New museum on the block

Perot Museum of Nature and Science opens big and proud

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Ross Perot, Margot Birmingham and others cut theribbon to officially open the Perot Museum.
Photo by Spencer Jay
Perot Museum CEO Nicole Ginsburg Small speaks to the crowd while flanked (fromright) by museum namesake Ross Perot, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Carolyn PerotRathjen and Margot Birmingham Perot, among others.
Photo by Spencer Jay
Ross Perot and Margot Birmingham Perot.
Photo by Spencer Jay
Anje Lockhart (left) and Rachael Lincoln of Bandaloop rappelled down thebuilding as part of the opening ceremonies.
Photo by Spencer Jay
Two children enjoying the leap frogs in front of the museum.
Photo by Spencer Jay
Children playing the xylophone in the music garden in front of the Perot Museum.
Photo by Spencer Jay
The balloon man was a popular pre-opening attraction.
Photo by Spencer Jay

It's been an extraordinarily busy year in Dallas, with no less than four major openings along the downtown/Woodall Rodgers corridor. The final month of 2012 kicked off with the Perot Museum of Nature and Science on Saturday, December 1.

More than 10,000 people packed the museum during opening weekend to check out the museum's 11 exhibit halls, 3D theater and multiple interactive exhibits. In fact, daytime slots to the museum sold out on Saturday, making their decision to stay open until midnight that day seem wise. The museum has already sold about 12,000 memberships.

Multiple dignitaries were on hand for ribbon cutting Saturday morning, including Margot and Ross Perot, the namesakes of the building, plus their five children and multiple grandchildren. Also in attendance were Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and other Dallas City Council members, as well as Perot Museum CEO Nicole Ginsburg Small and her family.

While the adults beamed at their accomplishment, kids banged on xylophones in the music garden and watched Bandaloop rappel down the side of the building — just a taste of the learning and excitement to come.

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Want to see our city's influencers playing in the museum? Then check out our coverage of the Perot Museum opening gala.

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This Week's Hot Headlines

Round of restaurant closures leads Dallas' most-read stories this week

Photo courtesy of On the Border

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Editor's note: Recent and impending restaurant closures, along with department stores downsizing, lead the top Dallas news of the week. But there is also an exciting update for fans of supermarket chain H-E-B, which finally has plans for a store in Dallas proper. Read our most popular stories of the week below, then find our guide to Martin Luther King Jr. Day events around DFW here.

1. Some surprising names in this list of Dallas restaurant closures. The end of one year and beginning of another often provokes soul-searching and some closing of doors. That's definitely the case in the Dallas restaurant world, with a rash of closings that have taken place in recent weeks. These six restaurants have either just closed or are about to.

2. Macy's and Kohl's to shutter these Dallas-Fort Worth stores in 2025. A major department store name is contracting its presence in Dallas-Fort Worth: Macy's is planning on closing five of its locations throughout DFW by the end of April in 2025. Macy's is not alone: Clothing retailer Kohl's will also be shuttering 27 underperforming stores by April 2025, including its North Dallas location.

Macy's Macy's and Kohl's are shuttering stores in early 2025. Courtesy photo

3. Dallas Fire Rescue deploys firefighting posse to Los Angeles. On January 11, Dallas sent a firefighting posse to Los Angeles, where multiple ongoing fires have burned tens of thousands of acres near the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties since January 7.

4. Supermarket chain H-E-B acquires site for its first store in Dallas. Dallas is finally in line to get an H-E-B. According to a release, the Texas supermarket chain has purchased property in Dallas: a 10-acre site at the southeast corner of Hillcrest Road and LBJ Freeway.

5. New Dallas coffee shop opens with good coffee — and great hair. A new coffee shop with some serious styling has opened near downtown Dallas: Called Common Good, it's located at 1619 N. Hall St., right off Ross Avenue, in what was previously a retail outlet for Rakkasan Tea Company, who left the space in mid-2024.