Seeking "happening" area near nightlife (Houston, Dallas: how much, live)

[Lakewooder]

Henderson Avenue is the hottest spot in Texas right now except for maybe Washington in Houston. If you lived on the Knox side of Knox Henderson it might be slightly closer to Addison - if you use the tollway - if you use Central (75) it's right there..maybe you should try something off McKinney Avenue or the area Pepper suggested. McKinney would be more conventional but Henderson is the hang out spot.

Addison is known for chains and franchises and the mid-management/salesman expense account crowd or past-it suburbanites on date night whereas Uptown and Knox-Henderson (and adjacent Lower Greenville) are known for one-of-a-kind restaurants, shops, bars, lounges and pubs. Also you are well within a $10 cab ride to many other great areas such as Design District, Deep Ellum/Expo Park, Downtown, Southside/Cedars and a little farther is North Oak Cliff/Bishop Arts and Fort Worth Avenue.

[unexpected]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Henderson Avenue is the hottest spot in Texas right now except for maybe Washington in Houston. If you lived on the Knox side of Knox Henderson it might be slightly closer to Addison - if you use the tollway - if you use Central (75) it's right there..maybe you should try something off McKinney Avenue or the area Pepper suggested. McKinney would be more conventional but Henderson is the hang out spot.

Addison is known for chains and franchises and the mid-management/salesman expense account crowd or past-it suburbanites on date night whereas Uptown and Knox-Henderson (and adjacent Lower Greenville) are known for one-of-a-kind restaurants, shops, bars, lounges and pubs. Also you are well within a $10 cab ride to many other great areas such as Design District, Deep Ellum/Expo Park, Downtown, Southside/Cedars and a little farther is North Oak Cliff/Bishop Arts and Fort Worth Avenue.

and now you can see what I mean about the snobbish Dallas attitude

[Lakewooder]

Dallitude if you please! Besides some people like Addison as I am constantly reminded on here - to those of us who grew up in Dallas it's just another generic northern sprawl-burb with more restaurants on a traffic-clogged wide street full of people who don't get Dallas..

But that's not exclusive to this locale: my sister had some people from Pennsylvania visit her in SoCal last and we planned out this great intinerary (took a couple of hours to plan) and all they wanted to do was eat at Joe's Crab Shack chain restaurant (not even a California-based chain restaurant at that)...of course we were silently horrified but what can you do?

[unexpected]

Dallas isn't all that much different that the northern suburbs - it's like arguing about different shades of white. Dallas is still a low density, car-centric city. You can act disdainful about all the "chain" restaurants in Dallas, but guess what? Addison (and Plano and Frisco) has its share of restaurants that aren't in Uptown. Just because you don't frequent these restaurants doesn't mean they're not tasty. Being in Dallas doesn't make you a member of some secret society- you just picked the best option for your living situation, much as we did.

The great thing about the D/FW area - if I want to go to one of the "happening" spots on Knox - Henderson - let's say Chuy's for example. Well, If i didn't want to go to the one in Plano (Oh no, a beloved Dallas institution opened up another location, well at least you can claim that yours is the "original"), it would take me 25 minutes to get to the one on Knox - Henderson. It takes you 15 minutes. All that animosity for just 10 minutes of driving time? Really?

Is it really advantageous to live closer to all those restaurants all the time? It's not that healthy, it gets expensive, more and more people are eating at home, in any case. Is that any reason to denigrate an area as "sprawl" or as "cheesy"? I don't think so.

[Ambassador]

Originally Posted by unexpected

Ambassador and Pepper are right. Addison is great if you like more of a bar scene. Addison still has the best happy hours in the area. There's really no convenient place to live that's walking distance away from all these bars - Addison is still a suburb so you pretty much still need a car for everything.

Uptown has a good bar scene, but also has a lot more of the ultra-lounge style clubs. Uptown is also more happening on weekends - since everything is close together, everyone is walking around, several great brunch places to go within walking distance, and there's also Katy Trail.

Commute-wise, if you work in Addison, living in Coral Gables on McKinney - that'll take you about 25 - 30 minutes (with no traffic). That's definitely doable, if you working in Addison.

I've had several friends in this same dilemma, and there usually pretty split. Usually comes down to people. Uptown is more noisy at night, and definitely more snobbish and pretentious (way more $30k millionaire type vibes). People in Uptown consider people in Addison "cheesy" and "honky-tonk".

