Addison: The New Oasis

A few years ago, Addison, Texas was a little prairie town dangling quietly on the edges of Dallas County. Today, little Addison is a commercial hot-spot. The difference, of course, is the lure of liquor.

When the citizens of Addi-son voted to go wet, more than a few local speculators smelled gold to be mined. It wasn’t hard to figure. What you had, suddenly, was an oasis of alcohol shimmering in the parched reaches of far North Dallas. Easy money.

Not so easy. The Addison City Council was fully aware of the potential monster they’d unleashed and set forth a rigid set of by-laws and restrictions to be met before anybody was going to ring the bell on the cash register. Building would be allowed only by petition and resultant permit of the Council. Only certain specified tracts of land would be used for any kind of liquor dispensing establishments. Furthermore, those establishments would have to be high quality operations meeting a host of requirements, such as tastefully landscaped store fronts, no illuminated signs, no letters on signs larger than 16″. And the Council has been picky, picky.

But the goldminers have persisted and the booze is now flowing. Centennial, Warehouse Liquors, Red Coleman’s, and Mr. V’s are already in business; Sigel’s and the Liquor Locker are on the verge; all are situated along the designated stretch of Inwood Road between Beltline and LBJ. Already, six new restaurants with liquor sales approval are open or in the works: Salih’s (barbecue), Chu’s (Chinese), Bloody Mary’s (T.G.I. Friday’s style), Hush-puppy’s (seafood), Patsy’s (I-talian), and Cliff Harris’ Steak-house and Sundown Saloon, most congregated in that same Inwood-Beltline vicinity.

And what about the gold? On a Saturday shortly after o-pening. Warehouse Liquors peddled $20,000 worth of liquor. But it’s the city of Addi-son that’s really striking it rich. City officials estimate some $7 million in liquor sales in the first year, and that translates to almost $200,000 in taxes for Addison. And that’s a good-sized nugget.