Tag Archives: cedar springs road

Now that The Bronx has been razed, site to remain vacant for 6 months

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The Warwick Melrose Hotel cleared land along Cedar Springs for an upcoming addition to the hotel. The old building was demolished last week and the land cleared by this Wednesday.

In 2011, the hotel purchased the property that was the home of the restaurant The Bronx since 1975 for a planned expansion.

Hotel General Manager Larry McAfee said construction probably won’t begin until June or July. Before then, the hotel has some zoning issues to take care of and will be submitting plans to the Oak Lawn Committee.

He expects approval to come before the City Council in March.

Current plans are to build a pool, spa and ballroom. McAfee said the new building will probably be only two stories. The hotel will also probably add about 100 parking spaces.

The building that was demolished housed some of the earliest gay-owned businesses on Cedar Springs Road including Lobo Bookstore and Under Arrest. When those businesses moved, The Bronx doubled its size and occupied the full building.

Also torn down was the old Spanish Village, a restaurant that was located in a building between The Bronx and Cafe Brazil (which was Steak and Egg Kitchen at the time). The Spanish Village building, which had been vacant for more than 20 years, was distinguished by the house that sat on top of the restaurant.

—  David Taffet

CRIME BLOTTER: Suspect assaults police officer outside Alexandre’s

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Johnny Lummus

A 23-year-old man was arrested early Monday morning for the aggravated assault of a police officer outside of Alexandre’s bar.

Johnny Lummus, shown at right, was arrested around 2:30 a.m. after he fought a police officer who was helping to break up a fight. The officer’s hand turned black and blue and was believed to be broken.

Two police officers were working off duty when they were flagged down to help with a fight at the bar, at 4024 Cedar Springs Road.

The officers observed Lummus swinging at several people in the parking lot of the bar, striking one man before running into the street and trying to fight other people, according to a DPD incident report.

One of the officers tried to arrest Lummus when he “took an aggressive fighting stance and clenched his fights.” The other officer took out his mace and sprayed him, but Lummus swung at the officer and struck him in the left arm and shoulder.

The other officer used his flashlight to hit Lummus in the torso to stop him from hitting the officer. The two officers took him to the ground and arrested him, but Lummus fell on one of the officers’ hand. He resisted arrest, causing a lot of pain to the officer’s hand, which swelled and turned black and blue. Dallas-Fire Rescue advised on scene that his hand was likely broken but he would need X-rays, the report states.

Other incidents near the strip over the weekend included two aggravated robberies.

• A 26-year-old man was walking in a parking lot in the 3600 block of Cedar Springs around 1 a.m. Saturday when two black male suspects approached him with a semiautomatic weapon and demanded his property, according to an incident report. The men got away with $126 in cash, but police did not have a good description of the suspects.

• A 23-year-old was walking with a friend in the 2800 block of Cedar Springs after leaving a bar shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday. The two were looking for their car when a vehicle pulled up and a suspect got out of the passenger side and struck the man’s friend with a hand gun, knocking him to the ground.

The suspect demanded their wallets and phones before getting back in the car and fleeing in an unknown direction, the report states.

The suspect is described as a black male, around 25 years old, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds, Sr. Cpl. Gerardo Monreal said. The vehicle is listed in the report as a 1995 PK Ford Ranger.

Monreal said it was unclear whether the robberies are related.

—  Anna Waugh

DPD seeks help in identifying suspects in Cedar Springs ATM kidnapping

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Dallas police are asking the public for help in identifying two suspects who kidnapped and robbed a 43-year-old man at gunpoint on Monday.

The man was kidnapped while using an ATM in the 3900 Cedar Springs Road, according to a press release from Dallas police. He was bound with duct tape and driven to locations in Dallas and Irving and forced to give his PIN to his captives before he was dumped in Irving.

The two suspects are described as a Hispanic woman wearing a light-colored shirt and a Hispanic man wearing a dark blue shirt with light-colored shorts. He is approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds. The type of vehicle is unknown.

Anyone with information on the identity of these suspects can contact Detective Scoggins of the Crimes Against Persons Robbery Unit at 214-671-3658 or 214-671-3584.

