Fort Worth is exploding

[SWCFROG 39]

23 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

You know where the Dive Burger joint is now? Close to that. Just north of the traffic circle in west FW. It was an ice skating rink for awhile, now it’s some kind of weird multi-use events center. 

When I was in college that bowling alley used to have "Rock and Roll Bowl" on weekend evenings late.  They would turn down the lights and leave only the pin lights lit and blare the hell out of Foghat or something and sell cheap beer.....cheap beer is a cure for cottonmouth.

 

SWCFROG

[cafe society 2836]

3 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Wonder if you have to wear masks in bowling leagues now? Food & drink in between turns would be problematic. 

A buddy of mine bowls in an Austin league.  I think he said that if you're not actually rolling a ball down the lane, then yes.  He said lots of people wear a mask while bowling, though he puts his back on after his turn.  If you're not in the pit you have to wear a mask at all times.

 

[SWCFROG 39]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

We’re talking about the same place. Pretty sure it was in the glass building to the left. 

Wacker used to make us go there for team building stuff.  Offense v. Defense nonsense.  Didn't really matter.  Probation still kicked our ass no matter how much we actually liked each other.

 

SWCFROG

[cmontexas 3250]

Was the bowling alley at 3600 Benbrook or a little bit down the circle at 3900 Benbrook in the big weird building that some online bookseller runs out of? 

That 3900 building is old and obviously repurposed. Plus it has a huge parking lot. I also read some old person on Fort Worth Memories post about their being a swimming pool next door to the bowling alley that got filled in. The former Cendera Center at 3600 seems like a pretty new building and does not have much of a parking lot

Ive always been fascinated by what old buildings used to be, plus that was my training route way back when i started my job

 

 

 

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Bowling alley is 3600, most parking is in back, or at least used to be. That’s where she was abducted. 

That other building used to be a big-ass nightclub, West Side Stories, I believe. It was a teen club at one point too. 

[NOMAAA 1696]

9 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Bowling alley is 3600, most parking is in back, or at least used to be. That’s where she was abducted. 

That other building used to be a big-ass nightclub, West Side Stories, I believe. It was a teen club at one point too. 

was a gym at one point as well.  had an indoor pool.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Benbrook Hoffbrau has pretty good HH prices. Margs were in pint glasses & shockingly not too sweet. Fried japs app was damn good. 
 

[cafe society 2836]

There used to be a fast food place of some sort, I believe, if not directly next door then closely adjacent.  It had parking spots and speakers, a la Sonic.  I think that fast food joint may have been where T Cullen was caught on tape hiring a hit on the judge in his trial.  Shame he always was able to buy his way out of prison.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Thought that was the diner right off 20 & Hulen? Can’t think of the name of it right now, but it was there forever. Now it’s a fucking McDonald’s or some shit. 

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

It’s a Denny’s now, but yeah, 4601 S. Hulen. 

Quote

In 1978, Davis was arrested again, this time for allegedly hiring a hitman to murder both Priscilla Davis and the judge overseeing their ongoing divorce litigation.

The case largely hinged on a tape-recorded conversation between Davis and David McCrory, an undercover employee posing as a hitman for hire which was recorded in the parking lot of the Coco’s Famous Hamburgers restaurant (now a Denny's) where Davis was arrested.

 

[cafe society 2836]

It's possible.  Hulen Mall opened my senior year at Paschal.  I don't recall many businesses apart from the mall.  It's been eons since I lived there, though I miss it terribly.  I'll defer to your memory on this.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Yeah, it was there. Been a shitload of things since, a music store for quite awhile too. 

 

18 minutes ago, cafe society said:

There used to be a fast food place of some sort, I believe, if not directly next door then closely adjacent.  It had parking spots and speakers, a la Sonic.

What location are you referring to? We’ve discussed Brunswick, Ol’ South, & the big nightclub/gym just on this page. 

[cafe society 2836]

csb/ I had a summer job after my frosh year at UT delivering flowers for the Gordon Boswell at Westridge and Camp Bowie.  It was the florist to the rich and famous of Fort Worth.  I delivered flowers to Mrs. Charles Tandy, for instance.  Wow, nice digs.  Anyway, during the Cullen Davis trial I had to deliver flowers to his mistress Karen Masters who had taken up residence at the murder mansion.  Now, I'm 20-21 years old and athletic and usually fairly cocky... but I was fucking spooked driving through the gate and that weird open drive up to the house on the crest.  I rang the doorbell for 10 minutes - it was warm and a huge flower arrangement, from the Dickhead himself.  She finally showed and swung the door wide open.  It was about 2pm and she looked hungover as hell.  To be fair to her, the circumstances of her situation must have been eerie, to say the least.  I managed to spy what I think was a Manet in the entry hall.  She was  compliant with receiving the flowers and scared and not giving a single shit all at the same time.  I kept expecting the crazy fuck to pop out even though he was in jail.  She didn't tip.

