2024 June Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate

LAKEWOOD/EAST DALLAS

ADVOCATE

VOL. 31 NO. 6

PROFILE

10 The piñata man

DINING

12 The Bad Chicken on Ross Avenue

FEATURES

18 Krista Rouse and her 1500(ish) bouquets

22 Jesse Simmons: A journey towards recovery

26 Brand New Noise

28 The tiny town behind Torchy’s Tacos

Neon signage in Bad Chicken. Read more on page 12. Photography by Kelsey Shoemaker.

A History of Exceptional Dentistry

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Mural on the side of the Foxhill Villas off of Live Oak Street. Mural by Josh Dodson Studio. Photography by Lauren Allen.

LARGER LARGER THAN LIFE-SIZED

Piñata Man Alfonso Hernandez breaks down artistic barriers

Story by SIMON PRUITT | Photography by AMANI SODIQ

“I

NEVER CONSIDERED MYSELF AN ARTIST,” says Alfonso Hernandez, in front of a massive, beautiful landscape painting that he made on a whim. Around it are pops of yellow and red from the most elaborately-made piñatas you’ve ever seen. He sits among them inside his Mesquite art studio because, well, everyone else considers him an artist.

The East Dallas resident is flanked by a larger-than-life-sized Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas . A few feet to the left is a muscle-bound Kobe Bryant holding a basketball with both hands.

You’ve likely never seen piñatas like Hernandez’s before, and until 2016, he hadn’t either.

He was attending a birthday party for his nephew, and his family planned to spend $100 for a nice piñata from Mexico.

“Man, $100,” he remembers thinking. “I was out of a job so hey, I’ll give it a shot.”

The soon to be 7-year-old requested Captain America, and all Hernandez had to do was cross reference an image on Google with his paper mache and painting supplies.

“Within the first two hours of me starting to build it, I was like man, this is easy,” he says. “I’d built the structure of the body in like an hour and it already looked 100 times better than anything.”

Then he churned out Batman, Spider-Man, Bowser and a Ninja Turtle in one session.

Hernandez, 41, had always been looking for his niche. Before making piñatas, he had corporate jobs at Service King and different IT companies. He was prone to climbing the ladder, and fast, but those jobs were never his own. Before Captain America’s candy insides hit the pavement, Hernandez knew he had something.

“For five years straight, I woke up and made piñatas till two or three o’clock in the morning,” he says. “Seven days a week for five straight years. I missed birthday parties. I missed funerals. I missed a lot of things.”

During that imperial phase, you couldn’t find Hernandez but you couldn’t escape his work. He marketed himself as the Piñata Man on Facebook, taking commissions for parties all over Dallas. In 2021, the State Fair of Texas gave him his own indoor exhibition.

“People would buy their piñatas and toss them in the corner,” he says, speaking of the piñatas that people were used to. “They’ll have their birthday setup but the piñata would be hiding somewhere.”

The tradtional piñata didn’t have enough detail for Hernandez. He opted to paint the base by hand which would free him to create any kind of design or character. His piñatas are big; they’re detailed. You can’t take your eyes off them.

“The piñata became the centerpiece.”

No matter how far Hernandez pushes the envelope, he still honors the medium.

It’s still a piñata, it must be broken.

“I really do push for that,” he says. “The time that you spend breaking it with your family members or with your friends, that’s a memory. That’s an important memory, and a fun memory.”

No matter the number of hours, or the money spent to purchase it, all of his work winds up the same way— battered into a million pieces as children wrestle over the insides.

He’s forged a permanent career out of temporary objects, and that juxtaposition isn’t lost on him.

“Everything that I’ve made has been pressured,” he says. “There’s deadlines. There’s money involved. I’ve never had time to actually make something that I like.”

He recently launched his website and plans to host workshops at his studio. Hernandez says that he still hasn’t made his masterpiece, but it’s clear that doing so is in the forefront.

