Friday,
June 8, 1984
Left
work on the dot at 14:30 to get gas and cash a check at the bank. I was
drenched with sweat from my hot car (92 degrees and humid). Ran home to
change and left for the airport at 15:10 for a 15:50 flight! Ran into a traffic
jam and started to get frantic! Parked in the north long term lot by 15:30 and
ran to check in. The flight was delayed due to an overbooking situation and
they were looking for volunteers to give up seats. Not me!
We finally left at
16:20, and I worried about the connection in Newark. But this Ransome Airlines
flight was billed as the Delta Connection, so I could hope. We had a good view
as we flew over Manhattan. This four-prop plane didn’t even have oxygen masks!
We landed at 17:10 and the gate next door was for the 17:35 flight for Dallas.
So I had plenty of time (everything is relative!). After we boarded, we were
told we couldn’t leave until 18:20 because of air traffic congestion. All the
while you could hear banging under the plane, so you wondered the real reason
for the delay.
We did leave at 18:20, and arrived in Dallas about 20:30. I went to bank of hotel phones and called the Sheraton Dallas and asked to speak to one of the guests. They put me through to Kent, and he told me his room number. I then called for the courtesy van for Budget Rent-a-Car. A 15-passenger van picked me up. Avis and Hertz have buses! But they all went to the same place in the middle of the parking lot. The Dallas-Fort Worth airport is supposed to be the largest in the U.S. and the 4th largest in the world in traffic. I got a Grand Prix at an economy car price, and headed out. Came to a toll gate, and the guy said there was a ticket attached to my rental contract. Oh!
We did leave at 18:20, and arrived in Dallas about 20:30. I went to bank of hotel phones and called the Sheraton Dallas and asked to speak to one of the guests. They put me through to Kent, and he told me his room number. I then called for the courtesy van for Budget Rent-a-Car. A 15-passenger van picked me up. Avis and Hertz have buses! But they all went to the same place in the middle of the parking lot. The Dallas-Fort Worth airport is supposed to be the largest in the U.S. and the 4th largest in the world in traffic. I got a Grand Prix at an economy car price, and headed out. Came to a toll gate, and the guy said there was a ticket attached to my rental contract. Oh!
Drove
east on SR 183 into Dallas. Everything was dulled by smog/fog/mist. After
following the Great White Way, I saw a skyline. Joined I-35 and got off at
Commerce Street E which circled me down and around and gave me a choice of
streets to take. I took Main Street through quiet downtown Dallas, with a few
cars and fewer people. I caught sight of the Sheraton Dallas and worked my way
towards it. I was told there was free parking for the guests, but only saw valet
parking. So I parked next door at the Southland Plaza underground garage. From
the Southland lobby you can walk directly to the Sheraton lobby. I took the
first elevator to avoid passing the reception desk, which only took me to the
mezzanine level. But I found the guest elevators and went up to Room 703. Kent
was watching the Celtics-LA basketball game, as I arrived at 21:30.
Saturday,
June 9, 1984
I
had breakfast with Kent, which he put on his bill. I had a continental
breakfast (grapefruit juice and two small Danish pastries) for $4.25.
Expensive!
Kent
went to the desk to see if he could move to a suite now, and he could. So we
changed into shorts and moved the luggage to Room 518 that had an adjoining
living room with wet bar and a full bath. The air conditioner here under-worked
as much as the one overworked in the other room.
Our
next errand was to pick up a package. A security woman took us through a back
door into the hotel service area with bleak walls, no carpet, etc. We had to
wait at a control booth (the guy had a fan) while the keys were tracked down.
There were a lot of kids in the hotel for a karate competition, and a lot of
trophies were coming through the service entrance. We commandeered a
trophy-laden elevator to go to a sub-basement. The lady tried several keys
before unlocking a room. Kent signed for his package and we were told to head
back on our own. There was a long wait for the elevator, and Kent said
something to a guy passing with a garbage bin, but he only nodded. Mexican? We were looking for the stairs when the
security lady came back and had apparently radioed for an elevator. The woman
got off at the ground floor, but told us to go to the second floor where it was
“safer,” and told us to go left. Kent got a kitchen person to lead us through
the kitchens to the mezzanine, and he took us right to the guest elevators.
