Perception of Dallas (Greenville, Cool: theater, beach, kindergarten)

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Moth

Once again, open up a guidebook to Dallas and beyond the JFK site, there is nothing to inspire one's curiosity. When the Galleria is touted as something to visit, well what is there to say? Dallas is charming enough core city (Park Cities, Turtle Creek, etc) surrounded by a vast horizon of sterile sprawl all built on flat terrain.

I disagree. I think Dallas has some interesting and unique architecture, but since people hardly ever see it it hasn't had a chance to become iconic. The media is what makes icons, and Hollyweird isn't interested in filming TV shows and movies in Dallas that are SET in Dallas. Note how they avoid showing anything that would alert the viewer that they're filming Dallas, such as the iconic pegasus on top of the Magnolia building, the iconic Reunion Tower, the iconic Chase building, the iconic Renaissance tower, etc.

But hey, feel free to disagree.

I'm sort of glad that Dallas isn't heaving with tourists and I'm glad it has a reputation as being a *****ty place to live...otherwise we'd have far more transplants than we currently do. I have to be totally honest here...I am not really crazy about all these people moving to Texas and changing the culture. When I was a kid, we knew everybody on our street. We knew their names, their kids' names, which house they lived in, etc. When someone new moved in, we went and introduced ourselves and brought them a gift. With all the non-Southern transplants that little slice of Southern culture seems to have gone right out the window, since the transplants don't seem to see their neighborhoods as communities...just large storage units for expensive electronic gadgets and overstuffed furniture. Just makes me sad.

[Drew610]

NativeDallasite - What positives do you think transplants bring?

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Drew610

NativeDallasite - What positives do you think transplants bring?

I like the diversity of Dallas and the variety of cultural activities, and obviously that's due to some transplants. However, I think DFW is expanding too quickly and by too much. People complain about sterile tract housing in the suburbs, but if we didn't have so many people moving here needing a place to live, that stuff wouldn't get built. People complain about the traffic, but if the area wasn't expanding so much with out-of-staters moving here, it wouldn't be nearly as bad. People complain about overcrowded schools, but again...if the area was not expanding so quickly, school districts could meet the demand with increased capacity.

On the flip side, companies relocating their operations here do provide jobs for the local area, but a lot of them do bring their work forces with them.

[Moth]

I'm sort of glad that Dallas isn't heaving with tourists and I'm glad it has a reputation as being a *****ty place to live...otherwise we'd have far more transplants than we currently do.

I do not think Dallas has a reputation as a ***** place to live. People either know it as a decent place or they do not know anything about it, possibly for some of the reasons I have mentioned.

I have to be totally honest here...I am not really crazy about all these people moving to Texas and changing the culture. When I was a kid, we knew everybody on our street. We knew their names, their kids' names, which house they lived in, etc. When someone new moved in, we went and introduced ourselves and brought them a gift. With all the non-Southern transplants that little slice of Southern culture seems to have gone right out the window, since the transplants don't seem to see their neighborhoods as communities...just large storage units for expensive electronic gadgets and overstuffed furniture. Just makes me sad.

I feel the same way about where I live. Your description could be the DC area of my youth. We live in a very dynamic and growing country and Dallas, with all that land and its central geographical location, is simply too tempting a target for growth. So I sympathize with what you are feeling.

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Moth

I do not think Dallas has a reputation as a ***** place to live. People either know it as a decent place or they do not know anything about it, possibly for some of the reasons I have mentioned.




I feel the same way about where I live. Your description could be the DC area of my youth. We live in a very dynamic and growing country and Dallas, with all that land and its central geographical location, is simply too tempting a target for growth. So I sympathize with what you are feeling.

I don't mind people moving here per se, but I don't like when they change the culture here...especially when they're arrogant enough to assume that they're changing it for the BETTER. Some changes are for the better, sure...but not all of them. I work with a bunch of transplants from California, Illinois, New York, Florida, etc. and all they do is complain about how much Texas SUCKS, Dallas SUCKS, the natives are REDNECKS, the food SUCKS, etc. Well...gee...if it sucks so much, leave.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by Moth

Misses the point again. They catch a person's attention and draw them into at least investigating what is there. Dallas has nothing like that. Hence people really do not think about the place. Hence they do not know it and have little incentive to know it.

