CAMP BOWIE

I know that most of you live somewhere where you have some area which you think of (but probably do not call "downtown" or "in town" unless you live in a small town; but having grown up in a small town and lived from time to time in small towns, I think of Camp Bowie as my "downtown." Now, if I lived in England, I would simply call Camp Bowie, "High Street," because that is what it really is. And always has been. In fact, were it in England, it would probably have a market cross.


For those of you who don't live here, you should know that Camp Bowie is that long street on the map that cuts a slash across the nicely ordered matrix of the neatly laid out streets and leaves oddly shaped blocks all along the way. In 1917, the War Department established 2000 acre Camp Bowie, west of Fort Worth, as the home for the 36th Army division and the urban planner directing the development of the area between downtown and the camp, drew the grand nine mile long boulevard across the area. After World War I was over, the army moved away and the area was developed with the city planting 700 trees along the street; and in the 1930's the thousands of red bricks with which we are all so familiar were laid to make Camp Bowie the paved connection between downtown and the West side.


Today, when you drive along Camp Bowie, something of all the history is still there. Camp Bowie begins in the cultural district and is lined with everything that makes Fort Worth my favorite city. Kimball Art Museum is a jewel box for our city, containing masterpieces of world art, where everyone can find something he enjoys, even if only the wonderful homemade soups, breads, sandwiches, salads, and desserts of the Buffet Restaurant.


Along my street, you can find everything you  need... and most everything you might want, from extremely expensive antiques to long established tattoo shops, from the ubiquitous Walgreen's to the very exclusive Haltom's Jewelers. Although every time I drive down the street I see some new shop I want to explore, my usual reason for going over to Camp Bowie is Tom Thumb, my every day grocery store! 


When I was young, Tom Thumb was the grocery store in our little town where my mother bought groceries and so I simply continue that. Of course, ownership of the store has changed from being a local independent, to ownership by Randall's, and now  it is owned by Safeway. But it is a very special division of Safeway and aside from the gourmet Central Market, has the very best produce and meat counters in town. Besides, since I have been buying in there for almost 20 years, everyone there knows me by name and they make me feel very special. As Alton Brown says, you need to know your grocer and he needs to know you. You need a butcher who will take the time to answer your questions about the meat in his case and who can do the specialty cuts and the preparations you sometimes need for an entree presentation. I have two of those at Tom Thumb who at Christmas found me a beautiful beef loin roast and then put it on sale just for me. The guy in produce knows that I want a particular seedless watermelon this summer and he says he will be watching for it (It tastes like the old Black Diamond). When I asked the baker about a specific cookie they make there in the store, he went to the back and brought out a piece of cardboard torn from a packing box with the recipe written there with a Sharpie and a punched hole where they had hung it over a nail on the wall. I now have that recipe in my computer and I know how to bake those cookies And my pharmacist is almost another member of my family. And that, my dears, is why I drive Camp Bowie to go to Tom Thumb for my groceries while all of my neighbors go down the street to Albertson's, where nobody knows them...


And thus begins my tales of why I love Camp Bowie, my High Street. Wait until I tell you about the neat boutiques and shops on my street and the goodies inside.