This year, we saw the death of a terrorism mastermind and the passing of business icon Steve Jobs. The Iraq War is coming to an end. The Arab Spring inspired uprisings. A couple of dictators died. Rick Perry forgot one thing. Some jerk kept talking about “winning.” We had a Super Bowl, an NBA championship and a World Series all come to town.
Our neighborhood, on a smaller scale, was just as eventful in 2011. We sifted through our website’s top stories of the year to bring you this recap.
Sadly, the most-read story on our website this year is about a Bishop Lynch student and an alumnus who were killed in a car accident near Hunstville in August.
The Lakewood real-estate shuffle was a big story in our neighborhood. Lakewood Bar & Grill, Lakewood Tavern and Molly Maguire’s all closed. The Balcony Club nearly closed. Mi Cocina signed on to take the Matt’s Rancho Martinez space. Matt’s is moving to Skillman and La Vista, and Paperbacks Plus is moving too, but they haven’t announced a new location yet.
Other business openings and closings this year include: H&M opening at NorthPark, Goodfriend opening on Peavy, a Goodwill computer store opening on Haskell, Atomic Pie just north of our neighborhood, Hypnotic Donuts on Garland Road, Pizzeria Venti closing, Company Cafe opening on Lower Greenville, Wheels In Motion bike shop closing, Cafe San Miguel closing and Stackhouse Burgers opening. Alligator Cafe opened a second location in Casa Linda plaza. The Lab at Lake Highlands relocated and now is the Lab at Lakewood.
Of course, the frenzy that was In-N-Out expanding to the Dallas market was one of the biggest news stories of the year. Our neighborhood was relatively cool about it, but up in suburbia, “Woman cries over In-N-Out burger” is a real thing that happened.
In January, we wrote about how In-N-Out and H&M are “cult-creating companies.” Another cult creator, Trader Joe’s, also expanded to the Dallas market this year. Alas, they’re not planning a store in our neighborhood so far. But Spec’s opened on Central Expressway in November.
The Timbercreek Shopping Center was a hot topic this year. Sam’s, Walmart and JC Penney opened in the Fall. And Whataburger followed. Mayor Mike Rawlings even attended the opening of Walmart. And we found it interesting that our neighborhood Sam’s store leads the nation in wine sales.
Crime news this year included a string of apparently unrelated sexual assaults over the summer.
The Burger Street shootout in February, it turns out, was drug related. A former Lake Highlands resident was charged with murder after the shooting, but a grand jury later declined to indict him.
Bail bondsman James Beavers, a regular on the Lakewood music scene, was charged with capital murder in the death of his business partner.
In education news, Woodrow Wilson High School broke ground on an expansion and updates. Woodrow’s principal, alumna Ruth Vail, resigned to pursue a doctoral degree. Kyle Richardson replaced her. JL Long Middle School is getting updates too. Woodrow officially became an IB World School, even if it is rated academically unacceptable and is on AYP.
Ironically, DISD is considering closing a blue-ribbon school with an exemplary rating, Bonham Elementary School, as part of a plan to save $11.5 million.
