Darin Robinson
Audio By Carbonatix
If you go east on Elm Street toward the former home of Wits End, you might be a little alarmed to find another Deep Ellum staple covered in boards.
Don’t worry, though. Club Dada is still open for business. It’s just getting a new façade, and club co-owner Geoff Lloyd says it really needed it.
“It’s probably around 30 years old,” Lloyd says. “I’m not sure actually how old. It was in very poor condition, lots of rust and a termite infestation.”
Lloyd says crews are renovating the face-covered front of Club Dada and should be finished in two to three weeks. The work will not interrupt the venue’s show schedule, and Lloyd assures fans that they will “still be doing live music” including upcoming performances by MICHELLE on Tuesday, Three the Hard Way on Thursday and Foreign Air on Saturday.
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“It’s completely new and it’ll be much more resilient,” Lloyd says.
Right now, the renovation crew is building the frames for the front window, which they can order only after the frames are constructed. So, some of the window boarding will still be up even while the venue is open.
“The longest part of the process is getting the glass manufactured because it’s tempered glass,” Lloyd says. “You can’t order the glass until they build the frames because you don’t know what size it will be and there’s no way to calculate that.”
The renovation includes new double doors and windows for the front façade, a new box office and a new green room for guest acts.
“The old storefront is being demolished,” Lloyd says. “The new storefront will be metal-framed and glass that is much more resilient to the elements. The bottom section of the storefront will be a concrete wall and glass all the way up to the roof windows.”
The distinctive look of Club Dada’s front won’t change because of these renovations. Lloyd says it would be crazy to mess with the look of the store because “that’s a really important part of it.”
Club Dada co-owner Geoff Lloyd says the 10 faces that adorn the Deep Ellum venue’s storefront are also getting a facelift from local artists.
Alex Gonzalez
“Personally, I didn’t want to recreate it as it was exactly,” Lloyd says, “but you’ll know exactly what it is when you see it.”
The familiar faces that hang on the front of Club Dada are also getting a facelift. Lloyd says local artists are cleaning up and repainting the 10 surreal face busts that help spell out the venue’s “Dada Dallas” sign, and will return with a light display so guests can see them a little bit better at night. He even plans to hang original works of art by Dallas painter and muralist Steve Hunter once the windows are finished.
“You’ll see the old Dada storefront,” Lloyd says. “It’ll be protected by glass. There’s so many aspects of it that will be a vast improvement over what we have.”
The renovation will also help with occupancy issues and even climate control inside the venue.
“It affects climate control because the storefront is full of holes,” Lloyd says. “A lot of air comes through in the summer and breezy, cold air comes through in the winter. It’ll help maintain a more pleasant environment inside.
“You’ll know exactly what it is,” Lloyd adds. “If you ever saw the old Dada storefront, all the aspects of that will be retained and recycled in some way.”
