14 minute read
Shipped
THESE ARE THE PEOPLE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
GET SHIPPED This neighborhood app developer makes dating from home a whole lot easier
THE PEOPLE OF THE PRESTON: Featuring Chuck Anderson
Chuck Anderson, whose mother resides at The Preston of the Park Cities
Chuck rests easy knowing his mom is safe, well-cared for and enjoying all that she loves in an intimate senior living community. Like Chuck’s mother, all our residents enjoy: • Luxury, boutique Assisted Living and Memory Care in the heart of Preston Hollow and the Park Cities neighborhoods • Unparalleled personalized care 24/7 and on-site nurse • Family visits via the Essential Caregiver program • Regular preemptive COVID-19 testing and weekly updates to keep family members and loved ones informed • Fine dining featuring our classically trained culinary team The Preston’s associates take pride in caring for their residents, so that Chuck and his family, and others just like them, can enjoy peace of mind today, tomorrow and beyond.
Call 469-904-1394 to learn more and schedule your private one-on-one virtual video consultation and tour today. We are accepting new residents and welcoming you safely.
THE PREST ON
OF THE P ARK CITIES
5917 Sherry Lane • Dallas, TX 75225 469-904-1394 • watermarkcommunities.com A SILVERSTONE/WATERMARK RETIREMENT COMMUNITY
It’s never been a more lonely time to be single. With pick up their phone, they’re already sharing screenshots and millions staying home, there are fewer opportunities to having conversations around it. So on Ship, you can match for socialize and find a romantic partner. Dating apps are yourself and your friends, whether you are in a relationship now the best way to meet people safely, and singles are or not. There’s a group chat feature, and there’s a fun activity showing them some love. For years, Lakewood Heights feed where you can see what friends are doing on the app. neighbor Andy Chen has helped spark human connections as senior vice president of +1 Labs for Match Group, which How do you see Ship growing? created Tinder and owns Hinge, Plenty of Fish and several There’s a lot of opportunity in emerging dating markets. other dating apps. +1 Labs is Match Group’s internal in- Dating has usually been localized. We’ve figured out how novation team, which uses data and technology to develop that happens in Western culture. How does it work in India? future products. In 2019, Chen’s team launched Ship, a How does it work in Southeast Asia? How does it work in a dating app that allows singles to meet while sharing the Muslim-dominant society? The adoption of online dating in experience with family and friends. During coronavirus the rest of the world has really just begun. lockdowns, Ship released new features — including virtual backgrounds, group video chat and a Date From Home Do you tweak for international use? badge — to help singles date safely from home. Nearly 1 You want the system to be as consistent as possible. Facebook million people have downloaded the app. Chen talks about is the same everywhere, but dating isn’t the same everywhere. innovation, the future of dating apps and dating during We are very deliberate when we do tweaks. In Southeast Asia, the pandemic. they have no idea how tall 6 feet is. They’re in metric. In ThaiHow did you start developing dating apps? calendar. We were like, “Why are all these really old people I joined an online dating startup called True in Las Colinas. joining the site?” Their calendar is like 80 years in the future. That’s where I cut my teeth in online dating and startups. It didn’t work out, like many startups do. We then started Did you date online? Traxco. The original vision was to take travel and marry it No. Match started in 1995. I started dating my wife in 1997. with social media. It was like Tripadvisor meets Facebook. In ’95, it was still pretty fringe. Now it’s the No. 1 way people The CEO of Match knew about me when meet. Even five years ago, there was a I was at True. She said, “Hey, I’ve heard little bit of stigma. Now if you don’t use a lot about you, and you’re doing a lot of it, you’re in a small minority. cool things with Facebook technology. I want to pick your brain.” What experience did you gain from startups? Tell me about your job. “COVID accelerated the Doing my own startup was like getting a Ph.D. The intensity and pace of learnGiven the success of Tinder, we need to adoption of online dating, and ing you put yourself through is unlike continue to invest in big ideas. That’s the purpose of my team. We bend light to look dating apps have never been anything else. When I raised capital and hired a team, it gave me so much around corners and guess what users want in the future. We’re not just competing more popular.” confidence. I never felt uncomfortable sitting across the table from anybody. I against Bumble. We’re competing against never had more stress in my life, but I Netflix and Apple TV. We’re competing never had more fun. for entertainment time. It’s the ultimate form of people watching. Do you miss it? How did lockdowns affect engagement on dating apps? products from scratch but doing it in the relative safety of a We’re fortunate that COVID has been just a speed bump $30 billion company. I’m still a huge supporter of the startup for us. COVID accelerated the adoption of online dating, community. When I hire people who have taken a chance, it’s and dating apps have never been more popular. People that a big sign of credibility in my book. weren’t using it started because they couldn’t do anything else. We’ve seen record levels of engagement in female Why did you move to Lakewood? users. With everyone in lockdown, females can have more I’m a cyclist, so I wanted to move east to White Rock Lake. courtship online before they meet. We saw all these amazing My wife found this house on Llano and said we should go trends: the amount of time on an app, the messages being look at it. One of my best friends — he was a roommate and sent. We need to figure out how to maintain this. was in my wedding — I sent it to him, and he said it was four What made Ship so popular during the pandemic? he lives here. We knew users were seeking the ability to connect with land, they go by the Buddhist calendar instead of the Roman I still get a rush from developing new houses down. He thinks we only bought the house because humans, even if it was online. With young women, if you This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
THE RHODES GROUP
When you’ve been in real estate a few decades, you start to get the hang of it. And when you’re mentored by one of Dallas’ real estate icons, it tends to rub off. We’ve been immersed in the ebbs and flows of these markets and these neighborhoods for years, driving over $2.6 billion in sales, representing families like yours. If you’re thinking of selling, or just can’t decide, give us a call. We provide honest assessment and key insights based on experience you just can’t get elsewhere. It’s not just a slogan: We Know Your Neighborhood.
