danielkusner: Black Forest Theater

The “Black Forest” theater marquee changed for our shoot...

The Forest Theater has survived many former existences.

The South Dallas landmark’s current incarnation reflects White Flight’s deterioration upon a progressive metroplex.

Another rebirth, however, promises staggering treasures to add to The Forest’s dramatic history.

With its towering neon sign, the theater was named after Forest Avenue, the crosstown spine that links South Dallas to East Oak Cliff. Before 1880, Forest Avenue was spelled differently — with two Rs that paid homage to Nathan Bedford Forrest, a lieutenant general of the Confederate Army and the Ku Klux Klan’s first Grand Wizard.

In 1930, owner-operator M.S. White was granted a zoning permit to construct a $40,000 air-cooled “talking picture house,” big enough to seat 1,000 patrons in upholstered chairs. In August 1932, White contracted with Warner Bros. to screen the Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis crime drama “20,000 Years in Sing Sing.” Matinee tickets were .05¢; evening shows were .20¢.

3,000-year old Egyptian royal tombs deliver messages about journeys into the afterlife. Whether sacred pyramids or descents into necropolises , these “houses of eternity” tell us that “resurrection” as the master value of a civilization that conquered death.

The ankh

Trademark headdress, gele

like Badu — who mixed Christian texts, Islamic proverbs, Buddhist aphorisms, Yorubian fashions —

Badu changed the name to The Black Forest Theater, thereby becoming the unofficial ambassador of the Sunny South Side

She grew up in South Dallas, at the intersection of Holmes and Romine beneath the Julius Schepps Freeway.

Forest Avenue is a significant crosstown thoroughfare — the spine that links South Dallas to East Oak Cliff.

Deterioration and vacancy, unscrupulous development practices by late-60s apartment developers. Newer buildings indifferent design and poor construction quality

visual flaws

poor visual relationship to their surroundings

Due to its size, cultural importance and visual character, the Forest Avenue Theater is an outstanding example of art deco commercial architecture.

By 1970, the race percentage of white residents in the neighborhood was less than 2 percent.

South Dallas has one of the city’s highest violent-crime rates. As a result, lending institutions when evaluating mortgage home repair and business loan requests consider the crime rates and refuse sot make needed capital available.

the risk of doing business becomes altogether too high for too many insurance companies refuse to renew policies -- leaving an absence of common retail facilities

the necessary broad approach to will require the active participation of many with shared goals.

one positive aspect of crime -- because it adversely affects everyone there, crime becomes a common enemy -- thus an issue which and unify the efforts of many.

is a public expression of this diverse community’s needs — it’s fear, aspirations, frustrations and hopes

it signifies the relationship between the business area and the surrounding community

with its location in the sunbelt, low tax base and strong economy,

dallas is a progressive metropolitan area

south dallas sign of urban neglect

pocket of decay, economic depression

south dallas was formerly a showplace with stately housing

“White Flight”

devastating — reflecting its basic economic social and visual

94% black, disadvantaged, low income

not only crime — but fear of crime

uninsurability and

Badu -- community leader and private citizen

revitalization

left to erode, forest ave neighborhood will demise and blight the expectaion of Big D’s future.

if an individual is out of work, he’s hungry. if hungry, he can’t learn. if uneducated, he’s unskilled. he will steal, he has no pride, he has no dreams of tomoorw. his reality is today.

BADU —

retro-minded

stylish fusion of african culture and urban chic

who bent notes with thick and sticky grove

street-smart girl next door

insead of booty and bling, writes about poverty racism and poisonous effect of drugs and guns

BLIND — headquarteder at black forest theater

towering headdress

statue like a zen siren

dysfucntional affair between american and its black citizens — race relations, segregation, inflation and

wanted to be a midwife to a new sound.

preaching the gospel of unity and community

went to the forest to see bruce lee and Godzilla movies

dance classes, soup kitchen for homeless and safe place for kids on a saturday night and maybe a move.

her family was once involved with the Green Parrot a long-defunct club where Nat King Cole and James Brown have visited

soul sister of mysticism

ankh -- the ancient symbol of life and the imperishable soul

epitaph “ascension maintained”

erica abi wright

more than preserving a historic treasure, she’s helping improve the lives of those living in the neighbor hood

rebirth like her sound.

