DEEP ELLUM HISTORYThe area got its start in 1884 when Robert S. Munger built his first factory, for the Munger Improved Cotton Machine Company, in what is now Deep Ellum. In 1913, Henry Ford opened an assembly plant here to supplement the manufacture of the Ford Model T at the Detroit plant. In 1916, the first building built for and by blacks in Dallas—The Grand Temple of the Black Knights of Pythias—was built in Deep Ellum.Jazz and bluesStarting in 1920 and crescendoing into the 1930s, Deep Ellum became distinguished as a prime jazz and blues hotspot in the South. Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in Deep Ellum clubs like The Harlem and The Palace.In 1937, a columnist described Deep Ellum as: “ ...[the] one spot in the city that needs no daylight saving time because there is no bedtime...[It is] the only place recorded on earth where business, religion, hoodooism, gambling and stealing goes on at the same time without friction...Last Saturday a prophet held the best audience in this 'Madison Square Garden' in announcing that Jesus Christ would come to Dallas in person in 1939. At the same time a pickpocket was lifting a week's wages from another guy's pocket, who stood with open mouth to hear the prophecy. â€At the time, you could find gun and locksmith shops, clothing stores, the Cotton Club, tattoo studios, barber-shops, pawn shops, drugstores, tea rooms, loan offices, domino halls, pool halls, and walk-up hotels. On its sidewalks you could find pigeon droppers, reefer men, craps shooters, card sharps, and sellers of cocaine and marijuana. Sometime around World War I, Leadbelly and Blind Lemon Jefferson got together and began composing folk tunes, with Dallas often in the lyrics. In a song called "Ella Speed": “ Walked up Ellum an' I come down Main, Tryin' to bum a nickel jes' to buy cocaine. Ho, Ho, baby, take a whiff on me. â€Another song about Deep Ellum, "Deep Ellum Blues," included:“ When you go down on Deep Ellum, Put your money in your socks 'Cause them Women on Deep Ellum Sho' will throw you on the rocks.(chorus) Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Ellum Blues. Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Ellum Blues. â€Expanded sceneDuring the 1960s and 1970s, Deep Ellum was largely a warehouse and industrial district which started to attract artists to the cheap loft space that was available. One of the first was a "nightclub" called Studio D on Main Street featuring local punk bands like Stick Men With Ray Guns and The Hugh Beaumont Experience. In fact, the "club" was nothing more than an empty warehouse equipped with a drum riser, and a card table by the door to collect the $2 cover charge. However, such an unassuming environment was the perfect place for the early punk bands, and many national acts played here, including The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and The Meat Puppets.While Studio D certainly represented the punk rock audience, the first live music venure to feature a broad cross section of musicians, visual artists, performance artists and theatre performers was the Theatre Gallery. This venue hosted live shows by Bad Brains, Husker Du, The Replacements, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 10,000 Maniacs, Edie Brickell and New Bohemians, Decadent Dub Team, Flaming Lips, and local favorites The Buck Pets. The house sound man was Jim Heath (aka Rev. Horton Heat). TG also featured art openings by painters/visual artists Ron English, Jeff Robinson, Bill Haveron, Matt Miller, Greg Contestible and Richard Hoefle. The club's owner Russ Hobbs became a born-again Christian and TG booking agent Jeff Liles went on release a number of spoken-word records under the name "cottonmouth, texas".Another milestone was passed when some guys started having regular parties with DJs at the old Clearview Louver Window building. The multi-room environment with different DJs and bands was very successful. Following an exposé in Spin, the club was evicted from the building, but Clearview moved to another location in Deep Ellum (taking the old building's neon sign). Other early- to mid-1980s nightspots were the 500 Café, Empire, Video Bar, and Club Dada.At this point, with the closure of Dallas' other two punk-rock clubs (DJ's and the Hot Klub), Deep Ellum became the de-facto home of the area's bourgeoning punk scene. Not yet promoted by associations or the city, the area had still acquired considerable "buzz" on the streets, and had become another primary live-music destination, in addition to the traditional Lower Greenville area.