Overnight, the Former Chumley’s in Deep Ellum Became an Open-Air Venue

The sign still says “Articles,” but I’ll always remember the three-story storefront on Elm and Good-Latimer as Chumley’s, located at the acoustic end of Deep Ellum on the heels of Charles Francis “Chumley” Hawkins’s late, great Dave’s Art Pawn Shop. Everyone played there, from Aimee Mann to Cafe Noir, Lisa Loeb to Rhett Miller, all on their way up. Before that, long ago, that spot had accommodated everything from a lumberyard to a loan-maker to a paint-and-paper company.

Last I looked there was talk of it becoming an ultra-lounge; that didn’t pan out. Westdale’s been trying to lease the valued-at-$320,000 building ever since. But now, it’s sans roof: Justin Terveen was out in the deluge last night, of course, and was there when Dallas Fire-Rescue answered the call. Wrote Justin in the note that arrived in the in-box during the wee small hours of the morning: “Place is thrashed.”