2009 ColDay Series:

 

Part 1: East Coast + Detroit

Part 2: Cincinnati

Part 3: Toronto

Part 4: Cincinnati & Washington DC

Part 5: Louisville

Part 6: Grand Rapids & Lansing

Part 7: Lima & Windsor

Part 8: Dayton & Cincinnati

Part 9: Baltidelphia

Part 10: Chicago

Part 11: Pittsburgh

Part 12: 2ronto

Part 13: The Chicago Bengals

Part 14: Dallas & Austin

Part 15: Atlanta

 

 

And I ain't talkin' TLC!  Special thanks to John R. and Ninjatune!

 

Dallas - My (Newish, Kinda) Hometown (thanks to my momma leavin' the ghetto!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are the hosts!  Both are wonderful folks that give excellent tours!

 

 

 

 

Austin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good day, from Columbus

 

 

& Goodnight, from Cincinnati

 

 

I can see my roof!

Dallas is, by far, a more walkable core.  Austin is essentially a cross T (6th and Congress) with some typical Texas shotguns and ranches around.  The UT area isn't bad, but not that impressive either.  Dallas really impressed me in the urbanist front (the DART is fantastic; the TRE Commuter Rail; blah blah).  I'd prefer it over Austin speaking from an urbanist point.  Austin has a lazier, more "college town" (I suppose "more liberal" though "faux-liberal") vibe but Dallas is far more "city-like."

That sign was right, it is shot time!  I nearly missed it!

 

Thanks ColdDayMan!

texas - nice!

 

outside of government and office buildings dallas has a really weird sparse ground zero downtown vibe around reunion, but as you can see in this thread just north it's very urban and getting more so by the moment. kind of an opposite history vs ohio and other old ne cities. one thing i love is the mockingbird-cityplace subway stretch of the dart trains, which with only a slight exaggeration they built for no real reason other than to see what it would be like to have a bit of subway.  :clap:

 

with the capital, the big college and the same 750k population, austin is pretty much columbus south. well the neighborhood housing is much more lightweight than columbus, but due to a population boom they are making up for that with those handsome new residential towers on the acres of parking lots they had downtown. unfortunately, the attractive sleepy hippy vibe evaporated, the yuppies/hipsters won and it kinda sucks now -- thx a lot dell & whole foods!!!  :whip:  :laugh:

 

Eh...the south.  ::)

I think some of the key differences between Austin and Columbus (aside from face-value 750k, 1.8 million metro; big university in multi-city states; terrible river) are the neighborhoods.  Columbus utterly annihilates Austin's neighborhoods (not simply talking housing stock but commercial, mixed-use, hell...High Street alone).  6th Street is a nice 5ish blocks of cool vibe bars and singing hippies but other than that, it's essentially the size of Clintonville's High Street, just downtown.  And don't get me STARTED on how terrible Downtown Austin (and we ALL know how bad downtown Columbus is but sheesh!).  I'm glad they are infilling those parking lots with the nice condo towers and the Whole Foods (HQ) but I wasn't impressed.  The food was the only thing keeping me there.

naaw, the osu area high st = the ut guadalupe strip. no better, no worse.

 

let's give downtown austin a chance, its under construction...and construction is a-boomin.

 

otoh, i am with you in that the tex-mex food and bbq is the only thing i could care about it anymore. hell, unlike san antonio even the margaritas around austin are not very good.

 

 

The Guadalupe Strip is noticably smaller than Ohio State's portion of High Street.  It was more like Michigan State's retail strip.  A nice 8-10ish blocks of some colorful Chipotles but other than that, it doesn't nearly have the length or impressiveness of the University District's High Street.  Though I loved that University Co-Op.  Fantastic.  And the colors were far better than the drab brick of High Street.

naaw, in front of the universities both strips are pretty much the same length & about the same amount of businesses. for example, subtract one newish osu campus partners development and add one old ut dobie independent film school fanboy theater, etc., whatever, call it a wash. ok i'll give the nod to osu high st mainly because of the wexner, but then again thats on campus and come to think of it there is brand new modern art museum on the south end of guadalupe at congress. so eh, the main college business strip areas are a tie.

