Is everything more plastic, planned and painful if it happens at Victory Park?
Hardcore disclaimer: I don't dig Victory Park. I don't dig the faux planning, I don't dig the faux Times Square, and I don't dig the metal 'n glass look-how-made-we-are façade of the whole shebang. I know we need a big, pretty place like the American Airlines Center so we can watch our sports teams -- arguably the best things about Dallas -- fail miserably in the playoffs. But Victory Park is a big, nasty monstrosity stuck on the side of a big, nasty highway and it does nothing to help Dallas rid itself of its pretentious, self-important stereotype. Actually, at this point, I'm reluctant to even call it a stereotype. We may as well call it our full-on identity, considering this recent event:
I read late yesterday evening on some other blog that Victory Park is hosting a Tuesday night movie -- Jaws, to be exact. Just so happens that the Belmont Hotel -- also, arguably another one of the best things about Dallas with what is unarguably the best view of Dallas -- has a kitschy movie night on Tuesdays, too. Tomorrow they're showing Night of the Living Dead. Bar's open at 6-ish out by the pool, movie starts at 8 p.m.
Hey, Victory Park Metal 'n Glass Makes It Easier To See Our Hot Reflections Club, are there not six other nights in the week? Or were you guys just wanting to crank up the vacuum, sucking people away from something truly beautiful -- the sight of Downtown from Oak Cliff -- into the poshie fold of pre-fab pretension?
At the Belmont, you'll be able to enjoy a cold brew or cocktail out by a lovely pool next to a grassy lawn, all on the campus of a beautifully restored hotel that's been a Dallas landmark for years. At Victory Park, you'll be able to buy soft drinks, candy and popcorn and eat them atop a heat-storing concrete plaza. Of course, beautiful people don’t sweat, so you'll probably be fine. But that's for the plebes, anyway. Dallas' elite can grab a spot on the Nove or N9NE patios if they want a high-priced hard drink -- which is exactly what it would take to get me through two hours of anything at VIP-tory Park.
See you at the Belmont. --Andrea Grimes
