“The Clamorous Owl That Nightly Hoots and Wonders at Our Quaint Spirits” (MND II.2.6)

Cowtown nocturnal journal: There are more owls around town than you can Shake(a)speare at.

Petroleum Building (1927, Hedrick).

owl river legacyRiver Legacy Park in Arlington. (Each metal ornament above a light fixture in the Kroger pavilion is actually two owl silhouettes cross-fitted at a ninety-degree angle so that an owl is seen from any angle.)

Perched on the weathervane atop the cupola of Poly High School. (The parrot and owl are metal; the three crows were just photobombing.)

Sanger Building (1929, Hedrick).

owl hootersOn Southwest Boulevard, a restaurant with an ornithological theme.

bird owl panel 12001200 Pennsylvania Avenue at Henderson Street (1929, Hedrick).

owl amtrakOn the Amtrak platform at the Intermodal Transportation Center.

In Trinity Park near Rotary Plaza these two concrete whatevers are painted to look like hollow tree trunks occupied by owls.

owl boiledIn the Boiled Owl Tavern on Magnolia Avenue in Fairmount.

Land Title Block Building (1889, Haggart and Sanguinet).

birds owl etta'sEtta’s Place on West 3rd Street.

ghost sign owl cigarsSee the owl on the left side of the wall? This is a ghost sign advertising Owl brand cigars on the Cantina Cadillac bar building (1908) on Exchange Avenue.

Bonus owl: the 7-Eleven co-spokesbird. In 1927 Johnny Green, an employee of Southland Ice Company in Dallas, began selling bread, eggs, and milk from improvised ice-house storefronts. About 1928 the stores began operating under the name “Tote’m Stores.” (Each store had a totem pole in front.) In 1946 the name of the franchise was changed to “7-Eleven” to reflect the stores’ longer hours of operation. In 1949 an animated rooster and owl starred in the first television advertising by a convenience store. 7-Eleven is now owned by a Japanese corporation. owl 47-49 cdCity directories of 1947 and 1949 show the change of name from “Tote’m” to “7-Eleven.”
(Going the 7-Eleven stores one hour better, Lois E. Carroll had a Seven to Twelve Grocery.)

Does your quaint spirit crave still more birds? Cowtown in Motion: Hum Along With Hovercraft

This entry was posted in Architecture, Downtown, South Side. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to “The Clamorous Owl That Nightly Hoots and Wonders at Our Quaint Spirits” (MND II.2.6)

  1. Dennis Hogan says:

    Owlleluia! Amtrak is bringing back Southern Pacific’s overnight Owl train, it appears.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *