My palace in Fort Worth - Jonathan Morris

“Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happened to be”

— Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

Hello guys, it's getting warm, isn’t it? I’m writing this as I put away my lovely long-sleeved comrades with tears streaming down my face. As we are almost halfway through the year, I hope you will keep on enjoying what’s more to come with this project, we are officially 3 years old!

I started My Palace in Dallas during the height of the pandemic, and it was born from pure curiosity: I want to know, I want to see, and, most importantly, I want to document what the people around me have become after these unprecedented years. They can be artists, comedians, or they can also be the people you meet on the street—which is quite hard cause supposedly people in Dallas don’t walk at all. So, what is it that they do? This project delves into their stories and, as the name suggests, explores their Palace in Dallas.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Jonathan Morris. In the land of Fort Worth sits Hotel Dryce, a funky yet classic hotel fully showcasing the nature of this metroplex and reflects what he values the most in all of his entrepreneurial endeavors: A sense of community in a large busy city. We ran into each other at Le Sol house one fateful afternoon a day before I asked him to hang out, and here we are, talking about his journey, his passion, and what makes a place ultimately, a home for him.

**Hello Jonathan! Thank you for sitting down with me today! Before I bomb you with questions, would you like to tell people a bit about yourself? Who are you and what is it that you do?**

My name is Jonathan Morris. I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve got ideas and I just want to see how the world responds to them. Being an entrepreneur to me is like going back to school. It’s science class. I’ve got these hypotheses on how an experience or a place can take form in real life. All I do is experiment with these ideas to see how they take shape outside of my head and in the real world.

In your years opening up a hotel, or barbershop dedicated to giving locals a unique experience, could you tell me what the journey was like for you? How did you get to where you are now?

For the last decade, I’ve been working to bring these hypotheses to life. In 2014, I opened Fort Worth Barber Shop. I noticed there was this shift in the barbering world. I felt the focus shifting towards a more traditional experience for guys. People wanted to see their barber actually use a straight razor. They wanted to feel what it was like to get a hot towel shave or have their beard perfectly cropped by a pro. I could see a change in the barbering landscape happening and wanted to do something with it.

Meanwhile, I was living in Fort Worth. As rapidly growing as this city was, we were still missing a lot including a multicultural shop that had a design aesthetic and sensibility I was drawn to.

That gap in the market stood out to me. Guys in Fort Worth were getting $15 chain haircuts and on the other end of the spectrum, salons were charging $75+ for men’s haircuts. There were so many people not being served right in the middle. The opportunity felt obvious to me.

I opened Fort Worth Barber Shop in 2014 and hit the ground running. In 2017, I opened a retail store called the Lathery, a grooming supply store with two barber chairs that served as an overflow for my original shop and a space where we could introduce new products to customers.

One summer night in 2018, I ran into a friend at a bar on the Southside and we started kicking around the idea of doing a boutique hotel, something small and intimate. A month later, we were business partners and under contract to buy an old dry ice warehouse with the idea that we could reimagine it as the hotel that we felt Fort Worth was missing.

At the time in Fort Worth, there was nowhere I wanted to recommend to friends who were visiting to stay, much less a hotel lobby where I wanted to hang out. So that’s the problem we wanted to solve.

That dingy dry ice warehouse also just so happened to be across the street from Dickies Arena which was under construction. We knew people were coming to Fort Worth and if they were filling up that new venue, there was a good chance some of them would need a place to stay.

We wanted to build something special that could authentically represent Fort Worth from the point of view of locals and serve as a landing pad to introduce and reintroduce people from all over the world to Funky Town. That’s what we did. And it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience.

Knowing all these adventures you went on, it seems like on top of hotels and barbershops, you are an entrepreneur at heart. Was realizing those visions and proving the hypothesis of why you’re drawn into entrepreneurship?

For me, it is fulfilling to be able to take ideas and breathe life into them, and observe how they exist on their own outside of me. There are times when I’m at Hotel Dryce sitting in the lobby, seeing guests check in or people sipping a cocktail, catching up with friends at the bar and it feels as if they are living in my dream world. Real people are existing inside a vision I dreamt of. Before this space existed – whether it was the barbershop or the hotel – it was just an idea that only lived in my head. But seeing actual people in these spaces I’ve created is an otherworldly feeling. I wish everyone could feel it in their lifetime.

This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Take ideas that at one point were just a vision and turn them into something tangible.

I guess I consider myself a creative. For the past 10 years, my creativity has been brought to fruition primarily through entrepreneurship. At this stage in my journey, I’m just looking forward to identifying more ways I can express my creativity.

Like how you’d be curious about their letterbox account when you meet a film lover or would love to take a peek at someone’s mood board, can you tell me what consists of your media outlet and where you usually get your inspiration from?

For me, the purest and most informative form of inspiration comes from traveling. So much of that I’ve created in Fort Worth was inspired by things I’ve experienced outside of Texas. If it weren’t for having walked into the lobby of the Ace Hotel in Manhattan for the first time in 2017, Hotel Dryce wouldn’t exist. I realized what a hotel could do. And how it could frame an experience. I tend to be stimulated by things that are relevant to where I was at the time, and my receptors are most open and in tune when I’m traveling and experiencing the unfamiliar.

I try to recognize what makes a place unique. The sounds, the smells, the food, the art, all these things are the medium I absorb fully when I’m wandering through space that isn’t home.