“The only way I’m going to achieve that is if I can get a gallery,” he says.

A gallery of piñatas — one without bats swinging or screaming, clamoring children.

“I got stuck on trying to prove myself or prove my art,” he says. “I’ve mastered the craft.”

Hernandez is on his eighth year as the Piñata Man.

CHICKEN BAD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER

The classic sandwich at Bad Chicken is layered with fried chicken, lettuce, tomatos, pickles and mayo topped with a buttery brioche bun from a local bakery.

Story by LILLIAN JUAREZ

Photography by KELSEY SHOEMAKER

Nobody likes wings or chicken as much as Bobby Shuey does. Shuey, a regular backyard cook and wings fanatic, couldn’t find the cure for his chicken fix.

He needed something fried and smothered in sauce that was similar to the wings he regularly made at home.

He could’ve gone to any fast food restaurant for chicken in Dallas.

There was Raising Cane’s, but they specialized in chicken strips. Chick-fil-A was an option, but it still didn’t match what he was searching for. And although he loved Pluckers for their wings, he wasn’t a fan of the “two-hour wait.”

Something was still missing.

The only way to resolve Shuey’s chicken issue was to open Bad Chicken, his own fast-casual chicken concept.

Opening a restaurant was new to him. Shuey, who had been in the tech industry for years, knew he was going to need a partner with restaurant experience.

In June of 2022, Shuey met chef Tim Woehr, who is seasoned in food industry management and hospitality. They ironically met at Pluckers and after discussing the concept, Woehr was in.

“It wasn’t [about] creating a restaurant to make the most money, it was because I had this passion for food,” Shuey says. “I wanted to get these recipes I’ve always had out there.”

Five months later, they signed a shortterm lease in Preston Center and waited to see if their project was going to resonate with Dallasites.

The menu started with just their signature wings, but more concepts like the buffalo chicken bowl, stuffed with mac and cheese, curly fries and sweet potato fries, a classic chicken sandwich, a bacon PB&J sandwich and chicken nuggets were added. Sides are simple though — loaded fries, coleslaw and elote.

“[Bad Chicken’s differentiating staple is chicken that is] flash fried to order, which

makes it possible to offer top-tier wings at drive-thru speed,” Shuey says. “While you can get smoked and flashed fried wings at most BBQ restaurants, we are one of the few chicken restaurants in the state that serve smoked wings.”

August 2023, the eatery announced their relocation to Old East Dallas at 5014 Ross Ave. Eight months later, Bad Chicken opened with a revamped look featuring a large family-friendly patio, an arcade area in the dining room, cocktails such as watermelon slushies and frozen margaritas, which can be purchased at their drive-thru until 2 a.m.

The move was “literally the perfect spot,” with recent growth in the neighborhood and proximity to major spots like Knox Henderson and Lower Greenville.

The 2,800-square-foot blue-and-red eatery is for everyone, they say, as the space includes indoor seating for 44 and patio seating for 40, suitable for grabbing food with family or for a late-night bite after a night out with friends.

Instead of going with a “typical color scheme and trending artwork,” the duo created a “fun party vibe” that invited people to lounge.

“For us, it’s all about standing out and letting people have some fun,” Shuey says.

The interior is described as “electric and vibrant” but also peppers in a retro feel with Sega game consoles and movie artwork that combines some throwback movies.

“This place is Bad Chicken,” says Woehr, comparing Bad Chicken

2.0 to their 2022 brick-and-mortar.

The signature look of Bad Chicken is expressed through its vintage-inspired style with bright reds and teal blues scattered throughout the interior.

A new feature of the Ross location is an updated dessert menu that includes cheesecake eggrolls with blueberry compote and classics like churro donut holes and lemon ice box pie.

“My wife and I are dessert addicts so we wanted to create a robust selection of desserts and all made in-house,” Shuey says.

Since moving to the area, business has skyrocketed, Shuey says. Whether it’s related to an increase of younger customers walking nearby, their selection of 28 sauces, late hours or perhaps the punny name.

