Area 111 owner Shauncy Raspberry Nightclub owner Shoncy Raspberry told Dallas Voice in April that when he started working to open his bar, Area 111, in the building at 111 Oak Lawn Avenue, in the Design district he was told point blank by people representing themselves as the Design District Defenders that they didn’t want Black people or gay people on their block — only they used more descriptive words than “Black” and “gay.” Raspberry had been working for two years to get his new club open.
His Design District neighbors called city code enforcement on him 128 times. Who were those neighbors? They were businesses occupying rundown warehouses on the block and residents occupying warehouses that are not zoned residential.