Staff photo by Chris McGathey

On my way home Friday, I stopped by the Porch on Henderson Avenue to meet Winnetka Heights residents Denise Gee and Robert Peacock, who were promoting their new book, Porch Parties. You may have seen Denise on TV earlier that day, hobnobbing with Bachelor alum Jake Pavelka. Pick up a copy of the July 2 edition of Oak Cliff People to read more about this cool couple. (Denise and Robert, I mean; not Denise and Jake.)

Today’s Dallas Morning News includes a story about the upcoming Miss Texas pageant. As I scanned the list of competitors, I found Miss Dallas, Miss Duncanville, and even Miss White Rock Lake — but no Miss Oak Cliff. How is it that nobody has invented or claimed that title yet? Who would you bestow that honor upon?

Anton Pomakov and Kelsey Mansheim share drinks at Eno’s Pizza Tavern. (Staff photo by Christina Barany)

Now that the City Council has scheduled the November referendum regarding alcohol sales, we’d like to get a sense of how the community feels about it. Please vote in the poll found at the top of the right side of this page.

Heads up, ye planners of weekend activities:  Tyler Street designer Tara Tonini, the gal in the photo above, is launching a Sky Girls retro swimwear line Saturday at an event benefiting the Humane Society of Dallas County.

Canines and Cocktails, to be held at Studio 1019 in the Design District, will include a runway show, silent auction, Q-and-A with veterinarian/radio-show host Shawn Messonnier, food from Bailey Catering and Events (Oak Cliff native Misty Baily runs that show), and — drum roll, please — a lineup of adoptable dogs and cats. A portion of the night’s proceeds will go to the HSDC’s no-kill shelter, Dog and Kitty City. The fun starts at 8 p.m.

For tickets, visit the Dallas Association of Style Houses website.

OK, this really has nothing to do with Oak Cliff, but it’s fun nonetheless. The U.S. soccer team will take on Ghana tomorrow in the World Cup. Without peeking elsewhere on the Internet, can you guess which of the five numbered countries on this map is Ghana?

The July issue of D Magazine, Oak Cliff People‘s big brother, arrives in stores this week. It includes Kings Highway resident Moira Muldoon’s latest “A Girl Walks Into a Bar” column, this one spotlighting Bar Belmont, and a fashion layout featuring a hat from Kidd Springs resident Cassie MacGregor’s House of MacGregor line. (It also features an interview I did with Amazing Spider-Man artist Michael Lark, but that’s neither here nor there.) What are you waiting for? Go get a copy.

If you’ve been following at home, then you know all about the large group of businesses and grocers behind Progress Dallas and their aim to turn all of the dry areas in Dallas into places where you can go to Kroger and — get this — BUY A SIX PACK.

Or, you can go to your local watering hole and order a beer without having to join some protracted special club. And restaurateurs won’t have to pay thousands every year to manage your personal information in order to run an honest business.

Word came down today that City Secretary Deborah Watkins has certified the petitions for the local option election, which is slated for November, and Dallas voters will get to choose whether they want retail alcohol sales while doing away with private club regulations.

How are you going to vote come November?

(P.S. If I were able to go to the Wynnewood Village Kroger and buy a six pack, I’d pick up Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy. That’s a good beer!)

Two French things I love: Cassoulet and Ratatouille (the dish, not the anthropomorphic mouse).

While they may or may not serve these things at the July 14 Bastille on Bishop shindig, they will have a live mussels competition in which several chefs offer their succulent variations of the everyman’s bivalve. If that’s not you’re thing, there’ll be crepe stands, live accordion (!) music, pentanque (it’s like bocce) demonstrations, a wine walk, and a vespa rally.

If you can’t already tell, I’m completely jazzed on this event, which will benefit Alliance Francaise of Dallas. Find out more at gooakcliff.org.

Marco Antonio Medina took this picture of Tom Hilburn and Ralph Cochran in the Kessler Plaza/Ravinia Heights Fourth of July parade last year. If you’d like to see pictures of your neighborhood’s Independence Day activities in the July 9 edition of Oak Cliff People, send us the details. Come on, Winnetka Heights. We’re looking at you, West Kessler. Don’t make us beg, Wynnewood North.

Thanks to a fireball of a town hall meeting Monday, the city’s plan to use Cliff Manor for mentally ill and addiction-embattled homeless people may be on hold — at least until Dallas Housing Authority and Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance officials connect with the neighborhood groups with whom they’re butting heads.

I’ve got the full story in this week’s issue of Oak Cliff People, but here’s an image in the meantime from staff photographer Chris McGathey. The family above was en route to the Cliff Manor this morning, McGathey said, on a tip that the facility might take them in.