Everybody's Doing it

The Highland Park Pharmacy opened in 1912. 

It's still a working pharmacy, with a real pharmacist. 

and a soda fountain, which is always packed in summer. This was the scene last week when I stopped in for a grilled cheese and coffee. 

When I paid the bill, I saw this:

How a 97-year old stays relevant.

New Store Alert: Antiques Moderne

Antiques Moderne just opened a few weeks ago on North Industrial Blvd, near the Dallas Design District. Owners John Bacile and Carey Sexton have been in the business for years and know their stuff. It's antiques, designer showroom pieces (such as Baker), estate and consignment pieces. The prices are great.

I stopped by last Thursday with Dana Card  who told me about it first. 

This Curtis Jere wall sculpture is one of several Dana and I saw in the store last week. 

This 1940s secretary is by Jules Leleu. 

These rosewood Thomasville nesting game tables are in fantastic condition. Somebody cool needs to buy them.

I know it's not popular to like real hides, but authentic ones, like this zebra, are so wonderful.

I got the backstory on this amazing taxidermy giraffe. A big game hunter bagged it and then couldn't afford the $8,000 tab to get it out of the taxidermy shop, so he left it there. That was 20 years ago. 

He's really quite poignant and beautiful. It makes me sad to think that someone shot him for sport, then just left him in the taxidermy shop. Still, what's done is done, and he needs a good home. I'd hate to see him end up in the Rainforest Cafe  out in Grapevine Mall.

This is a stunning optic textile, don't you think?

James Mont style chairs, part of a set of four or five pieces including a large dining room console. The pieces are spread out over the shop, so ask for them.

These lamps are like candy. Lollipops maybe.

I love this glamorous stone surfboard coffee table with its faux bamboo legs. If I had room for it, I'd take it home. [Click on the image to enlarge the details].

For a virtual tour of the store, go here.

Leslie Bell's 60th Birthday Picnic

Everyone in the design business in Dallas knows Leslie Bell, who ran the Baker Knapp & Tubbs showroom for decades until she retired a little more than a year ago.

It was Leslie's 60th birthday yesterday and she wanted to have a picnic. Her friends talked her out of it because it's too dang hot to sit outside and eat. So, Leslie moved the picnic inside. 

Her friends brought chicken from Bubba's and made deviled eggs

another friend made this amazing chocolate birthday cake

We all gathered inside Leslie's house, which used to be a plain old ranch until Lionel Morrison  got a hold of it. Here's the courtyard entry. I love how the color of the Japanese maple matches the color of the water sculpture.

Guests arriving -- but look at the left, inside the mailbox. 

It's Gumby. 

Here's the former ranch house, now the Bell's limestone-clad modernist digs. 

Leslie wore a circa 1950 apron she bought an estate sale.

The house is filled with whimsical art.

Agnes.

Even the bathroom has art.

Leslie's studio, where she makes art herself.

Here's a piece of art Leslie made from a knot hole that looks like a bird's eye, and a piece of concrete stolen from Lionel Morrison's yard, which she used as a base.

Ever wonder what happened to Claudia Armstrong (above) after her wonderful store, At My Table, closed recently? She's making handmade Lucite and wood furniture pieces, which you can buy soon on Etsy