—  Anna Waugh

Man arrested for intoxicated assault on Cedar Springs

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Enrique Caballero

A man was arrested early Sunday for intoxicated assault after striking a pedestrian walking in the 4000 block of Cedar Springs Road.

Enrique Caballero, 39, was arrested around 1 a.m. after he allegedly struck a 44-year-old man walking on the crosswalk, causing serious bodily injury, according to a Dallas police incident report. The man was taken to Parkland Hospital in serious condition, Sr. Cpl. Melinda Gutierrez said.

Parkland spokeswoman Veneta Lusk said the man was in good condition Monday afternoon but is still in the hospital.

Shortly after the incident around 2:20 a.m. Sunday, a 23-year-old man attempted to run over a police officer. Another police officer responded after hearing gun shots at Zini’s Pizzeria at 3001 Cedar Springs Road, according to the incident report.

The officer was working as a security officer in full uniform for the restaurant when the man hit a vehicle and accelerated toward the officer when he tried to speak to the man about the vehicle that was hit, according to the report.

The officer couldn’t get out of the way, so jumped on top of a vehicle and rolled off of it. The man then drove toward him.

He was “in fear of his life and fired his weapon and shot the front passenger side tire.” The man then drove westbound on Throckmorton Street.

The man’s vehicle has red paint on the passenger, front and rear doors from hitting a vehicle in the parking lot.

The man’s vehicle is described as a black, four-door Chrysler 300 with chrome rims.

Anyone with information about these incidents should contact Dallas police at 314-671-3001. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Crime Stoppers at 214-373-8477 or through the department’s iWatch smartphone app.

—  Anna Waugh

Man robbed on Cedar Springs on July 4

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A 25-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint on the Cedar Springs strip early Wednesday morning, according to Dallas police.

The man was walking near his residence in the 3800 block of Cedar Springs around 3 a.m. when the suspect pulled up with a handgun and forced him into a vehicle, according to a police report.

After stealing the man’s wallet, which contained $300 in cash, the suspect dropped off the victim about 15 miles away at the RaceTrac gas station at Trinity Mills and Addison roads, the report states.

Police responded there after the man used his cell phone to call 911. He was not harmed, and police took him back home.

The suspect’s vehicle was a 2011 red or maroon Toyota four-door. A suspect description is not included in the report.

 

 

—  Anna Waugh

Car hits monument but doesn’t cause damage

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Legacy of Love monument on Oak Lawn Avenue at Cedar Springs Road

Maybe drivers just can’t see the “Legacy of Love” monument on the corner of Cedar Springs Road and Oak Lawn Ave. Maybe it needs to be a little bigger. Maybe it’s all those flashing lights warning drivers that pedestrians are crossing the street a couple of blocks away.

This morning another motorist crashed into the monument. The vehicle appeared to have ended up between the protective brick pillars and was gone by the time I got back with a camera.

Kudos to AT&T

While I was out I noticed that the new AT&T store next to the Verizon store is almost complete.

New AT&T store on Oak Lawn Ave.

Kudos for a building with an interesting design that nicely compliments Eatzi’s across the street and for having a sense of humor by placing the store directly next door to Verizon. Now T-Mobile needs to come in there and build something more fabulous with the billions it just got from AT&T when their merger failed.

—  David Taffet

For the 4th time in 2 months, a pedestrian was struck last week on the Cedar Springs strip

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A 72-year-old pedestrian was struck in the crosswalk on Cedar Springs Road at Knight Street at about 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 22. He was taken to Parkland Hospital and released on Christmas Day.

Lyle Bainbridge said he was crossing the street in the crosswalk and vehicles had stopped in both directions, when a motorist sped around the stopped vehicles and hit him.

He said he was thrown and his head landed in the gutter just inches from the car that hit him.

The driver of that vehicle stopped and told Bainbridge that he was delivering pizzas and was on his cell phone talking to the owner of his store. Bainbridge said the man was apologetic and in tears when he got out of his car.

Bainbridge has a broken collar bone. Doctors detected heart defibrillation problems that may have been a result of the accident. He said he had not been diagnosed previously with heart problems.