“I’m a big believer that if you eat somewhere you really like and you go tell your friends but they can’t remember what that name is, nobody’s gonna [remember it,]” Shuey says. “There’s 10,000 restaurants in Dallas and if your name doesn’t stand out, no one’s gonna remember it.”

Bad Chicken is serving three to four times the amount of people they used to serve at the last location and are ready for the day they get to expand.

“We have more customers than I could have imagined that come in and tell us this is the third, fourth, fifth, 10th time they’ve been here since we opened and they keep bringing more and more people each time they come,” Shuey says.

“No one’s going to forget Bad Chicken.”

Bad Chicken, 5014 Ross Ave, 469. 206. 0237, badchicken.com

As a former Dallas County Prosecutor, District Attorney and State District Court Judge, Susan Hawk has presided over more than 25,000 criminal cases. Susan’s experience gives her a behind-the-bench perspective into the workings of cases, juries and judges that few attorneys can match. And her experience and passion for advocating for mental health brings an added focus on treatment over incarceration.

If you or someone you know is facing criminal charges, make sure they come to court with the advantage of an insider’s perspective. Because in crafting a defense, the right perspective is everything.

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

BEST ART GALLERY

WINNER - ART ON MAIN

2ND - BATH HOUSE CULTURAL CENTER

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BEST BOOKSTORE

WINNER - HALF PRICE BOOKS

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WINNER - WHITE ROCK YMCA

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BEST LIBRARY

WINNER - WHITE ROCK HILLS BRANCH LIBRARY

2ND - LAKEWOOD BRANCH LIBRARY

3RD - LOCHWOOD BRANCH LIBRARY

BEST LIVE MUSIC

WINNER - THE DALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL GARDENS

2ND - GRANADA THEATER

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BEST MEMBERS ONLY CLUB

WINNER - LAKEWOOD COUNTRY CLUB

2ND - THE EXCHANGE CLUB OF EAST DALLAS

3RD - GOLF NORTH TEXAS

BEST PARK

WINNER - WHITE ROCK LAKE PARK (FOR THE LOVE OF THE LAKE)

2ND - TIETZE PARK

3RD - LAKEWOOD PARK

BEST SUMMER CAMPS FOR KIDS

WINNER - WHITE ROCK YMCA

2ND - ASI GYMNASTICS- LAKEWOOD

3RD - LAKEWOOD CONSERVATORY OF FINE ARTS

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3500(ISH) BLOOMS

It’s wedding season.

It’s prom. It’s Mother’s day brunch. It’s garden parties. It’s baby showers.

Story by JEHADU ABSHIRO | Photography by YUVIE STYLES

Peonies from an upstate New York garden, enough to f ill a plane, were flown in for a wedding at the Dallas Country Club. Proteas, picked on the side of a California mountain by a woman who happened upon the out-of-season flower, were shipped to East Dallas. Hydrangeas and roses from Ecuador arrive on the doorstep of a 100-year-old Lakewood Heights home each Monday.

Every bloom has its own story.

The 3,500 flowers stored in the industrial refrigerators in a cottage shed tucked in the back of Kristee Rouse’s home show up, some way, somehow every week. Rouse, a former social worker at Genesis Women’s Shelter, had decided to stay at home to take care of her daughter, who had colic. When Rouse took her daughter to her first dance recital, she made a little bouquet to gift after the performance. Other parents were making pitstops at grocery stores to grab flowers, and she wondered why small bouquets weren’t available at dance studios.

She asked Studio B’s director if she could sell bouquets (plus candy) at the recitals. Rouse figured she’d sell about 30 but ended up selling 110 at one recital. She started asking other businesses if they’d like bouquets in their studios, too.

“And they said, ‘Yeah, you can try it.’ ‘Sure lady.’ And so that’s how I started the business, just doing a little recital that day,” she says.

