Every Picture Tells a Story: North Dallas (1980)

 

 

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
NORTH DALLAS (1980)

Few people know, or will remember, the Dallas Cowboys Headquarters and ticket office used to be located in the very same building as the famed Playboy Club. A United Artists movie theater was also adjacent to the main building. I was lucky enough to visit them all. In 1976, I remember my dad taking me to sneak preview at the UA Cine….a new movie directed and written and starring an unknown actor named Sylvester Stallone. The title was Rocky. Saw lots of other great movies there, too.

I spent lots of time in this building — well, actually outside of it. The only means of buying Cowboys’ tickets was to stand in line and make the purchase in person. Remember, this was way before online stuff and the markup horrors of Ticketmaster. The Cowboys’ ticket office was on the first floor. When tickets for all the games went on sale, usually around May or June for the upcoming season, the line used to wind around the building until all the game tickets were gone. Tickets cost $20 each, which seemed like a fortune at the time. Clint Murchison (Dallas owner), Tex Schramm (who along with Lamar Hunt was most responsible for the NFL and AFL merger), Gil Brandt (the famed draft guru), and head coach Tom Landry all had their offices inside Central Expressway Tower, right across the highway from SMU.

Gee, I wonder if they ever stopped in to check out the Playboy Club?

Back then, the drinking age in Texas was 18. Most teenagers had their own cars. Life was pretty good for an 18-year-old. Unfortunately, the Playboy Club was private, which meant a membership was required. Once, I piggybacked someone into the club and got inside. Then, Playboy was at the height of its influence not just as a magazine, but of hedonistic popular culture. It was my one and only experience behind Hugh Hefner’s curtain, which for a teenager, was a moment of intense anticipation.

Afterward, I remember feeling kinda’ disappointed. My expectations were of naked girls prancing around, a carnal fantasyland, even orgies taking place. All I remember about my visit is being broke, feeling completely out of place, and wondering why anyone would spend a second of time in a place like this. Playboy Bunnies served overpriced cocktails that cost more than Cowboys’ tickets. What a letdown.

One stop shopping: I’ll take a Mai Thai, one lap dance, a jumbo bucket of hot buttered popcorn, and two tickets to the Falcons game.

This photo was taken in 1980, with the hottest new movies showing at the UA Cine. The Hunter (Steve McQueen’s final film) and Brubaker (Robert Redford played a reform-minded prison warden).

I assume this building is still standing. But the Cowboys have since moved. The Playboy Club went bankrupt. And movie theaters continue disappearing everywhere.

A strange sign. But fond memories.

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