Historic House Porn

How to get inside that Philip Johnson house and 5 more historic Dallas homes

Dallas was buzzing when news broke that the Philip Johnson-designed house on Strait Lane had hit the market for a cool $27.5 million. And now enthusiasts have a chance to see inside the home that the New York Times called the “the most strangely fascinating thing” the famed architect ever created.

On Saturday, October 25, Preservation Dallas is hosting the 2014 Fall Architecture Home Tour — Grounds for Preservation, featuring historic Dallas homes in Highland Park, Preston Hollow, Kessler Park and Lakewood. The $100 patron ticket ($85 for Preservation Dallas members) gets you access to the Johnson house and four more:

The Rife House by Fooshee and Cheek at 4400 Belfort Ave., built in 1937
The Bromberg House by O’Neil Ford at 3201 Wendover Rd., built in 1939
The Ray House at 9784 Audubon Place, built in 1963
The Hayes House by Harold Prinz at 718 Kessler Lake, built in 1955

The patron ticket also includes entrance to the patron party on October 23, 6-8 pm, at 10260 Strait Ln., which was designed by Hal Yoakum in 1937. There is also a $50 ticket option ($40 for members), which includes access to the above four homes but not the Philip Johnson house.

This home tour, however, isn’t only about snooping through historic homes; it also seeks to enlighten. It begins at the Angelika Theater at Mockingbird Station with a continental breakfast and architectural symposium. Panelists include architect Cole Smith Sr., landscape architect John Armstrong and historian/author Michael Hazel, who discuss multiple facets of historic estate design in Dallas.

Tickets for the tour can be purchased online; reservations are required and non-refundable. Check-in begins at 8:30 am for the breakfast and symposium, which begins at 9, and the tour starts immediately afterward. Attendees are required to check in at the Angelika.

You can also become a member of Preservation Dallas, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the city’s historic buildings, neighborhoods and places.

The Ray House, 1963.

Photo courtesy of Preservation Dallas

The Ray House, 1963.

unspecified

Toy News

Japanese collector toy store to open at Firewheel center in Garland

Gashapon

undefined

A new store for people who like to collect small plastic objects is coming to Garland. It's called Gashapon Bandai Official Shop, and it's opening in June at Firewheel Town Center, where it will sell "capsule toys" — miniature plastic toys packaged in clear plastic capsules.

Gashapon is a type of vending machine that dispenses capsule toys. The concept is popular in Japan, with machines found in train stations, arcades, convenience stores, and other locations. (The name "Gashapon" is derived from the sounds of turning the handle ("gasha") and the capsule dropping ("pon").)

The toys inside Gashapon capsules can be characters from cultural realms like manga, video games, or Japanese anime franchises. Or they can be coasters, or food miniatures, or charms you attach to your purse or notebook, or little animal figures, or little whimsical animal figures, or little statues, or an assortment of little plastic hats, or a quartet of tiny jewelry stands in pastel colors (buy them all!).

The machines take tokens which cost $2 to $2.50 each; most toys "cost" 2 to 4 tokens each.

The idea of capsule toys — coin-operated vending machines — actually originated in the U.S. in 1907 along with bubble-gum machines. Japan embraced it in the 1960s, and the Gashapon chain was launched in Japan in 1977.

The first U.S. Gashapon Bandai Official Shop opened in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo district in February 2023.

The entire thing is driven by collector frenzy. The toys are produced in limited quantities, and in sets, which encourages customers to acquire every member of the set.

Customers do not know what they will get until they turn the vending machine handle — not unlike slot machines. Like gambling. Or as Gashapon says more delicately, "The element of surprise brings excitement during the purchase and gets everyone hooked!" … furthering the frenzy even further.

Garland will make the fifth location in Texas; following Hurst, which opened in May; Grapevine Mills Mall and Houston, which opened in 2024; and Mitsuwa Marketplace in Plano which opened in 2023 (There's also a kiosk at Grapevine Mills Mall.)

openings shopping kids