Dallas, Texas

New Braunfels.

There's even a Texas German Dialect Project - Thomas could confuse the other three Germans there a lot :wink:

True enough. But isn't the name German? I'm offering a genuine, from the heart example of Texas ignorance about things non Texan.

Look for big blond hair, diamond encrusted gold Rolex watches, beautiful women (not naturally born, but these ladies live in the beauty shops, nail and skin care salons). They spend many evenings and week ends attending cosmetics parties and shopping. There are big malls full of people everywhere and the priority is definitely on expensive clothing and lots of it. (You've seen my closet. I'm not unusual for Texas women in this regard.) And definitely expect to be evangelized on a regular basis, especially if you mention Nietze. So don't do it, unless you're sure about who you're dealing with.

But it's not all bad, just most of it. But as I said, there are ways.........

This is a very entertaining thread. Maybe I will read it all even if I don't have the time. Which I don't. Oh well.

Maybe I'm being a bit too negative. I'll list some good things.

On first look, Dallas County is more liberal than one might expect. In the 2004 election, Bush won by only one percentage point. However avoid North Dallas and Highland Park where the filthy rich live, because liberals are few and far between in those parts. Out of all of the parents of both my daughter's school friends, two of which were the Bush twins and others like them, only three were Democrats. Most of the teachers however were Democrats. I wonder why :wink: Especially avoid Highland Park. You won't have much difficulty avoiding HP because it's very exclusive in the worst sense of the word. I understand there's already a house built there for the Bush family in 2008.

Oh, good things. Big blue sky most of the time. Spring like weather begins (most years) as early as February or March, for sure it's warm by early April. And it's usually warm until late October and sometimes beyond that. There are swimming pools everywhere. (but the nearest beach is 5 or 6 hours away in Galveston, and that's a particularly dirty part of the Gulf coast. )

It's hot, very hot, but I have developed ways of handling that problem. Always park in the shade and stay indoors during the summer months mostly July and August, but often as early as June. Good roads. Dallas is green, as has been mentioned. Near East Dallas is a particularly fun place to live, but you'll have to drive to North Dallas for most good restaurants. You'll need plenty of new summer clothes and don't plan to get much use out of anything wool, although it's good to have a few such things for the occasional odd weather day and for travelling to Portland.

Fur and woolen coats are only worn during the month of December and very early January. It does get cold during these two Winter months, occasionally it snows, but cold spells (called blue northers) are usually puncuated by weater in the mid fifties. But forget driving in the case of snow or more commonly ice storms. Consider those days a good reason not to come into work. Most activities are cancelled on these occasions. Only the owners of companies and people who don't get paid if they don't show up find a want to come to work on these rare days. And even many of those don't take the chance. It's dangerous to drive. No one is prepared or has enough experience with snow.

It's often dry sometimes too dry, with the exception of this Spring and early Summer in which it rained almost everyday for a over a month. But the lakes are often low during droughts, things turn yellow and there's water rationing for lawns and that's not fun.

And there's always the fun time in the Spring during tornado season. This is another very good reason to live in near East Dallas, avoiding especially West, South and far East Dallas and suburbs to the far East like Garland, Rockwall, Wylie and Mesquite (where you can most certainly find real cowboys with gun racks, pick up trucks and a good chaw of tobacco in their cheeks.) North and near East Dallas have had very few tornadoes touch down. One in 1957 downtown and another brief one along Royal Ln. twenty years ago, but there was no damage. Well, tornadoes are a realty in Dallas, and you should know that up front.

Also avoid Plano where there are too many up tight, new rich types.

Good, very good restaurants of all types. And plenty of Tex-Mex restaurants, one of my favorites. The liberal crowd is a lot of fun, much less consumeristic, once one finds a source. Excellent weed, if you're into that sort of thing. Lots of athletic clubs resulting in women with great bodies. The art museum is ok, not bad at all. And the Ft. Worth ballet is excellent. Forget the newpaper, you'll have to read the NY Times, but you can get it delivered to your door. That's all the positive things I can think of for now. But I'll try harder and let you know when I think of more.