[cafe society 2836]

8 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Yeah, it was there. Been a shitload of things since, a music store for quite awhile too. 

 

What location are you referring to? We’ve discussed Brunswick, Ol’ South, & the big nightclub/gym just on this page. 

Next to Brunswick.  And then a small line of shops, including a barber shop that my dad and I occasionally went to together.  It was near GD, where he worked. Up Altamere (?) leading to GD and the Camp Bowie intersection.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Was it where the recently-closed Grandy’s is now? That’s pretty close to Brunswick. It may have been a Clover Drive-In back then. 

I remember a small barber shop just south of there because it had the spinning pole outside. 

Edited September 26, 2020 by shadow_operative2.0

[cafe society 2836]

I've been away for so long... I have no memory of Grandy's, but I remember Steak 'n' Ale.  It was just a little line of mom and pop shops that ran from the traffic circle up to where Camp Bowie became Hwy 80? Across Altamere from the  Steak'n'Ale  backed up on the Neiman Marcus that was where CB and 80 split.

[cafe society 2836]

It sounds like you have the right location.  

[pch 1259]

10 hours ago, cafe society said:

csb/ I had a summer job after my frosh year at UT delivering flowers for the Gordon Boswell at Westridge and Camp Bowie.  It was the florist to the rich and famous of Fort Worth.  I delivered flowers to Mrs. Charles Tandy, for instance.  Wow, nice digs.  Anyway, during the Cullen Davis trial I had to deliver flowers to his mistress Karen Masters who had taken up residence at the murder mansion.  Now, I'm 20-21 years old and athletic and usually fairly cocky... but I was fucking spooked driving through the gate and that weird open drive up to the house on the crest.  I rang the doorbell for 10 minutes - it was warm and a huge flower arrangement, from the Dickhead himself.  She finally showed and swung the door wide open.  It was about 2pm and she looked hungover as hell.  To be fair to her, the circumstances of her situation must have been eerie, to say the least.  I managed to spy what I think was a Manet in the entry hall.  She was  compliant with receiving the flowers and scared and not giving a single shit all at the same time.  I kept expecting the crazy fuck to pop out even though he was in jail.  She didn't tip.

That murder mansion became a mexican restaurant for a few years.

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1996/may/murder-on-the-menu/

 

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

I ate there once, they had an indoor pool too. 

[DeepEastTexas 640]

10 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

I ate there once, they had an indoor pool too. 

Went on a date there once, and sat by the pool. 

[cmontexas 3250]

CSB my ex fiancee got married in that Davis manison a couple years after we broke up. The night of the wedding, as per her usual MO she ended up getting in an embarrassing fight with her husband in front of his family and friends and he annulled the marriage right then and there

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

I know some of you like Nizza Pizza on University, they’re remodeling. 

 

[Dr Fear 1265]

I know some of you like Nizza Pizza on University, they’re remodeling. 
 

Not my best photography, but this is today from the side where the drive through was.

[Dr Fear 1265]

I guess it was just a window lol. No mercy shown to the shrubs either.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

You are correct about your photography. 

[TornACL 7675]

Finally getting rid of the old Long John Silvers motif. Good to know. I like to think I helped fund that remodel with so many drunken pizza orders. 

[Apep 645]

On 9/25/2020 at 11:38 PM, cafe society said:

csb/ I had a summer job after my frosh year at UT delivering flowers for the Gordon Boswell at Westridge and Camp Bowie.  It was the florist to the rich and famous of Fort Worth.  I delivered flowers to Mrs. Charles Tandy, for instance.  Wow, nice digs.  Anyway, during the Cullen Davis trial I had to deliver flowers to his mistress Karen Masters who had taken up residence at the murder mansion.  Now, I'm 20-21 years old and athletic and usually fairly cocky... but I was fucking spooked driving through the gate and that weird open drive up to the house on the crest.  I rang the doorbell for 10 minutes - it was warm and a huge flower arrangement, from the Dickhead himself.  She finally showed and swung the door wide open.  It was about 2pm and she looked hungover as hell.  To be fair to her, the circumstances of her situation must have been eerie, to say the least.  I managed to spy what I think was a Manet in the entry hall.  She was  compliant with receiving the flowers and scared and not giving a single shit all at the same time.  I kept expecting the crazy fuck to pop out even though he was in jail.  She didn't tip.

