Why doesn't Dallas have more of a big city feel? (Houston: appointed, neighborhoods)

[mikejj2004]

I was visiting San Francisco and I was absolutely blown away by the contrast between it and Dallas in terms of the amount of people just walking around on the street. I would estimate that downtown/uptown Dallas has maybe 2-3% of the street traffic of SF. I understand that SF is denser, has more tourists and a better climate, but even when accounted for those things it’s still surprising.

I remember walking a loop through Victory Park, downtown, and uptown on a weekend, and it had a desolate, almost deserted feel to it. The irony is that I think Dallas actually has a better looking, more modern skyline than SF which seems to be made largely of either really old buildings or drab 1970s skyscrapers. I know Dallas has built a lot of housing in the downtown/uptown area, but that doesn’t seem to have translated into much street traffic.

I also remember being in Denver, and seeing a huge throng of people go across a crosswalk as I was parking my car. I assumed it must have been a sporting event letting out, but as I walked closer, it turns out that is just the normal street traffic on any given day on their 16th Street Mall.

[JJG]

http://i8.tinypic.com/4qqf9yp.gif

Long story short, both cities were just built differently after WWII... that's all.

[FarNorthDallas]

Well, if downtown Dallas had an ocean running along one side of it, instead of say I-30, I'm thinking it would be a lot more popular.

[mayhem154]

I think it's all about density vs sprawl. The metros have about the same population, but D/FW is more spread out than the Bay Area. Tourism in downtown SF also plays a role...

[R1070]

Cities with lots of pedestrians have lots of tourists! Dallas doesn't draw the tourism numbers that other cities do.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by R1070

Cities with lots of pedestrians have lots of tourists! Dallas doesn't draw the tourism numbers that other cities do.

Exactly. Dallas is a place to work & live. We have virtually no tourist destinations/ experiences to offer->
*no natural beauty like the hills of San Fran or the Pacific Ocean & bay, no Lake Michigan, no Central Park, no Hollywood Hills or gorgeous drives to the ocean like LA, etc. No one's making a special trip to Dallas to run on the Katy Trail or see the Arboretum.

*no unique central neighborhoods built in America's "melting pot" immigration era, a la NYC's Chinatown and Little Italy or San Fran's Chinatown or Boston's Irish culture or Chicago's Italian culture, etc. We don't even have the German immigrant history the Texas Hill Country has.

*no renowned cultural institutions- Van Gogh's Starry Night lives in NYC's MoMA. Monet's Water Lillies live in Chicago's Art Institute. The Smithsonian is in DC. Sure, we have some lovely museums & galleries, but none of the "blockbusters" live in Big D.

*No unique "attractions" - Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Fisherman's Warf & all of SF's other piers, Golden Gate Bridge, Sears Tower, Wrigley Field, Indepence Hall, The Mall & all it's historical monuments, The White House, Boston Commons, The Alamo, The Riverwalk, La Brea Tarpits, Mann's Chinese Theatre, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, Broadway, Beverly Hills, South Beach. Nothing in Dallas comes close to these things. Houston, Phoenix, & Atlanta- also newer Sunbelt cities- are in the same boat we are.


It's not a bad thing; it just is what it is. We're a newer, sprawled out city, lacking cultural & historical interest (outside JFK & "Dallas"). We are a great place to live, not vacation.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

TC80 said it perfectly. Nothing left to say.

[expatChicagoan]

I relocated to the metroplex (I live on the Ft. Worth side because that's where my job is) in 2009 from Chicago. Before moving here, my company sent me down here to decide if I would accept the relocation. When I first visited Dallas (and Fort Worth), I called my husband, who was still back home, and the first thing I said was "It's not Chicago." I was very disappointed with the downtown area of both Ft Worth & Dallas.

It wasn't until I looked into the area where my office is located, and the surrounding areas (and a visit to Southlake Town Center), that I felt like I could make the move down here. The suburbs are very similar to Chicago suburbs, but downtown Dallas will never compare to Chicago, because it just doesn't have the same feel.

As TurtleCreek said, Dallas is a great place to live or work, but it doesn't have those attractions that draw in the tourists etc, and make it a more bustling place to visit. Not all cities can be Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Sydney or Melbourne... it's not necessarily a bad thing.

[racehorse]

I am also from Chicago. Dallas is a better place to live on the whole. There is lots to do here, especially if you have a family. It's just not a world-class city the way some older, more established cities are.

[nativetexasgal]

Originally Posted by mikejj2004

I was visiting San Francisco and I was absolutely blown away by the contrast between it and Dallas in terms of the amount of people just walking around on the street. I would estimate that downtown/uptown Dallas has maybe 2-3% of the street traffic of SF. I understand that SF is denser, has more tourists and a better climate, but even when accounted for those things it’s still surprising.

I remember walking a loop through Victory Park, downtown, and uptown on a weekend, and it had a desolate, almost deserted feel to it. The irony is that I think Dallas actually has a better looking, more modern skyline than SF which seems to be made largely of either really old buildings or drab 1970s skyscrapers. I know Dallas has built a lot of housing in the downtown/uptown area, but that doesn’t seem to have translated into much street traffic.

I also remember being in Denver, and seeing a huge throng of people go across a crosswalk as I was parking my car. I assumed it must have been a sporting event letting out, but as I walked closer, it turns out that is just the normal street traffic on any given day on their 16th Street Mall.

Well, first of all, Dallas is NOT San Francisco. I'm not sure why you would expect it to be like San Francisco or Denver for that matter. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is larger than some states. We have a number of walkable and entertaining areas that are not "desolate, almost deserted."