Keep in mind, Ohio State's stretches more length than Lane Avenue to 9th.  It generally goes all the way to Hudson (which is basically ANOTHER Ohio State's "front porch" to High Street) and I'm not talking Clintonville or Short North.  Guadalupe fizzles out around 29th.  Sure, the "front porch" streets to either university are generally comparable in regards to amenities but the High Street portion in the University District stretches much more than that while Guadalupe does not.

well yeah high st goes on forever and a day (actually even guadalupe goes on past campus to like 50th st). still overall both of those main drag vibes feel pretty damn similar.

 

i just checked the map and i had forgotten this, but along high the main osu campus area itself actually technically even goes north of lane to northwood -- although i 'd totally agree hudson is the northern osu front door.

I do agree with the "front-porch" effect with both retail streets feel to their respective campuses.  But myself, an OSU alumni, the "Texas version" just felt smaller to the fact, as you say, it goes past Northwood and bleeds into Clintonville and the Short North.  Plus, the Gateway DOES help the image.  Texas' campus is quite beautiful with the uniform Spanish buildings and the evil clock tower.

Yezzir, though UT's retail strip looks more like High Street than Grand River (which is basically a freeway).

Well, that's a no-brainer.  Hell, I prefer Bowling Green to Michigan State and THAT's sayin' something!

omg wow. if anyone prefers the gawdforsaken bgsu campus to any other campus, that's a good reason to never ever ever visit there.

^ yes and then you mentioned the ms campus and coldayman replied that he preferred bg over ms (ms is not a city). anyway it doesnt make ms sound appealing.

 

btw the ut guadalupe drag is nothing like bg main st. actually bgsu has a cross street style of off campus drag. that is, its not just main st, its both main st and wooster. much much much more attractive than the college itself, that is for sure.

I meant the Main Street of Bowling Green, not the campus (since we were talking about commercial strips earlier).  MSU has by far a better campus than Bowling Green.

aah whew...and lucky for them!

Great shots!!  I get more and more impressed with Dallas the more I see it.  There are actually a significant amount of historical buildings...

 

Are there any nice urban neighborhoods in Dallas outside of downtown?

Uptown is a very nice, semi-urban neighborhood that's filling in nicely.  There's some sporadic ones like Deep Ellum (just east of downtown), Oak Cliff, and the Mockingbird area.  Other than that, it's mostly streetcar-suburban.

UT-Austin is a great campus, has some great Spanish buildings, and is fairly connected to the commercial district (like an Ohio State or Penn State).

Dallas looks really nice!

 

A few times on UO I've mentioned how Cleveland is my favorite city ( born,raised, and continue to live here) and that Detroit is my second favorite city.

I haven't needed to mention the fact that Dallas is my #3. Until now.

Usually when I tell people this, they can understand why I love Cleveland...some jaws drop when I mention Detroit...but almost all jaws drop when I tell 'em Dallas.

But thanks to this photo thread, people might be able to see why.

 

A few times on UO I've mentioned how Cleveland is my favorite city ( born,raised, and continue to live here) and that Detroit is my second favorite city.

I haven't needed to mention the fact that Dallas is my #3. Until now.

Usually when I tell people this, they can understand why I love Cleveland...some jaws drop when I mention Detroit...but almost all jaws drop when I tell 'em Dallas.

But thanks to this photo thread, people might be able to see why.

 

The only good things to come out of Dallas are Neiman Marcus and J.R. Ewing!

 

Period!

MTS, and the best steak this omnivore has ever had (scroll down to middle of menu--in steaks, with the picture)

 

http://www.yoranchsteakhouse.com/dinner_menu.html

 

 

MTS, and the best steak this omnivore has ever had (scroll down to middle of menu--in steaks, with the picture)

 

http://www.yoranchsteakhouse.com/dinner_menu.html

 

 

 

I've been there, I wasn't impressed!

