Is Deep Ellum Getting Better?

-

Dallas has a history of ruining great neighborhoods. I've heard over the years how cool the lower Oak Lawn neighborhood (between Oak Lawn Ave and Turtle Creek Blvd) was in the 1960s and '70s. It was home to many artists and shop owners selling antiques. The Sale Street Fair attracted people from far and wide each year. Today, it's home mostly to large office buildings and residential highrises.  It was way cooler than Congress Avenue in Austin is today, so they say.

In my own time here I have seen McKinney Avenue go from a bar-hopping destination to a quieter street filled with highrises and upscale restaurants. Some of the changes, like the addition of Whole Foods, have been good but I imagine many feel a sense of loss. If you want to be a little rowdy and have some fun, McKinney Avenue isn't what it used to be.

So what's happening to Deep Ellum?  Before COVID-19, the art galleries had mostly moved out and a lot of restaurants moved in. There have been several large buildings built and more are under construction. Even the tallest building has embraced the mural culture and there are fewer parking lots. But is all this development going to destroy what's good about it? Time will tell, and the impact of the pandemic on this and other city neighborhoods is yet to be known. 

I do know it's a visually-stimulating place and I enjoy walking around. As a neighborhood, I think its probably better than it used to be. As a creativity generator, I think it's probably doing ok too (although I could do without the corporate promotional murals). Night clubs are closing thanks to COVID, but hey, park anywhere. 

Let's check back in a few years.










Location: Dallas, TX 75219, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vegan Mapo Tofu

-
Image
The first time I had Mapo Tofu it was the very spicy kind. Sometimes when you get it from take-out places it is mild. It often has little pieces of meat in it, but some restaurants make it without.  Trying to order a dish as vegetarian in a restaurant can be challenging. Often the server will return and convey "the chef says that won't be any good." I've learned to make this at home with the sauce packets from the Asian groceries. It comes in two varieties, spicy or very spicy and it's hard to tell which is which before you buy it. Luckily I love the taste of these little red peppers so it doesn't matter much.  I start by frying some onions and veggie crumbles. Skip the onions at this stage if you want to be closer to authentic. Then add the sauce packet. I usually throw in a green vegetable like snow peas or a diced zucchini. Sometimes the take-outs add peas, but I haven't seen vegetables added in a service-type restaurant.   Then add cub...
Read more

Social Distancing on Samuell Farm

-
Image
Looking for ways to get out of the house and keep with social distancing guidelines, we headed to Mesquite and Samuell Farm . While far outside the Dallas City limits, it is one of those oddities in American urban geography because it is owned and maintained by the City of Dallas. ... Many people expect businesses to open back up and there is increasing debate over whether people with weak immune systems have a right to control the activities of everyone else. Even if you could get around the moral issues, I suspect COVID-19 is far less discriminatory than we were led to believe early on. For example, an article in the Washington Post reviews how people in their 30s and 40s are succumbing to COVID-related strokes.  Some are also pointing to Sweden which resisted drastic lockdown measures. They typically fail to mention how having universal healthcare makes it possible to even consider such an approach. Sweden's story may not be completely written yet, so let's hol...
Read more