Moth, that assertion is what you are trying to prove. Does the Hollywood sign actually prompt people to research Los Angeles, do people study up on St Louis because of its famous arch? I don't see why they would. The symbols are simply identifiers for the city. Superficial people adopt such icons because they have no better image of the city.

Once again, open up a guidebook to Dallas and beyond the JFK site, there is nothing to inspire one's curiosity. When the Galleria is touted as something to visit, well what is there to say? Dallas is charming enough core city (Park Cities, Turtle Creek, etc) surrounded by a vast horizon of sterile sprawl all built on flat terrain.

The Galleria is in the gudebooks because it is heavily patronized by out of towners and has an international clientele. It is a better mall than most visitors have in their hometowns. As my daughter's boyfriend from Portland, Oregon, said, "This sure beats the hell out of anything we've got back home."

Dallas has many things that would certainly pique my interest, if I were a visitor... the complex of downtown museums, the video screens in Victory Park, the shops in Deep Ellum, Fair Park Art Deco architecture, the Fair Park museums themselves, the McKinney Avenue Trolley, the observation deck on the Reunion Tower, the bronze cattle drive in Pioneer Place, the various pieces of sculpture downtown, the Bishop Arts District, the Katy Trail, White Rock Lake and its Arboretum, etc.

Your theory, Moth, is that the more well known a city's symbol, the more accurate will be the public perception of that city, because people will be more likely to research it. I dispute that theory for two reasons. One, people who identify an icon with a city have no reason to research the city, just knowing the icon is enough. Second, cities with obscure or no icons can still be better known than cities with prominent ones. Chicago and Boston, with weak or nonexistent icons, are better known than St Louis and Honolulu, with stronger icons.

[Moth]

I would agree with you again nativeDallasite. Dallas was not my cup of tea, so I left. But I still tout its good points to people.

I think we Americans love to complain and tear things down and seeing that we are also very mobile, that sadly translates into the places we live.

[Lakewooder]

Originally Posted by nativeDallasite

I don't mind people moving here per se, but I don't like when they change the culture here...especially when they're arrogant enough to assume that they're changing it for the BETTER. Some changes are for the better, sure...but not all of them. I work with a bunch of transplants from California, Illinois, New York, Florida, etc. and all they do is complain about how much Texas SUCKS, Dallas SUCKS, the natives are REDNECKS, the food SUCKS, etc. Well...gee...if it sucks so much, leave.

Actually I wish I could enter The Time Tunnel and freeze Dallas into a perpetual 1968. We had a vibrant downtown, plus NorthPark and two Neiman-Marcus stores, everybody supported the schools (this was the first year of the real integration), traffic wasn't bad, we had great air service from close-in Love Field (and our own Braniff), the Cowboys were in Fair Park, the Venetian Room brought all the big stars who didn't come for the Dallas Summer Musicals, the air was clear, businesses did what was best for the city, Erik Jonsson was mayor, etc - etc.

There were less than a million in Dallas back then but probably a million in the county. So we had sufficient numbers to have big city amenities - now there are over six million around and what do we really have now which is better?

*Of course I was living an idyllic childhood back then so maybe my memories are through rose-colored glasses.

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Actually I wish I could enter The Time Tunnel and freeze Dallas into a perpetual 1968. We had a vibrant downtown, plus NorthPark and two Neiman-Marcus stores, everybody supported the schools (this was the first year of the real integration), traffic wasn't bad, we had great air service from close-in Love Field (and our own Braniff), the Cowboys were in Fair Park, the Venetian Room brought all the big stars who didn't come for the Dallas Summer Musicals, the air was clear, businesses did what was best for the city, Erik Jonsson was mayor, etc - etc.

There were less than a million in Dallas back then but probably a million in the county. So we had sufficient numbers to have big city amenities - now there are over six million around and what do we really have now which is better?

*Of course I was living an idyllic childhood back then so maybe my memories are through rose-colored glasses.

I wasn't born until the 1970s so I can't relate...the Dallas I grew up in was the big hair, shoulder-padded Dallas of the greedy 1980s when the economy was doubly devastated by oil and real estate speculation. I think Dallas is a MUCH nicer place now than it was when I was a child.

[Lakewooder]

Well, the first part of the 80s was fun!