Willis Winters

Someone's Gonna Get Decked in Fight Over Paying for Upkeep of Klyde Warren Park

Um, Mr. Grant? Moment of your time? I ask only one thing. If at all possible, can you get the kid out of this? You are the justifiably proud leader of the effort that brought us our wonderful new deck park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway at the north end of downtown, named for a child whose identity ... More >>

Ain't No Call fer Us to Pick a Side in Them Rich Folks' Museum Feudin'

Update/Correction/Apology/Literary Forehead Slap: The premise of this column is a stupid mistake on my part. For some time I have labored under the impression that Lucy Crow Billingsley, a daughter of Trammell Crow, was an early partner with John Sughrue in the development of Museum Tower. That's wr ... More >>

Park and Rec to Spend Time, Money Looking at Turning Exposition Plaza Into a Monument Park

​A few years back there were some questions on the Dallas Historical Society's chatboard about what in the wide, wide world of sports Exposition Plaza's supposed to be. Because, sure, you drive by the circular mini-park at Canton and Exposition all the time if you're heading from downtown to Fair ... More >>

Before We Get (Another) Plan for Downtown's Parks, the Bridge Club Should Get a Clue

Tale of two cities on today's front pages: Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic at The New York Times, presents a big-canvas panoramic of Rio Park in Madrid, Spain, where they entombed a highway to bring a river back to life. Linking Madrid's vast and wonderful new park to trends in Europe and Am ... More >>

"Moving the System Forward": Once More, City to Hold Dallas Parks Summit at Fair Park

​One years ago, when Mayor Mike Rawlings was merely Park Board President Mike Rawlings, the city held its first-ever Dallas Parks Summit at the Music Hall at Fair Park. By way of invite in 2010, ad man Rawlings said this:"Walt Disney once said he didn't want the public to see the world where they ... More >>

Drowning the Whistleblower on the Doomed Trinity River Wave

The man who warned of danger at the city's Trinity whitewater park gets sold downriver.

In Front of Dallas City Hall, Grabbing a Bite on The Living Plaza. "And It Only Took 30 Years."

Council member Jerry Allen tosses a Frisbee to Trinity Trust President Gail Thomas on the City Hall Plaza today at noon.​I'd intended to spend, oh, maybe half an hour in front of Dallas City Hall today, where, decades after William H. Whyte first proposed the idea of making that expanse of concret ... More >>

For Sale: An 1894 Texas State Fair Keepsake

From eBay seller "celluloid"​On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Texas Centennial Exposition at Fair Park, which opened on June 6, 1936, Friend of Unfair Park PeterK espied this one-of-a-kind keepsake up for grabs on eBay courtesy Minneapolis-based seller "celluloid": a bronze coin commemora ... More >>

From the Mailbag: You've Got Questions, People Who Know More Than We Have Answers

​Every so often, Friends of Unfair Park send in e-mails full of questions to which we only wish we knew the answers. And I'll send those queries to the experts. So, this morning, we tackle two topics pulled at random from the grab bag. First up ...Friend of Unfair Park Wyatt asks: My neighbors and ... More >>

All About the All About Uptown Fest

Photos by Sam MertenMike Rhyner​Despite the rain early on Saturday, I found myself at the All About Uptown Festival for the third-straight year, and it wasn't until checking out the festival's website just now that I realized it's only the third year of its existence. Not a heckuva lot has cha ... More >>

Park and Rec Assistant Director Willis Winters Talks About His Fair Park History

Old Dallas Stuff​Willis Winters, assistant director of the city's Park and Recreation Department, says, with a laugh, that it took him all of 30 days to write his forthcoming Fair Park history. He signed the contract with Arcadia Publishing in March, under the assumption that it wanted the book in ... More >>

New Dallas History Book Documents Change from "Prairie Town" to "International City"

Texas FreewayLooking south down Central Expressway back in 1962​Local author and historian Rusty Williams took note of my item about Willis Winters's Fair Park history yesterday and sends word: He's got his own brand-new look-back on shelves now, Historic Photos of Dallas in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. ... More >>

Quite the Two-Fer: A Book on Dallas's Historic Parks And a Fund-Raiser for City's Archives

Photos Courtesy Dallas Municipal Archives, City Secretary's OfficeFrom John Slate: "Lake Cliff Park's pool in 1947. The pool was shut down in 1959."​As I mentioned in January -- upon the publication of Historic Dallas Hotels and its accompanying postcard set and Park and Rec historian Sally Rodrig ... More >>

The Other Items on Park and Rec Board Agenda

The city's inching closer to starting that Stevens Park extreme makeover, which had been set to start at the beginning of this month.​We've written plenty about one item in particular on today's Park and Rec Board meeting agenda, but it's not the only item of interest. As in: Were you aware that t ... More >>

The Friend of Samuell Farm Takes Issue With Park and Rec Head's Comments

One of several pieces of equipment Hugh Brooks says his Friends of the Farm purchaed for Samuell Farm using privately donated funds​Welcome to Day Three of our continuing coverage of Park and Rec's proposal to sell, among others, Samuell Farm and Samuell New Hope Park, which will be taken up by th ... More >>

Says the Man Who Wants to Save Samuell Farm: "You Can't Make Parks by Getting Rid of Parks."

