Documentary tracks the decline of Fry Street in Denton

by Rachel Watts of North Texas Daily

More than a year after the The Burning of Fry Street, a film documenting the torching of a local restaurant, won Denton's 2007 Jury Award at the Thin Line Film Fest, emerges Bohemia Rising: The Story of Fry Street.

The expanded documentary, directed by author-filmmaker Christopher Largen, is a compilation of five short films, including The Burning of Fry Street, which features raw footage of how Denton's historical building went up in flames in June 2007. The film shoot took place over six months.

Much of Fry Street, a strip of Denton where UNT students, artists and locals gather to drink, eat and listen to local bands, was sold out to Houston-based United Equities, Inc. in May 2007. The contractor tore down many buildings. Investigators determined the Tomato fire an arson, though no suspects were found. The empty ground now sits undeveloped, and the documentary tells the story of the people behind the movement to restore it.

The documentary also includes the short films Asbestos Ignites, about the asbestos scare surrounding the rubble of The Tomato; A Driving Peace, a feature on Mike Sutton, local business owner and Fry Street activist; and A Walk Through Fry Street, which outlines each building and the historical and cultural aspects of each.

The final short film is called The Denton Polka, footage of Denton band Brave Combo's song commemorating the 150th anniversary of Denton and the Fry Street turmoil.

The title Bohemia Rising recalls the Bohemian region of Europe and the cultural cleansing that occurs there, similar to Fry Street's issues, although "every community has their bohemia," Largen said.

"I've gotten all kinds of responses from this documentary," Largen said. "People have told me it has made them cry, or be angry or sad. But the response I get most is from people who are so glad that somebody made this film to preserve it for future generations of Dentonites."

Mike Sutton, 15-year owner of a shop that what was once Voyager's Dream, is one of the people featured in a short film on the documentary, and has been affected by the economic downturn and transformation of Fry Street.

United Equities, Inc. bought most of the commercial lots around Fry Street with the plan to demolish them in exchange for upscale businesses, and Sutton cites this as reason for his business' failure.

"I think United Equities are fools," Sutton said. "Realistically, I don't know why they did what they did. They were definitely uninformed and thought they could get away with whatever they wanted to up here."

Sutton claims the sale of buildings on Fry Street kept business away. Sutton's business dropped 50 percent after the fire hit, he said, because people thought all of Fry Street was going to be sold, including his business.

Sutton's contribution to the documentary is mainly to show the diversity of the local Denton businesses and its owners. Most famously known by the media for his car, Sutton writes all the names of soldiers who've died in the Iraq war in any space he can fit on it. Growing in numbers as time passes, it takes more and more time to re-write the names of fallen soldiers, including one marathon 17-hour session. Sutton and his car are featured in the short film "A Driving Peace."

The documentary also features seven different clips of bonus footage, including a response from United Equities Inc., interviews with Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs and the locals of Denton. Also included is a performance of the song "21," performed by James Taylor Moseley, the man issued an arrest warrant by Denton city officials for the fire at The Tomato.

"There's a reason you care about your community and it's not that you have just the minimum services," Mayor Burroughs said in an interview in the documentary. "It is the identity, the culture that's been established in your town, that that culture's fragile because the economic marketplace might call for the locals to sell out at some point because their property is so valuable. But the cultural aspect of it can be lost forever if you're not really vigilant and if you don't have folks that take it upon themselves to preserve it."

Largen said that when he first moved to Denton he really liked the eclectic blend of "mom and pop" and independently-owned businesses. Kharma Café and The Tomato were places Largen spent a lot of time working on writing his novels, he said.

"There's a feel that you get in those places that you just don't get in the cookie-cutter establishment," Largen said. "We're going to get to a point if we continue this way where every city in America looks identical. It's all going to be one big strip center."

Bohemia Rising: The Story of Fry Street costs $15 on DVD and is on sale at several venues in Denton, including The Hydrant Café, Recycled Books, Jupiter House, and bohemiarising.com.

A portion of the proceeds from the documentary will go to benefit Camp-I-Thonka-Chi, a Parkland Hospital organization dedicated to aiding burned children.