Beloved Deep Ellum Mural Painted Black Without Warning

DALLAS, TX — Deep Ellum residents and regulars found themselves asking one collective question Friday: What happened to that mural of the soldiers?

The mural was painted by Preston Pannek, Izk Davies and Adrienne Creasey and based on a photo by award-winning photographer Jeremy Lock. Painted on the side of The Green Room in Deep Ellum, the mural was completed and unveiled on April 17.

The larger-than-life painting depicted a Marine break dancing on the ground as his fellow troops looked on. Behind the crowd of service members waved an American flag emblazoned with the names of various branches of the military.

Immediately and immensely loved by the community, the mural made an appearance on several North Texas news stations as well as Bravo and Good Morning Texas.

But, despite the mural's popularity, it was found covered by a thick layer of black paint Friday morning.

The building is owned by Westdale, a real estate management company that owns other Deep Ellum buildings, including the historic Knights of Pythias Hall, the first Dallas building owned by a black business owner.

According to its website, "Westdale’s principals have a highly successful track record in recapitalizing and acquiring underperforming commercial and multifamily properties, acquiring distressed debt, repositioning or redeveloping distressed properties, and acquiring fully stabilized core and value-add properties."'

The mural spanned one wall of a bar called Green Room, a long-time Deep Ellum staple located at 2715 Elm Street.

Pannek, one of the muralists behind the installation, told Patch The Green Room was alerted by email Thursday night that the mural was to be painted over.

Pannek told Patch he talked to Westdale property manager Chuck Hixson Friday morning and asked about the fate of the mural. He said he was told it had already been painted over.

Pannek said that when he pressed for an explanation, he and Hixson exchanged words before the call came to an abrupt end.

Raine Devries, a lifelong frequenter of Deep Ellum and administrator of the Facebook page "Deep Ellum Community Watch," told Patch she felt distraught after hearing the news.

"It takes a lot to get to me. I felt so sick over the situation."

Although Devries did not herself serve in the military, she said she has spent more than a decade volunteering as a motorcyclist for the Patriot Guard Riders and has personally protected families of fallen soldiers from Westboro Baptist Church protestors.

Pannek and his artistic cohorts donated the soldier mural, and ten others, to the Deep Ellum community free of charge. The Green Room mural was their final installation.

"They saved their best for last, and it was that mural," Devries said.

Pannek said he was upset over the mural's abrupt removal.

"I'm pretty upset and hurt that this is the mural they took down," he said. "And a couple days before July 4th is a little bit ridiculous."

He went on to say that he isn't opposed to seeing the Deep Ellum community change and evolve, but that he thought this evolution came too quickly for the painting.

"I own two businesses down here in Deep Ellum, and I'm not opposed to the change. It's definitely helped out our businesses. I just don't understand why we need to take away the arts," he said. "There was nothing disrespectful about that mural. It wasn't hurting anybody."

Pannek said he and his team worked 16 hours per day for a full week to install the mural. And in addition to painting the wall, the artists had to first repair it.

"The wall was trash before," he said. "It had holes in it, which we fixed. [There were] huge chunks of paint missing and tagging all over the wall."

The backlash over the mural's removal was evident on Deep Ellum Community Watch, with several users commenting their disapproval.

"This breaks my heart," wrote one. "No way! I loved that mural..." added another.

Neither Hixson nor another Westdale property manager immediately returned calls seeking comment.

Lead image via Raine Devries, used with permission