Young Blk Professional moving to DALLAS...in need of advice (Houston: transplants, hair salon)

[Phoenix200878]

I visited the Dallas area and I'm sad to say that I absolutely HATED it. I was told all these wonderful things about D'town..its so beautiful, its like Atlanta with no trees, its this its that, but I was completely disappointed. The east coast is awesome to me.

[kdogg817]

Lol Dallas awful well it sure did add more residents than any other metro area last year

Originally Posted by Phoenix200878

I visited the Dallas area and I'm sad to say that I absolutely HATED it. I was told all these wonderful things about D'town..its so beautiful, its like Atlanta with no trees, its this its that, but I was completely disappointed. The east coast is awesome to me.

[kdogg817]

Brother you will love Dallas AKA D-TOwn and Fort Worth AKA Funky TOwn. There is a significant amount of African Americans in the Metroplex. Dallas southern suburbs have a very large African American middle class. North Dallas is very diverse part of Dallas. Coming from another brother you will love DFW.

[angram73]

Maybe you just need someone who is familiar with the area who can show you around to some differant areas.

[VirginiaIsHome]

Please show me around!!!! where to go for networking where to go to meet pple of interesting dialouge and varied interests/talents?? Please tell me of some hot spots a sista can venture off to??? Help me learn and brag about this city, just the way you do!!!! I am here now, properly welcome me!!

[caligurltotx]

Originally Posted by Phoenix200878

I visited the Dallas area and I'm sad to say that I absolutely HATED it. I was told all these wonderful things about D'town..its so beautiful, its like Atlanta with no trees, its this its that, but I was completely disappointed. The east coast is awesome to me.

Well lucky you! You saved yourself a great deal of money not having to move twice. Nothing worse than relocating and hating it. I speak from experience when I moved to ATL sight unseen and moved back to CA after only two years.
Now not sure what you hated about D town but I have visited it on 3 occassions and loved it. Maybe for me it helped that I have three sistah friends that live there and they made every visit so much fun! (dining, dancing, shopping) So I think having that sistah network made all the difference in the world. My biggest dislike of the ATL was not having a social circle and everyone is so clickish! I personally had to choose between Houston and Dallas. For some reason I just feel like D town fits me better. Only been to H town once for a festival and didn't like it too much. Now a friend from England lives in H town and he HATES Dallas. He calls it a bunch of flat land with nothing to do!

I think moving anywhere depends on what you want to get out of it. I am a bit older than you (I think) but also Af Amer and female. I plan to settle down in a SFR that I will own. As long as I have an outlet on some wknds I am fine.
Living in Southern CA has been many yrs of boredom for me and we have so much to do and see!

[mrscnwilliams]

Im originally from Dallas and I must say I HATE it here. I moved to Florida when I turned 18 and lived there for over 7 years and recently relocated back due to family issues. I LOVED it!!! I miss Florida so much. Dallas is over-populated, pple are RUDE AS HELL, traffic is a beast(unless you take DART and ride with hoodlums), rental properties are severely over-priced for the quality/sq. footage, you MUST travel to get anywhere, there are minimal black events or social networking spots, and when you do find one the attendees have their noses so far up their assess its ridiculous. The few events held are 'hood.' I am an intellectual individual. All natural-no makeup, nails, locked hair. It's hard to find pple on your same level here. Its not a place for professional, educated AAs due to the oppression which remains. I am a young AA professional and a single mother. Dallas is NOT the place to raise your child, unless you go farther North-Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Lewsiville, etc where there are LESS blacks!!! I won't even BEGIN on the school system in Dallas!

The perks, I must admit, are that JOBS ARE ABUNDANT!! There are several Fortune 500 companys whose headquarters are in the DFW metroplex. The COL is just about the same as any other city in the nation. There are plenty of shopping malls/outlets in the area. You may refer to my answer as biased but it's all the truth.

[mdattaray]

I am moving my family from Southern California (Long Beach, CA) to Dallas this August so that I could attend SMU Law. We are an AA family (all of us my wife and children are native Californians), so we are unsure about moving to TX (my wife is concerned about where to get her hair done, where our kids will attend school and daycare, are the people really country? [the last one is a joke, but no seriously are they country?]) and how life will be there.

Also is anyone on this board an attorney or law student and could give me some insight into whether I am making the right decision (I have competing offers/scholarships from SMU Law and UofH Law).

Thanks!

[grindin]

Originally Posted by mrscnwilliams

Im originally from Dallas and I must say I HATE it here. I moved to Florida when I turned 18 and lived there for over 7 years and recently relocated back due to family issues. I LOVED it!!! I miss Florida so much. Dallas is over-populated, pple are RUDE AS HELL, traffic is a beast(unless you take DART and ride with hoodlums), rental properties are severely over-priced for the quality/sq. footage, you MUST travel to get anywhere, there are minimal black events or social networking spots, and when you do find one the attendees have their noses so far up their assess its ridiculous. The few events held are 'hood.' I am an intellectual individual. All natural-no makeup, nails, locked hair. It's hard to find pple on your same level here. Its not a place for professional, educated AAs due to the oppression which remains. I am a young AA professional and a single mother. Dallas is NOT the place to raise your child, unless you go farther North-Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Lewsiville, etc where there are LESS blacks!!! I won't even BEGIN on the school system in Dallas!

The perks, I must admit, are that JOBS ARE ABUNDANT!! There are several Fortune 500 companys whose headquarters are in the DFW metroplex. The COL is just about the same as any other city in the nation. There are plenty of shopping malls/outlets in the area. You may refer to my answer as biased but it's all the truth.

And you know what's really funny? I lived in Florida for 2 years (Tampa Bay) and I absolutely hated it there. I thought it was small-townish and cliquish, and I found the black culture there to be severely lacking.

Like all things in life, your mileage may vary! Just like that last comment about how one person loved Houston and the other one hated it (I often find out that people either like Dallas or Houston but NEVER both)

I'm debating back and forth between either staying in Atlanta after I graduate from grad school or relocate to D/FW or the Washington DC area. I'm hoping and praying to make the right decision. Atlanta wasn't even my first choice when I graduated from undergrad, but things happen for a reason, y'know? I thought Texas would've been a better fit for me, but I had this itch to come up here to Georgia. While I like Atlanta, I find it to be pretty overrated...I think that was one thing drawing me to Dallas, I find it to be a pretty underrated city, and hopefully I will be able to make a visit soon to see if it would be a good fit for me.

[Grainraiser]

Originally Posted by mdattaray

I am moving my family from Southern California (Long Beach, CA) to Dallas this August so that I could attend SMU Law. We are an AA family (all of us my wife and children are native Californians), so we are unsure about moving to TX (my wife is concerned about where to get her hair done, where our kids will attend school and daycare, are the people really country? [the last one is a joke, but no seriously are they country?]) and how life will be there.

Also is anyone on this board an attorney or law student and could give me some insight into whether I am making the right decision (I have competing offers/scholarships from SMU Law and UofH Law).

Thanks!

Given a choice between UofH law school or SMU law school I would pick SMU in a heartbeat. This coming from a U of H graduate and I am black. UofH has a nice school but I would rate SMU as better. I will say that UofH is much more of a diverse school than SMU will ever be. I hope this helps.