So if you live in East Dallas or at least have some way to meet friends from that part of town, you should be able to live well and enjoy yourself. It's not my kind of town, but I was born and raised there and it's just time for me to get the heck outa Dodge. But you may well like it.

would also recommend a visit to :





but thomas may want to escape from any kind of wurst and german for the time being ?


previously posted :
FREDRICKSBURG

Lola, your posts are a treasure trove of information. Thank you so much for them. But don't read on until you've finished your exam. I'd hate to be the reason if you flunk it.


No, the information about "East Dallas" and Lakewood is new to me, thanks. On paper, the neighborhoods that looked best were Downtown, Uptown, and Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum looked overhyped in real life though, so it's pretty much out. Unfortunately, East Dallas is geographically the wrong side of town, since I'd be working in Irving. Any agreeable neighborhoods close to Irving? The area around the University of Dallas maybe?

On the second point: Deal. I won't be moving anywhere without your consultation.


I don't know yet -- but don't worry, I absolutely will!


Austin will be a slightly too long commute to Irving, even if I should end up buying a car? What can you tell me about Fort Worth though? It looked nice, and it's just a two-hour bike ride away from Irving.


How about the lakeshores around Dallas? According to Google Maps, Dallas is surrounded by lots of pretty large lakes, and they look as if their shores might be acceptable substitutes for beaches. Are they?

Another landscape question: On the map, I see this very generous-looking park cutting through the middle of Dallas East to West: Trinity River Greenbelt Park. Is it safe? Is it as nice on the ground as it looks from outer space?

That's all the questions I have for now. I'm sure there will be more. And what the hell are you doing in this paragraph, Lola? I told you not to read on and get learning instead! <stern look>

Well, that's the general idea when you move of the country, isn't it. But if I ever get homesick, it will be good to know that Fredericksburg is nearby. Speaking of which ... how often did you and Mrs Hamburger get homesick for Hamburg when you moved to Canada?

thomas :
you are right , we came to canada to start our lives together here - and have never regretted it .
after five years mrs. h and ehbeth went back to germany for several months . we felt that we had to make sure that we were making the right decision : stay in canada or go back to germany .
after three weeks mrs h wrote : "i think it's time to go BACK HOME TO CANADA !" :wink:
she still staid another two months . i went over in early december 1961 and we WENT BACK HOME TO CANADA TOGETHER !

the trip cost us a lot of money at that time , but we agreed that we shouldn't just slide along but make a decision - which we did .

a number of our friends never made that actual decision ; they just staid on in canada , never making it their TRUE HOME . now many are saying : "i should have gone back ... everything would have been better and easier in germany ... i miss ...(fill in your own words) " .

the money to go to germany could have been the downpyment for a house . it took us another two years to save the money for the downpayment , but it was money well spent : no regrets - so far :wink:

it's not that we don't like germany or the germans - we have visited germany a fair number of times - but canada is our home !
so we can say : no homesickness for germany - but for canada if we've been away for more than a month !

thomas :
whatever your plans are : WISHING YOU THE BEST OF EVERYTHING !
- since luck alone won't do !
hbg

ps. we did miss german style bread and sausages the first few weeks . a polish butcher came to our rescue by bringing in european foods .
of course , now you can buy just about any type german/european/foreign food you want , even in many smaller places .
just this morning went to our danish deli and bought : pumpernickel , smoked ham , ZUNGENWURST and SUELZWURST :wink: - all made in canada now .

I have a good, very good, online friend in Fredericksburg, but I'd rather have us all meet at whathisname's bookstore when me myself and I go there rather than force some meeting between folks who might not want to. I'll have to figure out where it is -

Larry McMurtry's place... which I don't know if it is still going or not..

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/07/home/article2.html

Hmm, not too bad..

I think I've looked sometime ago and there aren't places to stay, but don't trust me on that.

Irving is not good. Actually I don't know much about it in recent years. There may be some areas that are better than others, but it's a bit doubtful. I'll ask around. But I'm not sure I can get much information about Irving. I don't know anyone who lives there. It is the home of the Dallas Cowboys football stadium. The area around the University of Dallas might be worth looking into. And there is an area on the way to the airport that was developed for people working in Irving. It's called Las Colinas. It's better than Irving but I can't see you there. It's plunked out in the middle of nowhere, mostly unimaginative, cookie cutter gated communities, condominiums and apartments. It's very middle class country club life. It's less expensive than Dallas, but oh dear.......it's in Irving.

