Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

Club Babalu tonight at OK Sports Bar

According to my Lakewood Neighborhood Association newsletter, Babalu the contentious dance club inside OK sports bar, is withdrawing an appeal to the City's denial of its dance hall license. A proposal submitted to the city attorney's office specifies that:
Any dance floor will be removed and there may be no designated area for dancing.
(Owners must): discontinue the use of the "Babalu" name in print, radio and web (I assume that means their MySpace page too).
Re-distribute seating throughout the establishment.
Calls via telephone must be answered differently (as to not advertise "Babalu")
Remove all references to "Babalu"

The newsletter reads, "It appears Club Babalu has agreed to the city's demands that they shut down operations at the OK Sports Bar".

But this morning the sign outside OK boldly read, "Babalu Hoy!" I guess if you want to get your Latino dance on, tonight's the night before this operation goes under. (Hey, I'm getting to know our Lakewood neighbors and they aren't going to sit back get dissed like this.)

Luuuuucy!

Defunct Casa Linda building, Pegasus making a comeback

Do you recognize this building? If you’re partially oblivious to things that don’t directly affect you, as I am, you might not know it’s right in our neighborhood — Casa Linda to be exact — and it’s undergone, in the last few months, an incredible makeover. For many years this was a windowless, non descript box of a building next door to the Casa Linda “Curves” offices at 9543 Losa. A while back, Jeff Snoyer, who also bought and revived Highland Park Cafeteria, took out a 20-year lease on the (old Chamber of Commerce) building because, as he put it, he couldn’t take looking at it the way it was. He immediately began renovations — one of the first steps was putting in windows — and (quietly) announced hopes to turn it into a “community hub” where local residents can lease an office for as little as $175 per month.
Here’s (sort of) what it used to look like (that blue tape is to mark the windows).

Now for the finishing touch: Snoyer wants to make this building not only highly functional but also recognizable. So he’s putting the famed red Pegasus on top. No, he hasn’t robbed the old red courthouse of the original Casa Linda Pegasus. But he has collected, over the years, three similar circa 1950s Pegasus’. Two are full size and one is a “baby”. According to a press release this morning, a local design firm has brought the Pegasus family together in a unique design to top off the renovated building. Here’s a PDF of the full media release: Download press_release_pegasus.pdf

Snoyer also owns the former Bank One building on the other side of “Curves”.

Matt's, Picasso's Pizza adding new restaurant locations

In Lakewood, Matt's Rancho Martinez has long been the de facto place to eat Mexican food. Now, the restaurant is opening another restaurant with the same name in Uptown Village at Cedar Hill. The new outdoor shopping center also will include a Patrizio, Razzoo's Cajun Cafe, Maui Wowi and Italia Express, according to the DMN.

Also expanding is a neighbor to the north: Picasso's Pizza and Grill, long a staple in Lake Highlands on Skillman. Picasso's, which delivers to Lakewood and East Dallas, currently has another restaurant at Forest and the Tollway. A new spot is opening at Dallas North Tollway and Frankford next week. Picasso's has a fantastically large menu that includes steaks, seafood, salads, burgers, pizza, chicken and on and on.

Wine review: Escudo Rojo 2006

Availability is the great challenge in the wine business. This is just as true for inexpensive wines as it is for the limited production, big score, highly-rated cult wines that get so much attention.

Which means you should always keep your eye on a couple of readily available wines that can be found in grocery stores or liquor stores that are food friendly and easy to drink. The Escudo Rojo (about $14), a red blend from Chile, is one such wine.

It's made with carmenere, which has evolved into the national grape of Chile (after winemakers there thought it was merlot for a century or so). Carmenere is a little softer than merlot, and with a little more herbal quality. Blend it with cabernet sauvignon, syrah and cabernet franc, as is done here, and you get a New World, fruit forward style wine that is also balanced. (And, since this is made by a Rothschild company, you also get 12 months of oak.) Serve this with barbecue or hamburgers.

