The Lakes - Lakes and LOE version

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LAKEFRONT LIVING

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Custom built by Westport, this expansive Mediterranean lakefront estate on a private cul-de-sac is an entertainer's paradise! Outside you'll find all of the amenities of a luxury outdoor space, from the resort-like pool & spa, to the covered summer kitchen, fire pit & private yard space overlooking the lake. Inside you'll note the distinctive architectural details, stunning tile & walls of windows with soothing water views.

The Lakes Magazine is published bi-monthly by sns media and mailed to Lakes On Eldridge, Lakes On Eldridge North, and Twin Lakes residents vis USPS.

LOE Board of Directors 2022/2023

Bill Rainbolt ........................................ President

Jim Wynn Vice President

David Holsinger Secretary

Julie Applegate .................................. Treasurer

Alphine Freeman Director at Large

Stephanie Preto .................................. President

Mark Over ton ............................Vice President

Farah Paliwala Treasurer

Shakeel Yakoob ................................ Secretary

Tom DeScioli Director

The

Deadline

LIVE IT OUT

Just last summer, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Hermann Park. While many will debate their favorite park, Houston is fortunate to have two of the largest and best parks in the US. As Memorial Park reaches its centennial, we look back at its storied past as it has gone through yet another renaissance. A drought and hurricane left the park wobbly on its feet. The park is now more robust and upright after a thoughtful and expensive overhaul and with the hope of sustaining it for another 100 years.

The parks and their open spaces create meaning in a city that sometimes seems like an endless stretch of concrete. Parks, local culture, and our sports teams become synonymous with a city’s identity. Much depends on those open wide spaces that relieve the pressures of inner-city traffic and everyday hustle. It’s hard to imagine New York City without Central Park. The same is true of Memorial Park and Houston. At 1,500 acres, Memorial Park dwarfs NYC Central Park, which is half its size but no less an unavoidable part of NYC. Texas is home to many parks, and I would be remiss not to mention the treasured Big Bend National Park, which personifies everything is bigger in Texas, covering over 800,00 acres.

As Memorial Park turns 100, it will host the Houston Open as it did in 1947 and again in the fifties and part of the sixties. The tournament in 2024 has a new title sponsor, with Texas Children’s Hospital committing to a five-year naming rights deal.

Speaking of space, it has become a hot commodity inside our many beautiful and historic neighborhoods. Who would have thought fifteen years ago a tiny refurbished bungalow in the Heights would sell for three-quarters of a million dollars? Houston real estate prices continue to climb and remain a top investment for families and individuals. Check out our annual real estate roundup of some of Houston’s most popular neighborhoods, written by expert realtors who work to buy and sell properties. Fortunately, the City has allowed less fortunate and affluent buyers to live in the City where they can access all of the same schools and work opportunities through the Houston Housing and Community Development Program. Through our local Affordable Home Development Program, for-profit and non-profit developers receive funding from the City to make homes attainable for Houstonians. The (HCD) Single Family division’s mission is to create new single-family homeownership opportunities throughout Houston. The City will finance building new mixed-income neighborhoods to increase attainable homebuyer opportunities for Houstonians at various income levels.

As Houston real estate continues its climb in value, it is important to have affordable housing options.

Big Bend National Park

Central Park, NYC

Memorial Park

MEMORIAL PARK

Celebrating 100 Years

“Rich in history” doesn’t do this place justice. Describing Houston’s Memorial Park and its significance and popularity cannot be overstated. Over 100 years ago, Ima Hogg donated the original land and proclaimed what it was to remain. Ima Hogg, sister to the park’s benefactors, Will and Mike Hogg, declared the land “for park purposes only” and, if not, was to be returned. Houstonians have honored this pledge throughout the years, and now in a big way. Picnics, marriages, walks, runs, prayers, sightseeing, cycling, and golfing are just a few daily happenings this park has provided over the last 100 years for the hundreds of thousands of Houstonians and out-of-towners visiting the park each year.

