Thursdays at the Arboretum that drew me back. It was the people with whom we shared these experiences. We created connections that I wanted to strengthen.

It took me a decade to figure out that it’s not the city in which you live; it’s the community you create. My community was created here in East Dallas. I am home.

And I’m never moving again.

The Advocate is thrilled to welcome neighborhood activist Mita Havlick as our new “Last Word” columnist. Find her commentary regularly in the back pages of our print edition and online at lakewood.advocatemag.com.

We believe …

that school is family that Jesus is our Savior. that a good teacher is still the best teaching tool. that interactive learning is getting your hands dirty. in playing outside. in reading the classics in putting pencil to paper. in character, honor, and integrity in respect

Swimmertime Fun

Water lovers all over East Dallas were crushed when they found out that the resort-style aquatic center headed to Samuell-Grand wouldn’t be open until the end of summer, but now we can enjoy water slides, diving boards, a lazy river, lily pad bridges and more. The center opened on August 18 and will be open on weekends through the end of September, according to Park Board Member Jesse Moreno. The best part – it will be free this summer. Moreno was disappointed the project was not completed on time, but dozens of workers were hard at work in early August putting on the finishing touches to what will be a significant upgrade to the city’s pools.

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Texas Stop Sign

Dairy Queen has announced plans to open a restaurant in the area. DQ’s “coming soon” sign went up on the shuttered Chicken Express store at 6445 Eastridge next to the Skillman Home Depot, and renovation is expected to begin soon. The Chicken Express opened in 2015, but the stand-alone store hardly did enough business to leave oil spots on the parking lot. Perhaps a Dairy Queen in that location will draw the attention of contractors purchasing construction supplies next door and residents nearby.

ALBERTSON’S FUTURE

The space has been a grocery store for decades, and was most recently a Minyard Sun Fresh Market. Minyard’s first store was in East Dallas on Lindsley Avenue and opened in 1932, and the Lakewood Whole Foods used to be a Minyard Food Store as well. Lakewood neighbors Jeffrey and Annette Patterson submitted the question about the future of the location to Dallas Morning News’ Curious Texas. Ward Kampf, the president of prperty owners Northwood Retail, told the News the space will not be a grocery store but instead will be sliced up for two or three other tenants. He said that the tenants might be known within the next month.

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Notes

JIMMY’S AND THE MUSERS

The Musers, Dallas’ favorite sports morning hosts, broadcasted from Jimmy’s Food Store last month. The Ticket’s Gordon Keith interviewed patrons, employees and even one guy’s mom. He asked a woman one too many personal questions about her significant other and an aspiring broadcaster employee gave him a couple hot takes about Cowboys safety Jeff Heath. George Dunham and Craig Miller discussed Terrence Williams’s refusal to talk about how much the Cowboys would miss future Hall of Famer Jason Witten and the profane and possibly insane coach from the latest season of Netflix’s “Last Chance U,” a documentary series about a junior college football team in Kansas.

Bus Stop Tragedy

Adding to the number of traffic-related deaths on Buckner, a woman was killed while waiting at bus stop near Buckner and Peavy last month, Fox 4 reports. A car collided with the bus stop structure around 2 p.m. while the woman sat inside. The vehicle that collided with the bus stop ended up 50 yards down the street. The woman was 48-year-old Darleen Pollard, who died at the scene. The driver was a 73-year-old man who has not been identified. He was taken to the hospital and told police he had congestive heart failure.

HOMELESS AT SAMUELL-GRAND?

The city was all in a huff after the Office of Homeless Solutions proposed a policy to reduce homelessness in Dallas that would involve making some of the city’s recreation centers temporary homeless shelters. Dallas Park Board member Jesse Moreno says that Samuell-Grand

Recreation Center qualified as a location, but the idea is practically dead on arrival at City Council.

In addition to numerous City Council members being strongly against the idea, Moreno highlighted numerous reasons why he thought it would be a poor plan.He notes that the recreation centers are full of children throughout the year, and that the current staff are not trained to handle the possible medical emergencies or security concerns that may occur if those experiencing homelessness were living there. “I think it’s a horrible idea to mix a homeless population with kids who are as young as five or six years old,” he says. In addition, the recreation centers are booked with activities from early in the morning until night, making coordinating the needs of a homeless shelter even more difficult. “Logistically it would be a nightmare,” he says.

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