¡Gracias!
Next
we went to find the rental car, and paid $8; no free parking for guests! We
drove to the Convention Center beside the new Dallas City Hall. We marched in
past all the convention set-up for the AWWA (American Water Works Association)
to the exhibitors’ hall, which wasn’t to open until Monday. A guard stood there
and said we needed passes. Kent went to get a pass and talked to some people to
get a little pass for me, too.
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| My AWWA pass |
We left and I drove as Kent navigated us to the Kennedy Memorial, going around Reunion Plaza with modern glass buildings and the older Reunion Tower, 50-stories high with a 3-level geodesic dome. We parked and put nickels in the meter (each worth three minutes) to walk over to the very simple Kennedy Memorial (1970, designed by architect Philip Johnson).
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| Kennedy Memorial |
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| View down Elm Street to Dallas Main Center construction |
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| Bryan Cabin |
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| Old Courthouse with Reunion Tower to the left |
We
returned to the car and attempted to head north to the Southern Methodist University.
We found ourselves on the Dallas North Tollway and came to a 50-cent tollbooth.
We asked the attendant how to get to SMU, and were told to take the Mawkinburg
exit and turn right. Kent understood the guy correctly to have said
“Mockingbird!” We followed the directions and drove through more exclusive
neighborhoods before arriving at SMU. We drove onto campus and ended up right
at the Owen Arts Center where we wanted to see the Meadows Museum. Also in the
complex was the Bob Hope Theatre (1968), and we saw a plaque for the Bob Hope
Fellowship Foundation.
We found the museum and Kent donated $1 to get a guide.
The gallery was small but impressive; six centuries of Spanish Art. The oldest
was “Acacius and the 10,000 Martyrs” (c. 1493) by Francisco Gallego, which
takes place on Mt Ararat. It was done with Flemish influence. There was a
painting of San Sebastian (c. 1506), the only example of Fernando Yáñez de la
Almedina’s works in the U.S., showing Italian influence (he worked with
Leonardo da Vinci) in the detailed hair and plant life. The Spanish
characteristics were the sloping shoulders, nipped-in waist, and expressive
right arm.
There were several examples of the tradition of portraiture in
Spain. Diego Velázquez was one such court painter, with fuzzy contour lines and
single stroke shadows that endeared him to Impressionists, as seen in the painting
“Sibyl with Tabula Rasa (wax tablet)” (c. 1648). There was a Jusepe de Ribera
portrait of a Knight of Santiago, wearing dark rimmed eyeglasses. He used the Caravaggio
chiaroscuro effect at times.
The allegorical painting by Claudio Coello of “St
Catherine of Alexandria Dominating the Emperor Maxentius, or Christianity
Triumphing over Paganism” (1683), was full of symbols, such as a thistle
representing Christ’s Passion. A very interesting painting was “Jacob Laying
the Peeled Rods Before the Flocks of Laban” (c. 1665) by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo,
with an interesting story of the much-deceived Jacob who places these peeled
rods in front of mating sheep so that they see spots and have spotted lambs
which he is promised from the flock.
There
were several Immaculate Conception paintings, all with a floating Mary
surrounded by cherubs. We saw many works by Francisco Goya, including the
“Madhouse of Saragossa” (1793-1794). Goya contracted a disease that left him
deaf, which would explain a whole series of his paintings, especially those seen in
the Prado! Symbolism with the dark indoors and the light outdoors. Luis Jiménez y Aranda did a
Renoir-like painting, “Lady at the Paris Exposition” (1889), with a detailed
foreground and a fuzzy background.
The most outstanding painting in the
extensive collection was by Emilio Sánchez-Perrier of a “River Landscape”
(1886). Extremely realistic as it was influenced by the invention of the camera.
Photographs often have blurred areas and the blurring of the trees may be due
to wind with a long exposure. I thought it could be the nature of the trees
with softer foliage. There was an example of Pablo Picasso’s synthetic cubism,
which had an unusual variety of colors in it. Impressive in the gallery was the
collection of Goya intaglios and etchings. A whole roomful! There were also Joan
Miró paintings.