According to sources, Texas and Houston experienced a deadly drought in 2011 that devastated the park and threatened or killed almost half the trees. Only three years earlier, in 2008, Hurricane Harvey provided a double whammy to the park’s ecosystem.

It was time for the park to undergo a major transformation, with Thomas Wolf Byrd Landscape Architects to the rescue rather than an initial idea of replanting back to its original dense forest.

In the early 1900s, the land was an orchard and also used for logging and brickmaking. Trees were cut down to build Camp Logan, a World War I training site infamous for a deadly uprising by black soldiers in 1917. At the war’s end, pines refilled the campsite, burying this history in the thicket of trees. According to Shellye Arnold, Memorial Park Conservancy president and CEO, efforts were made later to acknowledge the race riot incident. There’s a plaque commemorating the camp, with personal quotes from more than 50 Houstonians about what the park means to them.

Many of these trees did not survive the drought.

The response to this loud ecological wake-

up call and the growing chorus of prominent Houston residents ultimately decided the park’s fate - reimagine Memorial Park.

The golf course was redone in 2019 to make way for the Return of the Houston Open, and now it’s the park’s turn to blossom. The first phase was the 100-acre Memorial Park Land Bridge and Prairie, which merged infrastructure with ecology and what Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects principal Thomas Woltz describes as landscape infrastructure.

“Why should we separate habitat restoration and large-scale infrastructure?” asks Woltz. He adds that as cities become denser and more vulnerable to natural disasters, this approach will likely become the norm, not the exception.

Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park, famously merged landscape, infrastructure, and culture, setting a precedent and creating some of the most important landscapes ever created. As specialization became the norm in all design fields, landscape architects were no longer relegated to planting and shaping gardens, parks, and other green spaces. Still, as Woltz put it, we can “expand the language of landscape architecture and what it could be.”

One of Memorial Park’s shining stars is the world-class public golf course in the center. Legends like Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player roamed the fairways, mainly in the 1950s. Today, the park hosts the Texas Children’s Houston Open PGA Tour event in late March.

The Astros Golf Foundation and the PGA Tour teamed with Texas Children’s, one of the most extensive pediatric and women’s health systems in the nation headquartered in Houston. Mark Wallace, head of Texas Children’s, and Jim Crane, the Astros managing partner, signed Texas Children’s as the new title sponsor of the PGA Tour’s Houston Open in a new five-year agreement beginning this year and running through 2028. Texas Children’s has supported the Houston Open before the new deal, serving as a community partner for the past two years.

Can you imagine Houston without Memorial Park? It’s like imagining Houston without the Astrodome and its favorite hometown team. It simply is the place that is not only celebrated daily as the center of Houston but also its true beating heart. An oasis in the middle of a concrete city makes everything else OK. Here’s to the next 100 years.

The Memorial Park Conservancy and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects provided most of the information.

In her book People of Memorial Park, Stacy Holden said, “Bush and his wife were out here quite a bit, not only before and after the presidency, but even during the presidency.” His motorcade passed through Memorial Park before getting to the train that would eventually make it to College Station, where he was buried later that day.

Arts +

EVENTS

MUSEUMS

Asia Society Texas Center

Rafael Domenech and Tomas Vu: Heat Silhouette

Ongoing through June 2

Xu Bing: Word Alchemy

Ongoing through July 14

Museum Of Fine Arts Houston

Yayoi Kusama “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity”

