Preston Hollow Advocate

03/28/2025

With just a few days to spare, Saks Global came to an agreement that would keep the store open through 2025.

Photo courtesy of Neiman Marcus.

Neiman Marcus' historic Downtown Dallas location will stay open through the 2025 holiday season, according to...

03/28/2025

Preston Royal's Greek Isles Grille & Taverna’s cocktail menu includes drinks like the Palios Fashioned, made with Clyde Mays Rye, Metaxa 7m, syrup and fig bitters, and the Tsipour-Go, which comes with tsipouro, Aperol, orange and bitters. Even with her industry experience, Amanda Kostas has found Greek spirits to be an entirely new experience.⁠
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“That was something new for me, because I’ve been in the industry way before I met my husband, and so getting to play with all the different spirits and things like that, and they’re made with different things. Like a lot of the Greek spirits are made from grapes, so it’s all technically brandies, and so that was really fun. And just the different ways that they flavor them, or how they ferment them, that adds their own unique flavor. And then we have one mastika that’s made from the sap of a tree that’s really, really unique. It’s been a lot of fun.”⁠
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She and her husband Chris, whose family had run Greek Isles Grille & Taverna in Plano and Preston Hollow for years, have taken over operations at the Preston Hollow location. Amanda previously worked in hospitality management at bars and restaurants around Dallas and has taken an active role in front-of-house operations, including expanded bar offerings. ⁠

⁠https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/28/this-greek-restaurant-is-collecting-regulars/
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03/27/2025

Dallas Mayor Woodall Rodgers did not want the new parts of his city to be filled with farmland but with attractive suburban developments. This wish was granted in the 1950s, when the areas around Preston Hollow, an island surrounded by farmland and countryside at the time of annexation, were filled in within a few decades.
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/28/the-town-of-preston-hollow/

Post-annexation period The annexation of Preston Hollow coincided perfectly with the suburban boom of postwar America. At the time of annexation, Preston Hollow was an island surrounded by Caruth land to the south and east, the holdings of other farm families to the west (which were slowly being

03/26/2025

At The Frontiers of Flight Museum’s newest exhibition’s opening, U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jeremy Lock, communication specialist Brien Aho, and Tech. Sgt. Bennie Davis, all retired, spoke about why they pursued their careers as military photojournalists. ⁠

Read more about the exhibit on display through Sept. 2:
https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/26/through-the-lens-aerials-exhibition/
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Image 1 📷️: U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jeremy Lock⁠
Image 2 📷️: Communication specialist Brien Aho⁠
Image 3 📷️: Tech. Sgt. Bennie Davis⁠
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exhibit "Aerials"⁠

03/25/2025

A $5 million renovation has begun at The Plaza at Preston Center. This is the biggest project in over a decade for the shopping center, which is located on the corner of Preston Road and Northwest Highway.⁠

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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/03/20/plaza-at-preston-center-5-million-renovation/

A $5 million renovation has begun at The Plaza at Preston Center. This is the biggest project in over a decade for the shopping center, which is located on the corner of Preston Road and Northwest Highway. Photo courtesy of The Plaza at Preston Center.

03/25/2025

You’re invited to the best school fair in the city - Dallas ISD's More Choice Expo! Learn about our nearly 200 school choices and enroll EARLY for the 2025-2026 school year.
Enjoy family fun, food, live performances, and explore the BEST SCHOOLS in Texas from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, at Fair Park.
Learn more at DallasISD.org/MoreChoice.

