Grand Prarie (Dallas, Arlington, Grand Prairie: houses, neighborhoods, movie theater)

[artsyguy]

Any thoughts and opinions on Grand Prairie?

It looks like a safe and nice city. How is quality of living? Culture? People? Activities?

Any rough or raunchy areas to avoid?

[Arcane]

Yes in between 20 and 30 there are some crappy areas in GP.

[Grainraiser]

The nicest area's in Grand Prairie are south of I30. The area near the lake is were you want to concentrate your search. They have nice homes and decent schools. GP is a older burb so they have many older neighborhoods. Some are well cared for and some are not. There are plenty outdoor activities out near the lake. I would have no problem living in the area.

[jekutz]

I grew up in GP and taught for the school district there as well years ago and if I were to move back it would be out by Joe Pool and zoned for Mansfield schools. The neighborhood I grew up in in central GP has seen lots of transition and not somewhere I would want to live now mainly because I have young kids and the houses are older, smaller and haven't been well kept. If schools are not an issue there are some beautiful large ranch style houses on the north side of GP with nice big lots and lots of trees. The problem with this side of town is it isn't close to much and your grocery choices are limited. The south end of town near the country club (close to South GP High School) has some really nice custom older houses on large lots then if you head further south of I20 you come to Westchester and some nice homes and then closer to the lake with newer subdivisions. There are lots of nice parks in GP and really good hiking out by the lake (Cedar Hill State Park).

GP is working hard on it's image and for an older community in the southern part of Dallas it is a good place to live depending on what you want. There is some revival in the downtown area and the old movie theater Uptown is now a new performance theater and supposedly quite the big thing, the horse track and Nokia theater are on the North end as well and then just the beautiful hilly areas around the lake are really nice.

I think it is a good fit for lots of people but having kids I am not sure I would live there because the district has seen better days, but if I had no kiddos I would be out by the lake

[artsyguy]

Where is the shopping centers and groceries located

[jekutz]

On the north side of town you have Albertson's and Krogers as your main grocers. Not much else in the way of retail shopping. Depending on how far north you look it could be a 5-10 minute drive to the grocery store. Both are on Carrier (one of the main N/S roads through GP). Then on the south side of town you have lots of options. At the Carrier/I20 corridor you have all the big grocers then up one exit West on I20 at Great Southwest Pkwy you have Walmart/Sam's and lots of choices for restraunts, general retail, etc. Also not too far from the Shops at Arlington (nice outdoor shopping area). The closer you are to I20 the closer you are to Arlington and some of what they have to offer in the way of retail/shopping as well.

[artsyguy]

I didn't realize the city of Arlington had anything

Originally Posted by jekutz

On the north side of town you have Albertson's and Krogers as your main grocers. Not much else in the way of retail shopping. Depending on how far north you look it could be a 5-10 minute drive to the grocery store. Both are on Carrier (one of the main N/S roads through GP). Then on the south side of town you have lots of options. At the Carrier/I20 corridor you have all the big grocers then up one exit West on I20 at Great Southwest Pkwy you have Walmart/Sam's and lots of choices for restraunts, general retail, etc. Also not too far from the Shops at Arlington (nice outdoor shopping area). The closer you are to I20 the closer you are to Arlington and some of what they have to offer in the way of retail/shopping as well.