Club Dada Celebrates 30 Years as Deep Ellum’s Artistic Backbone

Brightly painted surrealist faces grin, jeer and snarl at passers-by under the neon sign that heralds the entrance to Club Dada – a club that sits on Elm Street just shy of where it intersects with N. Crowdus Street. The masks, fabricated by local artists, have been there for 30 years — as long as the club itself. Few venues in Deep Ellum can claim the kind of history that Club Dada can. It was opened in September 1986 by Tom Henvey, Doak Boettiger and David Border in the very spot it sits now. It was a trailblazer in the industrial part of town where warehouses dominated the neighborhood and there wasn’t much nightlife to speak of.

Read more of this great retrospective of Dallas Club life at The Dallas Observer »