Hidden City

Summer Reading Club continues with Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. We explore why this story has resonated with so many readers and how its themes of place, hospitality, and human connection echo the kinds of stories we love to talk about on the podcast. We discuss what the book has to say about truly seeing the people around us and draw connections to Oak Cliff. Whether you've already read the...

We kick off our Summer Reading Club with John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, a novel that finds humor, humanity, and unexpected beauty in the lives of a small working class neighborhood in depression-era California. Grant, Doug, and Savannah discuss why this classic still resonates today, exploring the ways place shapes identity, how community forms in unlikely spaces, and what Cannery Row can teach...

Before Reunion Tower and the Dallas skyline, there was La Réunion, a French utopian colony on the banks of the Trinity River. In this episode, Grant and Doug explore how a group of European settlers came to North Texas hoping to build a new kind of society, why the experiment failed, and how its residents helped shape early Dallas through culture, business, science, and civic life. It's the st...

Carlos De La Fuente has been part of Oak Cliff since 1974, and few people know the neighborhood's history quite like he does. In this episode, Carlos shares the story of immigrating to Dallas as a child, growing up in Oak Cliff, working at the Dallas Farmers Market, and leaving a stable aviation career to pursue his dream of entrepreneurship. We talk about the early days of ABC Party, the ment...

Philip Haigh, Executive Director of The Loop Dallas, joins the podcast to talk about the ambitious effort to connect Dallas through a 50-mile trail network. From discovering the bike-friendly culture of Oak Cliff to leading one of the city's most transformative public space projects, Philip shares how trails can change the way people experience their neighborhoods and their city. The conversat...

In this episode, we explore the story of 10th Street, one of the most important surviving Freedman’s Town landscapes in the United States. Long before I35 cut through Oak Cliff, 10th Street was a thriving African American community built by formerly enslaved people and their descendants. Through churches, schools, businesses, homes, and family networks, residents created a neighborhood where gener...

Sean Springer, founder of Springer Design Studio, joins The Hidden City to talk about his journey from studying sculpture at RISD to building a woodworking and design practice rooted in craftsmanship, healing, and creativity. Sean shares how working with reclaimed wood shaped his artistic path, the philosophy behind his handmade objects, and why materials like wood still feel deeply alive to him....

Illustrator and designer Zach Stuef joins The Hidden City to talk about moving from Michigan to Dallas, building a creative life through illustration, and why he still starts every project with pen and paper. We talk about collaboration, theology, concert posters, Oak Cliff creative community, and the tension between handmade art and AI-generated work. Savannah steps in as co-host for this episode...

Dallas once had a real plan to become a port city, with boats traveling from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up the Trinity River into the heart of Dallas. In this episode, we trace the strange and ambitious history of the “Port of Dallas” and how Oak Cliff sat directly in the path of that dream. From devastating floods and disappearing bridges to the construction of the Oak Cliff Viaduct and the r...

Two years after her first appearance on The Hidden City Podcast, April Allen returns as Halperin Park prepares to officially open in Oak Cliff this weekend. Recorded inside the park just days before opening, this episode captures a full-circle moment for one of Dallas’ most ambitious community-led projects. April, President & CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation, shares what it...

Frank Reaugh played a major role in shaping how people see Texas. His pastel landscapes of open prairie, longhorns, and wide skies captured something quieter and more honest about the state. In this episode, we follow his path to Oak Cliff, where he helped build the early art scene and taught a generation of artists at his studio near Lake Cliff Park. It’s a look at how one artist paid attention t...

The streetcar didn’t just run through Oak Cliff, it helped build it. In this episode, we trace how early rail lines in the 1880s made Oak Cliff feel close enough to grow, shaping where people gathered and where businesses took root along Jefferson. We follow its evolution into a larger system, the decisions that led to its disappearance in the 1950s, and its return decades later. It’s a story abou...

Most people know 7-Eleven for Slurpees, Big Gulps, and late-night snack runs, but the company’s story starts in Oak Cliff. In this episode, Doug and Grant trace 7-Eleven’s roots from an Oak Cliff ice dock to a global chain, following the local people and neighborhood needs that helped shape the modern convenience store. Along the way, they also get into the company’s larger impact, from the way it...