MTS, and the best steak this omnivore has ever had (scroll down to middle of menu--in steaks, with the picture)

 

http://www.yoranchsteakhouse.com/dinner_menu.html

 

 

 

Two things I really miss about Dallas - Steakhouses and Tex Mex!

 

Dallas was a great place to live as someone right out of college but it never quite felt like home!  I do wish Cleveland could take a page out of Dallas in terms of development...they can't expand the DART fast enough!

Dallas looks surprisingly nice.  I visited Austin expecting some urban, liberal bastion, but instead found it to be a glorified college town.  I don't really get what the big deal about Austin is, other than the live music scene, and the beautiful state capitol. I remember thinking at the time that it seemed like a Texas version of Columbus.

In a related story:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/23/real_estate/fastest_growing_states/index.htm

 

The growth in Dallas while I lived there was really remarkable.  And the growth since I left - only 3.5 years ago - is just as remarkable.  I was a season ticket holder for the Mavs when the American Airlines Center opened for the 2001/2002 basketball season (and home to the Stars).  There was literally nothing around it.  I actually have a great picture of the arena approaching it from the West End area I use on my screen saver at home.  Today that picture would look nothing like it with the large infill of mixed use buildings - shops, restaurants, condos, office buildings, etc.  And all of that around the arena was put up after I left.

 

 

In a related story:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/23/real_estate/fastest_growing_states/index.htm

 

The growth in Dallas while I lived there was really remarkable.  And the growth since I left - only 3.5 years ago - is just as remarkable.  I was a season ticket holder for the Mavs when the American Airlines Center opened for the 2001/2002 basketball season (and home to the Stars).  There was literally nothing around it.  I actually have a great picture of the arena approaching it from the West End area I use on my screen saver at home.  Today that picture would look nothing like it with the large infill of mixed use buildings - shops, restaurants, condos, office buildings, etc.  And all of that around the arena was put up after I left.

 

 

 

I too remember when there was nothing there.  however, "boom cities" growth has all but stopped.  They are now bleeding.

I had a fun time when I visited Austin the other month, but I'm not sure I could ever live there.  It would be a fantastic place to spend your college years, and the nightlife is terrific if you're between the ages of 18 and 24-ish.

 

As you might expect from Texas, the neighborhoods are sorely lacking, but downtown has a lot going for it, and the statehouse is terrific even though there are giant murals of losers all over the place and the grounds are covered with unnecessary pieces of flair.

In a related story: http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/23/real_estate/fastest_growing_states/index.htm

 

The growth in Dallas while I lived there was really remarkable. And the growth since I left - only 3.5 years ago - is just as remarkable. I was a season ticket holder for the Mavs when the American Airlines Center opened for the 2001/2002 basketball season (and home to the Stars). There was literally nothing around it. I actually have a great picture of the arena approaching it from the West End area I use on my screen saver at home. Today that picture would look nothing like it with the large infill of mixed use buildings - shops, restaurants, condos, office buildings, etc. And all of that around the arena was put up after I left.

 

 

 

I too remember when there was nothing there. however, "boom cities" growth has all but stopped. They are now bleeding.

 

Who is "they" and how do "they" apply to the discussion at hand of Dallas/Ausitn/Texas?

In a related story:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/23/real_estate/fastest_growing_states/index.htm

 

The growth in Dallas while I lived there was really remarkable.  And the growth since I left - only 3.5 years ago - is just as remarkable.  I was a season ticket holder for the Mavs when the American Airlines Center opened for the 2001/2002 basketball season (and home to the Stars).  There was literally nothing around it.  I actually have a great picture of the arena approaching it from the West End area I use on my screen saver at home.  Today that picture would look nothing like it with the large infill of mixed use buildings - shops, restaurants, condos, office buildings, etc.  And all of that around the arena was put up after I left.

 

 

 

I too remember when there was nothing there.  however, "boom cities" growth has all but stopped.  They are now bleeding.

 

Who is "they" and how do "they" apply to the discussion at hand of Dallas/Ausitn/Texas?

 

Southern boom cities like Dallas, Austin, Altanta, Charlotte and S. Florida.