03/24/2025

About 12 years ago, Kick Pleat founder Wendi Martin and jewlery designer Marla Aaron met in the Gary Graham store in New York City while Martin was scoping out Marla Aaron jewelry to possibly be sold at her store. Since then, the two owners — and their brands — have had a strong relationship. ⁠
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Kick Pleat was the first store Aaron sold to after launching her own line.⁠
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“We are very particular about the stores where we are sold. This is by far our most important relationship in the world for many, many reasons. That’s why it was important to do this here,” Aaron says.⁠
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/26/marla-aaron-jewelry-kick-pleat-shop-in-shop/

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How a special friendship and shared philosophy brought Marla Aaron jewelry to Texas Marla Aaron’s functional fine jewelry brand is unsurprisingly based in New York City’s Diamond District. Aaron is not from Dallas, and her jewelry is sold all

03/21/2025

🎨 DART invites students to create art celebrating Silver Line communities ⁠
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Click below for more:
https://www.dart.org/about/news-and-events/transit-education/silver-line-pin-contest/pin-contest-entry-form

03/19/2025

Greek Isles’ fare traditionally remained true Greek classics at the Preston Royal location. Following the reopening — once they rebuilt from the 2019 tornado and endured pandemic slow downs — they expanded to include more experimental, Mediterranean fusion-esque dishes like lamb tacos ($13), served with jalapeño tzatziki, radish and feta. Mezedakia, or small plates owner Chris Kostas likens to tapas, were also added.⁠
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Flashy, experimental dishes are good snares for first-time customers, but Greek Isles’ regulars come for Greek classics like gyro ($17), chicken lemonati ($27) and dolmas ($14), which are grape leaves filled with seasoned ground beef, rice, fennel and avgolemono sauce. Other crowd favorites include tableside flambe saganaki ($15) and lamb chops ($45).⁠

https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/28/this-greek-restaurant-is-collecting-regulars/
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📷️: .eats⁠

03/18/2025

Last month local leaders gathered to honor Preston Hollow neighbor Cynt Marshall and celebrate her retirement as Dallas Mavericks CEO.⁠
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/03/06/cynt-marshall-honored-by-friends-community/

On Thursday, Feb. 27, local leaders gathered to honor Preston Hollow neighbor Cynt Marshall and celebrate her retirement as Dallas Mavericks CEO. Laura Harris (left) and Cynt Marshall. Photo courtesy of Texas Capital. Marshall joined the Mavericks in 2018 when then-owner Mark Cuban asked

03/18/2025

Jackopierce has shared the stage with Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. They'll perform at this year's Exchange Club's concert and auction.

The Exchange Club of Lake Highlands Spring Benefit Concert and Auction will be held Friday, April 4 at the Granada Theater.

03/17/2025

Since Greg DeMars' brother-in-law introduced him to fly fishing over 30 years ago, his fly fishing adventures have taken him all over the world. His newest venture, however, is a little closer to home. DeMars’ new book "Urban Fly Fishing Dallas-Fort Worth" offers readers an in-depth guide to the best fly fishing spots hidden all over the metroplex.⁠

https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/26/fly-fishing-dallas-fort-worth/

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03/14/2025

On Jan. 8, the Society for Science named Hockaday senior Aimee Guo as one of the top 300 scholars in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search. The search is one of the oldest and most prestigious STEM competitions for high school seniors. ⁠
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Guo has interned at the University of Texas at Dallas Intelligent Robotics & Vision Lab, teaching her to combine her coding skills with the healthcare space and at Johns Hopkins University, where she helped create a tool focused on improving the accuracy of radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer patients.⁠
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Thanks to an internship two years ago that focused on how music therapy could help patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia, she's started a music volunteer organization called Mind-full of Music. As president, Guo organizes student volunteers in the Dallas area to perform music in senior homes or memory care homes. “It’s been really rewarding to see seniors almost anticipating our next performance and coming up to us being like, ‘When are y’all coming back? I’m really happy to hear your music,’” she says.⁠
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/26/music-and-medicine-aimee-guo/
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📷️: Gabriel Cano⁠

During Aimee Guo’s freshman year at The Hockaday School, her grandfather died from lung cancer. The loss shifted Guo’s view of healthcare and led to her interest in medicine. She began to think about how she could use her skills to help people in the medical space. Guo started building

03/13/2025

Fleurs de Villes’ fresh floral exhibition ARTISTE is returning to NorthPark Center for the mall’s second annual bespoke floral exhibition from March 19-23.⁠
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/03/11/fleurs-de-ville-returns-to-northpark-center/

📷️: courtesy of ⁠

Fleurs de Villes’ fresh floral exhibition ARTISTE is returning to NorthPark Center for the mall’s second annual bespoke floral exhibition from March 19-23. Last year's Meadows Museum mannequin by Branching Out Events. Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center. The exhibition will feature 16 unique flor...