Before
we left, Kent asked a guard what was the Bob Hope connection to SMU. It was
apparently in Dallas where Bob Hope broke into the big time, and he was always
well–received here, so he showed his appreciation by donating to local causes.
We
drove over to the State Fair Park, and drove through, passing several classical
buildings. Kent saw that one had names of Texas literary greats etched around
the frieze. We passed the Cotton Bowl in search of the Dallas Museum of Fine
Arts. We found it, but it was closed. We decided to go to the Dallas Museum of
Natural History, and the guard told us the Fine Arts Museum has moved downtown.
The Museum of Natural History had a watercolors exhibit, some good and some
funky. The different halls had stuffed animals in natural habitat dioramas.
Thus we could identify the wildlife; animals, birds, insects, and plants. The
fossil hall was closed for which Kent was just as glad after I dragged him
through the bird gallery, that also had lots of Edward Marshall Boehm porcelain
birds, like a few seen in the Charleston Museum. In the basement were a few
live subjects.
We drove
along local roads in search of a store to buy paper towels and a cleanser. No
luck. We found ourselves at Old City Park, first grabbing a bite at McDonald’s.
I’ve noticed that Dr Pepper is available everywhere!
I used a coupon to get
Kent into Old City Park for free; my ticket cost $4. It was Dairy Day, with
stands in front of each of the historic buildings offering samples of cheese,
butter churning, yoghurt, strawberry flavored milk, ice cream making, exercise
sessions, a diet analysis, cow milking, and a band. There seemed to be several
weddings taking place, and so the church was closed to the public. Another
wedding was in the gazebo. We bought the tickets at the railroad station and
had to wear huge dangling tags.
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| Old City Park ticket |
We passed the 1900 popcorn wagon, and turned
down a commercial street past a Citizens Bank (closed on Saturday afternoon!).
We entered the General Store and got a spiel from a volunteer who was actually
from Boston. He got out notebooks in an attempt to answer Kent’s questions,
unsuccessfully. Date moved, population at the time, etc. The store had some
nice antique items, and one of the original promotional items, a train of
coffee canisters. We skipped the gift shop and crossed the brick street to peek
in the print shop. Many things hadn’t opened up yet. We passed the fountain to
come to the Pilot Grove Church, which was also closed for a wedding. We could
see that they were setting up, including a video camera to tape the wedding.
Next was the Renner School where upstairs there was a display of Victorian
wedding gowns, trousseau items, and some men’s apparel with accessories. We
went to the gingerbread Victorian Queen Anne style house with fretwork, gables,
a red tin roof, and a privy built in the same “style!” Across the street were
the doctor’s office and apothecary in a Queen Anne style cottage. This place had
an extensive array of drugs and herbs, including a relatively huge bottle of
saffron!
We passed the hotel, the railroad station
again, and a silent old-timer’s band to come to the Miller Log House. The
Miller family first lived here in 1847. Next door was the log playhouse, and
then Millermore, a much larger home finished in 1862. It had a breezy central
foyer with a large room on either side, both parlors. On one side behind the
parlor was a dining room and then the kitchen (not open to the public). We
waited on the back upstairs porch for the tour of the second floor. We were
taken to a crafts room where the girl proceeded to point out the wrong order of
the process from cotton plant to woven article. She had them winding the cotton
thread on the weasel that pops on every ninth turn (“pop goes the weasel”),
before spinning it. We also saw two bedrooms. On the back porch were several
buckets of ice cream being made. We walked through a wisteria arbor and decided
to leave at 14:30.
I drove back along Central Expressway (a regular street!) in
hopes of finding a place to buy the paper towels and cleanser. Kent was not as
tolerant as Kathy C when I missed a turn that neither one of us knew
was coming, especially being new to the area. Or maybe I was going too fast? We
found a convenience store and Kent bought his supplies and we returned to the
hotel. The lot next door was one where you slip money in a slot of
your numbered space at a central “meter.” Kent put in $1 for a half hour. Kent
checked at the hotel desk to see if any of his business associates had arrived.
