Deep Ellum, Dallas

New Orleans may have its Bourbon Street and Memphis its Beale Street. But Dallas has Deep Ellum.

Deep Ellum may now be the hottest spot in Dallas, the cutting edge of music and art, but its roots extend much deeper than its current popularity. The neighborhood, now stretching to Commerce and Main Streets, began on Elm Street as a railroad crossing in the 1860s.

The area was the home of many blue-collar laborers who, with their Southern drawl, pronounced Elm Street as "Ellum." Gradually business built up on Elm Street, but the district remained on the fringe of society, a place rampant with prostitution and pawn shops and a general seediness that earned it the nickname "the Bowery of the South."

Deep Ellum's days as a music capital date back to the 1920s. Blues clubs thrived and recording scouts began prowling the streets looking for talent. Blind Lemon Jefferson, a regular performer in Deep Ellum's brothels, saloons and streets, was reportedly discovered by a Paramount scout in Deep Ellum, a tin cup in his hand. The best-selling blues musician of his day went on to record classics such as "Bad Luck Blues" and "Hang Man's Blues."

After Blind Lemon's day, Deep Ellum dropped in popularity. The Central Expressway (Interstate 75) was completed in the 1940s and further separated the neighborhood from the downtown. Little by little, the district fell into decline. But in the last ten years, artists began moving back to the neighborhood, attracted by spacious lofts and inexpensive rent. The area became revitalized as creative residents took warehouses and converted them to storefronts and studios. Others used the warehouses for huge parties, one day realizing that they could open up their own music clubs here.

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