from La-La Land to Dallas... where to start? (Plano, Carrollton: crime rate, neighborhoods)

[LastDallasNative]

Some of the Californians who move here to North Texas complain a lot. They write a lot of letters to the editor, thinking that will change North Texas to be just like California. They want everything to be just like California.

They don't like it. I agree with Ankhharu. They don't like it. Saving money is not everything when you can do so much in California.

[socketz]

People pretty much call one place home. Whenever they are displaced from what they call home, they tend to become defensive and derrogatory towards what is new because they have now lost their grounding. They feel vunerable and alone. Stuck.

Doesn't matter if your moving from Youngstown Ohio to San Diego or Dallas Texas to Paris.....you've been displaced and suddenly your forced to deal with an entire world that is brand new.

You can welcome the challenge with enthusiasm, or you can dwell in your uncertainty and reciprocate anger to everyone around you.

Personally, I feel your grounding needs to be a lot deeper than where you live, you need to feel comfortable with who you are before you can ever consider a major relocation.

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by Ankhharu

If someone can't handle their statements being challenged, then they shouldn't be posting. You can't make a statement that is completely untrue and then expect no one to speak up.
You're trying to make me to be out the bad guy simply because i've gotten under your skin. I never said the lady couldn't move here, I simply corrected the gentleman and his assumption that Dallas has as many things to do as LA does. There's nothing wrong with me pointing that out.

I'm from California ...half of your list are touristy things to do....most Californians don't even do those things on a regular basis...so it really doesn't matter. In fact most people are so house poor they couldnt afford to go if they wanted too. Last time I visited my friends couldn't even afford to go out to dinner...guess who paid.....that's right the couple that moved to Texas and didn't over pay for their house...us!! The only thing I miss is the beach.....but I visit at least 4 times a year...so I get my fix. Dallas has just as many things to do..it depends on what your into!!

[GoPadge]

We have friends who live in Rancho Cucamonga and grew up in Whittier. My wife's a bit "Price is Right" fan. In '04 she and a girlfriend went to visit our friends. She insisted on going to see Bob Barker. Our CA fiends were mortified and all the locals were giving my wife a hard time, because "locals don't do that sort of thing."

Of course my wife had to prove them wrong and ended up being one of the first four contestants, won a pool table to get on stage and then won a trip to Portugal. Rather than landing on the $1.00 she instead got a nickel, and on her second spin only got a quarter, so she missed out on getting into the "Showcase Showdown", but at least the locals tune had changes. The girls had a good time and really enjoyed seeing the show, even our friendly local.

[cgmaetc]

Goodness! I leave you kids alone for a few months and look what happens!

Thanks to everyone who replied with positive info! It was really helpful. I'm 90% sure I'll move to Dallas, I just have to visit and make a final decision.

Still no word on those Cowboys tickets, huh? Darn!

[aceplace]

Hopeyou enjoy your pending move to Dallas, cigmaetc.

As to the issue of whether Dallas has as much to do as LA, I'm late to the party, but I'll still offer my opinion. The question may be pointless, because both places have so many possible activities. It's like asking whether inheriting 20 billion dollars is better than inheriting 15 billion. Obviously, one number is bigger than another, but an extra 5 billion would not necessarily improve your lifestyle.

Dallas has more things to do than you could ever take advantage of, because of its size... over 6 million people. You could spend your life doing Dallas. LA is larger in population, has more gas stations and supermarkets, but still has the same range of human activity, just more people doing the same things. Of course there are geographic dissimilarities... oceans are different than lakes, rivers and streams are different than the semiarid SoCal landscape... but it more or less evens out.

If LA had a decided advantage over DFW, we would see a net flow of people migrating from DFW to LA. But actually, the net flow is the other way around. Since the terrain is better in LA, and the coastal weather is nicer, the things that really suck in SoCal must make up for it.

[kwiley1221]

You're going to be VERY happy with what 300K (if that's your range) will get you North of Dallas compared to Atlanta (I grew up near Dallas and currently live in Atlanta) and especially compared to LA. Most of the areas north of Dallas are pretty good (shopping, restaraunts, suburbia, etc). Plano, for example, would compare to Alpharetta both in direction from downtown and type of cities (upscale).

[Lakewooder]

My sister has lived in SoCal twice - from the late 1980s to 1998 and from 2003 to present.

Yes, it's great in CA. I love going out there because there are a lot of things to do.

However, the traffic has gotten so horrible it's impractical to do them. You will have to take a hotel room in different areas to do different things.

It's easier to fly from Dallas to the airport in SoCal nearest to the attraction you want to see than drive on the freeways out there to get to the destination.

And to OP, Downtown,Knox/Henderson, Uptown, Lower Greenville, North Oak Cliff and the Southside/Cedars (just south of Downtown) would be great for your situation.

I've had friends from Atlanta who moved to Dallas who went to those places and loved the neighborhood(s). I am also quite familiar with Atlanta.

You will see a lot of black professionals and other types at Terilli's and ****'s on Greenville and I've seen many at Bishop Arts in Oak Cliff and at Brooklyn's Jazz at the Southside. I would rather see you go to the SW suburbs than up north. Some of my more successful black friends live in DeSoto, for instance. But that's more for families.

Most people in the city of Dallas don't care about your race. We went to diverse schools and were not taught to hate. But make no mistake, the reason for the fast growth of the northern suburbs is all about white people afraid of others...

[Lakewooder]

Not sure why M-I-C-K's bar was censored above...

[TriumphOfTheSprint]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Most people in the city of Dallas don't care about your race. We went to diverse schools and were not taught to hate. But make no mistake, the reason for the fast growth of the northern suburbs is all about white people afraid of others...

And yet, if you look at the neighborhoods in these "white" northern suburbs, you see a true melting pot of Anglo, Asian, Latino, Black, Middle Eastern, and probably any other ethnicity you care to name. I think you might find that your Lakewood, HP, UP, East Dallas, "old money" neighborhoods are the most homogenized in the area.

The reason for the growth of the northern suburbs is simple - the land is there and the jobs are there.