The Rhodes Group at Compass 214-520-4422 therhodesgroup.com
FACE OF REAL ESTATE
There were four Blue Top locations in Dallas, including one at the former The Lot site in East Dallas.
PIZZA, POOLS AND PLAYGROUNDS
A HISTORY OF THE LOT SITE PROPOSED FOR REZONING
RAISE YOUR HAND if you knew that the earliest commercial use of the former The Lot restaurant site was a hotel. Not just any hotel, the Blue Top Courts and Lodges.
There is more unique neighborhood history associated with the land formerly occupied by The Lot and Local Traveler. The sites are slated for rezoning to 320 apartments and an additional 10,00020,000 square feet of commercial space.
The land is located at the 3G intersection of Gaston, Garland and Grand. So was the Blue Top Courts and Lodges. A vintage advertising piece notes four Blue Top locations in Dallas at the time. The postcard depicts a Route 66-style motor court with Art Deco motif and the four Dallas addresses where a traveler could stay.
Neighborhood lifer Kyle Rains recalls that Garland Road/Grand Avenue was known as U.S. Highway 67 and Texas State Highway 78. It was a way to travel through Dallas before the construction of Interstate 30.
“There were at least three of these motels along East Grand,” Rains says.
After I-30 became a new thoroughfare through Dallas, fewer guests needed a Blue Top. But families in the growing neighborhoods around the busy intersection did need a place to eat.
Two Tulsa businessmen created Shotgun Sam’s Pizza in 1967. In the early ’70s, the first Dallas location of Shotgun Sam’s was built on the former Blue Top site. Shotgun Sam’s restaurants were family oriented, known for banjo and piano players and what the founders claimed was the country’s first pizza lunch buffet.
Across the street from Shotgun Sam’s, where Raising Cane’s sells chicken, was The Painted Duck, a striptease club, which catered to a different crowd.
Eventually, pizza and spaghetti gave way to burgers and fried shrimp when restaurant operator and entrepreneur Rand Popp moved White Rock Yacht Club to the Shotgun Sam’s building. White Rock Yacht Club was an ’80s version of The Lot, with a big menu and a big play area for kids. Popp added a swimming pool that initially looked inviting, but eventually looked like a science experiment.
Closed by a fire in summer 2005, Popp rebuilt the restaurant but rebranded it as the Backyard Beach Bar, opening in 2006. New to the mix were several sand volleyball courts, where leagues and pick-up beach volleyball were also on the menu. Somewhere along the line, Popp built an apartment onsite for his personal residence. It was on the second floor, so Popp lived above the store. Literally.
Backyard Beach Bar closed in 2010, but hand it to Popp: He ran a restaurant on the same site in a very tough restaurant town for nearly 30 years.
After selling the real estate, Popp moved to Central America to focus full time on operating and expanding Banana Beach Resort in Trujillo Bay, Honduras.
In 2013, a group of seven East Dallas neighbors with restaurant and real estate experience bought the site from Popp. The investment strategy was straightforward — run a successful restaurant operation with the backstop of a great location that could eventually be sold for a higherdensity real estate development.
John McBride, from the family that operated El Fenix for 90 years, inspired the vision for The Lot. The concept attracted neighborhood families and added a new customer segment of walkers, runners and cyclists from the Santa Fe Trail.
To protect and enhance their investment in The Lot, the group purchased the site of Jimmy’s WheelIn in 2017. The group did not intend to open a restaurant in the longtime convenience store and bait shop, but they doubled down. In 2018, the group invested $1.1 million in what became Local Traveler, converting the existing structure into a restaurant with a different vibe than The Lot.
“We felt there was a market for East Dallas couples and professionals who were tired of going north or west for an interesting dining experience and a good wine list,” says Jeff Burrow, one of the seven original investors.
The Lot had a nice run from 20142018. Burrow noted the seasonality of a concept that leaned heavily on families with kids and outdoor seating became tougher to overcome. Local Traveler had a genuine following, just not one large enough.
Then came the pandemic.
After a spirited try at to-go only concepts at each place, the owners closed The Lot and Local Traveler in 2020.
National real estate developer Mill Creek Residential has the high-profile sites under contract and is proposing a mixed-use development, subject to a change in zoning.
What will be next at Garland and Grand and Gaston?
READ MORE Stay up to date on development.
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Norman has a sophisticated palate. The English cream golden retriever has been to at least 15 wineries and a couple of breweries with his owner Victoria Vanderwoude. Sometimes he’s allowed a sip, but he’s much more interested in the ice. His go-to “drink” is the puppuccino from Starbucks. The cup filled with whipped cream is so irresistible, Norman escaped the backyard and meandered to the Starbucks at Hillside Village. “He’s a spoiled only child,” Vanderwoude says. Vanderwoude adopted Norman from the Paws of Love Animal Rescue, which saved him from a high-kill shelter in Greenville. When Vanderwoude took him home, he was malnourished and had urine burns on his hind legs from sitting in his cage. “He had no name, no age, no background — nothing,” Vanderwoude says. A healthy diet and some antibiotics returned Norman to his playful self. One time, in pursuit of a bird, Norman leaped over the barrier at the dog park and laid chase into White Rock Lake. “My fiancé ran down the shoreline trying to get him back,” Vanderwoude says. “He thought he was going to have to get a kayak.” After a long day of play, Norman likes to sleep belly up with his legs splayed in the air. —JAIME DUNAWAY-SEALE
WATCH OUR ONLINE VIDEO See Norman’s road to recovery. LAKEWOOD.ADVOCATEMAG.COM
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CARDIOVASCULAR CARE JUST A HEARTBEAT AWAY.
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