Photo gallery: Oak Cliff Fall Home Tour

by Shawn Williams of Dallas South

Last month, the Dallas Morning News reported that Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O’Hare had some harsh words for Oak Cliff. You remember Tim O’Hare right? When he was city councilman he lead the Farmers Branch effort to block housing rentals to illegal immigrants.

Well in an e-mail that Mr. O’Hare wrote back in 2006, he makes his true feelings known about where he thinks his town is headed: "I don’t want us to have to move. I don’t want to have to live somewhere else. But, I’m not going to live in Oak Cliff, which is what we are becoming and going to become if we don’t make some serious changes."

Well maybe we should have taken Mr. O’ Hare on the Oak Cliff Fall Home Tour last weekend. The tour was sponsored by the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League. The two day event consisted of 11 homes that stretched from just south of I-30 all the way down to just north of Illinois Ave. The tour wound through Oak Cliff neighborhoods like Kessler Park, Stevens Park, Kidd Springs, Winnetka Heights.

My wife had to work last weekend and my son was out of town, so what’s a fella to do? Well, go on the Oak Cliff Tour of Homes of course. I had time between church and the Cowboys game to make a spin through the neighborhood. I only visited half the houses before the 3:15 kickoff, but with the way that game turned out I probably should have done the whole thing.

Scores of people were on the tour, entering each house and taking in the unique aspects of each residence. This, of course, is the part of Oak Cliff that is hardly ever mentioned. Though many “cliff dwellers” would probably like to keep it that way, I talked to a number of residents on the tour that are really trying to get the word out.

I’ve driven by and around these homes quite often, but I had never turned down many of the streets on the tour to see these historic homes. I even found a cool spot near Methodist Hospital called the Beckley Brewhouse. It looks like a really neat place for lunch or even catching a game.

Next year I will be on the lookout for the tour and make sure to share the date with each of you. But if you want to see some of these homes in grand fashion, the Winnetka-Heights Neighborhood Association will host the Winnetka-Heights Holiday Homes Tour on Saturday December 13th from noon to 8 p.m. The second oldest neighborhood in Dallas is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year.

So Mr. O’Hare, in 2009 if we can get you to take a break from your quest against illegal immigrants, we would love for you to come down south for the Oak Cliff Fall Home Tour. I’ll understand if you’re not able to make it. God knows you wouldn’t want Farmers Branch to start looking like this.