I checked in for Room 911 for $45. I had originally had a room reservation for
two nights at $59 per night! Kent was paying $76 per night for the suite. I got
my bags from Kent’s room, and went to mine which was twice as big with two
double beds, a TV with a radio, and a bigger bathroom.
Kent
had to be available for his business associates, so I went out on my own and
drove to the brand new Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. I only had an hour and
managed to walk through the entire place to get a flavor of what was available. Out front was the “Gates of Hell”
by Auguste Rodin.
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| "Gates of Hell" by Rodin |
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| First United Methodist Church near the Dallas Fine Arts Museum |
When
I left, I hoped to get to the Neiman Marcus department store, but it was
closed. I parked near Dealey Plaza, and found the actual Texas School Book
Depository.
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| Texas School Book Depository |
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| The second window down on the right is where the shots were fired that killed President John F Kennedy |
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| Reunion Plaza and Tower |
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| Dealey Plaza view of Dallas skyline |
Went down to meet Kent at 19:00, and
we waited for a Tom and a Ralph. Kent decided to just eat in the hotel. After we
ordered drinks, Kent saw another associate at another table and went to invite
him to eat with us. Then Kent disappeared and I was left to talk to the three
business associates. They were under the impression that Kent had to convince
me to come to Dallas with him. Au contraire!
Ralph went off to talk to someone
he knew, and Kent joined them. Eventually the two of them came back. The waiter
had given two of us lunch menus. Then he mixed up the steaks, giving Kent the
medium, and Ralph the medium well. Tom’s parsley potatoes weren’t cooked
through. So the waiter promised him fettuccini and ketchup, and never brought
them. The waiter never showed to get a dessert order. BIF paid the bill. We
were joined by Bill, and went to have “one drink.” I enjoyed the jazz quartet,
while they ended up with three drinks each. They finally decided to turn in at
the third band break. They talked to the band members about how dead it is in
Dallas; conventions keep it alive! Kent got off at the 5th floor, and
I got off at the 9th while the other guys went higher. Kent had fallen asleep. I ended up crying and
getting mascara all over. I went out in the hall thinking to go for a walk, but
a look in the mirror scared me back into the room.
Sunday,
June 10, 1984
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| Sheraton Dallas Hotel |
I
checked out of the hotel and put my things in the car, but decided to walk. As
soon as I started walking, I could tell the difference from walking with Kent!
Now there were whistles from passing trucks, “ollas” from loitering Mexicans, the up-and-down look and inviting smiles of black guys.
It was the usual bright gray outside. I went down Live Oak Street to Pacific Avenue to come to the triangular Thanks-Giving Square (dedicated 1976).
It was the usual bright gray outside. I went down Live Oak Street to Pacific Avenue to come to the triangular Thanks-Giving Square (dedicated 1976).
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| Thanks-Giving Square |
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| Neiman Marcus Department Store |
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| Dallas City Hall |
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| City Hall flagpoles |
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| Adolphus Hotel |
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| Mobil Oil flying horse |
I turned left on Jackson to head to Dealey Square, with its arbored walls, statue of civic leader George Dealey, and gardens.
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| George Dealey in Dealey Plaza |
Went over to the Texas School Book Depository to read the plaque. Went over to Bryan Cabin and the Kennedy Memorial, then headed down Commerce Street. Stopped for lunch at Burger King, and had a Dr Pepper! Passed the Adolphus and discovered the ultra-modern building next to it was also the Adolphus Hotel.
Affluence was seen in the many new buildings being built, the renewal of streets and sidewalks, the brick crosswalks, the new street signs, street light systems, etc. I later found out they are sprucing up for the Republican National Convention to be held here. But there were loitering men with varying growths of beard and shabby clothes just sitting here and there. There seemed to be a lot of bums, but perhaps more so because there was no one else!
I went over to Main Street in hopes of getting a photo of a bus, but just got a bus stop, with a blue-painted curb, and signs giving routes and schedules. Returned to the car and it was only noon, so I decided to drive to Fort Worth. I drove past the Market, with huge striped roofs covering vendors of fresh fruits and vegetables.
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| The Market |
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