Best Gray Gays 2008 | DFW Prime Timers | Best of Dallas® 2020 | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Dallas | Dallas Observer
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Best Gray Gays

DFW Prime Timers

Gay guys get old too. And this social organization relishes and reveres the more mature man. DFW Prime Timers offer social, educational and self-improvement activities for mature gay and bisexual men and their admirers. General meetings (guests welcome) are held on the third Sunday afternoon of each month at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in the Oak Lawn area. Being a part of Prime Timers can help widen a circle of friends with an endless array of scheduled and spontaneous events. Older gay men use the group to meet and relax with friends who appreciate and respect the accomplishments of a life long lived. This isn't your auntie's sewing circle, however. These still vital gents are young at heart and ready to roll with regular potluck dinners, movie nights, picnic outings, restaurant dining and theater trips. Sub-groups of this club are doing something nearly every day of the week. You're never too old to come out, you know.

Best Honky-Tonk

Adair's Saloon

Adair's is cool, if a little small. Hell, if you didn't know where it was, you might walk right past it—well, if your ears were somehow covered. Adair's makes up for its lack of stature by bringing in more than its fair share of bands to play on its right-by-the-front-door stage. And though the stage isn't necessarily exclusive to hosting country bands, it sure tends to lean that way most of the time. Plus, the bar's biggest draw happens to be a country act; The King Bucks, the area's most revered country cover band not named Boys Named Sue play the stage every Monday night to an attentive crowd of well-lubricated regulars by the bar.

Best Hoochie Lessons

The Girls Room

Within every straitlaced lady there's a stripper busting to get out. Or so they think at the Girls Room, where the emphasis is on sexy exercise, not sleaze. There is something sort of nicely naughty, though, about classes called Beginners Pole Dancing and Intro to Burlesque. Learning to bump and grind in a safe environment is merely an avenue to self-empowerment and getting into shape, says founder Karyn Pentecost. Yoga, belly-dancing, "Pole-lates" and other variations of movement instruction also focus on feminine fitness. Sorry, no guys allowed, no matter how much greenery you throw at the scenery.

Best Idea Ever

Extending the Smoking Ban

Rumblings down at City Hall point to Mayor Tom Leppert and the city council pushing for an extension of our current smoking ordinances to include bars and nightclubs by year's end—to which we say, what took you so long? Sure, there are some Observer staffers who might disagree, but there are also several of us who long for the night we can leave The Double Wide or The Cavern without reeking of music editors past and present. And spare us the "But it's a bar!" excuses. There was a time when it was OK to shoot people in saloons too.

Best Jukebox

Lakewood Landing

Lauren Drewes Daniels

From the outside, the Landing is unassuming at best. Not surprising, considering it proudly calls itself "an upscale dive" on the sign outside. So you walk in, allow your eyes to adjust to just how damn dark it is in there, and you maybe grab some of the surprisingly delicious bar food. And you relax. Subconsciously, you find your head nodding along to the infectious tune coming from the jukebox. You pause. You know this song...what is it? So you walk over to the source and flip through the rows of the machine's albums. Oh look, an Old 97's record. Hey, the Slider Pines. Wow—there's a lot of local discs in this sumbitch. Which makes sense when you find the disc you were looking for. Oh yeah, it's another local: Baboon. You thumb through your pocket, grab a crumpled dollar bill and you keep the local love going. Now this, you think to yourself, this is a jukebox you can get behind.

Best Kids' Party

Kreative Kidz Partyz

If spelling is an issue for your kid in school, you might want to plan his or her party with someone other than Kreative Kidz Partyz. But if you are looking for a place that puts the K in creative and takes the stress out of your party planning, then parents, look no further. This Plano party spot packages themes for birthdays at reasonable prices. By themes, we mean the current pop fixation of your 5-year-old: Disney princesses, Dora the Explorer, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Pop Star Karaoke. Kreative Kidz Partyz does everything, from themed invitations to themed birthday cakes to themed costumes for the partygoers to themed party helpers. For 90 minutes of birthday party-crazy, you let the professionals take care of all the details. Plus there is no nagging cleanup afterward. There's even a thank-you note attached to the themed party favor. Thank you!

Best Latin Club

Gloria's

So, Gloria's isn't necessarily a club, per se. But, nonetheless, once a week, every Thursday night, Gloria's might as well be considered a discoteca thanks to the salsa dance party that takes place inside. The music comes courtesy of The Havana NRG Orchestra, a nationally renowned, Dallas-based Latin orchestra; by the time the band is in full swing and the dance floor has a crowd, you'll forget that you're having this much fun in a restaurant. No, you'll think you're somewhere south of the border. The best part: Though the restaurant charges a $5 cover charge to men at this popular event, the women get in free. Ay, Chihuahua.

Best Library Renovation

The Library Bar

Maybe not a great place to read, despite all those shelves of old books. But this bar, recently redone but, thank God, not too much, is an interesting place to read people. For the kind of grown-up date where you want a good drink and some meaningful conversation, the Library Bar has that old New York bar vibe. Some nights there's a pianist, tinkling the keys of the grand piano for some mellow show tunes and jazz. The lighting is low, the waitstaff is attentive when needed and the bartenders can mix a Manhattan. Start spreadin' the news.

Best Live Music Venue

The Granada Theater

In a local live music landscape filled with small, bar-like venues (yeah, you, The Cavern!); sprawling, massive ones (you listening, Superpages.com Center, Nokia Theater, American Airlines Center and Palladium Ballroom?); and the ever-dreaded McVenues (cough—House of Blues—cough), the Granada offers a phenomenal stage, an ace sound system, a primo location, and a kind staff. And it's completely independent, which allows for an open-minded booking process. It's appreciated by the fans, who turn out for country and hip-hop shows alike, and the artists who roll through town. Owner Mike Schoder proudly explains that many touring acts would rather play the independent venues than have to deal with national booking conglomerates like AEG Live and LiveNation. And the Granada is more than willing to accommodate them.

Best Local Actor

Gregory Lush

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Having already played Hamlet, getting the lead as Jack, the main pup in Theatre Three's whimsical musical A Dog's Life, could have felt like a bit of a comedown. Gregory Lush, however, sank his canines into the part and made the show and his performance moving and memorable. The darkly handsome 36-year-old actor, a grad of UT-Arlington with an MFA from Ole Miss, has worked professionally in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Facing extended unemployment, he returned to Dallas last year and landed five consecutive starring roles. Besides the dog show, he was Professor Henry Higgins in T3's Pygmalion and the romantic lead in The Goodbye Girl. He recently played Uncle Ernie in Dallas Theater Center's huge production of The Who's Tommy. What next? "I would love to play Hamlet again," says Lush, who's also a teacher of Fitzmaurice vocal technique. "And Wolverine, if they ever make a musical out of the X-Men." Now wouldn't that be barking mad?

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