Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

Doctor's Hospital signs on with White Rock Marathon

Doctor's Hospital at White Rock Lake is getting in on the White Rock Marathon weekend (Dec. 12-14) — they've just signed on as title sponsor for the marathon's two-day health and fitness expo. Organizers are still seeking the top-dog title sponsor for the marathon. Hmmm, I can see it now ... The Advocate Publishing White Rock Marathon ...  what do you think, Mr. Wamre?

While I wait to hear back on that ... the aforementioned fitness expo sounds like a pretty cool deal, with more than 100 vendors demonstrating, peddling and promoting all sorts of stuff — clothing, jewelry, shoes, athletic gear, food and supplements, upcoming events and good-to-know-about services, to name a few. Plus, if you are running the race, you have to go to the expo to pick up your packet so you might as well take it all in while you're there.

I don't know exactly how the Doctors Hospital sponsorship will affect race participants — I don't think very much. But sponsorships, from what event chair Chuck Dannis told me a while back, help absorb costs of putting on such an enormous event and allow organizers to donate a larger sum to the benefiting charity, Scottish Rite.

Also, if you are training to run the marathon and you're getting antsy, you are eager to read anything and everything there is to read about the event. It's just five weeks away and I can't get enough of stuff like this, from the Dallas Morning News Fitness Blog.

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.

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.

It's holiday time at Krispy Kreme

I was buying donuts at a Krispy Kreme store Saturday, and while waiting for the box to be filled, what did I hear but holiday music wafting from the overhead speakers. They must have cranked up the holiday theme the second the clock struck Nov. 1; at least the sign on the door hyping the "holiday" collection of donuts indicated they wouldn't unveiled until Nov. 28. On one hand, it was pretty disconcerting to be already listening to holiday music, but on the other hand, given all of the bad news we've been absorbing for the past few months, maybe it's time to start thinking of something happier?

Lovers Lane retail project about to get underway

We've written about some of the new development at Lovers and Matilda before (click here and here), but the Dallas Business Journal says among the new tenants at one of the sites will be a Comerica Bank, Sport Clips, Avon Nail, Lakeside Cleaners, Potbelly Sandwich Works and Freshberry Yogurt Cafe. The $30 million development, which is replacing the Signature Pointe apartment complex, will contain 65,000 square foot retail development. Dirt work began on the project about 30 days ago.

Eastern Partners, the developer, says the property is now about 40 percent leased; construction is scheduled to start in March and be done by the end of 2009, according to the DBJ report.

"The design of it is similar to the Shops at Legacy (in Plano)," one of the developers told the DBJ. "It will have wide sidewalks, plenty of trees and be very commuter-friendly."

Also included in the project will be what the developer describes as 23 "luxury" townhomes priced "in the $300,000 to $400,000 range" and averaging about 2,000 square feet each. (My family debated the merits of that moniker while driving by the other day. What, we wondered, makes one townhome "luxury" while another is just a plain townhome?)

A credit card solicitation every week — what's up with that?

Not surprising news from credit card firms is that they're tightening credit, raising interest rates and taking cards away from some people. But buried in the story about the credit crunch is this interesting tidbit: "Mail offers to new and existing customers are on pace to drop below 8.4 billion pieces, the lowest level since 2004." A little quick math shows that 8.4 billion credit card solicitations divided by 300 million U.S. residents means that each of us, on average, received 28 mail solicitations this year. And if you further parse the numbers, eliminating about half of the population that is (or at least should be) too young to receive a credit card and people who don't have any income, that means that the rest of us receive about one credit card solicitation per week. No wonder so many people have more credit than they need or can handle.

Kathleen Kent book signing at Talulah Belle Tuesday

Neighbor Kathleen Kent will be signing books between 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, at Talulah Belle boutique in the Lakewood Shopping Center. 

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Kent and her eerie and insightful novel, "The Heretic’s Daughter", has gained national accolades and attention.

Writes New York Times critic Chelsea Cain in a September review, “Like ‘The Crucible,’ ‘The Heretic’s Daughter’ uses the Salem witch hunt to explore larger themes — most notably, the loss of civil liberties in times of terror — but at its core, it’s a story about a family.” (Kent's novel was the Times' Editor's Choice, 9/14.)

Kent's story is based on a distant relative who was hanged following the 17th century trials — you can read a bit more about her in the September East Dallas/ Lakewood Advocate.

This book signing is a recommended event for getting you in the Halloween spirit with a good spooky tale and a fascinating woman, all at the coolest shop around. 

PetSmart’s Howl-O-Ween Costume Party

Only man's best friend would put up with us dressing them in ridiculous little outfits purely for our own amusement, and still love us no less for it. Now that's unconditional.

If you're one of those folks who waits all year for Halloween just so you can dress up your pup, you'll want to head to our neighborhood PetsMart tomorrow night. That's where they'll be hosting the annual Howl-O-Ween event. There will be a 6:30 p.m. parade for all pets in costume, and awards for the best get ups.

And because no Halloween would be complete without a little trick-or-treating, all dogs get goodies bags (which have some coupons for you, too).

State Fair wrapup: Just off a record coupon-sales pace

Amid all of the bad economic news, here's something positive: After getting off to what the DMN reported was a horrible economic start, it turns out the State Fair of Texas was selling coupons at a near-record pace ($28.6 million vs. $29 million during the 2007 Fair's record pace). For whatever reason, people found enough money (or enough credit) to down plenty of corny dogs and fried bacon at the Fair; let's hope the rest of the economy follows suit shortly. Click here (download season_wrap.pdf) to read the summary press release yourself.

Victory after 10 years: Iconic but not helping downtown

Not long ago, the DMN published a series of stories titled "Partial Victory", which was a rather ingenious way of highlighting the big, new "Times Square for Dallas" surrounding the American Airlines Center downtown. The good news, according to the story: Ross Perot Jr. says that Victory is farther along, development-wise, than he thought it would be at this time. The bad news: Apparently, if you don't live there (and not many people do), you don't know what's happening at Victory and you aren't participating in terms of spending money.

As it stands now, about 10 years into what Hillwood describes as a 25-year process, there are about 13 restaurants, a dozen retailers, more than 750 residential units and quite a bit of office space, including WFAA-TV's Times Square-like station on a corner near the AAC. But the place has become more upscale, to the exclusion of everything else, than the developers apparently planned, so while it's easy to find a $1,500 hotel room and a $400 dress, you can't find an inexpensive lunch, a drugstore or a grocery store, according to the News.

Interestingly enough, that's the same complaint that the people living and working downtown — and I mean the original downtown — have, too. And it's interesting to remember that one of the sales pitches we were given when the developers floated the $230 million arena bond in 1998 was that Victory was an important step in downtown's revitalization. As we can see now, that hasn't been the case — the distance between Main Street and Victory is too far for the average person to make the walk, and whatever good is happening at Victory isn't trickling over to downtown.