The Dallas Experience

On a trip to Dallas years ago, Beverly and I visited DEALEY plaza, where Kennedy was shot, and learned a lot of information that was never published. For example, this photo was taken where he was actually shot in the head and you can see the “X” on the street. Interestingly, the car was moving away from the Book Depository, so the shot came from the opposite direction. On the day after the assassination, a 2 inch piece of his score was found near this lamp post which verified the angle of the headshot.

This is the Book Depository and you can see the window on the far right where Lee Harvey Oswald fired his shots.

This is where the photographer was standing who captured the only video of the assassination. About 50 feet to the right is a parking lot with a perfect angle lining up the X with the light pole, which would have put the piece of the skull exactly where they found it. The book depository is about 100 yards to the left and the deadly shot came from the right.

Here is a better view of the book depository. The shooting window is behind the tree on the second row down all the way to the right.

This is Beverly and I standing in front of the Pergola which was there in 1963 and still there today.

This is the view the shooter would’ve had if in fact the shot came from where Dallas folks believe it did.

This is the really house where Lee Harvey Oswald was living when he shot the president. There are still people living in it today

This is the theatre where Oswald was captured shortly after he shot Tibbetts, the Dallas policeman who had no idea who Oswald was when they met; the Man who shot JFK. Tibbetts saw him walking down the street, thought he looked suspicious, and called him over to the car to talk. As Tibbetts was getting out, Oswald put three bullets in him and then walked around the car and shot him in the head. The theatre is still in operation today.

The following photos are Pioneer Plaza, one of the most famous landmarks in Dallas. There are 49 Longhorn cattle coming down the path as if they were on a cattle drive.

Recently, Beverly and I went to Dallas to a marketing summit with Deb and Nick in the marketing department and they took us to the South Fork Ranch. This is someplace I have wanted to go my entire life since JR Ewing was my hero. We had a picnic dinner and a tour of the house. Maybe sometime in the future, Global Publishing will do an event and take you there!

-Ron LeGrand

This is the entrance to the ranch and you can see the house in the background.

This is the kitchen in the house that was used in the series Dallas. Okay ladies… Remember, it was in the 80s, but still, it could use a little updating huh?

Another view of the kitchen. I actually kind of like the decor. However, if I were asking my Boot Camp students on the bus if this would be okay, they would shout me out of the house. Probably the reason men don’t decorate houses.

Now, this is a real Longhorn steer (not like the fake one we had in Nashville). The good news is, this one does not buck!

Even Beverly was willing to ride this one.

The dining room you saw in many scenes if you are a Dallas fan.

Maybe this is where I acquired my fetish for collecting eagles?

Finally, my hero, JR Ewing.

A great shot of JR and Sue Ellen on the wall. All Boot Camp graduates noticed the wallpaper. Okay… Don’t say it. I know it was 1980s.

The bed where JR slept. Doesn’t it look like a bed I would expect a man of his wealth to sleep in, but actually, I’m not sure I ever seen it in any episode.

The living room with a picture of Jock Ewing, Beverly and I, Debbie Waters and Nick Kolvastas (our marketing directors at Global Publishing).

A photo of the entire cast of Dallas hanging on the living room wall.

A front view of the South Fork Ranch home. It’s only 6000 ft and much smaller in real life than it appeared on TV.

Beverly and I in front of the house. This is one of the trips she rarely joins me on and it was South Fork that got her to go.

It was a beautiful night to have a barbecue dinner on the lawn behind the house with about 125 other attendees at the marketing summit.

This is the rear of the house where all the food was delivered. This is the actually house where Larry Hagman died. They were filming the reboot of Dallas and during the shoot he died in this house. We learned most of the filming was not done here, but in a 40,000 square-foot studio in Los Angeles. They were only allowed to shoot in June, July, and August, because at that time a family actually lived in the home. It was later sold to a businessman for $7 million, who now owns it, and use it exclusively for tours and events. There is a Convention Center behind it that holds 4000 people. They host all kinds of weddings, banquets, corporate events, and music festivals. You can also take a tour with a $15 admission fee.