so what happened to Deep Ellum???? (Dallas, Austin: condos, crime, businesses)

[jabbit]

it used to be hoppin like 6th street in Austin back in the day.... well u know... close to it.

[FarNorthDallas]

Well, the crime increased *a lot* including a high profile beating by a skinhead of a dad who was down there with his daughter. Plus Deep Ellum became a hang out for thousands of under age kids walking up and down the street and there were some folks who would throw parties for underage folks after hours and a bunch of Highland Park kids got busted. Many of the clubs closed, like Trees. Too dangerous, not enough people spending money. There are still a few places down there. More police were promised.

[MaryS80]

Deep Ellums future is in doubt. If developers have their way it will be just another yuppie mecca full of over priced condos.

[FarNorthDallas]

Also, I heard something about a sewage pipe that is under a lot of those Deep Ellum businesses is rotting and the city of Dallas won't fix it. The business owners can't afford to and sewage gets spilled in their businesses. I think the plan is to have some outside developer buy it up as a neighborhood and they will have the funds to fix the pipe.

Trees, Green Room and Gypsy Tea Room closed because of the skin head beating. Those places had the same owner and the skin head was on the guest list of Trees that night. I think there was, or was going to be, or there was fear of a civil law suit against the owner, so the owner shut down.

[Philip T]

In a word . . . Trash. The open, easy nature attracted it.

They would not throw out the trash, and when you will not throw out the trash, your place becomes a dump.

[TrueDat]

Ironically, in some ways, because of the scares, Deep Ellum is nicer than ever. The crowds (and many of the criminals that came with them) have moved on, police presence seems to have increased, and the people who are there come for a particular event (dinner at Monica's Aca y Alla, show at Club Dada, art show at Art Prostitute). There's less loitering and parking is a breeze these days.

But, yeah, the infrastructure down there is a mess and everyone seems to be waiting for the extension of the DART light rail to come through and for gentrification.

[Spree]

Where exactly is Deep Ellum? Street names would help. I was driving around Oaklawn and Lemmon, by the EatZi's today - what area is that?

[galore]

Deep Ellum is here: deep ellum dallas - Google Maps

That area around Eatzi's is called Oak Lawn, just like the street.

[kt2le]

Deep Ellum is the area directly east of downtown Dallas, just on the east side of Central Expressway.

[rantanamo]

Went down with the age of the crowd. As has been said, things have really settled down and the march of gentrification is on its way. The gentrification is just the order of the day. The land prices are just getting too expensive that close to downtown to keep it funky for too long. Especially with rail opening in 2 years. Perhaps the Cedars will take its place.