Back in 2005 or so, I got a used computer. It had been owned by Cullen Davis' wife. Looks like he had also used it, since they both had profiles on it. Tons of IE bookmarks for online painkillers and the like. A weird saved chat about how someone, "Knew everything." I pulled the old hard drive and swapped it out for a new one. Last I saw that old hard drive, it was sitting unused in a computer at my then-MIL's house. Who knows, it may still be there. She tends to hoard stuff.

[Fudbelty 2785]

That’s officially the second craziest/weirdest thing I’ve read on Shag or here.

[pch 1259]

3 hours ago, Fudbelty said:

That’s officially the second craziest/weirdest thing I’ve read on Shag or here.

So..........................................................................................the first?

[Fudbelty 2785]

When I first joined shag there was a younger guy from Austin who had come up to Dallas for a Stars game and somehow wound up in a fatal crash. Shag sleuthing and brainpower has it solved before the police did it seemed.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Here it is if anyone didn’t see it back then

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Los Vaqueros moving all over the city. 

Quote

It takes a brave restaurateur to open a new location these days.

So what do we call somebody who opens two?

“I am scared,” wrote Vicki Cisneros, president of new Los Vaqueros Restaurant locations on South University Drive and Interstate 20 West along with the flagship Los Vaqueros in the largest remaining historic Stockyards packinghouse.

“But being scared has never stopped me in the past,” she wrote by email.

“Why should it now?”

Being scared never stopped founders “Kiki” and Johnny Cisneros 40 years ago, when they met working at an El Chico, married and decided to open their own little restaurant near Northwest 28th Street, where “Kiki” Cisneros’ father had worked long hours for low pay as a butcher at now-gone Armour & Co.

Their two little boys were nicknamed “the vaqueros” — the cowboys.

Now, the family has its flagship Los Vaqueros across from Billy Bob’s Texas at 2629 N. Main St., a brand-new Los Vaqueros at 3201 S. University Drive and a giant location coming in a former seafood restaurant location at 4899 Interstate 20 East, Willow Park.

The new Los Vaqueros University opened last weekend. It replaced a nearby location that continues for now as a banquet and party rental hall.

Next comes Los Vaqueros West, the 14-year-old Willow Park location moving from a nearby golf club into a large landmark restaurant with a patio.

The coronavirus pandemic slowed business, “but we are holding our own and I never realized how much of a loyal customer base we have after 38 years,” Vicki Cisneros wrote.

Los Vaqueros’ business was off during the pandemic, but not as badly as other restaurants. In particular, the current Willow Park store stayed busy, she wrote.

The Cisneros family chose both new locations because the slowdown gave them time to think and plan, Vicki Cisneros wrote.

“I have to admit, there were days when I looked in the mirror and thought, ‘What am I doing?’ — purchasing a restaurant in the middle of COVID, signing a lease on another. But I have faith in what we do and what we are to the community.”

Los Vaqueros is a traditional Mexican restaurant with a menu rooted in old-fashioned Tex-Mex. But it also has healthier items, such as a rice-and-squash-stuffed chile relleno, spinach or avocado enchiladas, and weekend brunch dishes such as migas or spinach stacked enchiladas.

There’s also fajitas, steak dishes, brisket tacos and a few chicken and shrimp items.

When readers pick the best Tex-Mex restaurant in town, they lean toward La Playa Maya or El Paseo, or newer places such as Mesero or Mi Cocula.

But Los Vaqueros Stockyards might have the second nicest garden and patio in town (after Joe T. García’s, of course)

The University location is the only traditional Tex-Mex restaurant in the TCU area, although the updated Enchiladas Olé has taken a bite out of that market. Los Vaqueros is closer to the football stadium, though.

Both new Los Vaqueros locations have larger patios for safe outdoor dining.

For now, all Los Vaqueros restaurants are open for lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays and for brunch Sundays; losvaqueros.com.

 

Willow Park location is the old Fish Creek on the north side of 20. 

University is apparently the first floor of some kind of housing development. 

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Toad has been open a couple weeks, check out their badass air fryer menu. They also have a BBQ truck some nights.

 

Woody's is hoping to be open by TX/OU serving tacos. Of course they should have handled that weeks ago, because Abbott will probably clear it soon anyway.

[Dr Fear 1265]

On 10/7/2020 at 2:04 AM, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Toad has been open a couple weeks, check out their badass air fryer menu. They also have a BBQ truck some nights.

 

Woody's is hoping to be open by TX/OU serving tacos. Of course they should have handled that weeks ago, because Abbott will probably clear it soon anyway.

I was at Upper 90 yesterday and they were saying that they were able to open after they bought a $50 frozen pizza maker from Target.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

That’s what makes Woody’s so dumb. They’ve always given food away for free in the past; chili, tacos, hot dogs, etc. Why the fuck did they not just apply for the food permit like all these other shitholes? Now they’ll get like two whole days of extra sales if they’re even approved by tomorrow before everyone is allowed to open anyway. 

