Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

Save-a-Lot on Abrams closes

The Save-a-Lot no-frills grocery store, at the corner of Northwest Highway and Abrams, didn't always smell quite right, but the produce was of good quality and cheap -- as much as one-third less as elsewhere. But when I went to buy onions over the weekend, the store was closed and cleaned out. Not even a fixture was left.

Save-a-Lot apparently closed the location quietly. I have a call in to the Missouri corporate headquarters to see if this was a one-store thing, or if the chain is pulling out of the Dallas market. It still has a half dozen stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including one on Ferguson near Buckner.

Council subcommittee considers a smoking ban in bars, billiard halls

A city council subcommittee is considering expanding the city's current smoking ban from restaurants and workplaces to bars, billiard halls and within 15 feet of entrances to publicly accessible villages, according to the DMN. Our neighborhoods' councilmen, Sheffie Kadane and Angela Hunt, have different perspectives on the proposal, according to the News story and more comments on its blog.

I have to admit that when the city council first decided to restrict smoking in restaurants and other public places a few years ago, I had my doubts: It seemed like a draconian measure, and it seemed likely to drive business out of Dallas. Today, though, I haven't seen a single study indicating that significant business was lost to the more smoking-friendly suburbs, and the air in most places I go these days is cleaner and clearer.

Lakewood resident writes new book about Ebby Halliday

Neighborhood writer and entrepreneur Mike Poss is at it again: This time, he has written "Ebby Halliday: The First Lady of Real Estate." The book, which debuts in bookstores in February, details the life story of Halliday, who will be 98 in March. Also in the book, you'll find lots of company history, comments from those who know Halliday best and a forward by former Dallas Cowboy Roger Staubach. Poss, who was recognized earlier this year as the creator of Ross Perot's famous presidential election charts, is married to neighborhood resident Mary Poss, a former Dallas mayor pro tem and mayoral candidate who sells real estate with Ebby these days. If you can't wait until February to get your hands on the book, visit Ebby's website, where you can order the book right now for $30.95 (including shipping); all orders placed before Dec. 15 will be autographed for free by Ebby.

Easing credit crunch puts the convention center hotel back on track

Good news for fans of the taxpayer-owned downtown convention center hotel, as well as for the pending DISD bond issue: The credit market, at least for public works projects, appears to be easing enough to allow AA-rated and above public entities to obtain financing. A DMN story indicates the city of Dallas intends to close on $253.3 million in water improvement project bonds this week; a few weeks ago, this and just about every other bond project in the country were frozen due to lack of capital or political will or lenders — take your pick. The $550 million convention center hotel, which Mayor Tom Leppert and many city councilmen have vowed to fund in January, requires issuance of municipal revenue bonds to generate the cash, so now that the market is coming back, lack of available funding shouldn't hold back Leppert or the council. I guess we'll see if the May referendum on the project causes the council members any heartburn when it comes time to approve the bonds in January.

Four Season Hotel slated to open at NorthPark?

The DMN reports that a Four Seasons hotel — this one a 250-room building at the northeast corner of NorthPark Center's property, presumably at Park Lane and Central Expressway — could be open as early as 2012. If built, it would join the Las Colinas Four Seasons as the second in the area. The hotel study group reporting the news said that if the hotel isn't already financed — and it probably isn't, according to the group — it might not open until 2013 or later, given the current credit situation nationwide.

This Wednesday: Candlelight Walk on Henderson

I attended the Candlelight Walk last year, and it was one of the most enjoyable holiday events I participated in. All of the merchants — Milton Kent Antiques, Another Time & Place, La Mariposa, ART is ART, Pandemonium, Emeralds to Coconuts, Again & Again and Gypsy Wagon — will stay open late this Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 6-9 p.m. and offer finger foods, beverages and discounts.

The stores are busy but not too crowded, since the event may be Henderson's best kept secret. Last year, Pandemonium had the most amazing seven-layer dip I've ever tasted; Milton Kent Antiques had food catered from The Porch; and Fish City Grill, which hadn't yet opened, was offering gumbo and coupons for free appetizers. So many new restaurants have sprouted since then, I wonder if more will be out Wednesday night to get exposure.

Either way, the shops on Henderson are darling and well worth the time to browse through, so why not a night with free munchies and good deals?

La Parrillada: Delinquent taxes lead to another restaurant closing

Another one bites the dust, courtesy of the Texas comptroller's office: This time, it's La Parrillada on Gaston near the spillway, as first reported on FrontBurner. The Mexican restaurant, pretty popular for years in the building that once house a Pizza Inn, apparently failed to keep up with payments for either employee payroll or sales taxes, and the state opted to shut it down. This one follows last week's demise of Bailey's 1st & 10 sports bar at Mockingbird and Abrams. The difficult economy is forcing restaurants owners (along with the rest of us) to make some difficult choices, but it appears that skimping on payroll or sales taxes isn't the way to go if you're a business owner looking to cut corners.

Watch the Holiday Inn implosion at Royal & Central Expressway

I don't know what it is about watching implosions, but I can never get enough of them. The Morning News did a great job of showing us various views of the demise of the former Holiday Inn between Meadow and Royal on the eastside Central Expressway access road. The Holiday Inn once sat next to Troy Aikman Ford, which closed a few months ago. According to the News, Valencia Capital Management will be putting up an 83-acre mixed-use development on these two sites and others vacated by apartment demolitions; the development is slated to include high-rise condos (when the market improves, presumably), luxury townhomes, senior living complexes and medical office buildings. The News says the development will be completed by December 2009; I can guarantee you that's a mistake, because completing an 83-acre development in 13 months would be like completing the new Cowboys stadium in three months — it's not going to happen.

An oil change you can believe in

Props to the Valvoline in Lakewood Shopping Center for its quippy political commentary (and for turning a political catchphrase into a marketing opportunity). Just for the record, this sign was posted before the outcome of the election was announced, so the folks at Valvoline can't be accused of jumping on the bandwagon.

Bailey's 1st & 10 closed by state over nonpayment of taxes

Neighborhood bar and grill Bailey's 1st& 10 Sports Bar has apparently served its last beer, based on this notice "for nonpayment of taxes owed the state of Texas" posted on the front door of the establishment, located at Mockingbird & Abrams in Hillside Village shopping center. Blog reader Steve Lazewski alerted us to this development last night; it's surprising since Bailey's had a regular clientele and had extended its lease at the center not too long ago. The notice indicates the comptroller has "seized this property for nonpayment of taxes, penalty or interest due the State of Texas", which generally means that either sales and/or payroll taxes were delinquent enough that the state decided to close the business and seize the property rather than work out some type of payment plan. A programming note: Penciled onto the sign are notes that the Silver Haired and HPSHSC groups that regularly met at Bailey's are now meeting at Humperdink's on Greenville.