The theater closed for a while in the early ‘50s and reopened when Forest Ave HS was designated a black facility the all-black Madison High in 1956

BB king, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald,

1956 had reopened for “negro use”

by 1952, South Dallas was 90% black

Resurrection symbolizes our modern recovery of Egypt. Immortality. sprawling necropolises staggering treasures

tombs called “houses of eternity”

Nefertari’s journey toward the afterlife

At a key point in her travels, Nefertari is welcomed by Isis who takes her affectionately by the hand and leads her.

life death rebirth

soul is immortal

The Forest Theater has lived through many former existences. But the South Dallas landmark represents how severely White flight damaged our progressive metroplex.

In 1930, owner-operator M.S. White was granted a zoning permit to construct a $40,000 air-cooled “talking picture house,” big enough to seat 1,000 patrons in upholstered chairs. In August 1932, White contracted with Warner Bros. to screen the Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis crime drama “20,000 Years in Sing Sing.” Tickets were .05¢ for matinee and .20¢ for evening.

with Columbia Pictures and United Artists to screen first-run

Jill Scott's smooth- soul party will only just be getting started at Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Dallas-based neo-soul diva Erykah Badu is throwing an "Official Jill Scott After Party" at the Black Forest Theater , which Ms. Badu owns and runs. Both Ms. Badu and Ms. Scott are scheduled to join a jam session there that will also feature New Orleans rapper Jay Electronica and hip-hop hybrid trio the Strange Fruit Project, originally from Waco.

Ms. Badu and Ms. Scott have performed together before, most recently in September in Brooklyn during the Dave Chapelle Block Party, a neighborhood-style concert organized by the comedian to showcase New York City's urban music acts. A DVD of the event, which also featured Kanye West, Mos Def, the Roots and a reunion of the Fugees, is slated for release later this year.

The after party will be held in the theater's lobby, which has a limited capacity, so early arrival is encouraged. Radio One, "The Beat" KBFB-FM (97.9) and "K-Soul" KSOC-FM (94.5) are co-presenters, and Minc Lounge is supplying bar services. A portion of ticket sales will benefit Ms. Badu's B.L.I.N.D. (Beautiful Love Inc. Non-profit Development) charity.

Mike Daniel

Tuesday at the Black Forest Theater , 1920 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Doors open at 9 p.m. 214-421-0677 or 1-877-882-7753. www.blackforesttheater.com.

My short feature on Erykah Badu runs in this week's paper version of Unfair Park -- turns out, wasn't an easy road to New Amerykah, which sees release next week. Not enough room on that page to get into everything Badu and I discussed over the course of a couple of hours, but after the jump are her thoughts on running the Black Forest Theater, which she took over in 2003 with the intention of turning it into a community center. Over the years, the likes of Dave Chappelle, Snoop Dogg, The Roots and, yes, Prince have played the Black Forest as Badu's invitation.

Only, it's costing her a small fortune to keep the place open -- something she's done without a dime from the city, despite her being one of the most vibrant businesses on Martin Luther King Boulevard, not far from the South Dallas house in which the former Erica Wright was born. The air conditioning unit was recently stolen; the building was stripped of its copper; the main room's in need of repair, so only the front of the theater can be used at the moment. Her manager says Badu's spending her own money to keep the place operational, and the bills are piling up -- hence, the February 27 fund-raiser at the Ghostbar, during which Badu and Q-Tip will spin. After the jump, our Q&A concerning the fate of the Forest. --Robert Wilonsky

So, the theater is still going?

