It’s been seven years since a bookstore, as eccentric as its name, opened its doors and became the spot in Dallas where literature, drinks, music, coffee, food and conversation all come together.
The Wild Detectives was founded by Spanish civil engineers and longtime friends Javier García del Moral and Paco Vique. The men wanted a space where two of their passions – booze and books – could come together.
“We wanted to create a space that acted somehow like a vehicle for not only us, but for other people to share things that had been important for them, you know, in the cultural aspect of their lives,” Garcia del Moral told the Dallas Express.
The business takes up residence in a renovated craftsman home located in the historic Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff.
“You can just go hang out with friends, have a drink, coffee, whatever, at the same time you can buy a book or a record and then other days you can just go to see a music show, a discussion, or a play,” Garcia del Moral said.
Like many businesses, COVID-19 forced The Wild Detectives to close for a few months, a predicament that also pushed Garcia del Moral to start selling books online.
“After seven years here, we had a lot of support from the community and that was instrumental to get us going over those three months,” Garcia del Moral said. “Then as soon as we opened, obviously the events didn’t happened for a couple months, but since we have like a large park here, by September we were already organizing like very limited restricted events that still allow us to have some sort of sense of normality.”
During the pandemic, The Wild Detectives launched its Six Feet Love series as “a way to bring back live performances in a safe environment while supporting local talent,” Garcia del Moral told the Dallas Observer.
He said over the last few months things have changed now that more people have been vaccinated against the virus.
He’s now looking forward to a return to a more normal events schedule for The Wild Detectives and is already planning the annual Hay Festival this September.