03/12/2025

The "Aerials" exhibition was born when The Frontiers of Flight Museum’s staff reached out to local photojournalist Jeremy Lock, a retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt., to inquire about showing his work. In response, Lock suggested curating an exhibition featuring work from a number of other military photojournalists.⁠
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Lock worked with mass communication specialist Brien Aho and Tech. Sgt. Bennie Davis, both retired, to comb through the over 1,600 submitted images. From there, the team chose 90 images from 29 contributors to display. “We talked about what was going to be the overall theme of 'Aerials,' and it came down to not only just the hardware but the (human) interactions with the hardware,” Davis says.⁠
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"Aerials" will be available to view at Dallas Love Field Airport’s Frontiers of Flight Museum until Sept. 2. The exhibition features aerial photography from U.S. military photojournalists depicting stories of military flight from the Vietnam Era to modern day.⁠
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/26/through-the-lens-aerials-exhibition/

📷️: Staff Sgt. Matthew John Bruch from Frontiers of Flight Museum⁠

Capturing the untold stories of military aviation The popularity of movies like Top Gun is a testament to the public’s interest in the mystique surrounding military aviation. The Frontiers of Flight Museum’s newest exhibition is offering a way to learn more about

03/10/2025

As startups, both Kick Pleat and Marla Aaron Jewelry started small. Jewelry designer Marla Aaron originally started working out of her home for the first four years. Wendi Martin started her business in a 1,200-square-foot house, and it was 14 years before she opened Kick Pleat Austin. ⁠
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Kick Pleat now has three locations, including Dallas. The Marla Aaron showroom Marla Aaron’s functional fine jewelry brand is unsurprisingly based in New York City’s Diamond District.⁠
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The two met in New York City and became friends. Aaron chose Martin's stores to sell her jewelry when she launched her own line. Perhaps one of the best symbols of this relationship is the specialty item that will be available at the shop-in-shop. It features Aaron’s signature lock, engraved with bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.⁠
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/2025/02/26/marla-aaron-jewelry-kick-pleat-shop-in-shop/
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03/08/2025

“If you go to Greece and visit, you can meet somebody, a total stranger, and they’ll invite you to their home and cook you dinner,” Chris says. “So that’s the kind of feel that we like to have people feel when they come in ... I feel like people that come in are a little bit more than just customers. They’re like family.”⁠
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With that hospitality and family tradition, Chris Kostas' father opened the original Greek Isles in Plano with the elder Kostas in the ’90s. The Preston Royal location opened in 2014 but was devastated by the 2019 tornado. Hampered by COVID-19-related delays, two years later, they reopened. Chris’ father and brother decided to step away from the business and close the Plano location. ⁠
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On the bright side of these significant changes, Chris, with his wife and business partner Amanda, remodeled with an expanded patio and brighter interior decor. Chris sources most ingredients himself and can typically be found at the Dallas Farmers Market in the early morning browsing tomatoes. It’s the way his father did it.⁠
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Read more at the link in our bio.⁠
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📷️: .eats⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

03/06/2025

In the March issue of the Preston Hollow Advocate, discover how a special friendship and shared philosophy brought Marla Aaron jewelry to Texas. Meet one of the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent's top 300, Hockaday's Aimee Guo, whose research led to a non-profit to bring student musicians to senior living facilities.⁠
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Enjoy Greek Isles Grille & Taverna, which has survived the 2019⁠
tornado and the pandemic to combine traditional Greek classics with more experimental, Mediterranean fusion-esque⁠
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Enjoy the Frontiers of Flight Museum’s newest exhibition, aerial photography from U.S. military photojournalists, and go Urban Fly Fishing with author and angler Greg DeMars.⁠
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https://prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/issues/2025-march/