Theater’s still going. Financially, it’s a burden. It’s hard. It is. I need the community’s support as much as I can, and they do, but it’s a big job to take on without having the correct kind of sponsorship and backing. It’s such an expensive piece, but it’s not worth as much as they’re trying to charge for it. It’s a thorn, but it’s bearable because there’s a reason for it, and I really believe in it.

It’s open for different activities and things, but we have some problems with the fire codes and things like that. We’re expected to spend enormous amounts of money for things on a building we’re not allowed to buy.

You can’t buy it?

You can, but all the rent that we pay does not go toward leasing. So, I’m chasing my tail here. And I don’t mind telling this part of it. The landlords are cool, but this is a business. It’s what they do for a living. And they’re not interested in selling it because they don’t have to. They wanna keep it in the family. But it belongs to the community as much as it does to their family. And I think the more we work together, the more we resolve a lot of the problems. Solutions are there. Amicably, we are coming up with a very optimistic viewpoint of the whole thing. We work together very well, the landlords and me. A lot of the tenants over there are moving out because they feel it’s unbearable -- the condition that the building is in, and the amount of money that we have to spend right in the heart of our own community. It is what it is. You know this story.

Sure, it’s the story of that neighborhood. I’ve never understood why the city doesn’t take better care of you. I can’t think of any other famous person in this city who’s been willing to invest what you’ve been willing to invest.

I went broke trying to do this. They spent me and [her children] Puma and Seven’s money in this theater. And I still believe in it. So, either I’m crazy, or something’s gonna really, really, really, really happen that’s very special for us. It wasn’t very smart, the investment that I made. I’m thinking about the day-to-day activity is how I think about it. I just know something wonderful’s gonna happen. I’m not gonna give up on that. At all. Everybody advises me, ‘Just walk away.’ But it’s something about that spot. That particular spot. And it belongs to us. And I mean, us.”

Hey, my dad used to go see shows there when he was a kid. It comes up a lot, actually when people talk about you and talk about the city.

I will never leave this city. I feel very responsible. When I was a kid, what I had was this recreation center called Martin Luther King Recreation Center right up the street on Martin Luther King Boulevard. I wouldn’t have known anything else had it not been for the instructors and the teachers there who went to college and could have moved to other places and done other things, but they brought their black selves back to the same area and took on the responsibility to teach us things -- dance classes and theater and music and drama and sports and all those kinds of different things that those different people came on to do. My next project is to do a mural on the side of the building of those people -- the unspoken heroes of South Dallas; the people that meant a lot in our lives.

There are a lot of children who have gained stronger willpower, who are now adults, have responsible positions in society, raising responsible children and also giving back in the arts. Because all of us in some sort of way have this connection with the arts, and that’s the quickest way to learn. And that is the most important thing to me, out of all of this that I do. The songs are great, it’s cool to have on cool clothes and be able to get free shit from Adidas and all that kind of stuff -- those are great things -- but the most important thing is the children’s minds, because those are the people tomorrow will be making.

And this is cliché-sounding stuff, but this is real deal stuff! Tomorrow is around the corner, and these children are the ones who will be making decisions in their community -- hopefully, if it still belongs to us. And that’s my whole thing. I haven’t begun to do anything. People say that I do a lot for the community, and I give back -- I haven’t begun to do anything, really. I do the best I can, but it’s been very minimal, considering what it is that I have in my mind vision. It’s a work in progress. --Robert Wilonsky

Says here the the Forest Theater was built in '47; my father, who grew up a few blocks over on Park Row, recalls how, in the mid-'50s, Shearith Israel used the movie theater for High Holiday services when they were finishing out the synagogue's present-day location on Walnut Hill. But at some point, of course, the New Forest Theater morphed into the Central Forest Ballroom and Forest Ballroom, a rock-and-roll-and venue not so different from the kind of club Erykah Badu ran when she had the place up till '08. T Bone Burnett often tells the story of how he saw B.B. King there in the mid-'60s and it changed his life.