Ongoing

Crowning the North: Treasures from Bergen, Norway

Ongoing through May 5

Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage

Ongoing through May 12

Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence

Ongoing through May 27

Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism

Ongoing through May 27

Contemporary Arts

Museum Houston

Six Scenes from Our Future

Ongoing through Mar 17

This Way: A Houston Group Show

Ongoing through Mar 24

Holocaust Museum Houston

The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection

Ongoing through June 23

Menil Collection

Chryssa & New York

Ongoing through Mar 10

Wall Drawing Series: Marc Bauer

Ongoing through Summer 24

Janet Sobel: All-Over

Ongoing through Aug 11

Houston Museum Of Natural Science

Permanent Exhibits

Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. Hall

Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals

Everyday Faberge

Farish Hall of Texas Wildlife

Frensley/Graham Hall of African Wildlife

Hall Of Ancient Egypt

Hamman Hall Of Texas Coastal Ecology

Herzstein Foucault Pendulum

John McGovern Hall of The Americas

Lester & Sue Smith Gem Vault

Morian Hall of Paleontology

Starke Hall of Malacology

Wiess Energy Hall

Welch Hall of Chemistry

Special Exhibitions

Sharks! The Meg, The Monsters, & The Myths

King Tut’s Tomb Discovery Experience

MUSIC & DANCE

HOUSTON SYMPHONY

See the classical music column

THEATER

A.D. Players

Kingdom Undone

March 13 through 30

Alley Theatre

The Nerd

Ongoing through March 17

The World Is Not Silent

March 22 through April 14

Jane Eyre

April 12 through May 5

Broadway Across America

The Hobby Center

Beetlejuice

Ongoing through March 10

Girl From the North Country

April through May 5

STAGES REPERTORY THEATER

Sister’s Irish Catechism: Saints, Snakes ...

Ongoing through March 17

Laughter in Spanish

Ongoing through March 17

THE ENSEMBLE THEATER

Beat Box A Raporetta

March 22 through April 14

MEMBER FDIC

Install view of Six Scenes from Our Future at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2023. Photo by Francisco Ramos.

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander

Theatre Under the Stars

The Cher Show

April 16 through April 28

SPORTS

Houston Astros

Minute Maid Park

March

28 Opening Day NY Yankees

29 NY Yankees

30 NY Yankees

April

1-3 Toronto

12-14 Texas

15-17 Atlanta

30 Cleveland

Houston Dynamo

Shell Energy Field

April 20 Austin FC

May

4

Louis City FC

29 Colorado Rapids

Houston Rockets

Intown’s Classical Music Editor and Critic, the Hon. Philip Berquist, Honorary Consul for the Republic of Croatia for Texas

Here we are, nearly spring, and it is time for the 2023-2024 classical music to have its final activities in Houston and there are a variety of really exceptional opportunities for all of us.

HOUSTON BALLET

Beginning on March 7, 2024, Houston Ballet offers a trio of one act ballets with contrasting music styles. The entire evening is entitled, Bespoke.

The first act is the title piece, “Bespoke,” danced to the music of various Bach violin concertos. Next is “Overgrown Path” to the music of the great Czech composer, Leoš Janåček. The evening concludes with “Filigree and Shadow” with more modern music by 48nord.

There are six presentations beginning on March 7 at 7:30pm, March 9, 7:30pm, a matinee on March 10, 2:00pm, March 15 and 16, each at 7:30pm, with a concluding matinee on March 17, 2:00pm.

In late May, Houston Ballet presents “Mayerling” a chilling tale with music by Franz Liszt. Performances are May 23, 25, and 31, 7:30pm a matinee on May 26, 2:00pm, and two June dates, June 1, 7:30pm and a final matinee, June 2, 2:00pm.

The season ends with “Four Seasons” featuring “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux”, “Elapes” with music by Zeng Xiaogang, “World Premiere” to music by Dwight Rhoden, and “Four Seasons”, music by Antonio Vivaldi. Again there are six performances, June 6, 8, 15, 15 at 7:30pm and matinees on June 19 and 16, at 2:00pm.

All performances are held at the Wortham Center, Brown Theater. For tickets and further information - www.houstonballet.org

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA

HGO presents the ever popular “Don Giovanni” by Mozart. The opera was presented initially in Prague in October 1787 conducted by Mozart himself. A year later it was presented in Vienna, again conducted by the composer. The story is, of course, well known - Don Giovanni, more commonly known as Don Juan, and calling him a rogue is probably too tame.