Of all the areas you mentioned, uptown is quite nice as far as it goes. There is lots of night activity and good restaurants. It's small and built where a very bad part of town used to be. It's classy, young professional upscale Dallas. Very trendy. It's the new hot spot, for as long as it lasts. It's also called the West Village, but no resemblance to the NYC variety. None. On week end nights you can sit at a table in front of one of the restaurants and watch the extravagant cars of every kind (and lots of them) roll up for valet parking. It's good entertainment sometimes. There is a good arts theater there and excellent gellato. And my favorite Dallas restaurant, Cru is also there.

Downtown should be interesting, but it's not......not yet at least. Downtown Dallas still turns into a ghost town after 5 PM on week days and all week end long. People work there and then scurry out the suburbs. It's a sad story. But I have heard some encouraging things about it lately. It may turn out to be an interesting part of town eventually. But the people I know who live there now are pretty bored when they stand on their balconyies and wish something was going on down there. I'll find out more and let you know. It may be a fine option.

Deep Ellum was fun when it started developing. But it's bad now. One of the primary streets in downtown is Elm Street (running parallel to Main.) Deep Elm was the downtown warehouse district and some twenty five years ago theaters, restaurants, etc began to spring up there. It's named Deep Ellum because......how to say this?...... It's a play on a Southern African American accent.....the homeless people who used to camp out there. You understand the racial stereotype. This is a good example of what I so dislike about Dallas. Anyway, it's gone to seed. Don't go there unless you want something pierced or tattooed. It's a shame because it was actually fun when it started. There was real potential, like Portland's Pearl district. But that's the way Dallas is......it's like Bush and the environment......I don't think they really understand city planning. It's the good ole boy code.

But none of these areas is any more convenient to Irving than Lakewood. There is a cool part of town called the M streets. Older small homes built in the 1940s and fifties. It's actually an extension of Lakewood, but a bit more central. Actually, I grew up in Lakewood and the M streets were brand new when I was a child. It was also the outskirts of Dallas at the time. Funny. Will you have to come and go to work during rush hours? If so, you can listen to NPR All Things Considered for the commute. I used to enjoy this opportunity. I don't know what you have in mind about a bike, but I sincerely doubt that you can make that work. I don't think you can get along without a car in Dallas. But if you buy one, do NOT buy a car without air conditioning! You'll die of the heat, literally. It's not only hot in Dallas, but it's also very humid.

I should ask, where in Irving is the work place?

Oh I just thought of another spot. It's very close to the M streets, actually it's a part of that area. The intersection of Mockingbird and Central Expressway (an important main artery, newly expanded and beautified.) There are some very nice renovated warehouse lofts and the best theater in town. Many arts films, but also good main stream Hollywood type films. Good restaurants. It's closest to the parts of town where you'll find liberals that you can enjoy. It's also close to Southern Methodist University which means there are lots of things going on and young people always enliven a place, I think. There is also a main station for the fast rail line which might be a way for you to get to work without freeway madness. I'm not too familiar with the fast rail, it's new (built within the last 10 years). But I think it's very efficient. People like it. If this doesn't work out, it's not a far drive to the Dallas North Tollway which is a better way to travel, less traffic because it costs money, but worth it. You can get to Irving daily with a fair degree of efficiency. In my opinion, it's much better than living in Irving or Ft. Worth.

Austin would be unrealistic for a bike commute to Irving, but silly, I was recommending it for a fun week end in the Summertime. It's an asset to Texas and is only a 3 to 4 hour drive from Dallas.

Now, Ft. Worth. How will you drive your bike from Ft. Worth to Irving? Do you know the route? The only path from Ft. Worth to Irving is by freeway, as far as I know. You may have more information than I do. I'm not very knowledgeable about this, but if you're going to really ride your bike and not have a car, you'd be just as well off in Las Colinas or maybe even parts of Irving. But if you don't have a car, you'll be stuck in Ft. Worth or Irving because you can't get to the fun parts of Dallas. Let me know what you're thinking about in this regard. I don't know much about Ft. Worth. My sister lives there and now my mother is in a nursing home there, so I've been there many times, but my experience is limited. But what I think is that it's a pretty dull city and very West Texas. There are real cowboys in Ft. Worth. All the people I know that live there come to Dallas to have fun.