Then she started doing flowers for father-daughter dances. By September 2010, En Fluer was officially a business.

It made sense. Tom, her husband, had talked about Kristee having a side hustle. And she’s always loved flowers.

“I was the kid who would ride my bike and steal flowers out of the neighbor’s yards, and make little bouquets for my mom. And that’s a really big no-no,

because I’m from Amarillo, Texas, where there’s no flowers,” she says. “So these are people’s yards that are like, ‘Oh my God, we got one tulip to grow and that Kristee came and stole it.’”

In the beginning, Rouse was making arrangements in her kitchen. As their family and the business grew, an addition was put in, giving her more space to work. She went to Brookhaven to get her floral design certificate. And by July of 2011, she started doing weddings.

“That first wedding was a giant wedding,” Rouse says. “Like I really had no idea how to start, but we pulled it off. It looked great.”

Her instructor, Peggy, would spend time after class helping her tackle projects.

“And she was just so good to me,” Rouse says. “Sometimes people order strange things. ‘Like can I get a corsage for my purse?’ So I’m like, ‘Sure.’ And then I’d be like, ‘How do you make that? What does that mean?’ And she’d be like, ‘You know how to do that.’”

Betty Lafour and Lori McKee had children at St. Thomas, like Rouse. Lafour was transitioning from being a hairdresser and loved working with her hands. She started working with Rouse and McKee, a former teacher, also started helping since En Fluer needed extra hands.

It was a perfect setup. They all live within five minutes of each other. Their children were about the same age, so sometimes they’d alternate pickup.

Lafour’s specialty is creating large arrangements. McKee runs their social media and adds finishing touches like “creating the most beautiful bows.”

“Our style, — we’re so varied — I guess if I had to pick one, I would say garden party,” Rouse says. “Elegant. I think that’s a good one. Our natural bend is not modern or rustic.”

But it really depends.

PANIC, CALL DAN.

“Just think about how different all the weddings work, even when they have the same flowers,” Rouse says.

“A lot of times there are hydrangeas. If you make them a symmetrical ball or if you make them wild and crazy — It’s the same flower, but it looks different,” Lafour says.

(For the record, if your hydrangeas are wilting the pores are most likely clogged and they’re dehydrated. Rouse recommends cutting the stems and putting them in warm water to revive them.)

During their peak seasons, they’re doing events throughout the weekend, from prom bouquets to garden parties to 200+ weddings. Some nights they’re working to the wee hours of Saturday morning before getting up by 6 a.m. to prepare for the day. They each get a clipboard with tasks and plans for their assigned weddings. Ivan Moscatto, the fourth member on the team, helps with whatever needs to be done.

Between setup and teardown, they’ll grab a movie or nap. If the newlyweds opt to leave behind the florals, they’ll disperse the arrangements among the other vendors.

And then comes Monday. There’s the clean-up and storage. And the flowers

From left to right: Lori Mckee, Kristee Rouse and Betty Lafiour

that have arrived from Ecuador have to be processed.

“We’re exhausted,” Rouse says. “We’ve been out on the weekend.”

To date, they’ve done more than 1,500 events. They already finished 87 this year, at the time of the interview. Flowers spill out of the cottage, into the patio and back into the house during the busiest weekends. Their high school and college-aged children, who are all friends, often help their moms at events.

One day, they worked on four separate weddings simultaneously at the Dallas Arboretum. (Rouse says making it to that vendor list was one of the biggest accomplishments.)

“That’s never happened again in a day. But all of us were at the same place …” Lafour starts.

“So that we could go see each other’s stuff …” McKee continues.

“And help each other out,” Rouse finishes.

Every weekend is different. Every wedding is different. But every day they’re working together, they’re going to break midday, to have lunch together. And En Fluer will keep making recital bouquets.

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Jesse and his wife Alison Simmons have been each other’s support system since the beginning. The two remain inseparable, Jesse’s accident only brings them closer to another.