But this is a new one: I see Heritage Auction Gallery is selling off an extremely rare Byrds tour poster from the Forest Ballroom; opening bid's set at $250, which seems like a steal. Unfair Park's 'cross-the-street neighbor says it's from June 1, 1968, which means Gram Parsons would have been in the band at the time (he left in July of that year over the band's decision to play South Africa, so he said). But trying to pin down whether that's the right date wasn't easy.

Says Heritage's Noah Fleisher, the staff over there has "reasonably deduced" from their research that '68 is the correct date. But, he adds, Heritage "can't unequivocally" say that's the right year. Then again: June 1, 1968, was indeed a Saturday.

Reason it's hard to nail down is just a few weeks earlier the band was touring Europe (which is where this boot comes from), before returning to California to finish the greatest of all Byrds records, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which is said to have wrapped at the end of May '68. But this Byrds gigography doesn't list a Dallas date 'round that time. There were, however, shows in New York City in mid-May, then one in L.A. on May 24, then two more in L.A. on June 21 and 22. But then it was back to London in early July, where Parsons met Keith Richards for the first time. Some U.S. shows followed later that year without Parsons.

I called Roger McGuinn's people earlier this week to fact-check, and they said they'd ask but to me not to hold my breath. Because, see, after he found out that his stolen 1966 Rickenbacker went for $100,000 at a U.K. auction, McGuinn doesn't have much love for auctions, no matter how legit.

So I turned to the great Angus Wynne, figuring he'd know if such a concert occurred. And, sure enough: He says that was Concerts West's first attempt at turning the Forest into Dallas's version of The Fillmore, which didn't last long. Angus didn't go to the Byrds show, but he did attend the Spirit show at the Forest not long after that, where he was among the 30 who trekked down to South Dallas for the rock and roll. One more dismally populated show later, and that was that.

And, no, there wouldn't be many of these posters around: Angus recalls Concerts West only making a few for the Forest shows, most of which wound up tacked to phone polls or hung in record-store windows. "But, yeah," he says, "that would be the real thing."

In December 2007 we said farewell to R.C. Hickman, the Mineola native who became the staff photographer at the Dallas Star Post and whose astonishing body of work tells the story of black Dallas in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Most of his photos reside in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin; you can browse some of them here as well, or buy a copy of his book. But I just came across an extraordinary cache of Hickman photos on eBay, many of which appear to be originals, as they bear the stamp from Hickman's studio located at 3313 Oakland. One is even autographed.

The photos are all being sold at buy-it-now prices ($50!) by Fort Worth-based Mid Century Gallery, whose Joseph Clayton just told me that they came from Hickman's personal collection and "are not photos found in the UT collection." Clayton says they were purchased three months ago "at an auction of his private collection." He said he's tried to sell them at auction but could find no takers; hence, the first-come-first-served offering.

There are photos of Martin Luther King Jr., Sammy Davis Jr. and boxer Curtis Cokes; another features Hickman and some jazz pals in Manhattan, and he's explained who's who on the back. You'll also find more everyday scenes -- like a car inspection or a shot of Stamp Day, the kind of photos that defined Hickman's work. As Barbara Jordan wrote in her intro to the book, "These are images of the ordinary lives of extraordinary people who succeeded in spite of all the obstacles in their path, and who eventually demanded and, in important ways, won their rights."

Mr. McGrew combined two images, a black fist and an Afro pick, into a single painting that graces the front doors. A huge mural on the ground in front of the building depicts a woman's face and mammoth Afro that transforms into a tree trunk with roots extending onto the sidewalk.

The Forest Theater, which opened in 1949, began as a state-of-the-art suburban movie palace that catered to a white clientele. It closed down several years later. By the time it reopened in 1956, the neighborhood was primarily black. The building remained a movie house until the late '60s, then became a nightclub called the Central Forest.

The Central Forest was an upscale club. It hosted many of the top soul and blues acts of the era, such as B.B. King, Al Green and Bobby "Blue" Bland. That club closed in the '70s, and for the next several decades the building alternated between standing vacant and hosting a variety of nightclubs and theaters.