This production features Luca Pisaroni as the Don, Ryan McKinny as his faithful compan-

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ion, Leporello, Adrianna Churchman as Donna Anna, Sasha Cooke at Donna Elvira, Kang Wang as Don Ottavio and Erika Baikoff as Zerlina. But, for me, the big draw of this production is the conductor, the famed Mozart interpreter, Dame Jane Glover. Her conducting should be stunning.

Don Giovanni will be performed on April 19, 27, May 1, and May 3 at 7:30pm one matinee, Sunday, May 21, 2:00pm. Don Giovanni runs 3 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission.

The season concludes with a production of the Rogers and Hammerstein hit, “The Sound of Music.” Set to the true story of the Von Trapp family in Austria during the lead up to World War 2 and their escape to the United States. This will be conducted by Robert Bado, the Chorus Master of HGO (for over 35 years!).

There are five performances - April 26, 30 and May 4 at 7:30pm and two matinees, April 28 and May 5 at 2:00pm.

All performances at the Wortham Center, Brown Theater. For tickets and further information - www.houstongrandopera.org

HOUSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The final concerts of HSO are, in my humble opinion, some of the best scheduling of great and important music in a three month period that rarely comes along.

Mahler has always been a favorite of mine. The first Mahler symphony that I ever heard live was his 6th in New York in 1978 with Claudio Abbado conducting the “Tragic” and it remains my favorite. HSO Music Director Juraj Valčula conducts three performances - March 15 and 16 at 8:00pm, and Sunday, March 17, 2:30pm. As is usually the case, the symphony is presented alone on the program, and runs approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Kindly forgive me for getting a little into the weeds on the M6. There is continued controversy regarding the order of the movements that has been raging since Mahler composed it in 1904. Originally, the second movement was entitled “Scherzo” and the third movement, “Andante.” Then Mahler had second thoughts and reversed the movements. He even went so far as to have his publisher insert errata slips in each unsold copy to inform the buyer of the switch. After Mahler’s death in 1911, various scholars began the great debate about the order of the movements. If one looks at the very many recordings available, one would find about a 50-50 split as to which order the conductors preferred.

The other point of contention is that Mahler wrote three hammer blows in the final movement depicting “fate.” These culminated with the terrifying third and final hammer blow at the very end of the symphony. Mahler himself wrote of the final hammer blow, “brief and mighty, but dull in resonance and with a non-metallic character (like the fall of an axle).” There has been again much controversy as to question whether Mahler eventually decided to cut the third hammer blow. Generally nearly all performances and recordings nowadays include the third blow. Enough of the weeds!

I have no idea of the order of the movements HSO will use but my guess is that they will include the third hammer blow. Unfortunately, I will be out of town at a wedding so someone will have to inform me. Bad timing for me as the work is seldom performed.

If you go, however, try not to have a heart attack at the huge thunder-strike of fate at the conclusion!

The following week brings the return of one of the great pianists of our generation, Emanuel Ax performing the Mozart Piano Concerto, No. 25. Also on the program is the Beethoven Symphony 3, the “Eroica.” Valčula conducts. March 22 and 23 at 8:00pm and the Sunday matinee May 24 at 2:30pm.

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One week later HSO presents the Dvorak Cello Concerto, with Principal Cellist, Brinton Averil Smith as the soloist on this familiar work. Also on the program are selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Zian Zhang guest conducts. Note that there are only two performances, Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, both at 8:00pm.

Near the end of April, another hugely popular work is featured, this time for four performances in one weekend! Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” will be featured on Friday, April 26 at 8:00pm, Saturday, April 27 at 2:30pm and 8:00pm as well as Sunday, April 28, at 2:30pm. Along with the Orff, J. López Bellido’s Symphony 4. Conducted by former HSO Music Director, Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

May begins with also popular works, the Grieg Piano Concerto and two works by Ottorino Respighi, “The Fountains of Rome” and the thrilling “Pines of Rome.” Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu solos with the Grieg and Fabian Gabel guest conducts.