I live in Addison, but party in Uptown almost exclusively (I'm not really a bar guy and prefer the clubs). I'd love to move to Uptown, but the commute would kill me (I work in Plano). At night, it probably takes me about 25 minutes to get to Uptown, or I split a $40 cab ride with 2-3 other people. Not so bad. I find Addison way more convenient on the weekends in terms of grocery shopping, gym, malls, etc.

Hey, we should split a cab down to Uptown sometime! I also live in Addison but go out on weekends primarily to uptown/ knox-henderson.

BTW: I don't think it is fair to lump Addison into the same pot as all the other suburbs in D/FW. The city has an extremly larger than average number of bars, restaurants, and nightlife spots. Plus, given that all of them are in close proximity it makes it walkable if one so desires...walkable by suburban standards of course. You will still have to cross 8 lane roads but at least there are crosswalks. I see many people on foot every weekend night in Addison; so I know I'm not crazy!

But again, Uptown and the Knox-Henderson area can't be beat as far as nightlife and non-chain restaurants/pubs go. As for the $30k millionaire...well, this is Dallas. The place where that term was coined. There is really no escape...doesn't matter if you are in Uptown, Deep Ellum, Addison, or even Ft. Worth ( check out a country western $30k millionaire and then come talk to me about being traumatized )

Most of them are falling down drunk by 10pm anyway so don't even pay attention. After so many years I have learned to filter them out.

[mSooner]

What about a place in the M Streets--you'd be right between Knox/Henderson and Lower Greenville and definitely within walking distance. There are plenty of duplexes and garage apartments in that price range around there

[Lakewooder]

unexpected I didn't pick it, I was born here and I do belong to the secret society of The Shrine of East Dallas at 100 S. Glasgow.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by unexpected

Dallas isn't all that much different that the northern suburbs - it's like arguing about different shades of white. Dallas is still a low density, car-centric city. You can act disdainful about all the "chain" restaurants in Dallas, but guess what? Addison (and Plano and Frisco) has its share of restaurants that aren't in Uptown. Just because you don't frequent these restaurants doesn't mean they're not tasty. Being in Dallas doesn't make you a member of some secret society- you just picked the best option for your living situation, much as we did.

The great thing about the D/FW area - if I want to go to one of the "happening" spots on Knox - Henderson - let's say Chuy's for example. Well, If i didn't want to go to the one in Plano (Oh no, a beloved Dallas institution opened up another location, well at least you can claim that yours is the "original"), it would take me 25 minutes to get to the one on Knox - Henderson. It takes you 15 minutes. All that animosity for just 10 minutes of driving time? Really?

Is it really advantageous to live closer to all those restaurants all the time? It's not that healthy, it gets expensive, more and more people are eating at home, in any case. Is that any reason to denigrate an area as "sprawl" or as "cheesy"? I don't think so.

Chuy's Knox/Henderson isn't a "beloved Dallas institution," it's a chain based in Austin that's always been known for kitschy decor and crappy enchiladas. Rather perfect for Plano, in hindsight.

Don't insult Dallas by claiming Chuy's as something we think is special.

It really depends on the scene you're into. Uptown is douchy clubs, Lower Greenville is more bars. Addison has bars too, but I wouldn't want to live there if I weren't at least upper-20s if not lower-30s. It's where North Dallas people go to eat (yes, we know we don't have as much soul as y'all, Lakewooder), not so much to party.

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

Chuy's Knox/Henderson isn't a "beloved Dallas institution," it's a chain based in Austin that's always been known for kitschy decor and crappy enchiladas. Rather perfect for Plano, in hindsight.

Don't insult Dallas by claiming Chuy's as something we think is special.

It really depends on the scene you're into. Uptown is douchy clubs, Lower Greenville is more bars. Addison has bars too, but I wouldn't want to live there if I weren't at least upper-20s if not lower-30s. It's where North Dallas people go to eat (yes, we know we don't have as much soul as y'all, Lakewooder), not so much to party.

Except for the location on Knox @ McKinney within walking distance to lots of other (better) places, I think Chuy's sucks! For much better Mexican food I would go east on Henderson about a mile to Cafe San Miguel. Or go north less than a mile to Javier's.

[Lakewooder]

Chuy's started out in Dallas in the West End. Was kind of a novelty there...of course, I prefer the original in Austin. Of course you could say our Matt's is an offshoot of the Austin original, too - but that's a bit different.

When the GW Bush daughter got in trouble at Chuy's in Austin I said, well you really can't blame her, who could resist a margarita there?