It was empty and dilapidated by the time Ms. Badu took over the lease, and she immediately began searching for someone to repair it and bring it up to code.

e movies with my uncle as a kid. I saw Coffy with Pam Grier, Godzilla movies and Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. Our community really needed that theater, it was our outlet for entertainment."

B.L.I.N.D. (Beautiful Love Inc. Non-Profit Development), which provides community-driven development for city youth through music, dance, theater, visual arts and the refurbishment of the Black Forest Theater .

Party central: The Black Forest Theater in South Dallas is rapidly becoming the city's hot concert after-party spot. In May, ?uestlove swung through and spun records 'til the break of dawn after the Roots show. In June, Prince and Maceo Parker jammed after the royal one's stint at American Airlines Center. Who's got next?

Owner-landlord dispute closes historic Green Parrot jazz club Landmark dating to 1940s has had its share of ups, downs

The Dallas Morning News - Wednesday, May 22, 1996

Author: Norma Adams-Wade, Metro South Bureau of The Dallas Morning News

Once again, the Green Parrot is silent.

With the popular supper club's closing earlier this month, owner Jeannette Brantley's dream of reviving the South Dallas historic landmark also was snuffed out.

"I wouldn't trade the experience of having tried to bring a new spirit to South Dallas," Ms. Brantley said of her brief stint as the owner of the Green Parrot, which originally opened north of downtown in the 1940s.

After a career as a jazz singer in Europe, Ms. Brantley returned to her old neighborhood, where she poured her life savings into resurrecting the Green Parrot on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

She renovated the restaurant in 1994 and held the grand opening on Valentine's Day 1995. The spot quickly became known for its fashionable decor, white tablecloths and napkins, pasta cuisine and live jazz music.

But the jubilation was short-lived. She was evicted in April after a long-running and acrimonious dispute with the landlords.

Ms. Brantley said the dispute centered on whether she or the landlord was responsible for repairs and on the landlord taking away already limited parking space from the restaurant.

However, Dr. Albert Hirsch Jr., whose medical office is a few doors from the Green Parrot in a shopping center, said the dispute was over several months of unpaid rent.

Dr. Hirsch's wife, Linda, and her two sisters acquired Julinmar Investment, the owner of the strip, from their father, Dallas investor Fred Riesberg.

"She only paid rent three times in 13 months," Dr. Hirsch said. "If she had paid, she would have stayed. This is not a charitable business we run here."

Ms. Brantley said she didn't pay the $1,400-a-month rent because she won rent abatements in the settlement of a lawsuit she filed against the landlords over alleged repairs that the property needed, including roofing, plumbing and electrical wiring.

"I even paid rent every month on time for a year before we opened," she said. "And he refused to accept the last two rent payments that I sent through my attorney. He just wanted me out."

Ms. Brantley's attorney, Deborah Wilson, said Ms. Brantley's petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection blocked eviction for a time.

Ms. Brantley said the landlords are bitter because she complained to the city, forcing them to install about $40,000 in new roofing for the entire strip center. She also said she unsuccessfully tried to organize a tenants' association.

Dr. Hirsch agreed that the landlord-tenant relationship soured quickly.

"We're very bitter about this" business relationship, he said. "It took us over a year to get her out of there. It cost us tens of thousands of dollars."

Ted Daniel, the landlords' attorney, said Ms. Brantley was treated fairly.

"She defaulted on her lease," Mr. Daniel said of the eviction. "We had no choice."

Parties on both sides of the dispute said their failure to resolve differences led to another in a long line of closings, reopenings and ownership changes of the Green Parrot, which first opened in the 1940s in the Thomas Avenue-Hall Street neighborhood just north of downtown.

The Green Parrot's history has been rocky and at times dazzling. National entertainers, including Nat "King" Cole, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie, frequently performed there in its heyday in the 1940s and '50s.

The entertainers even stayed in the home of restaurant founders George and Emily Parker because then-segregated Dallas hotels did not admit black people.

