Quaint/post card pretty areas in and around Dallas (Garland: sales, salons)

[phyll115]

I have a list of areas that I'm researching around Dallas where I am looking for safety and low taxes. My next citeria is to find a "quaint" area where there are small shops and stores on a main street with people walking around.... maybe a town square. You get the idea.. someplace that's postcard pretty. Also, maybe a place that is hilly. I'm researching the following list which people on here suggested for safety and low taxes, and now I'm trying to get a feel for what the areas actually looks like. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
1.Rockwall
2. Heath
3. Roycecity/Anna
4. Mansfiend
5. McKinney
6. Granbury
7. Weatherford
8. Richardson
9. Garland
10. Mesquite

[mfromphilly1]

Go ahead and take Mesquite off your list. I've lived here 7 years and the taxes are terrible, the crime rate seems to be rising as the Pleasant Grove/south Dallas residents seem to be migrating east. Old Mesquite has a very small area with some shops that are nice although it will take only about 30 minutes to see all of it. Mesquite is an OK area just not what your criteria calls for. I don't know about the taxes in Grandbury but they meet the other requirements, my wife loves to walk around the shops and square there

[hamiltonpl]

Of the places you mentioned, Granbury is pretty and has a nice town square. Weatherford has some interesting topography too -- with a downtown square and beautiful courthouse. McKinney has a town square with some gaudy shops, but it's flat prairie country. Waxahachie also has a town square with a beautiful old courthouse.

Why isn't Dallas on your list? A big city is simply a group of (former) small towns that are now neighborhoods with unique character all their own. Just because they have the same mayor doesn't mean the whole town is the same.

Knox Street is a quaint main street in Dallas. It used to be considered downtown Highland Park. Lakewood also has a quaint main street on LaVista. It also used to be its own small town and is certainly hilly. Don't count Dallas out -- it's simply a group of small towns already.

[ChristieP]

Royse City and Anna are two very disticntly different towns. They are also not even close to each other, so I wonder why you have grouped them on your list.

Come look at Grapevine. We have the lowest taxes in Tarrant County, thanks to DFW Airport revenue, and our historic downtown is on the National Register. Grapevine is also very safe; most of the crime here is petty stuff like car break-ins at the mall, or domestic violence, etc.

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by hamiltonpl

Of the places you mentioned, Granbury is pretty and has a nice town square. Weatherford has some interesting topography too -- with a downtown square and beautiful courthouse. McKinney has a town square with some gaudy shops, but it's flat prairie country. Waxahachie also has a town square with a beautiful old courthouse.

Why isn't Dallas on your list? A big city is simply a group of (former) small towns that are now neighborhoods with unique character all their own. Just because they have the same mayor doesn't mean the whole town is the same.

Knox Street is a quaint main street in Dallas. It used to be considered downtown Highland Park. Lakewood also has a quaint main street on LaVista. It also used to be its own small town and is certainly hilly. Don't count Dallas out -- it's simply a group of small towns already.

I agree. Some of the most quaint areas in DFW are going to be the older 'hoods of Dallas. And the OP should not assume that crime is high in a particular area just because it is within the confines of a major city. Lakewood is a good suggestion given the terrain, the lake and the many unique shops and restaurants in/around Lakewood Shopping Center.

The OP might also take a look at the uber-quaint Bishop Arts District and some of the surrounding residential areas such as the Winnetka Heights Historic District and beautiful Kessler Park (lots of hills there). All of this is just 5-10 minutes SW of Downtown Dallas.

Bishop Arts District :: Home
The Neighborhoods of Oak Cliff
Kessler Neighbors United (http://www.kesslerpark.org/tour.htm - broken link)

[TurtleCreek80]

There is almost nothing in DFW that looks like the Norman Rockwell-esque towns along the East Coast, mainly because even the oldest parts of DFW were developed 100-150 years after Newport, Boston, etc.

That being said, the areas of Dallas itself that were developed back in the Trolley car days of the early 20th century are relatively walkable and have small "main street" shopping areas. Some of these would be along Davis Avenue in North Oak Cliff (immediately southwest of downtown), Lakewood Village in Lakewood/ East Dallas, along Knox Street in Knox-Henderson (4-5 miles north of downtown, adjacent to Highland Park), and along Hillcrest Road in University Park by SMU & Snider Plaza.

There are also some lovely quaint towns in East & West Texas- Granbury, Jefferson, etc- but if you are the poster with kids moving to the Park Cities, those are about a 2 hour drive each way!

Also, define "low" taxes. Texas by design is a very high property tax state (2-2.5% of home value is your annual tax bill), but there is no personal state income tax. Sales tax is in the 8.25% range, slightly higher or lower in some cities/towns. On a $200k home, the annual tax bill could vary by $300-500 depending on which town....not that big of a difference until you're looking at million dollar homes.

[HOAPRESIDENT]

As another poster noted -- Grapevine does have a pretty, quaint downtown. So does Granbury.

But other posters pointed out something even more important. Dallas has more old main street town square areas than any suburb. Dallas is primarily a suburban city with a similar tax rate to its neighbors. Besides portions of south Dallas, the worst crime in Dallas is similar to that of the suburbs -- limited to break-ins and petty theft.

If you want a picturesque area, you're much more likely to find it in Dallas than Rockwall, Heath, Roycecity/Anna, Mansfiend, McKinney, Granbury, Weatherford, Richardson, Garland or Mesquite.

[GayleTX]

You can scratch Anna off your list for 'quaint.' Until about 8 yrs ago Anna was a little dried up country town (a few hundred people)....people living just 10 miles away didn't even know where it was. Then the developers came in, threw up lots of houses with very little cooperation and planning from the local city commissioners, most who did not want growth, had no experience in growth, and made a lot of poor decisions. Population is now about 8,000, I think. Then the housing crash came and now Anna is a collection of rentals and foreclosures, altho it, for the most part, was just beginning to look like neighborhoods (the trees were beginning to grow, lawns looking nice...they even have a grocery store). You can buy a house there, however, for less than it sold for new 4-5 years ago....if that was your main priority. When it was still growing, they did vote in money for new schools(a ridiculously expensive high school is now under construction, an elementary has already been built.) The only way to get into town off the highway is thru a maze of truck stops and liquor stores...a very dangerous corner. There is really no downtown, no stores except the little strip mall dollar store/pizza places....there is no 'quaint' or 'interesting' there. I don't live there and I'm not being critical...in fact, I'm sad that it has happened that way, but that is the reality of Anna.

[FarNorthDallas]

I would probably mark Richardson off your list if you are looking for a new house. It's an older inner ring suburb. The downtown areas are Indian and Asian stores with hookah bars. There is a large group of retirees in Richardson though - original owners from the 1970s - so there are senior citizen focused things. There are DART train stations in Richardson, mom and pop places, ethnic restaurants galore, lots of churches, the University of Texas at Dallas, and not too many big box stores. But it's not walkable unless you happen to buy a place near a strip mall, such as the new townhouses at Coit and Campbell which puts you in walking distance to grocery, restaurants, salons, and other places - even Home Depot.

[MurphyPl1]

I hope you have a pretty broad idea of what makes things postcard pretty. I happen to think there is not many areas prettier than the Texas Hill Country in spring. But I have friends from back east who cannot fathom why I believe that.

We don't have the fall foliage you see in New England, but we do have gorgeous azaleas each spring in Highland Park and at Samuell-Grand park.