| Mercedes Olivera: Luna's awaiting city landmark action 01/20/2001 By / The Dallas Morning News If you grew up in Little Mexico in the 1940s and bought tortillas at the corner store, chances are you bought them from Luna's.
In the 1960s, you still could buy tortillas there even as Dallas' original Mexican-American community was starting to disappear. In the new millennium, only a few Hispanic businesses remain, and Luna's is one of them.
The McKinney Avenue store has been around since 1938.
That's when Maria Luna founded the tortilla factory, or molino, as family members have called it for as long as I can remember.
Today, few physical structures remain to tell us about the history and character, the hard work and achievements of the first settlers of Little Mexico.
But Luna's Tortilla Factory, with its Spanish architecture, still stands at the corner of McKinney Avenue and Caroline Street. It's still a family-run business.
Last week, it passed the first test in a three-step process to make it a city landmark.
The Dallas Landmark Commission unanimously recommended it for historic designation Jan. 9. The recommendation now goes to the city Plan Commission and then the City Council for approval.If approved, it will be only the third structure with Latino significance to receive such designation from the city. The other two are Pike Park and a part of St. Ann School.
More than 2,200 structures in the city have landmark status.
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A coalition of Dallas Latino community and business leaders hopes to raise about $50,000 for litigation in coming redistricting battles.
Coalition members have met twice to develop strategies for addressing Latino concerns they expect to emerge over the creation of electoral districts based on the new census. They will continue to meet every two weeks.
"We're hoping Latinos in the suburbs get involved," said Diana Flores, a Dallas County Community College District trustee. "We've called people in Grand Prairie and Garland, and we're hoping they get on board before April and May, when there'll be a mad dash to draw the districts."
The Census Bureau is scheduled to release more detailed demographic information in March.
Joe May, an independent expert who has helped the Dallas City Council redraw council district lines, said he thinks a congressional district with a "linguistically isolated community" can be drawn in North Texas.
"But it would not be a new district," Mr. May said. "It would have to be taken from an existing district," probably a Democrat's. According to recent court rulings, districts can be drawn with, among other things, a "community of interest" in mind, not ethnic or racial majorities.
The group meets next on Jan. 29. For more information, call the group's information line at 214-467-8784.
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The American Cancer Society will target Latinos in an outreach campaign to be launched Tuesday.
The organization also will open its new resource center at Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic, 3111 Sylvan Ave., in West Dallas.
Radio and TV announcements in Spanish and English will stress the importance of early detection of cancer through mammograms and colon exams.
The American Cancer Society now has bilingual specialists available on a toll-free hotline, 1-800-ACS-2345, to answer questions about the disease. The group also has a Spanish section on its Web site, www.cancer.org.
Mercedes Olivera can be reached at P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265.
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