Let’s play a game. This morning, I was driving downtown behind a Ford Expedition with the following stickers in the back window:

• An “HP” below a 24 marked by a football
• “Highland Park Baseball”
• “Azusa Pacific University”
• “Ole Miss”

In a community as tightly knit as the Park Cities, I’m betting it won’t take long for one of you to identify the driver. Who will be first?

Highland Belle All-Americans earned a superior rating for their jazz routine.

The Highland Belles performed at the MA North Texas Regional drill team competition Feb.11 and took first place overall, sweeping the competition for the second year in a row. The Belles danced under the direction of Shannon Harty, director, and Emily Sanchez, assistant director.

“Proud really does not adequately describe the feelings I have for this team and their achievements this weekend,” said Harty. “Winning top honors this weekend underscores our team’s dedication, precision, and cutting-edge abilities. The attention to detail and drive it takes to win competitions at this level should never be underestimated.” Read More…

From April 2007 to December 2009, I had the pleasure of covering Bethesda and Chevy Chase, Maryland for The Gazette, a newspaper not wholly unlike Park Cities People.

While there, I was afforded the opportunity to mix and mingle with affluence, a skill that’s served me in my present gig as well. All of this is just an extended intro to say that Highland Park was named to Forbes’ Most Affluent Neighborhoods list this week, behind Chevy Chase and Somerset, Maryland, a small hamlet wedged between Bethesda and Chevy Chase.

Forbes writes:

The haughty section of Dallas, dotted with luxury homes that go for over a million dollars, on average. Someone has to pay Jerry Jones’ PSLs.

I like to think that my reporting has brought these towns (excuse me, “section[s] of Dallas”) into the limelight. Enjoy it while you can; I won’t be here forever.

Coleman Jones and Patrick O'Boyle battle for the ball. (Staff photo: Alana Harrison)

The Highland Park Junior Scots Gold Team, a squad of Special Olympics basketball players, will be introduced at halftime of tonight’s Highland Park Scots varsity basketball game, which begins at 7:30 at Highlander Fieldhouse. Members include Michael Susens (who was featured on the cover of the Feb. 3 edition of Park Cities People), Ben Acker, Ally Wells, Marissa Flood, Chris Wheeler, Luke Andrews, Johnny Griffiths, Aidan Easterling, Will Collet, Emily Himes, Coleman Jones, Nick Jones, Jack Pechenik, Jacob Smith, Sam Syrquin, and Zachary Herring.

If you can’t make it out tonight, the Highland Park Junior Scots Blue and Gold Teams will scrimmage at halftime of the SMU-TCU basketball game scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow at Moody Coliseum. The Blue Team is made up of older athletes who have graduated from high school but participate in Special Olympics through HPISD.

If you miss both of these events, pick up a copy of the Feb. 10 edition of Park Cities People. The Special Olympians will be featured in our new “Little Big Leagues” series.

When I serve lunch at Highland Park High School with Dr. Moody Alexander, we have a lot of time for chitchat. We discuss my kids, his grandkids, sports, politics, and whatever else pops into our heads. But when we worked together last Thursday, Dr. Alexander had something far more interesting to discuss than anything rattling around in my head. The previous Saturday, he had celebrated his 80th birthday by jumping out of a plane. By contrast, I celebrated my 37th birthday last month by … I can’t even remember. Lame.

This house in the 4000 block of Glenwick was particularly festive last year. (Photo: Christina Barany)

My wife and I plan to take our boys on a Christmas-lights cruise this evening. Which streets — or, more specifically, blocks — are over-the-top spectacular this year?

SMU’s Daily Campus had an interesting read yesterday about education differences in Dallas, specifically comparing Highland Park and Woodrow Wilson.

It’s a pretty thorough report, and one that would be interesting for the academic lot. If you’re an HP parent it probably won’t give you much more information than you already know, but it should make you grateful for your son or daughter’s school district.

In the spring, I wrote in the dead tree edition that the Park Cities YMCA was considering some pretty hefty renovations. Some little birds have also told me that those plans could be ready in the next couple weeks, and could even make their way to the University Park City Council soon. That’s the news hook for why I’m posting new video. I found it last night, and if I didn’t have a gym in my building, I’m pretty sure it would convince me to join the Park Cities Y.

Have a look on YouTube.

I’m working on a series of stories about Highland Park Village’s 80th anniversary. I’d love to include testimonials from longtime patrons. If you have a memory of the first movie you saw there or a special outfit purchased there or a momentous meal enjoyed there, and you wouldn’t mind sharing said memory with the readers of Park Cities People, please call me at 214-523-5272 or email me at dan.koller@peoplenewspapers.com.

Last night, my family and I visited Rafa’s for the first time. I know this place is beloved by Park Cities families, as evidenced by the large number of them who were there when we were. But I judge a restaurant by how easy it makes my life as a parent, and Rafa’s failed in that regard.

Our kids were waiting on water for close to 10 minutes after the adults at the table had their drinks. This is especially a problem when the salsa is as spicy as it is at Rafa’s. Once the drinks did arrive, they were a guaranteed mess, because the kitchen had run out of lids.

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