If you walk into Fort Worth Barber Shop, Hotel Dryce, or Cherry Coffee (my wife’s shop) on any given day, there’s a good chance that I curated the playlist you’re hearing. Sound is a design decision that speaks volumes about how you want someone to feel in a space. It helps shape the place. Music sets the tone and should be carefully curated based on what you want space to say and the experience you want people to have.

It’s been four years since the pandemic hit and it amazed me to see how you decided to open up one of the most beautiful spaces up here. What did you do to stay centered and sane? Did any of those new habits carry over now that things are back to normal?

My biggest takeaway was how important a balance between being social and embracing solitude is. When we were not convening together during the pandemic, I realized how much I love not having the pressure of socializing.

During the pandemic, aside from hotel design and construction meetings, there was this sense of quietness that I didn’t know how much I enjoyed. I would cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for me and my wife who was working from home at the time. I loved the pace of life back then, and that’s when I realized as much as I love being social and around people, I also find so much value in solitude.

That solitude allowed me to redefine what a home meant. It is a refuge, a safe place, for us to wind down. I embrace the idea of knowing things are going on and I’m not there. The joy of missing out man. It’s something else.

For someone who is constantly inspired and stimulated by experiences, I’m sure you have your fair share of traveling experience and exposure to different scenes across the states. What do you think sets Dallas apart from all the other big cities you’ve been to?

I think there is something about the connectivity and the sense of togetherness that exists in Forth Worth, in a way that people here can feel a true sense of community. From the small business world that I’m in, we share a “We’re all in this together” sentiment that you don’t see in all other cities and that’s something distinctly special about the city of Fort Worth.

It is a lot more laid back here and if you have talent, skill, or something to bring to the table, Fort Worth is a city that will welcome you with open arms, whatever that thing is. When I was working with the city trying to get the Hotel off the ground, the support of our community was always by my side. I think maybe it’s the spirit of the cowboy that exists here, we can do tough things and we can do it together. We have grit.

Fort Worth is beginning to find a fresh identity. My hope is that more people feel included and resonate with what that identity is. I want people of color and transplants who have found their way here to take comfort in knowing that this place accepts who they are. That’s the direction I want to push the city. That to me is the potential Fort Worth holds and I hope to make an impact by creating spaces for people who historically haven’t felt welcomed to be their full selves to feel like they can be part of something here.

If Fort Worth wants to be the city I believe it can be, we have to be a place that radically invites and emphatically welcomes people here. It can be hard to grow as an interesting city if people of different backgrounds and orientations don’t feel included or don't have the sense that they can be their true selves here.

Are you a DFW native? From opening a barber shop in 2014 to Hotel Dryce in 2020, you must’ve spent quite some time finding your identity in this city and reflecting on your relationship with the land, what do you think of this city?

There are days I love Fort Worth and there are days where I roll my eyes at Fort Worth. There are so many things about this city that I am so proud to be a part of, but there are parts where I feel like if we could get out of our own way, we could be so much more and attract so many more people to the city.

I see this city differently today than I did 10 years ago when I opened up my first business here. Instead of saying I love it even more, I would say I understand the city even more now. Fort Worth is a city where my parents and grandparents grew up, and I think one of the reasons I’ve stayed is to help change it. In the early ‘80, my father didn’t feel like this was a city that catered to him as a young black man with dreams. He decided to go somewhere that was more receptive and had more opportunities for him.

I want other young black entrepreneurs to not only believe there is opportunity for them here, but fully realize it. I want our ideas, businesses, creativity, and energy embraced. It’s happening. Slowly, but surely. We are writing the story of this city together and the more voices are involved, the more dynamic this city can become. I am sure of that.

As I look around I can see a lot of your taste in a tangible form! Now the hard part is, what would you say is your most prized possession?

The art pieces around our home serve as placeholders of who and where we were when they entered our lives. This tapestry wall piece is evidence of that. Katherine came up with the concept and I love how it represents a journey in time, the ups and downs are never linear and symmetrical. I love how the fabric itself is natural yet it is shaped almost like a circuit board. The contrast it embodies makes it very special.

We live in a warehouse so plant life serves as a way to soften the space and express life among the concrete walls, floors, and pillars.

The windows here are probably my favorite aspect of our home. Downtown Fort Worth is always on view. I especially love seeing the skyline at night. I always have my eye on this city I love. The cityscape framed by the window, to me, is an ever-changing, living, and breathing portrait.

And we are almost at the bottom of my list of Qs for today, for those who are interested in getting into this business or starting something of their own. What suggestions or advice would you like to give them or wish you had known sooner?

The best way to learn is to start, and the most important lessons will be learned along the way regardless of how prepared you think you are. You will be humbled by your decisions right or wrong, but you will not have done anything if you don’t make that jump. So don’t wait until all of your ducks are in a row. They never will be. Just go and know you’ll bump your head a lot. But that’s the game.

If I had been deterred by those who questioned whether or not I knew the first thing about opening up a hotel, Hotel Dryce wouldn’t exist. If you’re scared of the unknown, reframe your thinking to see it as an adventure. That comes easier to some than others, but I can tell you that for me the greatest opportunities of my life have stemmed from asking “what if” and then obsessing over the possibilities.

To wrap this interview up, also because I am curious personally, what’s on the horizon for you? Are any “Big things coming” in the works for you? What would you like the world (whichever random soul stumbled upon this article) to know about?

To be honest, this is the first time in a really long time that I don’t have a project lined up, so I’m not sure what’s next, but I do know it’ll likely be formed by scratching my own itch and following my curiosity. It’ll be another hypothesis.