6 December 25 - 31, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents than-encouraging appeals court ruling. Perhaps Dallas needed the money to fight their legal battles in other areas. Worst Social Media Controversy The Preston Hollow Holiday House Last Christmas, a Preston Hollow mansion went viral and absolutely no one was normal about it. Thousands of people came out to see the extreme light show, trampling through yards and running across roads. It became so chaotic that the Dallas Police De- partment had to intervene to provide traffic control, which cost taxpayers. The Dallas City Council was emphatic that this sort of mayhem can’t happen again. Except they sat on that idea for 12 months, and now, what do you know, it’s Christmas again. This year, the homeowners leaned into a Grinch-themed display (Is that shade towards the City Council? Cindy Lou Who’s to say?), and while the fervor surrounding the home hasn’t seemed to reach last year’s level, a handful of Insta- gram reels showing off the lights have reached views into the millions. It is a bit crazy that the social media algorithm could suddenly skyrocket a home in your neighborhood into virality, leading to head- aches for all. Worst Betrayal of the People The Luka Trade If the trade of Luka Doncic — the son of Dal- las, the chosen one destined to lead the Mav- ericks to a championship — had occurred a year earlier, someone would have easily got- ten enough signatures to get the firing of (now former) Mavericks’ General Manager Nico Harrison onto the Dallas City Charter. We dare say the voters would have passed the measure unanimously, so relentless was the vitriol Harrison’s decision to send Luka to L.A. inspired. You didn’t think this travesty would get left off this type of list, did you? This is a town of toddlers and goldendoodles named Luka, and the middle-of-the-night send-off was something most Mavs fans haven’t, and likely will never, get over. Our only consola- tion, as this year comes to a close, is that Harrison was indeed fired. Still, we want Luka back. Worst Policy Change Southwest Airlines’ Two-Bag Policy When Southwest Airlines announced the end of its long-time “two bags fly free” pol- icy, a piece of our soul died. We warned that the decision to discard a policy at the heart of the company’s founding ethos was a har- binger of more dire consequences to come. And indeed, Southwest Airlines has since devalued its own points system, introduced assigned seating, and though we can’t prove it, we swear the flights are more expensive than they used to be. For the Dallasites who had sworn fealty to our hometown airline, who spent decades believing that it flew above the rest precisely because of its people-first approach to travel, Southwest Airlines’ fall from grace was among the worst things to happen in 2025. Worst Policy Change (Runner-Up) Dos Equis Parking Passes Earlier this month, Dos Equis Pavilion an- nounced that, starting in 2026, it would charge separately for parking passes. Ex- pectedly, Dallasites were pissed. The venue stated that the idea was to allow ticket buy- ers the freedom to be exempt from the fee if they preferred transportation through modes such as rideshare apps or DART. For us, it felt like free parking. While we understand that nobility, we can’t help but wonder if it’s going to make a bad situ- ation worse. Have you ever tried to get in and out of that lot for a sold-out show before? It’s a sanity-testing abyss to begin with, and we’d like to hope that the team at the venue has fig- ured out a way to make parking passes smoother, but we’re less than optimistic. Worst Speakeasy (Because It Isn’t Really a Speakeasy) Ball and Buck The speakeasy: a piece of American history stemming from the days of Prohibition, when all the miscreants whispered secret passwords and snuck through hidden doors to drink old- fashioneds and dry martinis with alcohol pro- vided by the mafia. The need for secret back-alley bars ended when the 18th Amend- ment banning alcohol was repealed, but that has done absolutely nothing to stop stuffy, dim-lit bars with no signage from charging $21 for a Tito’s concoction with a twist. Ball and Buck is like no other speakeasy, mostly because it traded the full-service bar for racks of expensive American-made men’s clothing. Don’t be fooled by the large and obvious sign on the side of the building that reads “Ball and Buck Sporting Goods.” That’s a front; it’s actually a store inside a store. The secret-ish flagship of the men’s clothing brand is conveniently tucked be- hind an unassuming buck-hunting arcade game in the corner of a fake tackle shop on Knox Street. At the very least, in an ode to the