Bainbridge, who is from California, is in Dallas for the holidays house-sitting for a friend.

This is the fourth time a pedestrian has been hit on Cedar Springs Road in two months and the third time near this same location.

On Nov. 25, Edward Lee King, 61, was struck by a driver and killed crossing Cedar Springs Knight Street. Wayne Priest, 55, was killed by a hit-and-run driver near Cedar Springs and Reagan Street on Nov. 3.

A 10-year-old girl was hit on Dec. 10 near Knight Street. Her injuries were not life-threatening.

After the earlier accidents, Councilwoman Angela Hunt asked city staff to looks at ways to make the area safer for pedestrians.

Bainbridge said he wanted to call awareness to his accident to push the city to take action. He said that there should be stop signs at the intersection if not traffic lights.

“It takes something drastic happening before they’ll do something,” he said.

When he learned about the previous accidents at the intersection, he said he wondered how many more people will be hit before the city makes safety in this area a priority.

It was unclear whether the driver who hit Bainbridge received a citation. Sr. Cpl. Melinda Gutierrez, a spokeswoman for the Dallas Police Department, said an accident report was not yet available.

—  David Taffet

Robber carrying purse, wielding ice pick steals condoms, makeup from Cedar Springs Walgreens

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A man carrying a purse and wielding an ice pick robbed the Walgreens on Cedar Springs Road early Wednesday, making off with $43.99 worth of condoms and $29.76 worth of makeup after threatening a manager.

According to a Dallas police report, the suspect entered the store at 3802 Cedar Springs Road in the heart of Dallas’ gayborhood at about 1 a.m. Because the suspect had stolen merchandise from the store in the past, a manager followed him. The manager observed the suspect placing several items into his black purse.

When the suspect tried to leave the store without paying, the manager approached him and asked him to empty the purse. After the suspect dumped out the purse on the floor, the manager said he was going to call the police. That’s when the suspect pulled out a large ice pick and pointed it at the manager and said: “Stay still, do no follow me or I’ll kick your ass.”

The suspect then grabbed the stolen merchandise and fled on foot. In addition to the Trojan natural lamb condoms and miscellaneous makeup, the suspect made off with two travel bags valued at $15.98, according to the report.

Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse, a spokesman for DPD, said as of this morning there had been no arrests.

According to online records, it was the sixth aggravated robbery at the Cedar Springs Walgreens this year.

—  John Wright

JR.’s patron climbs over, exits from balcony

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Over the weekend, a patron of JR.’s Bar & Grill on Cedar Springs Road thought he could leave the bar by climbing over the balcony and jumping to the street. Instead, he landed on his face and bar employees insisted he leave by ambulance.

Caven Enterprises President Gregg Kilhoffer said that the man climbed over the balcony and thought that when he hung from the ledge, dangling as low as possible, he’d just drop to his feet. The second-floor balcony is higher than the man thought.

Kilhoffer, who has been with the company for 27 years, said, “I thought I had seen everything.”

Although the patron thought he was OK after he landed, Kilhoffer said, “we insisted he go by ambulance.”

The man was taken to Parkland Hospital. The only injuries sustained were scrapes to the face.

Kilhoffer said it was early in the evening and the man did not appear to be drunk.

He said he didn’t think additional warnings to customers would be necessary. Signs that read, “Please exit the bar from the first floor” or “Please use the stairs to leave the balcony” or even “Please do not jump off the balcony” would not be posted because most people who come to JR.’s understand how stairs and doors work.

—  David Taffet

The Hayyy List salutes ‘A-List:Dallas’ with watching party at Axiom

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A-list for just one night

The HaYYY List has been hosting A-List Dallas watching parties as the season is getting on a roll. The drama may be silly among the twenty-something year-old gays, but it’s nonetheless addictive. Or maybe it’s just seeing all those places we know so well, especially in one that’s appeared on the show. And if members of the cast show up as they have in the past, there could be as much drama on the screen as there is off.

DEETS: Axiom Sushi Lounge, 4123 Cedar Springs Road. 8:30 p.m.

—  Rich Lopez