Dallas / Fort Worth and Me

Finally, finally, I’m back. As I mentioned in this entry, I’ve been moving my household, and oh what a pain it’s been. Not only was the move massive — I had to move a whole house full of stuff as well as the leftover stock of my defunct bookstore — the Internet company blundered and turned off my Internet on August 19, A WEEK EARLY. I got it back up a day or so later, but of course all that punched a big hole in my production schedule. I’m still catching up.

Yeah, I know, gripe gripe gripe. But I’m an American, so I hold that as an inalienable right. If it’s not in the Bill of Rights, it should be.

Anyhow: as also discussed in this entry, I recently went looking for the vibrant neighborhood of Lower Greenville and finally found it on the second try. Not too surprisingly, what we know here as “Lower Greenville” is located on Greenville Avenue south of Mockingbird Lane, and basically extends to Belmont Avenue, where the neighborhood becomes what’s known as “Lowest Greenville” by the natives. Upper Greenville is north of Mockingbird. Lower Greenville is still a cool neighborhood, but in my opinion it isn’t as grand a place as it used to be. (I’m not the only one with this opinion). This is especially the case, I think, since they tore down the historic old Dr. Pepper building on Mockingbird so they could build yet another mixed-used eyesore. In the classic word of Homer Simpson, “D’oh!”

Still, Lower Greenville remains one of the cultural centers of Dallas, I guess. For now, anyway.

Lower Greenville started out as Richardson Pike, and was the major route from Dallas to Richardson and other points north prior to the creation of Central Expressway (e.g., before 1910). Today Lower Greenville (the road is called such because it ultimately goes to Greenville, Texas) is home to a nice collection of bars, restaurants, and music venues, including most notably Kirby’s Steakhouse (a Dallas institution) and the Granada Theatre. Here’s a general view from the north end of the business district. This was taken around midday in the middle of the week, which explains why everything seems so, well, dead.

The Granada deserves further mention. Originally a movie theater locally famous for its soundproofed room for crying babies (seriously), it was built in 1946. Now, as you can see from the marquee, it’s a big music venue. It’s in wonderful condition — they say it looks more or less just like it did when it was first built. Whatever the case, like Kirby’s it’s a Dallas icon.

The businesses in this neighborhood are restricted primarily to Greenville Avenue itself and a rather short stretch of it at that, although there are a few businesses along the side streets leading to the east. To the west is the residential neighborhood, which is by and large middle to upper middle class, though not entirely. You’ll find some apartments and small single-family homes scattered in amongst the larger domiciles.

I used to go down to Lower Greenville quite a lot back in the late ’90s, though I haven’t been there much lately, since my partying days are pretty much behind me. My favorite restaurant down there used to be The Flying Burro, which offered superlative New Mexican-style Mexican cuisine — similar to but culturally distinct from our standard Tex-Mex.  I loved their enchiladas, which they served unrolled and stacked like pancakes, with a fried egg on top. However, it’s been gone for a while, and now the space is the home of The Blue Fish, a high-end sushi bar. You can see it just behind Kirby’s on the top picture below.  I noted on my recent visit that they’ve gotten an award for Best Sushi in Dallas six years in a row (all the way back to 2002) so I guess TFB has been gone longer than I thought. *Sigh.*

There also used to be an African art store down there, if I’m not mistaken, which is where I acquired several hand-carved African masks. It was a lovely place, and the art was reasonably priced. As far as I can tell, this is what’s there now. Yep.

Which brings us to the other businesses, aside from bars and music and restaurants, that keep Lower Greenville vibrant: the boutique shops, which are mostly found in two clusters on the southeast end and on the west-central side of the business area. They include everything from a bakery that Ellen Degeneres herself has touted as the best in Dallas, to hair salons and gift shops and, yes, stores that sell condoms and other sexual novelties. You won’t find a lot of them, since there’s not much room,  but they do make for diverting side trips prior to a nice meal or an evening spent carousing in the bars.

While moseying through the neighborhood, I found one artifact that I believe shows the neighborhood’s vibrancy better than just about anything else. Now, everyone around here knows that you’re not supposed to post bills or flyers on the telephone poles of Dallas County; it’s illegal. But of course, in a neighborhood like this one, everyone does it, and after a few decades this is what you get:

There’s so much metal in that telephone pole that you could probably uproot it with an electronmagnet!

If you find yourself at loose ends of an evening while visiting Dallas, get yourself to Lower Greenville and see what you can find. It’s especially fun on the weekends. Getting there is simple enough: just turn east off Central Expressway onto Mockingbird, then swing right (south) onto Greenville and there you are –plenty of places to eat, drink, and shop. Be prepared to look hard for a parking spot, however; like most Dallas neighborhoods, the parking can be sparse. Your best bet is to park at one of the businesses where you plan to spend time and then go from there. Enjoy!

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