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

This was from the Startle-gram article about reopening yesterday. 

Quote

Ed Noyes, who owns Malone’s Pub in downtown Fort Worth, reopened on Sept. 10 with a food and beverage certificate. It’s a workaround the state has supported to help bars survive. Noyes, 54, said he spent about $1,000 to convert his bar, which now sells sandwiches from a catering company. Noyes, who has owned the pub for 20 years, said he’s unlikely to return Malone’s back to a mixed beverage only bar any time soon despite Abbott’s plan.

“We’re much less likely to get shut down that way than if we revert back to strictly a mixed beverage bar,” Noyes said. “I’m a little on the fence about the whole thing. I think that I’m safer now actually operating with a food and beverage certificate.”

A grand to sell sandwiches someone else fucking makes, & now he’s been open a month. Seems like a pretty good plan. 

[fwtxbevo 91]

FWSSR cancelled.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Quote

Tarrant County bars can reopen at half capacity starting Wednesday, Judge Glen Whitley said Monday while threatening to shut down establishments that “blatantly disregard” coronavirus guidelines.

The announcement comes after videos from Fort Worth’s popular West 7th entertainment district showed massive, mask-less crowds in clubs that had reopened with a restaurant license. Gov. Greg Abbott said last week that bars could open across the state on Wednesday at 50% capacity at each county’s discretion. With many bars already open as restaurants, Whitley said it made sense to reopen all of them while cracking down on “bad actors.” 

“If they can’t abide by the rules, they need to go ahead and close down,” he said.

Whitley called out certain bars that did not appear to be following COVID-19 restrictions, referring to public Snapchat videos from the Crockett Row area of West 7th. He said he would ask the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to suspend liquor licenses for venues that ignored capacity restrictions or mask mandates.

He said he planned to meet with a group of bar owners in the Magnolia Avenue area later in the day Monday and had already spoken to a few.

“Very honestly, if I could, I would pull and suspend the license from a couple of those places today,” he said. “And I assure you, I am working on that. If I can get it done, their licenses will be suspended either today or in the very near future.”

Many bars used a “loophole” in Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission restrictions that allowed bars to reopen as restaurants if the business’ expected alcohol sales were less than 50% of total revenue, Whitley said.

Whitley’s threat marked an escalation for public officials in Tarrant County. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, county and city of Fort Worth officials have pushed education and warnings over citations. But Whitley said Wednesday it was time to escalate enforcement for “bad apples” past warnings to fines. 

In most cases, it will be up to city code compliance, police or fire departments to inspect and enforce guidelines. Fort Worth’s code compliance office did not immediately return a request for comment. 

 

 

Those are some funny restaurants. 

[wild_turkey 3152]

Interesting. We drove through the Crockett Row area on Friday night around 10 pm on our way home from dinner. I was mainly curious to see if anything was open. It looked like pre-Covid normal from what I could see. Every bar appeared to be open, tons of college-aged people, no masks.

[Fudbelty 2785]

I’m weirdly still on the fence on the whole mask thing. My main concern the most has been the social distancing. I think there’s more to be said for personal space. I can’t imagine being in that place(or any like it) and enjoying myself. Blah blah kids freedom tthem dumb youngins. That is seriously just stupid. You can be invincible but get the virus from that situation then spread it to one person who gets ill and you’re an absolute asshole. Fuck everyone there.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

One would think you of all people would be pretty pro-mask these days. 

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Crab Du Jour in the old Keg off BI/20 is open. Good luck. 

https://www.facebook.com/CrabDuJourTX/

[Fudbelty 2785]

I’m weird about it. I have worn mine. My family does theirs. I’m not defiant. I just question. We will continue to follow rules. My biggest thing this entire time has been personal space and make decent choices on where you go. Opening more up is making me nervous but we’ll overcome after all.

[Dr Fear 1265]

Truly a sad day....

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

Damn, did you know that was coming? 

[Fudbelty 2785]

Looks likes it’s going

[Dr Fear 1265]

Damn, did you know that was coming? 

I saw a roofing dumpster out back of there a few months ago.

[shadow_operative2.0 15824]

You remember our friend Dustin that married Shelbie for awhile? He fell off the elk next door one night, although I’m sure that’s happened to many. 

[Frank Erwin 203]

Brisket Elote from Panther City BBQ today.  It was great, my only suggestion would be to add a side of diced jalapenos to spice it up.  Ribs were good too.

 

[NOMAAA 1696]

their chili when it cools down is fantastic.