DescriptionColor transparency image of crowds lining Main Street waiting for the President's motorcade on November 22, 1963. The view looks east along Main Street. It was taken from the second floor of a building at 1112 Main Street on the south side of the street between Murphy Street and Griffin Street. The image was reportedly shot by Jack Johnson, vice president of the First National Bank of Dallas in 1963.
The cardboard transparency holder for the image reads "Kodak Ektachrome Transparency processed by Kodak."
Curatorial Commentary
The photographer took this image from the second floor of the building located at 1112 Main Street in downtown Dallas, directly above a Chinese restaurant called the "Oriental Cafe." The restaurant was established in downtown Dallas in 1937 and was co-owned by several members of the Yee family throughout its history. As the only Chinese restaurant in downtown in the 1960s, the cafe featured a combination of traditional Cantonese food such as beef chop suey (for $0.70 a plate) and American food such as fried chicken (for $0.95 a plate). They even advertised a Christmas Turkey dinner in December of 1964.
1112 Main Street, along with nearby buildings, was demolished in January of 1965 as part of development known as Main Place, the purpose of which was to introduce a pedestrian-friendly urban green space into the downtown area. Bordered by Elm Street, Griffin Street, Main Street, Commerce Street, and Murphy Street, the area encompasses both present-day Civic Park and the underground shopping/dining area of One Main Place.
To learn more about this fascinating restaurant, see this blog by the Asian American Historical Society of Dallas: https://dallasasianhistory.org/places/oriental-cafe/- Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager
Another image from the Museum's permanent collection shows the same block of Main Street as the President's motorcade passes by a short time later. It is taken from the other side of the street, and if you look closely you can see two figures hanging out of the second floor window above the Oriental Cafe. One of these figures is likely the photographer! See 2013.014.0032 for more information on this other image. - Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager
The four color transparencies in this collection were acquired by assassination enthusiast Jake Ingebrigtson and subsequently donated to the Museum. Jake found these online as part of a much larger photographic collection being sold individually, slide by slide. We are grateful that Jake was able to acquire these four, although it is always disappointing when a complete personal photo record from the assassination weekend is broken up, taking away important context. These four images, reportedly shot by Jack Johnson, Vice President of the First National Bank of Dallas in 1963, were part of a collection that also included images of the presidential parade on Main Street (from the same vantage point as seen in these slides), Dealey Plaza from a variety of angles following the assassination, and views of Six Flags Over Texas from their 1963 season. – Stephanie Fagin, Curator
