Where to move around Dallas??? (Arlington, Plano: apartments, condos, neighborhood)

[Annylie]

Hi everyone,

I currently live in Chicago but my company is going to move to Texas (Grand Prairie) at the end of July/beginning of August.
I've never been to Texas yet so I have just no idea what it looks like, but I'm now looking for a new place to live.
Where should I live if I work in Grand Prairie? I'm french so I'm used to the European city style. I know that I'm not gonna find that in the Dallas area (I also know there's gonna be a huge difference with Chicago), but what would be close to this "city center" life??
What do you think of Arlington, is it a nice place to live? How is Irving? Plano? I think Addison or North Dallas would be great for night life (I'm 24 so i'd like to be in a very young and dynamic area, with bars, restaurants and clubs), but wouldn't it be too far from where I'm gonna work?

thanks a lot for your help!!

[billdfw]

Read the posts in this forum.

The closest thing to a big urban feel in Dallas is uptown. There are a lot of bars and restaurants and high density dwellings. However, this is the greatest conentration of pretenious people, as well.

Addison is okay, but has a suburban, sterile feel.

The other places I would not consider for a young single person.

[Dallas native]

I would definitely investigate Uptown Dallas, Victory Park and Downtown Dallas first. All of these are in the same area of central Dallas (just divided by roads and/or a freeway). There is nothing European (except some of the restaurants perhaps)about any of these places, but they are all walkable areas. Uptown will have more restaurant/bar/retail and things to do in general, but Downtown Dallas is definitely making a big comeback after having been stagnant for many years. There will be lots of apartments and condos in any of these places. These areas are going to be the closest thing that Dallas has to Chicago and there will be lots of people your age. Grand Prairie is approx. 15 miles west of Downtown, Uptown and Victory Park.

Addison is nice, but definitely not convenient for a job in Grand Prairie. Plano would be even further. Irving does have Las Colinas and that would not be too hard of a commute to Grand Prairie. Arlington is right next to Grand Prairie, so it would be convenient. It is a very large suburb (about 350,000 people). But, if a lively area that is reasonably convenient to work is what you want then I would stay away from the suburbs and stick with central Dallas. Good luck.

[Lakewooder]

Try Knox-Henderson, just to the north of Uptown/West Village - less pretentious but white-hot on the hip scale these days. It's also next to Lower Greenville, another legendary neighborhood and entertainment district. I am afraid most urbane types will laugh at you if say you live in Addison.

Downtown is a good recommendation as well - less pretension there and more cohesion.

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by billdfw

Read the posts in this forum.

The closest thing to a big urban feel in Dallas is uptown. There are a lot of bars and restaurants and high density dwellings. However, this is the greatest conentration of pretenious people, as well.

Addison is okay, but has a suburban, sterile feel.

The other places I would not consider for a young single person.

I have a feeling that I am about to open up a Pandora's Box by bringing this up, but I'm really curious as to why Dallas gets the "pretentious" label so often. It strikes me as a broad generalization that gets repeated so often that it becomes fact in the minds of a lot of people who really don't have much knowledge of Dallas and its many 'hoods. Dictionary.com defines pretentious as "making an outward show, ostentatious" and "

What exactly is it about Uptown and the people that you see there that make you conclude that this is the area with the greatest concentration of pretentiousness? Is it the cars that you see in the neighborhood, the way people dress, the attitudes of the people that you encounter there?

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by Dallas native

I have a feeling that I am about to open up a Pandora's Box by bringing this up, but I'm really curious as to why Dallas gets the "pretentious" label so often. It strikes me as a broad generalization that gets repeated so often that it becomes fact in the minds of a lot of people who really don't have much knowledge of Dallas and its many 'hoods. Dictionary.com defines pretentious as "making an outward show, ostentatious" and "

What exactly is it about Uptown and the people that you see there that make you conclude that this is the area with the greatest concentration of pretentiousness? Is it the cars that you see in the neighborhood, the way people dress, the attitudes of the people that you encounter there?

Oops. I hit the send button before I finished my thought. Anyway, my point is don't you have to really know people before you can legitimately make judgments about them when all you have to go on is how they look/dress, what kind of cars they drive, what part of town they live in? Sure, Uptown and Dallas in general have lots of pretty people who like to shop at Neiman Marcus and might drive a BMW, Mercedes, Porche but that also describes lots of other major American cities. I just don't see a pretentious attitude in most people that I know or meet in Dallas (particularly not the natives). Does anyone else think this label is grossly undeserved?

[Lakewooder]

For the Preston Road corridor, it may be deserved. For the real Dallas it is undeserved.

[Carider5]

I need some help too. What's the commute time from Plano to Grand Prairie?

[FarNorthDallas]

Originally Posted by Carider5

I need some help too. What's the commute time from Plano to Grand Prairie?

I would say during rush hour 70-90 minutes each way depending on what part of Plano and what part of Grand Prairie. Not during rush hour 45-60 minutes.