Anita Martinez stands next to her collection traditional ballet folklorico, part of the Eye of the Collector exhibit at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas on April 14, 2016.
Rose Baca/Staff Photographer
Anita Martinez says her husband, Alfred Martinez, was surprised that she’d want to take on the extra work of City Council. The couple is shown at El Fenix restaurant No. 1 , celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
From left: Bill Collom of Denver, Steve Houp of Denver, Dallas City Council member Anita Martinez, Dennis Swift of Pasadena, CA and Ray Womack of Denver.
1972 File Photo/DMN
Former Dallas City Councilwoman Anita N. Martinez, the first Hispanic woman to serve on the City Council in Dallas and who had ties to the popular El Fenix restaurant chain, died over the weekend of natural causes, family members said Monday. She was 100.
Martinez, who served as a Dallas council member between 1969 and 1973, was born Dec. 8, 1925, in the area of the city known at the time as Little Mexico, which is now part of Uptown.
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Sol Villasana, a longtime friend of Martinez who grew up in the same area, recalls Martinez as being “a real power, both overtly, but also behind the scenes.”
“One of my early recollections is she’s one of the first … politicos that you couldn’t say no to,” Villasana, 73, said Monday. “I think it was sort of legendary, and you walked away feeling kind of good about it.”
According to Dallas Municipal Archives, Martinez worked tirelessly while on the City Council to improve the lives of her constituents through initiatives to lower juvenile crime, add more city street lights and increase the number of paved roads and sidewalks in her district. She was also a charter member of the Center for Voluntary Action, the city archives said in an online tribute to her.
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Villasana, a lawyer, said he knew Martinez as a significant political figure in the community while he was growing up, and later worked with her on several community improvement projects.
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Reed is shown here with former Dallas City Council member Anita Martinez, former Dallas Women’s Bureau director Rhobia Taylor and former Dallas Mayor J. Erik Jonsson. (File photo)
One of the projects they collaborated on starting in 1998 was working to preserve St. Ann’s School, which was built in 1927 as Dallas’ first school for Hispanic children. It was at risk of being demolished when they spearheaded an effort to save it. A portion of the structure has been designated a landmark, according to the City of Dallas website.
“She wanted to save that one last little building, and the neighborhood she grew up in,” he said. “She succeeded.”
Two years after leaving the council, Martinez established the Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, an organization that works to educate Hispanic youth about their culture’s significance through traditional dances from regions in Mexico, Central America and the American Southwest.
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The group paid tribute to her with a weekend post on social media.
“Through her vision, passion, and unwavering commitment to our community, she created a space where generations of young people have discovered their identity, celebrated their culture, and believed in their dreams,” Ballet Folklórico said in a statement posted Sunday to Facebook.
Martinez also founded the Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic and helped raise funds to renovate Pike Park.
In September 2022, Southern Methodist University hosted a conversation honoring her legacy and contributions in North Texas.
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Last December, the Moody Center in Dallas also recognized her as a patron of the arts with a live folklórico dance exhibition attended by officials from the Mexican Consulate and local leaders.
The Dallas City Council named a recreation center, located at 3212 N. Winnetka Ave., in her honor.
She married her husband, Alfred, in 1946. It was his family that founded the iconic El Fenix restaurant chain over 100 years ago in 1918 that still thrives in North Texas to this day.
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“Her light and legacy in Dallas will be always remembered and revered,” the city of Dallas said in a post on X.
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Her survivors include her son, Al Martinez. Her husband, Alfred Martinez, died at 100, a little less than two years ago.
Funeral arrangements were pending as of Monday evening.