Question on Social Life in Ft. Worth (Fort Worth, Arlington: condo, crime)

[bale002]

My wife, I and our small son may move to Ft. Worth. My wife's impression is that everyone lives in their houses, their cars, and goes to their place of work or to the mall, and that there is no decent street life anywhere. Is that true?

Are there any neighborhoods in or near the city center of Ft. Worth where you can sip coffee in a street-side cafe and watch people, eat in a street-side restaurant, maybe go to the movies, theater or museum and see lots of people walking the street during the weekday or during the weekend, doing business, shopping, seeking entertainment, socializing?

Or does the city center sort of die after 5 pm and on the weekends?

What about the malls, are they crowded, lively, prosperous, pleasant, centers for eating and entertainment, are there lots of people walking around?

Thanks

[loves2read]

This area in NW TArrant co has lots of opportunity to enjoy yourself

FTW has great museums--museum schools during the summer for kids at the Science museum and maybe even MOMA...films at MOMA on weekend--nice restaurant there that people use for lunch during week or even dinner ...

there is the Stockyard district which we really don't go to that much--retail shopping and restaurnts--maybe it is just us but we prefer Sundance which is only about 15-20 min from our home in Bedford on a good day/night
sundance sq very much alive and well and usualy very safe--busy all day/night during the week and on weekends--lots of families with children even though there is not really anything for kids specifically to do but they bring them to eat or just walk around sightseening/shopping the stores...relaxed atmosphere--Bass Hall is big draw and there are some other places for music like 5.0--a local theater in addition to Bass Hall--restaurants from really upscale and expensive to fairly cheap but good--like the PotBelly sandwich place-- but in downtown FTW--unless you live in condo--it is not really walkable from residential areas--parking free after 6 and on weekends but can fill up quickly...

I am not that familiar with areas of ftw that are more residential but close to shopping (and there are those areas in older sections) like around Hulen Mall or stip shopping centers scattered around town...

There are places in Colleyville where housing is close to retail--like the Market Street center off Hwy 26--where there are couple of subdivisions and people could walk to the store or the restaurants....

Southlake has nice town center that is still growing but only 1 or 2 older neighborhoods are really close enough to walk there--and there is BUSY traffic along 1709/114 and Central which boundry the center--don't usually see people walking there just walking after they get there--strip shopping up and down 1709 mainly--which needs a car for access---

Grapevine has nice historical town center w/retail boutique shops and restaurants--plenty of people walk around there but most have to drive/park--basically older homes in walking distance--

You do see people out walking their dogs, jogging, riding bikes in subdivisions or using the subdivision pool/rec space if it has one (like Heritage in NFW/Keller and Bear Creek in Keller) but because it can be pretty hot in TX during the summer/fall/spring usually, most people do that in the early morning or later at night...
what people usually do is have people over if they have pools/patios for cookouts-swim-at-my-house or dinner--kids do that during the day--see them walking/biking to other houses in my subdivision--can hear them in the pools/yards when I am outside at times...

People go to movies--plenty screens around--and out to eat--see people playing tennis on schools' courts or city courts in parks---have NRH2O water park in NRHills which is usually very busy in summer and people go with friends...many churches if you are inclined that way which either have sunday school groups or just offer possibility for meeting people...

Malls--well, malls can be kind of problamatic--depends on where the malls are because people drive to get to them so they can drive out of their own living zone if they want to go to certain mall to meet friends/shop/whatever....

of course many more teens and pre-teens in malls during the summer and at night--lately for the past year or so at NE Mall in Hurst --which is my closest one -- (and a very busy Mall--good variety of stores and getting a Dick's Sporting Goods in fall--has nice movie theater and food court) more of YA and younger kids look gangster-ish --more minorities, wearing same colors--dropped trous --have seen some confrontational behavior between YA groups that worries me and frankly those groups NEVER have any adults to moderate their behavior---you can't really predict when traffic will be heaviest--sometimes those groups are there on weekend nights and sometimes any night and sometimes during the day....

There are usually lots of moms and kids or couples (lots of people around here have shift work so foot traffic can be busy at any time)--at NE I see older people walking in mall in early morning--they have club that comes every day I think since it is air-conditioned and you don't have to worry about rain....

There was terrible incident at Irving Mall more than 15 years ago when a gang shooting killed a young father who was in crossfire--since then, malls have been more pro-active about security. There ARE security patrols at NE mall (and all other ones too I think) but schedule according to anticipated traffic--more patrols during Christmas--fewer in mornings during the week--they have those tower crane observation booths in parking lots and there are cameras scoping out the lots---had some car burglaries at the mall and think there have been one or two reports of people being accosted in parking lots (which are pretty big and some are covered) so it is not crime free
but still--I go to the Mall by myself during the day and don't really WORRY about trouble--just try to be aware of what is going on when I walk in and out of stores--try to park close--just use street awareness stuff---

The Parks Mall in SW Arlington, Grapevine Mills, Southlake Town Center--which is not really a Mall but open-air shopping center--Stonebriar Mall in Frisco which is pretty far away-- are ones I am most familiar with but I don't crave shopping so only go when I need something---they are upscale and busy--lots of light on inside--also have lots of other retail shopping in strip center-type locations which I use just as much as malls, depending on what I want--

like for shoes I would check Shoe Pavillion in Hurst or Southlake or DFW shoes in Hurst, Dillards or Macys in NE Mall--or Academy if it is sport shoes
This area of N TX is shopping mecca--my daughter much prefers it to where she lives now in FL south of Sarasota--and often waits to shop for clothes for when she comes here for a visit...

[bale002]

Very informative post. We would be happy to live in a residential section and drive/park to a place where there is foot traffic and the kind of action mentioned.

Probably the biggest gem is the tip about parking spaces quickly filled after 6pm and on the weekends in one of the "hot spots" that you mentioned.

Thanks and any other input would be most welcome.

[TangoUniform]

To answer your question: No, there are no spots like you mentioned in FTW. Although, the city is trying to turn parts of the city into more pedestrian-friendly places. Two of those places are Trinity Uptown which is the very northern part of downtown to across the Trinity River, and the Museum Place project which is just west of downtown off 7th St. The bad news is, they're just now starting construction on all this.

[artcgal]

In our little area (Park Glen/Summerfields/Fossil Creek)...we can walk or ride our bikes to the library, to Noodles @ Boba Teahouse, to Woolley's, Walmart or the Walmart Neighborhood Market, to various drugstores, to the YMCA, to Starbucks, to plenty of restaurants, etc...etc. There are definitely A LOT of places to go. My favorite place to go is the library and then to Noodles! LOL! I'm addicted to their spring rolls!!

Now...with this said, not many people do this because I think they are lazy or just don't have the time. BUT...we do have people all around us that take walks or ride their bikes in the neighborhood. It does slow down in the hot summer months, however...or they will be out in the evening hours.

We go to downtown Fort Worth a lot (Sundance Square)...and, this is where we people watch. Downtown Fort Worth definitely doesn't close up shop at 5 p.m. Some great shopping down there, as well as restaurants, night clubs, comedy clubs, the theatre and coffee shops.

We also visit Southlake Towne Center...LOTS of people watching there, and a great gazebo to sit under and enjoy the sunshine.

As mentioned before...the museums are great here!...as well as the zoo. There definitely is PLENTY to do here in Fort Worth!!

[bale002]

Thank you for your replies. Interesting to read contrasting opinions. I am negotiating the possibility of a teaching job in a private school that would start in six months to a year, so I may return from time to time with more questions, at least until we visit perhaps in the fall.