A NEW WAY OF LIFE

East Dallas’ Jesse Simmons’ comeback year after being shot in his driveway

Story by LILLIAN JUAREZ

Photography by VICTORIA GOMEZ

Assisted

Honoring

Fowler

Memory

The

Independent

Enjoy

Memory

The

FOR NEARLY A YEAR,

Jesse Simmons has lived with the constant reality of never walking again.

Doctors say it’s unlikely. Family says it will take a miracle. Friends say it will take God.

Simmons says all it takes is determination.

“We’ll get there. It may be another week. It may be another month. It may be another year, but you just get up and go every day,” Simmons says.

On Aug. 3, 2023, East Dallas resident Jesse Simmons began his day like he always does: waking up around 4:45 a.m. and snuggling up to his wife before getting ready for work at Jesse’s A/C & Appliance Service, a company he owns.

During his morning routine, he saw someone trying to break into his truck. This wasn’t a first. He grabbed his gun and at around 5:30 a.m., Simmons walked outside to confront the man.

Then he was shot.

The shooter vacated the scene as Jesse laid there on his porch, thinking to himself, “Will I be alive to hug my wife and grandkids again?”

Minutes later, Simmons was taken to the hospital, leaving his wife behind to answer questions with officers.

“It felt like I was living in a nightmare,” his wife Alison Simmons recalls. “I was just glad he was alive.”

For the next several months, he’d spend hours in and out of physical therapy relearning how to walk while rebuilding his strength and growing new muscles.

“It’s just learning a new way of life and I’m gonna figure things out … he’s not gonna take my life from me,” Simmons says. “And that’s been my attitude since day one.”

A JOURNEY TOWARD RECOVERY

When Simmons was shot, the bullet pierced through his stomach hitting his kidneys, liver, and L3, which controls spinal nerves that affects the lower thighs, knees and hips.

For two months, Simmons was hospitalized at Presbyterian Hospital, going in and out of surgeries and doing physical therapy at Baylor Scott & White.

When he returned home on Sept. 28, 2023, he started hitting milestones doctors didn’t expect.

When Simmons first got to the hospital, he couldn’t move either leg. Then, he got a little bit of movement in his left knee, getting his muscles stronger and his nerves to reconnect.

“Doctors didn’t think I would ever have a chance to walk again,” Simmons says. “But, the first thing you gotta do is tell me I can’t do something and I’ll do everything I can to prove you wrong.”

Whether it was doing 30 sit ups instead of 15, fighting through nerve pain during his mobility training, or getting up each day to work on his strength, he was determined.

“To see him come this far is just amazing and it just gives me so much hope,” Alison says.

Will I be alive to hug my wife and grandkids again?

“When this all first started, there was no way I could put a shoe on, nothing. Now I’ve dressed myself in the mornings,” he says. “[I learned] how to survive in a wheelchair, even though I’m planning on getting out of it.”

On Jan. 17, Jesse made significant strength improvement by lifting his left leg, but his right leg could still hardly move. On Feb. 13, he passed his driver’s test and got his license. On Feb. 16, Simmons was able to crawl, moving his right leg for the first time, slowly moving with both legs.

Today, he can move both of his feet, a step closer to his dream of walking again.

“I’m just gonna keep pushing on trying to walk,” he says. “My goal is to hopefully have some more progress by June, which is my birthday.”

THE FEAR

Simmons remains optimistic. Alison remains in fear.

The morning of the crime, Alison was awoken by the flashlights of two officers when they told her Jesse had been shot. In a dazed panic, she asked if he was alive, to her relief he was, and for just a minute she was able to tell him “I love you,” before he was taken by the ambulance.

As she stood in the hall screaming, because it was the only way to let out her emotions, she wondered why someone would do this.

For nine months and counting Alison sits with three questions: “When I come home will he be there? Will he make it through the night? Is he going to be there in the morning?”