The city claimed the restaurant's North Dallas site to make way for widening North Central Expressway. So the Parkers moved the popular supper club in the 1950s to 1908 Forest Ave. - now renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard - where its popularity continued.

The location was ideal, in that the equally popular landmark Forest Theater is a few doors away in the strip.

Mr. Parker retired about 10 years ago. The club then passed through a series of owners and shut its doors five years ago until Ms. Brantley reopened it.

Deterioration and increased crime have taken their toll on the area, tenants in the strip center said. Ms. Brantley and her husband, Hans Wango, who helped her run the club, also complained in the lawsuit that the landlords allowed "unsavory clientele" to frequent a nude dance club that leased the old Forest Theater .

They said violence at the theater drove away some of their restaurant patrons.

The landlords said they aren't responsible for the Green Parrots' loss of patrons.

South Dallas residents and restaurant supporters expressed regret over the Green Parrot's closing.

"It's an emotional issue with me," said Danny Allen, a civic activist who said he tried to mediate some of the dispute and wants to help Ms. Brantley relocate. "It's just another blow to South Dallas, a place that Jeannette was trying to revitalize."

Dwaine Caraway, chairman of the Pylon Salesmanship Club, an African-American business group that met weekly and broadcast a radio show from the Green Parrot, said the issue is larger than the historic eatery.

"This sends the wrong message to our community and people who want to do business in our community," Mr. Caraway said. "When they closed the door on Ms. Brantley, they closed the door on all of us. The community loses."

Green Parrot's chef Sean Lacy and waitress Deborah King said the Green Parrot provided a proud atmosphere and sorely needed employment in the community.

"The place was so uplifting," Ms. King said. She said many people are not aware the restaurant has closed.

V.O. Jessie, who owns a barbershop near the restaurant, said he feels he has lost a friend.

"It's a loss," Mr. Jessie said. "The strip looks kind of dead now.

With the Green Parrot up and running again, Mr. O'Neal's group also wants to focus attention on the Forest Theater just a few doors down from the jazz club. (The theater was named for Forest Avenue, which was rechristened Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the early 1980s.)

the home of the dance club City Lights

R&B stars as Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Temptations, The Delfonics and James Brown.

Bright city lights Still, what Mr. Quon felt he had a knack for was booking and promoting recording artists, and it lured him back into nightlife entertainment in 1979 with the purchase of City Lights, a dying South Dallas dance club housed in the old Forest Theater . The legendary club showcased black music stars who couldn't get bookings elsewhere in the city. He brought in '70s and '80s groups such as Lakeside, Roger and Zapp, and The Bar Kays, as well as big-time acts that we re, then, up-and-comers, such as M.C. Hammer and 2 Live Crew.

The old Forest Theater was re-opened in 1991 as a straight ahead jazz club featuring nationally touring acts (Hank Crawford and Jimmy McGriff, Freddie Cole Trio, Ellis Marsalis and others) but, because of it's location in South Dallas it wasn't successful, causing it to close in September of the same year.

A few blocks away you can see the green, towering Forest Theater , a leftover from when Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was Forest Avenue (some historians say Forest Avenue was once Forrest Avenue, named after Ku Klux Klan founder and Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest). The theater is at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Highway 175.

Prince afterparty. Two more words: Snoop afterparty. Get the idea? When the baddest muthas come to Dallas, the real happening is at Erykah Badu's South Dallas club. A 1960s movie house that had fallen into disrepair, the Black Forest has been reimagined as a thriving cultural spot, with hand-painted murals, checkerboard floors, lush green walls, and good sound and lighting. This is all thanks to Ms. Badu, who uses the space as ground zero for a South Dallas revitalization project called Beautiful Love Incorporated Non Profit Development (or BLIND).

Badu took over the Black Forest Theater in 2003 with the intention of turning it into a community center. Dave Chappelle, Snoop Dogg, The Roots and, yes, Prince have played the Black Forest as Badu's invitation.

"forest avenue" "martin luther king" boulevard | June 26, 1976