Living in Dallas (Houston, San Antonio, Arlington: co-op, utilities, professionals)

[TrueDat]

Yeah, the whole eating-a-meal-and-watching-a-movie thing seems to be especially popular in Texas, with the Studio Movie Grills and Movie Taverns in North Texas and the Alamo Drafthouses in the rest of the state. Not sure why that would be. There are a few others scattered across the country (I think maybe Denver has one?) but not sure why there's such a heavy concentration here.

[Mindi]

My boyfriend and I are also entertaining the idea of moving to Dallas. There is an opportunity for a big promotion with his company as they are expanding to Dallas in the next couple of months. I am pretty nervous about the possible move and have enjoyed reading all of your posts. We currently live in Chicago and love it here. He grew up in the suburbs and then moved to the city after graduating from college. I grew up and went to college in Iowa. I fell in love with Chicago after many visits here with my friends from the area and moved here 4 years ago. Though I love the idea of the weather in Texas, we only know 2 people that live in the Fort Worth area and that is frightening to me. As far as I can see from pursuing Craigslist, you can get much more for your money as far as apartments go in Dallas. For what we pay here in Chicago for our one bedroom in a 3 flat, we could get a nice newly redone 2 bedroom with a pool, workout facility, ect. That is not a huge selling point for us though- we don't care a lot about having a huge place. A big selling point would be the weather. We both love being outside and the weather in Chicago is not always condusive to that. Though we are both huge sports fans, our hearts are with other teams so Dallas sports would only be a draw from time to time or when they were playing our favorite teams.

We love all of the festivals that happen in Chicago in the summer. Being outside, having a few beers and some food with friends is about as good as it gets. Are there festivals like that in Dallas? We also enjoy being able to walk to a lot of places. I am not opposed to driving to the grocery store or Target or something like that, but if we were to live in the dowtown/uptown area are there restaurants and bars within walking distance? Are there a decent amount of taxis? If we go out drinking, we don't want to drive- so that is important. We really enjoy the city feel. Can you get that in Dallas? I know that Dallas is not huge on the public transportation like NYC or Chicago, but I am assuming you could get around downtown/uptown area on public transportation. Is that correct?

My biggest fears with this move is having a hard time making friends and being ~14 hours from each of our families, who are also 7 hours apart.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[lovely40]

LMAO!! Grindin, your last post was HILARIOUS, love it!!

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by Mindi

My boyfriend and I are also entertaining the idea of moving to Dallas. There is an opportunity for a big promotion with his company as they are expanding to Dallas in the next couple of months. I am pretty nervous about the possible move and have enjoyed reading all of your posts. We currently live in Chicago and love it here. He grew up in the suburbs and then moved to the city after graduating from college. I grew up and went to college in Iowa. I fell in love with Chicago after many visits here with my friends from the area and moved here 4 years ago. Though I love the idea of the weather in Texas, we only know 2 people that live in the Fort Worth area and that is frightening to me. As far as I can see from pursuing Craigslist, you can get much more for your money as far as apartments go in Dallas. For what we pay here in Chicago for our one bedroom in a 3 flat, we could get a nice newly redone 2 bedroom with a pool, workout facility, ect. That is not a huge selling point for us though- we don't care a lot about having a huge place. A big selling point would be the weather. We both love being outside and the weather in Chicago is not always condusive to that. Though we are both huge sports fans, our hearts are with other teams so Dallas sports would only be a draw from time to time or when they were playing our favorite teams.

We love all of the festivals that happen in Chicago in the summer. Being outside, having a few beers and some food with friends is about as good as it gets. Are there festivals like that in Dallas? We also enjoy being able to walk to a lot of places. I am not opposed to driving to the grocery store or Target or something like that, but if we were to live in the dowtown/uptown area are there restaurants and bars within walking distance? Are there a decent amount of taxis? If we go out drinking, we don't want to drive- so that is important. We really enjoy the city feel. Can you get that in Dallas? I know that Dallas is not huge on the public transportation like NYC or Chicago, but I am assuming you could get around downtown/uptown area on public transportation. Is that correct?

My biggest fears with this move is having a hard time making friends and being ~14 hours from each of our families, who are also 7 hours apart.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I've never been to Chicago, so I don't kno how to compare it to Dallas, but the Uptown/Downtown central core of Dallas is definitely urban. Walking to shops, cafes, restaurants, taverns, etc., is definitely doable.

The main street in Uptown, McKinney Avenue, is studded with highrise office and residential buildings at its southern extremity, and at its northern end, develops into a neighborhood of 3-4 floor apartment buildings, often with retail on the sidewalk. It is the quintessential urban neighborhood, and similar to places in, say, San Francisco. The Oak Lawn district, adjacent to the western edge of Uptown, is also a dense urban neighborhood, although not as pedestrian friendly, in my opinion.