“I’m thankful that he gets to do all the things that he’s able to do now even though sometimes it scares me. It’s what he has to do to continue to be who he is,” she adds.

It’s been a challenging time for the two. As a way to gain support and keep the community connected on Jesse’s recovery, Alison began sharing updates on Facebook.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Jesse has been well-known within the community with 15 years of involvement in the East Dallas Networking group, as a founding member of 100 Men of Dallas and a board member of the East Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

When the neighbors heard what happened to Jesse, they couldn’t believe it. But without hesitation, instant support poured from those who knew him and those who were strangers.

“Part of my motivation that helps me is the community standing behind me pushing me saying, ‘Hey, good job, keep it up,’” he says.

Chuck Kobdish, chairman of the East Dallas Chamber of Commerce, met Jesse through the chamber in 2008, and for 16 years the two have remained close.

“It was surreal,” Kobdish says as he recalls when he received the call from Jesse’s sister-in-law. “It was a horrible day for Jesse. But it was a bad day for all of us.”

“The way our East Dallas family has pulled together and rallied support for Jesse’s family has been nothing short of heartwarming. It’s been a tragic story, but it’s certainly one of resilience and healing,” Kobdish says.

The staples in Simmons’s life remain the same. He’s still attending the Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce networking luncheons, grabbing a scotch at Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House, running his business and spending time with family.

“I’m alive; it’s better than being dead. I still get to hold my grandchildren, my kids, my wife,” he says. “Even if I never walk again, I’m still alive.”

ROCK STARS & BABIES

Brand New Noise boils creativity down to its simplest form

Story by SIMON PRUITT | Photography by LAUREN ALLEN

Brand New Noise is tucked away in the Halcyon parking lot behind the Irish pub on Lower Greenville.

“Stop wondering, come in” is painted on the baby blue brick wall facing the incoming cars. The interior looks like a backyard shed on steroids, where three connecting wooden tables hold four disconnected types of gadgets.

Richard Upchurch is at the helm. He’s a Brooklyn transplant with a degree in audio technology from New York University, and he’s putting that degree to good use.

You couldn’t tell by the looks of it, but Upchurch’s workshop is a destination spot, recognized by many in two polar opposite demographics.

“My customers are rock stars and babies,” he says with a laugh.

Babies were the first priority. In 2010, Upchurch

pieced together a small wooden box with an audio recorder and playback board inside. The user could flip a switch, then talk or sing into the box, then flip another switch to hear their voice back and experiment with the tone and speed of the recording. He made it as a gift for his 4-year-old nephew, inspired by his own experience as a child.

“When I was a kid, I distinctly remember playing over and over with an old school tape recorder,” he says.

The gift was a hit, and Upchurch began to refine the product. Today, it’s known as the Frankie.

Once one was made, the ideas kept spilling out. A miniature Rachmanioff piano. A tongue drum with a delay effect. A looping Kalimba. All of them are made with

a built-in recording and playback device. At the time, Upchurch was working in NYU offices and began to hire students to help him build and design the products. Word-of-mouth spread, and soon Upchurch was offered to feature the gadgets at the Museum of Modern Art gift shop in New York City.

“Now I’m gonna have to figure out how to make these things,” Upchurch says. “Etsy was really fun because you see where the orders come in. This one’s going to Wisconsin, this one’s going to Japan.”

Upchurch puts a handwritten note inside each box that goes out of Brand New Noise, and often keeps in touch with customers via email.

“You make a human connection with

Richard Upchurch builds BrandNewNoise gadgets out of his Lower Greenville workshop.

people,” Upchurch says. “These are handmade, there’s a lot of time and energy that goes into it. By the time I get to putting it in a box, I like to know where it’s going and how it’s going to be used.”

One of the first Etsy buyers was Mark Mothersbaugh of the band DEVO, who bought one of everything that the store offered. When Upchurch reached out to thank him, he learned that the “Phone-Home Xylophone” was used by Mothersbaugh in the soundtrack for The LEGO Movie.

