11 June 25 - July 1, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ours are available, and we always need an expert Swede to help us put a new IKEA cabinet together. Czech Yes There aren’t many parallels between Dallas and the Czechia. For instance, they have the architectural masterpiece that is the Prague Castle. We have banks and gas sta- tions as far as the eye can see. One of their national pastimes is mushroom foraging in their expansive coniferous forests. We spend our idle time in bumper-to-bumper traffic envisioning the chain restaurant destination that awaits us. Our alphabet has the letters Q, W and X, and they have players with names with consonants in or- ders we’ve never seen (like Mojmír Chytil). But if there’s one thing Texans and the Czech can agree on, it’s the perfection of a kolache. So if you’re looking for a sweet treat in all its forms, we’d stop by FourCzechs Bakery (104 E. Fate Main Place, Rockwall), or if you’re down for a day trip, the two rival Czech gas stations in West are a must-see. As an aside, we’d like to thank whoever runs the Czech Men’s National Team Instagram. We’ll Take the Tea and the Crumpet The British are coming, and thank goodness for it. We’ll be honest, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll fall in love with a member of a national soccer team. But it is highly likely that you fall in love with a fan of a national soccer team, and there’s no easier fanatic to spot than the prideful and highly populous En- glish nationals. You can find us at Harwood Arms (2823 McKinnon St.), already a good spot to meet a proper man when there’s not a global soccer tournament. We’re Happy To Cry for Argentina Argentina is one of the top-ranked teams this tournament, having won the last World Cup hosted in Qatar. The team is anchored by A-list soccer star Lionel Messi, who has announced this will be his final World Cup. The celebrity athlete’s prominence has earned Argentina a large following worldwide — you don’t even need to be a massive soccer fan to recognize the blue-and-white striped uniform. With a large Spanish-speaking population, we’ve got Latin clubs in every major entertainment district. But if we had to pick one to find your Argentinian Mr. Right, or a close-enough Argentinian, we’d go to Mas Chingon Cantina (312 W. Davis St.), which has a line out the door almost every night regardless of which team was on the TV that night. Every Bar Is an Altar Throw a rock, and you’ll hit a bar playing the World Cup. Throw a rock in that bar, and you’ll probably hit a cute guy, and he might just have an accent. Seriously, there’s a World Cup-related event every single day, so if you really want to meet someone, you probably won’t have to go very far. And re- member, even if you have no idea how soc- cer works, find the cutest guy and say, “He’s lucky he didn’t get a card for that,” and hope for the best. Good luck, and leave it all out on the field. ▼ BLACK HISTORY RAISING THE FLATS NEW IMMERSIVE MURAL RESURRECTS A KEY PIECE OF GARLAND’S BLACK HISTORY. BY AUSTIN ZOOK T he Flats, Garland’s original free-standing African American community, no longer exists in a tan- gible sense. Its buildings are gone, and few of its residents remain. Still, it played a key role in Garland’s development in the first half of the 20th century before it was bull- dozed off the map in the 1960s. Now, Garland wants to give The Flats a new symbol for remembrance. On June 20, the city hosted a dedication ceremony for “The Flats – A Legacy Installation,” featur- ing a permanent 36-foot mosaic commis- sioned for the project on the side of the Granville Arts Center. Additionally, a Texas Historical Commission marker has been placed at the original site of The Flats, along with five interpretive panels providing in- sights into the community’s history. Amy Rosenthal, Garland’s cultural arts di- rector, says the project has been in the works for years and is already generating interest. “We’ve had so many visitors come by that didn’t know about these stories, that didn’t know about the businesses or about the school,” Rosenthal says. To be fair, few people know any stories about The Flats. Garland historian Emily Chavez took on the challenge of piecing to- gether the community’s history, but real- ized quickly that very little of it had been documented. It’s a known issue in research on communities like The Flats, which was populated by Garland’s Black community in the 1900s. Major newspapers paid them lit- tle mind, and attempts have even been made to erase these communities from the history books. For the project, Chavez relied on census records, the memories of still-living former residents of The Flats (now in their 90s) and the descendants of former residents to guide research into the community. They were able to locate photos of the community from its heyday and piece together its story from the 1910s through its demolition. African Americans were not able to own homes in the area where The Flats stood (near the downtown square), according to Chavez, so the community was made up of wooden rental houses commonly known as “flats,” giving the area its name. Thriving Black-owned businesses arose, and the Col- ored School (the school’s official name) and the Lucy Hughes A.M.E. Church, the first African-American place of worship in Gar- land, gave the com- munity a distinct identity. For decades, the community grew, buoyed by manufac- turing businesses that moved to Gar- land during World War II. The growth was a blessing and a curse, providing an eco- nomic engine for Garland but ultimately spelling doom for The Flats. The commu- nity outgrew the school’s original site, and it was relocated to East Garland. Black resi- dents were allowed to buy land in that part of the city (as long as they built their own houses), and many followed the school east. Those who stayed lived in homes that were demolished for safety reasons in the 1960s. Artist Reginald C. Adams was commis- sioned to convert Chavez’s research into a mosaic for the city. Since 2021, Adams has created 15 different pieces honoring his- toric African-American communities in different cities. For the piece celebrating The Flats, he worked alongside a collection of artists, including five full-time residents, to lay more than 20,000 tiles. They also hosted a community workshop where resi- dents could contribute to the project. It took a lot of time and effort to bring the story of The Flats, which is depicted in 15 vignettes, to life. “Each of the scenes reflects a different facet of The Flats,” Adams says. “From a his- toric map to a grandmother and her grand- daughter walking down a dirt road to the social life through the Plaza Theater and couples playing dominoes.” The works also included the local bar- bershop in one of the scenes, which Adams says functioned as a town hall. Beyond the art itself, Adams is interested in pairing his work with technological inno- vations. “The Flats – A Legacy Installation” allowed him to bring his work to life in an entirely new way. Using an app called Arti- vive, visitors can scan the mural to view an augmented reality experience in which the characters move around as a narrator ex- plains the significance of each scene. Four songs were also commissioned to serve as the project’s soundtrack, further enhancing immersion. A dedicated website was cre- ated to host the experience online, signifi- cantly expanding the project’s reach. “Someone who may never be able to go to Garland or to The Flats can still experience the mural in a much more interactive, educational and engaging way,” the artist tells us. As involved as the project is, it only scratches the surface of The Flats’ story. “There’s so much more personality and personal touches that we could add to it… so we’re hoping to do a bigger exhibit that shows all of that,” Chavez says. From nearly forgotten to front-and-cen- ter in the city’s Juneteenth celebration, the efforts to recognize The Flats represent a major undertaking for Garland in terms of reckoning with its past and celebrating the people who made it what it is — especially those whose contributions have gone un- derrepresented by the history books. ATTEMPTS HAVE EVEN BEEN MADE TO ERASE THESE COMMUNITIES. City of Garland The large mosaic was completed with 20,00 hand-cut tiles laid by five full-time artists. Adbobe Stock We aren’t just getting hot players and their entourage, but also thousands of fans and journalists.
