The Take a Hike IKE Special Pt. 2... Dallas

urbanactivist · #1 Posted **Sep 18, 2008, 4:12 PM**

Well, I gave it my best for good ole Dallas... obviously there's so much to cover, I couldn't do the city proper justice. Most of it is downtown, with a few VERY RANDOM neighborhood shots.

As a Houstonian, I can't help but to make some natural comparisons between the two. The cities have a lot in common, but Dallas is just "nice"... lots of well-planned upscale areas, much less of the street litter, beautiful landscaping on the freeways... the cosmetics of the city make it look a lot "nicer" than other cities in Texas. Well anyway, judge for yourself.

Not sure of the name of this development, but I think the area is Uptown (please correct me if I'm wrong)

And now... the only subway in the south-central United States!!

And now we're downtown

DartRail is a much larger train than the MetroRail in Houston... for some reason I thought the tracks would be more like "heavy rail" through the downtown area, but apparently it can run on both.

Aww... it's nice, but I want MY Waterwall

Dallas and Ft. Worth are very well-stocked with historic buildings

Finally some city grit... Elm street!!

Nice

Excuse me.... which way to the West End?? Oh, thank you!

ok, ok... some upright viewage

Ok time for some West End, and Victory

It's official... I have a terrible, DIRTY mind

Ahh, yes... the perfect Segway(s) into

Victoire!!!

I love how Victory has this random-boosterism feel to it.

I'll bet you were

I like it, but it looks too much like DLR, just like ours is going to look too much like a storage shed!!

It really looks awesome, but if you're gonna build this awesome district, why not go all the way (better pedestrian connection to Downtown and Uptown, more streetscapes)???

Let's band together to make 21st century Texas less autocentric!!

This last group is some very random (and mundane) wanderings around the city...

DartRail Station (see Houston, now how hard is that??)

The Dalleria

And of course... Dalleria traffic

Thanks, but no thanks... I think I'll finish up and disobey the orders

Y'all have fun... see ya in November!!

ONE las shot... about an hour south of town, I caught this billboard, which truly defines all of "backwoods Texas". I actually had to exit the freeway, and circle around to get this shot. Though I would like to know what version of the bible they're using...

Laterz

denveraztec · #2 Posted **Sep 18, 2008, 5:02 PM**

Another nice thread and cool shots. Thanks for the tour!

stepper77 · #3 Posted **Sep 18, 2008, 5:17 PM**

Great shots! And the last one is SO funny because I flew in DFW back in June and then drove to Houston and totally saw that sign. I was texting some of my friends about it...they were quite amused!

TXLove · #4 Posted **Sep 18, 2008, 11:09 PM**

Great Dallas thread!!!!

Samwill89 · #5 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 12:20 AM**

Wow! Dallas is looking much more urban these days.

harryc · #6 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 12:20 AM**

Great set - the random shots add a flavor I never associated with Texas.

ChrisLA · #7 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 12:38 AM**

You gotta love Dallas, but for me only during the fall/winter months. Thanks for the photos, the city is looking good. I love too how quickly they get things done in that city. Also I can't wait for the Green Line to open to Pleasant Grove, then I won't have to catch a bus to downtown anymore when I visit.

Dan Denson · #8 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 12:57 AM**

Dallas has indeed done a great job in cleaning up its act. My opinion is that many parts of Houston are very nice and clean as well (well, at least until the hurricane). I've visited both cities recently and was impressed at how both are looking much better than in the past. I would love to live in either city.

Some parts of Dallas are still dirty and run down, as in any city. The city that is losing ground overall is Austin, which of all things is the state capital. Austin is getting dirty and blighted even though the economy is quite good in the city. There's very little litter cleanup or mowing of weeds, and the inner ring suburbs are rapidly going downhill. Only the west side (where the hills are) is uniformly nice.

Dan Denson · #9 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 12:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by harryc

Great set - the random shots add a flavor I never associated with Texas.

Hollywood stereotypes tend to do that to people.

DFW LUV · #10 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 2:37 AM**

Great thread!

sogod · #11 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 5:28 AM**

This is best Dallas photo thread I have seen in a long while!

Shasta · #12 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 6:04 AM**

Dallas always puts on a good face. Now, if she'd just work on that personality...

I kid, I kid.

urbanactivist · #13 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 3:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

You gotta love Dallas, but for me only during the fall/winter months. Thanks for the photos, the city is looking good. I love too how quickly they get things done in that city. Also I can't wait for the Green Line to open to Pleasant Grove, then I won't have to catch a bus to downtown anymore when I visit.

Much agreed... the Green Line is going to do worlds for the city's "urban feel"... just in the permanent segment through Victory alone. I haven't been up to downtown Dallas in about three years, so it was great to see the transformation in progress. The city now looks HUGE... in some ways it looks and feels much larger than Houston just b/c it's becoming so compact. For my personal taste though, it was just too clean... Turtle Creek I would expect to be that way, but OakLawn, downtown, Victory, and Uptown were just too immaculate to feel like a Texas city. I'm sure that Dallas has it's fare share of city grit and shady areas, but they can be tough to find for a visitor.

pdizzle · #14 Posted **Sep 19, 2008, 4:02 PM**

Nice shots! Dallas looks a lot better than I had thought. The see-through swimming pool sticking out of that building is crazy.

Dan Denson · #15 Posted **Sep 20, 2008, 3:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by urbanactivistTX

Much agreed... the Green Line is going to do worlds for the city's "urban feel"... just in the permanent segment through Victory alone. I haven't been up to downtown Dallas in about three years, so it was great to see the transformation in progress. The city now looks HUGE... in some ways it looks and feels much larger than Houston just b/c it's becoming so compact. For my personal taste though, it was just too clean... Turtle Creek I would expect to be that way, but OakLawn, downtown, Victory, and Uptown were just too immaculate to feel like a Texas city. I'm sure that Dallas has it's fare share of city grit and shady areas, but they can be tough to find for a visitor.

That's interesting that's it's "too clean". I know a lot of people around the country feel the same way when a city is so clean that it can seem sterile. I guess I like it clean, though, and I'm really disgusted when I travel around the country and see so few cities that are not trashed out. Every state has its share. Speaking of clean...Plano, the northern suburb of Dallas (I think the population is 100,000 or so; not sure), is so clean that you can drive for 8or 10 miles through the city and not see a single piece of litter. It doesn't look real. I like that, but a lot of people wouldn't like it.

KevinFromTexas · #16 Posted **Sep 20, 2008, 5:38 AM**

Thanks for the pics. Love all those blue glass skyscrapers.

Texan · #17 Posted **Sep 20, 2008, 5:51 PM**

very nice pics! it's great that you got a shot of the swimming pool too

dktshb · #18 Posted **Sep 20, 2008, 6:54 PM**

Wow, nice shots of Dallas. That shot of the swimming pool could only be better if you cought somebody acually swimming in it. Great photos, thanks for sharing.

salaverryo · #19 Posted **Oct 22, 2008, 3:37 PM**

Great photos! The DART rail system is not a subway, though. It has a single underground station: Cityplace.

DFW · #20 Posted **Oct 25, 2008, 8:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by salaverryo

Great photos! The DART rail system is not a subway, though. It has a single underground station: Cityplace.

No most of it is not, but it's a partial subway line for 3.5 miles from downtown to Mockingbird Ln along the Blue and Red lines that run to Plano and Garland. It is believed that Cityplace Subway Station is one of the deepest underground stations in North America. Ten stories or about 150-ft below ground.