David Cervantes, founder of Elyse Build, joins The Hidden City to talk about his work building and restoring homes across Oak Cliff. He shares about his journey from working his way up through construction crews to now leading projects that focus on older properties and the process of bringing them back to life. We talk about learning through experience, building a business rooted in relationships...

There’s a version of Oak Cliff people think they know. But in the 1970s and 80s, it became something else entirely, a place where artists found space, built studios, and created a scene that didn’t feel like anywhere else in Dallas. In this episode, we trace how Oak Cliff became known as Dallas’ Left Bank, from the early artist studios along Bishop Avenue to the parallel creative communities that...

Aimé Nuñez grew up in Oak Cliff, built a career in tech, and walked away from it after a season of loss with no clear plan for what came next. What followed was Pegasus Creative Reuse, a secondhand art supply shop built on a pay-what-you-want model and a belief that creativity should be accessible to anyone. In this episode, Aimé shares how grief led her to art, how she unexpectedly took over Pega...

Lindsey Munchrath, founder of Beatnik Fine Goods, joins The Hidden City to talk about creating a retail space rooted in community, creativity, and connection in Oak Cliff. From her early days in customer service and fashion to opening her own shop after becoming a mother, Lindsey shares how Beatnik has evolved, shifting from globally sourced goods to spotlighting local artists and makers. We talk...

Before Stevie Ray Vaughan was one of the greatest guitar players in the world, he was a kid growing up in Oak Cliff trying to keep up with his older brother Jimmie. In this episode, we trace Stevie’s early years playing Dallas clubs, the gritty Texas blues sound that defined him, and how Texas Flood launched him onto the national stage. We also talk about the Oak Cliff neighborhood that shaped his...

Tyler and Chayanne Rooney met in an Austin kitchen and spent years working their way through the restaurant world before bread quietly took over. What started as late-night croissant experiments and a deep dive into Tartine Bread eventually became porch deliveries during COVID, long Sundays at the farmers market, and finally a brick-and-mortar bakery inside Tyler Station. In this episode, Tyler an...

In this episode, River shares how an open mic night at Opening Bell led to a long-term creative partnership, the launch of Alma Row Records, and eventually a growing series of living-room concerts designed to bring neighbors together outside of traditional venues. What started as a small experiment with 30 people has quickly turned into shoulder-to-shoulder gatherings where artists, DJs, and commu...

Daniel Ellis has quietly become one of Oak Cliff’s most consistent connectors through Live Local Oak Cliff, a platform that amplifies neighborhood businesses and keeps thousands of residents in the loop. In this episode, Daniel shares how a desire to support local businesses turned into Live Local and how that same entrepreneurial drive led him and his wife to launch Diaper Buddy, a thoughtfully d...

Bonnie and Clyde didn’t come from nowhere, and they didn’t become who they were somewhere else. This episode looks at how poverty, proximity, and momentum shaped Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, and why Oak Cliff mattered at every stage of their lives. Before the headlines, the manhunts, and the legend, they were young people growing up in West Dallas and Oak Cliff during the Great Depression - tet...

Andrew Snow has been part of Oak Cliff long enough to see how much of this neighborhood has been shaped by relationships. In this episode, the Track 15 cofounder reflects on how he landed here, the people who welcomed him in, and how that web of connections eventually led to building a nonprofit fundraising firm rooted in trust and generosity. We talk about Track 15’s origins, why community and gi...

For more than three decades, DJ EZ Eddie D has been a steady presence on Dallas airwaves and a quiet force in the city’s hip-hop culture. In this episode, Eddie traces his path from Cincinnati to Oak Cliff, from early club nights to KNON and Knowledge Dropped, a show that became a home for true school hip-hop and social commentary. We talk about the Oak Cliff music scene of the ’80s and ’90s, the...

This episode is a little different. Instead of sitting down with a guest, we step back and tell the story of Oak Cliff itself. We trace how this part of the city came to be, from early settlement on the bluffs above the Trinity, to utopian experiments, speculative development, independence, annexation, and the long arc that followed. Along the way, we look at how geography, distance, and deliberat...