days of Capone, while you shuffle through $150 camo-print button-downs, the store offers complimentary beer on tap and bourbon, though it’s no bathtub gin. Worst (Easiest) Place To Run Into a Y’all Street Broker The Skellig If you squint, Dallas isn’t really all that dif- ferent from New York City. We have a daz- zling skyline, a sometimes scary public transportation system, at least a half-dozen rats and starting next year, our very own stock exchange. If you wanted even more fi- nance bros in Dallas, you’re getting ‘em, and there’s no better place to run into one of them than at their unofficial after-hours headquarters, The Skellig. What about the Irish pub in Knox Hen- derson attracts such a large quantity of just- graduated-from-SMU men after a long, grueling day of work at their father’s For- tune 500 company is beyond us. But the Skellig’s fish and chips almost warrant their reputation for bar-to-door Saturday night crowds packed with upside-down-Dallas hat wearers holding an AMEX. Worst Line To Stand In Double D’s on a Random Thursday Night Picture this: The night is young, you’re feel- ing hot and the dancefloor calls, so you rally your pals for a midweek night out on the town. Who hasn’t clocked into a Friday shift hungover, anyway? You saunter to one of the best clubs in the city, Double D’s in the De- sign District, but to your utter shock and horror, there’s already a line wrapped around the corner at 10 p.m. It seemed that the entire city heard the call of the discotheque, and they all re- sponded. On a positive note, though, per- haps that’s just what happens when a bar has some of the nicest bartenders and the best DJs this city has to offer. Worst Piece of Folklore The Bullet Train The Scots have the Loch Ness Monster. Mexico has the chupacabra. But here in Dal- las, we have something far more terrifying: the Texas Central Railway. They say if you listen closely while stuck in bumper-to- bumper traffic on hour five of the should-be 3.5-hour trek between Dallas and Houston, you can hear the soft whistle of the Ghost of Texas Central Railway blowing in the dis- tance. The proposed bullet train, which was first conceptualized in the ‘70s, when Texas still had Democratic governors, has haunted the nightmares of those with any logistical (and budgetary) awareness of rail construction for the last 50 years. We should probably resolve our existing Dallas Area Rapid Transit system woes before we start seriously planning any more massive public transportation projects. But maybe if we say “bullet train” in the mirror three times fast, Amtrak and $40 billion will ap- pear. Worst Stretch of Freeway Woodall Rodgers Freeway A septic artery runs through the heart of Dallas, pumping broken dreams and King Ranch Ford exhaust straight into your soul, and it’s called Woodall Fuck You Rodgers Freeway. Texas A&M’s Transportation In- stitute has ranked this east-west thorough- fare as the third most congested segment in the state. Unfortunately, if you want to traverse to I-35, I-45, I-30 or Central Expressway any- where near downtown, you’re bound to this park underpass. And once you get through it — where signs instruct you which way to run in case of fire — you’re faced with a moral crossroad: get in line and wait your turn like the sucker you are, or be one of the total a-holes blazing an outside lane to dive- bomb the front of the line. And for the peo- ple who break down every day (every! day!) inside that fluorescent smog-scape, they don’t deserve any special punishment (not that I’ve not pondered it): the tunnel has al- ready done enough. Worst Proposed Sports Franchise Move Dallas Stars to the Northern Suburbs Want nice Dallas sports things? TOO BAD! If this city had to get a face tattoo, that would be it. When the Dallas Stars brought hockey to the city in 1993, Reunion Arena was the perfect home: packed and loud. Lo- cal sports fans were instantly hooked. The American Airlines Center, which the team shares with the Dallas Mavericks and many touring shows, has been a wonderful second home for the team. The bars and restaurants in the surrounding neighborhood are great for a pregame dinner or postgame drink. Generational fun, dare we say. But, no, we just can’t have nice things. The Stars are eyeing a $1 billion Collin County home as the American Airlines Cen- ter is allegedly outdated and they want to own the land around it. Hearing this news from the team this year was just gutting. And there’s a shortage of premium seating, which has nothing to do with the real fans in three hundreds. Unfair Park from p4 Mike Brooks Above: The Preston Hollow holiday house. Left: There’s always a line at Double D’s. Mike Brooks