The “Whip It” singer was the first of many prominent musicians to buy from Brand New Noise. Upchurch soon got the idea to capitalize on this trend, creating a “signature series” of the original Frankie model with rock-star autographs on the back. The limited edition runs included signatures from Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Pat Carney from The Black Keys and Mick Fleetwood.

2024 marks Upchurch’s fourteenth year in business and seventh year on Lower Greenville. When he started, every inch of every product was shaped, smoothed and selected by hand. He’s still hands-on, but with hundreds of orders coming in each year, he’s had to get more efficient. Now, he uses a custom CNC machine to automate the preliminary construction of each piece, leaving just the disassembled parts for him to put together.

Before it was his full-time job, Upchurch was able to pour as much time as he wanted into a single piece, the fulfillment he reaped was up to him. Now, it’s a business. Though he keeps a list of new product ideas, he doesn’t have much time to tinker with them. Upchurch learned to find gratification in his constant cycle.

“I have always believed there’s something really beautiful about just the process,” he says. “The discovery and making something, then changing the formula and either remaking it or trying it in a new way. There’s a real art to that.”

For each piece of wood he sands down to build into a product, he sands down the inhibitions of creativity too. His work isn’t complicated. It’s your voice, your sounds. Everything made from it is up to the user, whether a rock star or a baby.

“I don’t want these to end up in a landfill,” Upchurch says. “This is not another cheap plastic toy. This is something that should be passed down. It should remain as a piece of functional art.”

TH e Ti NY TOWN

How a mini-village was built behind Torchy’s in Casa Linda

Story by LILLIAN JUAREZ | Photography by LAUREN ALLEN

it’s not trash. It’s art.

Maybe you’re stopping by Torchy’s Tacos in Casa Linda for chips and queso, taking a photo at the East Dallas mural or just passing through, you may be wondering, “What’s up with all the miniature cardboard cutouts?”

It’s not just cardboard. It’s not debris. It’s a mini-village.

Salvador Ruiz, village designer and Torchy’s employee started the project last year after Ruiz’s manager asked him if he could build a terrace-like boundary to keep dirt from moving into the dumpster.

After a while of cleaning and removing the excess dirt, he discovered there was enough space for a garden.

Having a garden wasn’t a bad choice, but it was boring, he says. So he brainstormed a better idea.

“What if I turned the space into a small village similar to the houses on the hills of Sweden and Norway,” he asked himself. It began with one little red house, but Ruiz knew it needed more. And with an “endless supply” of building material, Ruiz was on a mission.

Each night after his shift for two weeks straight, Ruiz went home to build miniature skyscrapers, residential towers, Google and Walmart headquarters, Amazon and a soon-tobe Torchy’s.

“This is just something I enjoy doing … no one’s asking me to do it, and once I start a project, if it doesn’t have an end, I will keep going and going and going till I can’t go anymore,” he says. “If it’s something positive that makes people smile I’ll keep doing that because what harm is that going to do?”

Everything in Ruiz’s little city is built from accumulated cardboard boxes from work, duct tape, glue and recycled trash he may find on his bike ride home.

The village consists of miniature solar panels, a plane, buildings both large and small and homes of various colors.

While he enjoys building and seeing his finished products, his favorite part of the mini village is how involved the community has been.

“Everyone loves it. I’ve found little toys out there [when] parents bring their kids and they’ll leave little tractors and stuff like that,” he says. “Its not just like this show [only] thing... no, it’s for everyone to enjoy,” he says.

Ruiz confirms that the tiny village is still growing, and if you want to see more additions, “Keep on coming to our restaurant, you never know,” he says.

Located in Casa Linda Plaza behind Torchy’s Tacos at 9440 Garland Road.

The little village behind Casa Linda is made with upcycled pieces, including cardboard, paper, duct tape and hanger wires to stay in place.

Pecan Tree Pediatrics

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and

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