​This isn't our first item about Park and Rec's proposal to sell Samuell Farm and Samuell New Hope Park, and it won't be the last. I'm waiting to hear from the Texas Attorney General's Office how it feels about Thursday's agenda item, given that it was but 14 months ago the state told the city tha ... More >>

And the Winner(s) For Best Historic Preservation Project in Dallas Goes To ...

Courtesy Preservation Dallas311 N. Edgefield Avenue in Oak Cliff, before and after its restoration​We're still waiting for Preservation Dallas's list of endangered properties -- that should be ready by the end of the month. But till then, it has announced the winners of its Eleventh Annual Preserv ... More >>

A Tree Grows at Elm and Harwood. Literally. That's All That's Left Now.

Noah Jeppson​This is what this corner of Elm and N. Harwood Streets looked like before this weekend. Per the heads-up on the Dallas Metropolis forum, this is what it looks like now. Dwyane Wade, apparently, needed the space. Reminds Noah Jeppson, who took the photos and let us run this one on Unfa ... More >>

You're Free to Roam the Grass at Main Street Garden. But About That Fountain ...

Sam MertenThe signs are coming down at Main Street Garden, and so are the pants! Either that or someone's shooting a sequel to the new Erykah Badu video. Just don't tell the mayor pro tem.​The 6-year-old who lives in my house has been wondering since forever: When oh when will he be able to run am ... More >>

Park and Rec Is Well Aware That Pioneer Park Cemetery Needs Some New Life

​Till Saturday's visit to the Dallas Convention Center, I hadn't walked around Pioneer Park Cemetery since I was a kid, when my dad took me to see the Jackson 5 at Memorial Auditorium. And so I was stunned to see, years later, what a shambles the city-owned cemetery, in which several former mayors ... More >>

Will City's Decision to Charge For Parking at Fair Park Cost It Buchanan's Flea Market?

​A cold, rainy Sunday a month before Christmas seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it out to Fair Park's Automotive Building for the monthly Buchanan Antiques and Collectibles Market, which has been setting up shop out there since '95. That's where I found my prized Mercantile National Ban ... More >>

State Fair of Texas Files Application to Build Giant Greenhouse, Growing Area at Fair Park

Something like this Rough Brothers-designed greenhouse is what the State Fair of Texas has in mind.​Earlier this afternoon, I noticed on the Landmark Committee's Fair Park Task Force meeting agenda for Wednesday a most intriguing note: Someone has applied for a Certificate of Appropriateness to bu ... More >>

Main Street Garden Needs a Few Finishing Touches Before Its November 13 Opening

Patrick MichelsLast week, we caught New York-based artist Leni Schwendinger with her Main Street Garden light sculpture, one of five.​We're, oh, 'bout three weeks away from the official dedication of Main Street Garden downtown, as November 13 is now the ribbon-cutting date. And, from the looks of ... More >>

More on the Statler's Shroud, or: That Veil Will Really Tie the Room Together

Justin TerveenYesterday I got a call from Todd Howard -- namesake of t. howard associates, president of the American Institute of Architects Dallas chapter and former board member of the South Dallas/Fair Park Trust Fund (with my dad, full disclosure). Turns out he wanted to address some of the Fr ... More >>

Wait, Portland's Jealous of Dallas? Nice.

The Woodall Rodgers deck park, as it more or less oughta look upon completionIn Portland, where a former mayor once toyed with the idea of turning an overpass into a park, one columnist is very jealous that in Dallas, we're actually doing that very thing with the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park. And getti ... More >>

Corps' Attention to Detail Could Jeopardize More Than Just the Toll Road. The Whole Effin' Trinity Project Could Die!

flickr member: puuikibeachThe entire Trinity River Corridor Project, including the Texas Horse Park, is tied to the approval of the toll road by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At least, that's what proponents of the Trinity Turnpike want you to believe."Attention to detail delays Army Corps of E ... More >>

Dallas Homeless Network Says Stewpot's Not to Blame for Failure to Sell 508 Park Avenue

View Larger MapIt comes up every single time the subject of 508 Park Avenue is mentioned (which, right, has been plenty in recent weeks both on Unfair Park and in the paper version of Unfair Park): The building in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and perhaps even Charlie Parker recorded has not sold ... More >>

They're Still Horsing Around With That Texas Horse Park

Yeah, Absolutely, Highland Park Sucks

Mean green

Neighbors in Southeast Dallas find that getting their parks fixed is no picnic