What was 1980's Dallas like compared to today? (Houston, Fort Worth: middle-class, new home)

[jazoua]

Was there more crime/dangerous? What was the general culture like compared with today? What areas were the boom towns like Frisco,Mckinney,Prosper..etc. Was the standard of living better?

[tmtex]

I was in my early teens in the 80's and lived in Richardson. I cant speak on the western side of DFW but Richardson was highly up there and Plano was blossoming quickly. Frisco was nothing but farm land. I dont think I even heard of prosper back then. I am not sure I would say dangerous but most of that happened in Dallas. Times were fun, we all had fake ID's in the late teens and they worked. Cops were cool
No traffic, open land, farms all over. Everyone had a pickup and several had the shotgun in the back window.

Kinda curious to see what others say. I am sure will bring back memories

Oh, if you were a teen the place to be was a Mall. So much fun back then. I feel sorry for kids today because they have to worry about being shot

[LocalPlanner]

You have to distinguish between early 1980s Dallas and mid-late 1980s Dallas (same goes for Houston and other places in Texas). The early 1980s was go-go-go, everything booming, craziness abounded. Skyscrapers going up like mushrooms.

Then the bust.

1985 and onward, Dallas was kind of chastened. Downtown started its long decline. Suburban flight from Dallas, even from areas north of I-30, really took hold. It was a depressing time to be in Texas, though a strong spirit of survival started emerging.

[RonnieinDallas]

I was born in 1986 and I really don’t remember a lot of things in the 80’s because I was so young. I lived in Irving south of 183 near the hospital. I feel like the city was in decline then but I feel like Irving is much worse now than it was then. I actually drove past our old house not too long ago. Haven’t done that in so long, almost forgot how to get there. The neighborhood and street I lived on still looks good but everything else around it looks worse. I think the houses were built in the 60’s. Lots of trees there and all the yards still look good but I doubt anyone with kids my age would move there because the schools are terrible.

I spent a lot of time with my grandparents in Fort Worth when I was young. A lot of the stuff there looks way worse. Ridgmar mall is so sad, I can’t believe it’s still open. That used to be one of the best malls in DFW. They had the coolest 2 story El Fenix with a waterfall. Hulen Mall kinda took over in the 90’s but that mall looks almost as bad as Ridgmar and oh my is that area going downhill. That’s fairly recent though. All the stuff south of I-20 hasn’t aged well at all. The area kind of reminds me of Mesquite near that mall, but with a few super affluent neighborhoods off Bryant Irvin that will probably keep it from completely tanking.

Arlington was really popular back in the 80’s. My aunt had a really nice house in North Arlington off Green oaks and back then Arlington had really good schools. I remember all of the Lamar High School Viking signs were out in the yards. They thought we were moving to the country when my parents built a house in Colleyville

Parts of Dallas proper look a lot better than they did in the 80’s. Especially Uptown which didn’t really exist then. All I remember from then was the restaurant Baby Doe’s and the Crescent.

I don’t even remember hearing of Frisco back then. I don’t think I heard of the place until Stonebriar was constructed in the early 2000’s. I never heard of Prosper until I worked in West Plano in the late 2000’s. Frisco, Prosper, and McKinney are still way out in outer space as far as I’m concerned

[elnina]

I remember the heat wave in 1980. Quite memorable.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2010...into-memories/

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by RonnieinDallas

Arlington was really popular back in the 80’s. My aunt had a really nice house in North Arlington off Green oaks and back then Arlington had really good schools. I remember all of the Lamar High School Viking signs were out in the yards. They thought we were moving to the country when my parents built a house in Colleyville


I don’t even remember hearing of Frisco back then. I don’t think I heard of the place until Stonebriar was constructed in the early 2000’s. I never heard of Prosper until I worked in West Plano in the late 2000’s. Frisco, Prosper, and McKinney are still way out in outer space as far as I’m concerned

I moved to Arlington for school in the mid 70's and the population was 79,000. Left left in 1983 and the Pop was about 220,000. I-20 was built during that time period and Mansfield was a 1 light town. My first home in Arlington was $31k and sold 5 years later for $55k.

Until the early 2000's, even 2008 timeframe Hwy 121 was just a 2-4 lane country road with many stop lights getting you to McKinney. Frisco was just starting to take off around 2002 and the NDTR ended at 121.

In 1995 $250-300k would buy you a really nice large new home in Coppell, Plano and $350k would buy you Southlake. Those same homes now would be double or more in price.

[Katana49]

We moved here in 1986... At that time Plano was booming and had already built a reputation of being the "Overland Park" of Dallas. The success of Plano in the 80's led to Frisco and Allen being built up.


The Galleria was built in 1983ish... It was still shiny and new in 86, and it was THE place to shop, moreso than Northpark mall at the time, by far. Christmas time, when they brought out that huge tree, THAT was an event, and it was always packed every year.


The 80's were the heyday of the Old San Francisco Steak House... That was the place to go for steak. Sure, the Old Warsaw was there then, but it was more of a well kept secret that most people had never heard of. I certainly hadn't, back then.



Bank of America plaza was finished in the 80's, and after it was you'd see it on the show "Dallas" almost every week.


The first Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas was opened in the mid 80's on McKinney Ave, (which was always a better version than the subsequent location at Houston Ave IMO.) That was a big deal at the time, you had to make reservations several days in advance even a year or two after it opened.


Reunion Arena was where everything was held, except football of course. The Sidekicks were reasonably popular (as soccer goes in TX, Tatu was a household name.) A lot of great concerts happened there, wish I would have been older to be able to attend more of them.


Coca-Cola Starplex opened in 88 (and it will always be CC Starplex to me, I don't care who's currently got the rights to the name.) Tons of great concerts there back in the day, my parents took me opening weekend (They wanted to see Rod Stewart. Did we get to go back the following day for Guns N Roses? NO!)


The West End Marketplace was a fun place... Tilt for kids, shops and things for adults. Lot of outdoor concerts during the summer/fall there, lots of restaurants in the area...



Ahh... all for now that I can remember that kinda defined the era for me.

[TheOverdog]

I didn't live in Dallas, but we would come to go to Six Flags (not that different looking but had some different attractions) and stay with my relatives who lived on the east side of Allen. This was the mid to late '80s through the '90s. My parents didn't know the way around DFW, so we tried to go to the Galleria but could never find it, so we always had to settle for Collin Creek (no different than the mall in Abilene, the closest big city to where I lived) or occasionally North Park (didn't care about brands so I didn't like it other than the animals).


My uncle lived on the south side of Arlington near Kennedale - their house got robbed once when they were out of town - just completely cleaned out, so we were always fearful of spending too much time in Arlington. They are still the only people I've ever known personally to get robbed like that.


Traffic on I30 and US75 were much worse then if you asked me, and without maps and as visitor, getting around DFW was a nightmare.

[tmtex]

Also, where South Fork is there was nothing around it. All open farm land

[ChristieP]

I was a teen in the 1980s and I lived in Mesquite. Back then, Mesquite was a quiet suburb where most of the residents were middle-class families who lived in modest homes, went to church, and had good kids. We all hung out at Town East Mall except on Friday nights when there was a football game. There was hardly ever any trouble other than teens occasionally getting caught drinking at parties. Even Pleasant Grove was OK back then; my high school played Skyline in football most years, and there were no problems.

I had no idea where Prosper even was. I knew where Frisco was, but back then, it was a farming community and there wasn't much there. In between Lake Highlands and Plano, there were cotton fields. Plano Road was a 2-lane blacktop. 635 seemed huge, and there were hardly any cars on it.