Look up the Wikipedia entries on Uptown Dallas, and especially the Uptown district called West Village.

By the way, the difference between Uptown and Downtown Dallas is this: They are two halves of Central Dallas that are separated and demarked by a freeway known as Woodall Rogers. The freeway is depressed in its center, and construction is underway to erect a surface park over the depressed portion that will link the Uptown and Downtown areas.

Transportation?

The DART rail system is Light Rail Rapid Transit, and is currently about 48 miles of rail, with about 30-something stations. Some of the stations are surrounded by "urban Villages, pedestrian in design, others are basically suburban stops. By December of next year, the new Green line will be completed, and several new stations will be added, extending the rail system to about 70 miles. By December of 2011, the new Orange line will reach the urban development known as Las Colinas, adding a few more stations, and by 2013, the Orange line will be completely built out to the DFW airport.

There is currently one suburban train line, linking the Dallas and Fort Worth downtowns with some suburban locales. It is comparable to your suburban services in Chicago. By next year, a new suburban line will be added to the end of the Green line, providing service to the Denton county area. An additional suburban line will be in service by 2013, adding service to the northern Tarrant county suburbs, as well as northern Fort Worth.

In the case of the downtown/Uptown areas, there is currently a trolley line connecting the McKinney Avenue Uptown corridor to downtown Dallas, and the line is being extended to reach the downtown transit mall. There are several downtown rail stations, and a new downtown streetcar line is being planned, as well as an additional downtown DART rail line. Uptown Dallas has a DART rail station in the Victory Park neighborhood, and a subway station serving the West Village neighborhood.

As a generalization, I'd opine that an individual or couple could find every urban amenity within walking distance of a DART rail station, even including Targets and supermarkets, although much of the DFW metro area is not served by DART. The point is, the DART rail stations will give you everything you'd need or want in a city.

Hope this helps.

[Mindi]

aceplace-
Thank you so much for that information! It is very helpful!! My boyfriend is going to be in Dallas in 3 weeks for a few days for work. I am trying to see if I can get the time off of work to go down with him, but it is not looking very promising. I am looking forward to this possible adventure. My boyfriend has a meeting with the CEO later this week to discuss this more.

[akpack]

Originally Posted by Chad842

Robz,
DFW is obviously much more suburban compared to NYC: If you currently live in upstate NY, there isn't a huge difference. However, if you live near NYC, brace yourself for the suburban experience. Its not explicitly a bad thing, just different. Expect a bunch of malls, and rows and rows of houses/apartments which don't vary much from one another.

i am considering the park cities area. from what i understand, that area in particular affords some walking/biking to shops/restaurants/library etc.? i am likening it to downtown greenwich ct, bronxville, ny.

i heard some parts of plano is like that, too. but i don't know.

anyone have any opinions about park cities being a little closer to new england/NE than other parts of texas?

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by akpack

i am considering the park cities area. from what i understand, that area in particular affords some walking/biking to shops/restaurants/library etc.? i am likening it to downtown greenwich ct, bronxville, ny.

i heard some parts of plano is like that, too. but i don't know.

anyone have any opinions about park cities being a little closer to new england/NE than other parts of texas?

Highland Park and University Park are island townships surrounded by the City of Dallas. They are very centrally located north of Downtown Dallas. Consequently, parts (but not all) of the Park Cities are within walking distance to many restaurants & retail establishments in areas such as Knox-Henderson Knox/Henderson Guide on Citysearch®, Highland Park Village Highland Park Village, Snyder Plaza Shop Snider Plaza Dallas and Preston Center. The Katy Trail parallels much of the eastern border of Highland Park Friends of Katy Trail:.

Some of the homes in the wealthiest areas of HP & UP will be on large, estate-size lots similar to Greenwich, but most of the lots are much smaller and many of them have been maxed out with enormous McMansions. Despite that, the area still has a great deal of character, lots of trees, parks, creeks and great public schools. If you can afford the price of admission and don't require diversity, then the Park Cities may be for you. Plano is a large suburb about 20 miles north of Downtown Dallas. I'll let others comment on that.

[Lakewooder]

The home is JUST the price of admission to the Park Cities. Everything else will cost you much more.

[Discovery1]

I never been in a city that shows great amount of such an ... attitude toward black people like in Dallas. It seems like that kind of backward thinking still exist in the South and it so obvious in Dallas. I don't know if people in Dallas even realize something like that or just because am from the PNW where we rarely see such negative things.

[Lakewooder]

What are you talking about? Dallas is not the Park Cities.