Dallas / Fort Worth and Me

If you’re ever in the DFW metroplex and find yourself with a hankering for learning about — or even doing — some archeology, you’re in luck. Not only do we have some excellent museums you can visit to learn about the culture history of the region, we also have the venerable Dallas Archeological Society (DAS) to help you out.  Most of the members of the DAS are talented amateurs, but there are professional archeologists among their ranks, too, including a few academics and at least one fellow who owns his own archeological consulting company. If you ever visit with them, you’ll find yourself in good, enjoyable company. I speak from experience, I do.

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The combination of “hockey” and “Texas” may seem counterintuitive, given the general lack of ice in the Lone Star State, but by golly, it works. While watching a bunch of guys chase after a puck doesn’t come as natural to Texas fans as football, we’ve learned to enjoy it; and over the past decade or so, hockey has started to spread all over Texas, even unto the smaller cities like Odessa  and Midland (which you may recall as the President’s  hometown). Notice that I said that hockey has spread, not just its popularity. Minor-league teams are popping up all over. Odessa’s is called the Jackalopes.

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In previous posts I’ve discussed a number of interesting and historical attractions that grace the downtown Dallas district we call the West End, but I’ve never actually addressed the reality of the West End itself. Well, that changes today! If you’d like a quick-and-dirty tour of the West End, hop in, fasten your seatbelt, and read on.

In a way, the West End is Dallas’ answer to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, or maybe Sixth Street in Austin. We’ve also got something called “Deep Ellum” (about which I’ll blog another day) that fills that role to some extent, but the West End has fewer artists roaming the streets, and better shopping.  The area has its own brand of gritty urban charm, if you like that sort of thing, as you can see in yon photo.

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I’m not exactly DFW’s go-to guy for shopping, but I’ve lived here for almost fifteen years — so I’d have to be completely clueless* not to be aware of where, exactly, the local epicenters of shopping are located. In Dallas, it’s the Galleria out on the Dallas Parkway, the toll-road that cuts north-south through the center of the city.

Our Galleria consists of three main floors and a basement with a central skating rink, several nice restaurants, and a sizable food court (there’s another food court on the third floor). Here’s what it looks like from the top of its three glittering floors, looking east along the long axis:

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While Dallas isn’t the hotbed of culture that Fort Worth tends to be, we do have our high points: the Dallas Opera, Deep Ellum, the West End, Fair Park, and a wide variety of museums.  Speaking of the latter, the only local museum I’ve blogged about in any detail so far is the Sixth Floor Museum, which chronicles the life and death of President John F. Kennedy in detail. Dallas is where the president was murdered, coming up on 45 years ago now, so I guess we’re entitled to commemorate that particular heartbreak. But a few blocks away is a museum and educational center recording an unimaginably huger tragedy, one that ever person on this Earth should be battered about the head and shoulders with until they’ve gotten the lesson ingrained in them to such an extent that it never, ever happens again: the Jewish Holocaust in Germany in World War II.

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Welcome, one and all, to the great State Fair of Texas! Or at least, my review of it. Part V, to be precise. This one will be the last entry for this particular event, so sit down, strap in, and let’s go for broke.

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One of the things you have to keep in mind while strolling the State Fair of Texas is the fact that Fair Park is a going concern all year long, not just during four weeks in September and October. I’ve already discussed many of the structures at least in passing, including a few of the museums — of which there are many, including the Science Place, the Museum of Science and Nature, the Women’s Museum, and the African-American Museum. That doesn’t even include the Music Hall, the Smirnoff Music Center, a nice band shell, and other entertainment venue like the Magnolia Lounge. And since Fair Park is open and active all year long, there’s enough business for this:

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Cars, cars, cars. And too many people.

The above is what greets your eyes when you enter the Centennial Building in Fair Park during the Texas State Fair — and this isn’t even one of the busy parts, really. You can rest assured that it’s just as bad in the Automotive Building, on the other side of the Esplanade. You know, I’m impressed and appalled every time I enter these expo halls, for several reasons. The prices appended to these vehicles accomplish both, and I’m appalled at the huge crowds, but I’m quite impressed by the incredible organization it must have required just to get all these vehicles into the buildings in the right order without causing chaos on a massive scale.

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Aaaand we’re back, after an annoying delay involving a lot of money and whole new computer system!  As I recall, I was regaling you with my in-depth report on the State Fair of Texas, which just ended for the year a few weeks ago. Let’s pick it up already in progress, eh?

There’s a lot of impressive stuff to see at the State Fair, not least the architecture. Remember that picture of the Promenade I showed you in a previous entry, where I took a shot standing on the steps of the Hall of State? Officially, it’s called the Esplanade.* Here’s what it looks like from the other end, once they’ve filled the reflection pool and turned on the fountains. Oh, and added the cars, too.

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