Memorial Day weekend finds HSO performing “El Nîno” by John Adams. David Robinson guest conducts on May 25, 7:30pm and Sunday, May 26, 2:30pm.

The two concluding concerts represent a new and very exciting programming format for HSO with two presentations of important works of Richard Strauss, “An Alpine Symphony” and a concert performance of the composer’s opera, “Salome.” Both are conducted by Music Director Juraj Valčula as he begins his commitment to full opera performances in Houston. Very exciting stuff.

The “Strauss Festival” begins with “An Alpine Symphony” on Saturday, June 1, at 8:00pm and Sunday, June 2, at 2:30pm. Also on the program are Strauss’s “Symphonic Interlude - Träumerei am Kamin from Intermezzo” as well as the extraordinary “Four Last Songs,” written at the conclusion of the composer’s life, with soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen.

The 2023-2024 season concludes with “Salome” featuring soprano Jennifer Holloway in the title role of Salome, tenor John Daszak as Herodes, mezzo-soprano as Herodias and baritone Mark S. Doss as Johakanaan.

This is big time stuff and the Houston Symphony should be congratulated. These concerts are very highly recommended.

All performances are held in Jones Hall and for ticketing and further information please go to www.houstonsymphony.org

Finally, I want to mention Opera in the Heights (Oh!). In a coming issue I will be interviewing the creative staff of Oh!

In April they will be performing Puccini “La Boheme” at their Lambert Hall facility in the Heights, 1703 Heights Boulevard. There will be four performances - Friday, April 5, 7:30pm, Sunday, April 7, 2:00pm, Friday and Saturday, April 12 and 13, 7:30pm. Eiki Isomura conducts. Isomura is the Artistic and Interim General Director who received his doctorate in orchestral conducting at the University of Michigan.

For tickets and further information please go to www.operaintheheights.org

It has been an eventful cultural season in Houston and I anxiously await the opportunity to showcase 2024-2025.

Let me continue to hear from you at classicalmusicberquist@gmail.com.

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You might be forgiven if you said Tony’s is back. Truth is, it never went anywhere,

but with all the changes in the restaurant world during and after the pandemic, and now the explosion of new fancy vibe dining spots, the venerable Tony’s has been under the radar for many. But it’s not only still going strong, it may be better than ever.

The nationally famous Italian eatery in Greenway Plaza, which turns 59 in April, began life as a more casual Italian spot on Sage Road in 1965, where Tony Vallone himself manned the kitchen and had to buy calamari from bait shops. But the soon-to-be legendary restauranter moved his namesake eatery uptown, literally, to the long-time place on Post Oak where the white table clothes and velvet flocked wallpaper went hand-in-hand with Vallone’s impeccable service and incredible food. It served presidents, princes, and Pavarotti. At a time when Houston’s restaurant scene was mostly burger bars, taquerias, and steakhouses, there was Tony’s.

Then came the move to Richmond Avenue in a new building with a waterfall wall and towering artworks where the influential, the bold-names, and cattle barons came to dine on Alba white truffles and delicate pastas.

And then came 2020. First it was the pandemic and the lock down, and just when things appeared brighter for restaurants, Tony Vallone, at 75, passed quietly in his sleep that September.

“I never thought about closing,” says Donna Vallone, his wife of almost four decades who was always at his side at the restaurant. “I really think he would say ‘I trained you well.’ I paid attention to ev-

It’s about tradition, training, and fun with food

by Marene Gustin

erything he did and said.” So, it was only natural that she would continue the Tony’s tradition. And, two years later when executive chef Austin Waiter left, Donna Vallone called an old friend.

