Tag: j&d interiors fort worth

On Oct. 29, 1999, Deyla Guadiana and her family celebrated a major milestone in their longtime North Side business — the festive grand opening of a 13,000-square-foot, $2 million addition at J&D Interiors, Inc.

The new building at 2015 N. Main St. was “like a jewel,” glittering at the gateway to a redeveloping North Main Street corridor, the Star-Telegram wrote at the time. The Guadianas welcomed friends, clients and business owners to their celebration, as well as Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger.

For Deyla, the festivities culminated years of hard work, perseverance, entrepreneurship and overcoming a lifetime of hardships. Nearly 30 years later, J&D Interiors remains a cornerstone of the North Side business community, and a testament to the remarkable life of a remarkable woman.

An orphan at 9 years old

Deyla was 9 years old when her mother, Esther de la Garza, died by suicide after her husband abandoned the family of six children in Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico.

Their maternal grandparents Evaristo and Concepción de la Garza took in the children, providing strict parenting. Deyla quit school in the fifth grade and worked for her uncle, Gilberto de la Garza, who owned a successful photography business.

With a keen eye for color coordination and design, Deyla created dresses for her dolls. She found her job of color tinting black-and-white photos an enjoyable art. Her uncle also taught her the skills and fortitude required to run a thriving business.

Shortly after marrying Juan Antonio Castro Faz in Mexico, a deaf and non-speaking upholsterer, they came to Fort Worth in 1967 to apply their skills and make their fortune. While Juan took in upholstery work, Deyla worked at a photography studio, continuing to touch up photos. She attended two English evening classes. As suggested by her instructor, she watched soap operas like “Days of Our Lives” and soon grew fluent.

She and her husband had learned to communicate with each other through their own sign language methods.

When photography coloring became computerized, Deyla found work as a custodian at TCU, where she toiled for eight years, rising to a supervisory position.

Deyla and Juan secured a $5,000 bank loan to purchase a 1,200-square-foot building at Northwest 21st Street and Roosevelt Avenue on the North Side. In 1976, they opened J&D Interiors, Inc. (J stood for Juan and the D for Deyla), providing upholstery, curtain and tapestry decoration.

Deyla had originally sought a building on Camp Bowie Boulevard but claimed she encountered discrimination. Her daughter, Zavdy Castro-Guadiana, said her mother’s determination, work ethic and courage helped her overcome the biases she faced in the 1960s and 1970s as a Mexican entrepreneur. The North Side community was more receptive to Latino businesses. Employing three individuals, including her sister Raquel, J&D in the first year of operation yielded $35,000 in profits.

Abel Sanchez, her former Wells Fargo banker, said he was impressed with her business savvy and interior design talents. Her reputation soon spread, drawing a customer base that included affluent white people and commercial accounts with All Saints Hospital, Fort Worth ISD, The Americana Hotel and Diamond Oaks Country Club. Deyla credited much of her ability to negotiate bank loans, contracts and regulations to members of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She singled out Dick Salinas, Manuel Jara and Pete Zepeda for their mentorship. Deyla said, “Manuel Jara was magnificent, and Salinas was my accountant.”

As business boomed, J&D Interiors, Inc. moved to a larger building at 2015 N. Main St., the road leading to the bustling Stockyards. She desired to revitalize the economy and status in that part of the city that had deteriorated. In 1999, she purchased the Googins Building on North Main and NW 20th streets, a few blocks south of the J&D location and invested $500,000 in its renovation.

Built in 1911 by Joseph B. Googins, a North Side developer, the building along the trolley route had housed doctors, barber and sewing machine repair shops, milliners, electricians and apartments on the second floor. She leased to 10 tenants, including the Neighborhood Housing Services and Revista, a Spanish-language auto newspaper. The city had rezoned the area to retail and residential and designated the building as a highly significant endangered landmark.

She sought to foster in Northsiders — as well as in her children Juan Antonio Jr., Zavdy and Eliud, and grandchildren — pride in their Mexican heritage. Although she became a U.S. citizen in April 1985, she stressed her children develop their Spanish-speaking skills. She encouraged them to develop pen-pal relationships with Mexican children by corresponding with them in Spanish, while the Mexican youth wrote them in English.

Deyla traveled alone to India and Peru to meet fabric vendors. Of her business trips to Mexico two or three times a year, she said, “I drive, and take every little road through every little town. It doesn’t scare me any more than driving around the United States. You have to put some caution smarts on, that’s all.”

Deyla loved Fort Worth and the business opportunities it offered.

“I see Fort Worth, especially the North Side with its roots, like these pieces of furniture that are valuable antiques — a treasure we must restore today. I believe in Fort Worth … because Fort Worth is unique. There are many Mexicans in this area — all hardworking and honest,” she said.

She retired at age 68, selling J&D Interiors, Inc. to her eldest son Juan Antonio Castro Jr. and moving to Laredo. On Sept. 14, 2025, North Side design entrepreneur Deyla Guadiana passed away in the border city. Her family honored her final wishes and cremated and buried her and Juan Antonio’s ashes in a plot next to her mother’s in Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico.