JasonParis
Moderator
As continued from Part III...
I then continued on my walking journey a bit further north to the Turtle Creek area where I came to the Dallas Theater Center.
The Dallas Theatre Center (or officially the "Kalita Humphreys Theater") was opened in 1959 and designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The building is set among the trees on a steep slope above Turtle Creek. Wright apparently said proudly that there was "not a right angle in it."
I can't say it's one of my favourite FLW buildings, but is sort of interesting in a way. It also has a bad wrap for not being a particularly efficient building for theatre production.
FLW's Dallas Theater Center (cont.)...
FLW's Dallas Theater Center from Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas' Turtle Creek neighbourhood.
Then it was a walk back south to Uptown where I caught the McKinney Avenue (or M-Line) historic streetcar back downtown. The M-Line is primarily a tourist service between downtown and Uptown, but is free, relatively convenient and allows Dallasites (and particularly tourists) to ride historic rolling stock.
The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA), a non-profit organization, operates the M-line Streetcar. It is the last remaining line of Dallas' streetcar system which was abandoned in the mid 1950s.
M-Line (cont.)
Back downtown I had not had my fill of riding the rails so I quickly walked over to St. Paul's DART (light rail) station where I caught a train up to Parker, Texas. However, not before catching a picture of this church!
Parker's DART station is the terminus station on the north-end of the Red Line. It's basically slightly north of Plano in the Metroplex's northern suburbs.
Not surprisingly it was surrounded by a big parking lot and not much else. In fairness, there was also some big box format stores in the distance, but a little too far to walk to.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority (DART) operates the vehicles and is quite easy and convenient to use. It also seemed to be well-used by a large spectrum of the population. Still, this is a city where transit is an afterthought so I wouldn't really consider it an extensive system, but for a young system it seems to be extending in the logical directions and connecting the obvious dots of what is a huge poly-nucleated metropolis. A third line ("the green line") will open in 2010. The service levels leave a lot to be desired though with trains often 20-30 minutes apart and the bus service even worse. It's also not really comparable to Toronto's coming "Transit City" plans as much of Dallas' system (save a small portion downtown) runs in former railway right-of-ways and not in the middle of major streets.
Richardson, Texas from the DART train. Suburban Dallas is much like suburban Toronto with many secondary hubs. With the exception that these "sub-centres" are generally only office clusters and that there's no condo/residential development.
The Campbell Centre from the DART train. For "Dallas" fans, this was the headquarters of the Barnes-Wentworth Oil Company headed by the one-and-only Cliff Barnes!
I got off at Union Station where a TRE train from Forth Worth was pulling in.
The Reunion Tower sits next to Union Station, but is currently closed for renos.
That evening I met-up with my equally "Dallas"-obsessed friend Geret (from Winnipeg) and we headed to J.R.'s Bar & Grill in the gay village for a few drinks on the eve of Dallas' 30th Anniversary Reunion. The popular lesbian bar down the street is honestly called "Sue Ellen's."
Day #4 - This day was reserved to all things "Dallas." I met up with Geret relatively early and decided to get in some "Dallas" sights before heading to Southfork Ranch for the big party. Conveniently the North Central Expressway on the way to Southfork Ranch passes the Campbell Centre. We decided to get out and look for Cliff, Pam and Jackie, but couldn't find them.
Due to the success of the show, the Campbell Centre is apparently considered one of Dallas' most prestigious business addresses, even though it is 20 minutes north-east of downtown. The complex was completed in 1981.
The road to Southfork...
We knew we were close when the Southfork Animal Clinic came into view. Basically, everything in the area is named after Southfork Ranch.
One of the highlights of my trip was finding this...Just a few kilometres east of Southfork Ranch is the Southfork Mobile Home Community. Yup, a Southfork trailer park! It was the perfect combination of trash and glammer mixed together. It made me really giddy.
And even better, EVERY street in the trailer park is named after characters from the TV show "Dallas!"
Nope, no bottles of vodka were placed at this corner, but I considered ceremonially leaving one in honour of TV's greatest drunk.
OK, so we are still at the Southfork Mobile Home Community and this "isn't" Southfork Ranch. It's actually the trailer park's recreation centre and administration office. It's built as a mini replica of the real Southfork! This place was just too crazy.
Then it was over to the REAL Southfork. While Southfork isn't a working ranch anymore, it is still one of the largest tourist attractions in the state (up there with The Alamo) and hosts many banquets, weddings and scores of tourists for the "Dallas" tour.
We are now on the grounds of Southfork Ranch where much of the exterior shooting for the TV show was done between 1978 and 1991.
Southfork Ranch (cont.)...
As this is Urban Toronto, I'm only going to post selected pictures from the event, but if you yourself are a "Dallas" fan, feel free to see some pics at the following Facebook links (you don't need an account to view)...
I then continued on my walking journey a bit further north to the Turtle Creek area where I came to the Dallas Theater Center.
The Dallas Theatre Center (or officially the "Kalita Humphreys Theater") was opened in 1959 and designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The building is set among the trees on a steep slope above Turtle Creek. Wright apparently said proudly that there was "not a right angle in it."
I can't say it's one of my favourite FLW buildings, but is sort of interesting in a way. It also has a bad wrap for not being a particularly efficient building for theatre production.
FLW's Dallas Theater Center (cont.)...
FLW's Dallas Theater Center from Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas' Turtle Creek neighbourhood.
Then it was a walk back south to Uptown where I caught the McKinney Avenue (or M-Line) historic streetcar back downtown. The M-Line is primarily a tourist service between downtown and Uptown, but is free, relatively convenient and allows Dallasites (and particularly tourists) to ride historic rolling stock.
The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA), a non-profit organization, operates the M-line Streetcar. It is the last remaining line of Dallas' streetcar system which was abandoned in the mid 1950s.
M-Line (cont.)
Back downtown I had not had my fill of riding the rails so I quickly walked over to St. Paul's DART (light rail) station where I caught a train up to Parker, Texas. However, not before catching a picture of this church!
Parker's DART station is the terminus station on the north-end of the Red Line. It's basically slightly north of Plano in the Metroplex's northern suburbs.
Not surprisingly it was surrounded by a big parking lot and not much else. In fairness, there was also some big box format stores in the distance, but a little too far to walk to.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority (DART) operates the vehicles and is quite easy and convenient to use. It also seemed to be well-used by a large spectrum of the population. Still, this is a city where transit is an afterthought so I wouldn't really consider it an extensive system, but for a young system it seems to be extending in the logical directions and connecting the obvious dots of what is a huge poly-nucleated metropolis. A third line ("the green line") will open in 2010. The service levels leave a lot to be desired though with trains often 20-30 minutes apart and the bus service even worse. It's also not really comparable to Toronto's coming "Transit City" plans as much of Dallas' system (save a small portion downtown) runs in former railway right-of-ways and not in the middle of major streets.
Richardson, Texas from the DART train. Suburban Dallas is much like suburban Toronto with many secondary hubs. With the exception that these "sub-centres" are generally only office clusters and that there's no condo/residential development.
The Campbell Centre from the DART train. For "Dallas" fans, this was the headquarters of the Barnes-Wentworth Oil Company headed by the one-and-only Cliff Barnes!
I got off at Union Station where a TRE train from Forth Worth was pulling in.
The Reunion Tower sits next to Union Station, but is currently closed for renos.
That evening I met-up with my equally "Dallas"-obsessed friend Geret (from Winnipeg) and we headed to J.R.'s Bar & Grill in the gay village for a few drinks on the eve of Dallas' 30th Anniversary Reunion. The popular lesbian bar down the street is honestly called "Sue Ellen's."
Day #4 - This day was reserved to all things "Dallas." I met up with Geret relatively early and decided to get in some "Dallas" sights before heading to Southfork Ranch for the big party. Conveniently the North Central Expressway on the way to Southfork Ranch passes the Campbell Centre. We decided to get out and look for Cliff, Pam and Jackie, but couldn't find them.
Due to the success of the show, the Campbell Centre is apparently considered one of Dallas' most prestigious business addresses, even though it is 20 minutes north-east of downtown. The complex was completed in 1981.
The road to Southfork...
We knew we were close when the Southfork Animal Clinic came into view. Basically, everything in the area is named after Southfork Ranch.
One of the highlights of my trip was finding this...Just a few kilometres east of Southfork Ranch is the Southfork Mobile Home Community. Yup, a Southfork trailer park! It was the perfect combination of trash and glammer mixed together. It made me really giddy.
And even better, EVERY street in the trailer park is named after characters from the TV show "Dallas!"
Nope, no bottles of vodka were placed at this corner, but I considered ceremonially leaving one in honour of TV's greatest drunk.
OK, so we are still at the Southfork Mobile Home Community and this "isn't" Southfork Ranch. It's actually the trailer park's recreation centre and administration office. It's built as a mini replica of the real Southfork! This place was just too crazy.
Then it was over to the REAL Southfork. While Southfork isn't a working ranch anymore, it is still one of the largest tourist attractions in the state (up there with The Alamo) and hosts many banquets, weddings and scores of tourists for the "Dallas" tour.
We are now on the grounds of Southfork Ranch where much of the exterior shooting for the TV show was done between 1978 and 1991.
Southfork Ranch (cont.)...
As this is Urban Toronto, I'm only going to post selected pictures from the event, but if you yourself are a "Dallas" fan, feel free to see some pics at the following Facebook links (you don't need an account to view)...
- Facebook (Part III) (Fair Park, Uptown/West Village, Dallas Theater Ceter, DART, Campbell Centre, Southfork Mobile Home Community, etc.)
- Facebook (Part IV) (Southfork Mobile Home Community, Southfork Ranch, Dallas Reunion 30 Barbeque, etc.)
- Facebook Part V (Dallas Reunion 30 Barbeque - Southfork gate, red carpet, mansion tour, etc.)
- Facebook Part VI (Dallas Reunion 30 Barbeque [mansion tour, press conference, Dallas Legacy Museum] & Kimbell Art Museum)
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