Kate McLean worked her way to become Tony’s first female executive chef in 2013 at just 27 years old. She was a sensation for her youth and talent but by 2017 other muses called and McLean left for a career as a food writer and podcaster.

“I just needed a walkabout,” says McLean. “A different day, writing and bartending.” And while she was successful and happy, she also didn’t hesitate when Donna Vallone called her to come home.

“I just thought it would be a good idea for her to come back,” she says.

“I never thought it would go like this!” says McLean, who is obviously delighted by the turn of events. Donna Vallone says the two are “having fun,” and doing new and exciting things. She

Donna and Kate McLean

Kate McLean

also says many other longtime staff have returned to the fold. McLean says that at Tony’s it’s not just about the best ingredients and extensive wine cellar, it’s about the team and service. “You can’t do this without the people,” says the executive chef and partner.

So, what does Tony’s look like today? It is both everything Tony Vallone made it, and it is refreshing and revitalizing itself.

McLean’s magic in the open kitchen extends from housemade pasta to caviar flights and a special tasting menu. Donna Vallone says she has a lot of creativity and calls her cooking Renaissance like. But besides the food, there are other things afoot. While the lunch crowd is coming back in droves and amazingly the three-course Greenway Express lunch is still only $25, Donna Vallone is planning a Mahjong lunch where diners can nosh on finger foods while playing the ancient Chinese tile game. And the duo plans to move the baby grand piano from the bar to the center of the dining room for Casablanca-style nights from

9:00 p.m. to midnight with a live piano player and a special late-night menu.

The third member of the three amigas is Lauri Vallone Mazzini, Tony and Donna’s daughter who has run the business end for decades. McLean describes her as the grounded one who catches them when she and Donna Vallone are flying too high on their trapeze ideas.

With social media and coverage such as chef Chris Shepherd’s Eat Like a Local TV program, Tony’s is gaining a new generation of fans. Donna Vallone says the crowds are about half old regulars and half new people.

“We’re like a multigenerational wedding,” says McLean. “You’ve got the grandparents over there dancing and toddlers over there playing.”

At Tony’s there’s room for everyone, and all are treated with impeccable service fit for royalty with a taste for the best.

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Donna and Tony Vallone

Donna and Kate McLean

Ann and Ron Kaesermann

Wags & Whiskers Brunch and Pet Fashion Show Raises

$113,000

It was a sold-out show on Saturday, February 17, 2024 as more than 265 philanthropic animal lovers donned their best Western wear and kicked up their boots and raised more than $113,000 at Hotel ZaZa - Museum District for the 11th Annual Wags and Whiskers Brunch, benefiting Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston’s Animeals program, which provides pet food, toys and preventative vet care supplies to over 1,300 pets of homebound seniors in IM’s Meals on Wheels program.

The “Bow Wow West” themed event featured a celebrity pet fashion show produced by Todd Ramos, a silent auction, delicious lunch hosted by event Co-Chairs Shirin and Saied Alavi along with Dr. Vasant Garg and Dr. Kim Tran.

Emcee Casey Curry welcomed guests and fourlegged furry cowpokes to a Rootin’ Tootin’ fun and inspiring program honoring long-time Animeals supporter Greater Good Charities, an organization that works to help people, pets, and the planet by mobilizing in response to need and amplifying the good.

Beth Wolff and Dandy

Casey and Winnie Curry

Ivonne Camareno and Don Cheto

Roger Applewhite and Keyser Soze

Nadia Tajalli, Martin B. Cominsky, Rev. Dr. Tamla Wilson and Dr. Kathy Flanagan

Dr. Vasant Garg, Shirin Alavi and Saied Alavi

Linh Nguyen and Fred Marshall

Alex Blair, Debbie Pakzaban and JuneArthur

Karen and Jay Harberg

Deborah Duncan and Todd Ramos

Dr. Kathy Flanagan, Dr. Loren Blanchard and Nadia Tajalli

Photos by Quy Tran

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