Progress slows a bit on Dallas' taxpayer-subsidized convention center hotel downtown

Sounds like good news, for now, on the convention center hotel front: Some members of the council appear to be taking a more serious look at what the mayor has been pushing on the taxpayer-subsidized deal, resulting in a miraculous "extension" of the time the city has to purchase the seriously overpriced $42 million tract of land downtown for the hotel.

Remember that the "short fuse" on the original land deal was one of the reasons the mayor wanted to move so quickly on this deal? Now that there has been some whining from the council, the city and the property owner have agreed on an extension of time for the city to close on the land, probably because the seller started worrying that if it didn't exhibit some flexibility, it might not be able to take the city to the cleaners on this deal. Angela Hunt even pointed out at today's council meeting that as recently as the last tax assessment period, the seller was telling DCAD the property wasn't even worth the $7.3 million it's appraised for.

Anyway, the Observer quotes Sheffie Kadane, Dave Neumann, Ron Natinsky and (of course) Angela Hunt expressing concerns about needing more information. And that's all that needs to be done today: There could be a great deal buried in the stuff the mayor has been pushing, but who can tell with all of the cloak-and-dagger secrecy? Lay the details out there, let everyone chew on it a bit, and then let the council vote on whether to give away $300-$500 million for the deal.

Like one of our thoughtful Back Talk commenters says, let the politicians do their job, and then we can deal with them based on whether we like their decision or not. And who knows: Maybe we should be biting the bullet on this deal, but it would be nice to actually see the bullet before it's jammed between our teeth...

The Lovers Lane-Central exit is still a mess

Dallas and University Park police have the southbound service road closed, as well as the Lovers overpass. I couldn't make a left on Lovers after getting off of Central around 1 p.m., but had to detour west through University Park, winding my way south as the streets and construction allowed.

Apparently, there was a fatal accident at the southbound service road around 11 a.m.

Home break ins: hope to prevent, prepare for the worst

Burglars are still hitting homes in and around our neighborhood — the MO seems to be busting a lock or kicking in a door during the day. This isn’t unusual — but it is a type of crime that’s up citywide, police say. They seem particularly bent on getting their hands on laptops and flat screen/plasma TVs (I deduce that after reading police reports for the Northeast division). I know none of us want to believe it can happen to us, but I’ve been told by cops that it’s good to engrave your Driver’s License number on your valuables (laptops, TVs). That’s really your only chance of recovering property once it’s been stolen. Plus it will serve as evidence to help convict these thugs after they get caught with your stuff.

You can check out an engraver from the police station, says Northeast Deputy Chief Jan Easterling.

Forbes ranks Dallas as one of greediest U.S. cities

The folks at Forbes have complied a list of 'America’s Most Sinful Cities', based on the seven deadly sins ( lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, wrath, envy and pride).
Dallas didn’t top any of those lists, but it was ranked as the seventh greediest city in the country. But that’s not necessarily a bad designation, according to Forbes journalist Elisabeth Eaves, because "we need the greedy." After all, greedy people help the economy by creating jobs.
You can read more about how Forbes used data to come up with these rankings, and read a complete list of all the sinful cities, at forbes.com.

Sketch of rapist released

Police released a sketch of a serial rapist they think recently hit the Old East Dallas area. Police believe the suspect also attacked at least two women in the nearby Uptown area. The rapist got into the women's homes through upstairs unlocked windows. Here's some more info and a sketch.

James Brown back in Dallas for a final appearance on Greenville Avenue

The late singer James Brown is back in Dallas, this time for awhile, appearing again at the former Fast & Cool Club (soon to be the National Sports Club) on Greenville near Martel.

Of course, this James Brown is the huge colorful mural on the building's side, painted by muralists Dan and Mae Hitchcock and uncovered by Woodrow Wilson HIgh School grad Reza Dibaje during the building's renovation, according to today's DMN.

Interestingly enough, for those of you old-timers out there, Dibaje told the News that the mural came about to provide competition with Shannon Wynne's Tango frogs, which graced the top of his nightclub down the Greenville. The last time I saw those frogs, they were atop a gas station off I-35 on the way to Waxahachie.