There are several very nice lakes in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Most are outside the city limits, except for White Rock Lake which is in East Dallas. But it's hard to enjoy the lakes without a boat. There are no sandy shores. There is a very big, nice lake that extends across the border of Texas and Oklahoma. It's about two hours away from Dallas, Lake Texoma. It has some islands with lots of nice sand, but you still have to have a boat to get out there.



I don't know. They have apparently done something to the Trinity River to make it into a "greenbelt park," but I doubt it's much. The Trinity River has a history that is not very pleasant. When I was growing up it was the river where all of Dallas' sewage was dumped. There were lots of jokes about the smell, which was, as you can imagine, disgusting. The river divides North Dallas and South Dallas (Oak Cliff) and is the equivalent of the tracks of which South Dallas is the other side. The river hasn't been used as a sewage dump for many years now, but it's reputation still lives on. It's a very disappointing little river. They may have made it into a park, but I suspect it's just a nice sounding name for a place with a bad reputation. I'll ask around. It may well be green, with all the fertilizer. It's not a very safe part of town.

Have you visited Dallas yet? Who is providing you with information there? Are you just looking at maps or is someone helping you?

This is long and probably boring for most and may kill the fun everyone was having on this thread. If you would rather, we could communicate by email. Don't worry about me studying. I'll pass the test. I won't take it until I'm ready. It's just a hassle to have to study for a test when I've been licensed in Texas and New York for thirty-five years! Sorry I didn't arrive on the thread sooner. We'll have to chastise Bernie because he only told me about it yesterday. The last I'd heard the deal was off.

Osso,

The story about Larry McMurtry is interesting. I didn't know he'd had a heart attack and was depressed for so long. I've heard good things about his Archer City book store. I think it would be worth a trip. You can google for a place to stay.

Thanks again, Lola! Unless you mind, I'd prefer not to take the conversation to e-mail, because there are other people on A2K who're going to move to Dallas. Linkat and her family is one of them, and there may be others. (I'm not sure.) These people will also benefit from what you're posting here.


Not in the first few months. As I said, they're understaffed in the group I'd be working for, so I'll probably drive in before the morning rush hour and back home after the evening rush hour. Still, I'm going to listen to All Things Considered. I'm already listening to it over the web here in Germany, and love it!


It's near the intersection between John Carpenter Freeway and the President George Bush Turnpike.


That does sound very tempting. I'll definitely check this neighborhood out.


I won't -- I was kidding. I think it's theoretically possible; two weeks ago, when I missed the entry into the freeway in Fort Worth, and my car navigation system routed me over regular roads. It wouldn't make for a nice ride though. It's basically suburb after mall after suburb after mall.


I visited Dallas in the first week of October -- officially for job interviews, inofficially for taking a look at the area. I pre-screened places to check out using Google maps, Rent.com, and city-data.com. Then, when I got to Dallas, I drove around these places, and took walks when they looked interesting from the car. At the moment, I have no informants in Dallas. But I plan to ask my future colleagues where people live, and I think my company have realtors at hand who would show me around. At least that's how it works at my company when Americans come to work in Munich.

Good luck for your test, and thanks again for your detailed descriptions!

Love it! I'm going to have to get this book before I move. I was just reading the website to my husband - he loved it too.

Yes, please keep this going on the thread!

I have no intention of moving to Dallas, but I'm loving it anyway.

That movie theater on Mockingbird is where I used to go 24 years ago...

Will do, Mac. How've you been anyway? The theater I mentioned is new within the last 5 or 6 years. I'll bet you're thinking about the Wilshire theater. If I remember correctly it was on Mockingbird somewhere very close to the Dr. Pepper plant. Between Greenville and Skillman. Sadly it was torn down several decades ago. All the old theaters are gone except for The Majestic downtown which is now rennovated and used as a venue for live shows of medium size. Lilliie Tomlin and Joe Cocker within the last few years. And the Inwood which is a big art/euro film and late night show hang out. It has a bar there too which attracts lots of fun people. It's never been well renovated so the down stairs bathrooms stink but it's still a fun place and brings back good memories.

Sadly the Dr. Pepper plant is also gone. In it's place are apartment buildings. That's the way Dallas is. If it makes money, never mind the environment or history or memories. It's pathetic.

The new theater is part of a very interesting and fun shopping, restaurant, built to last warehouse loft apartments and condos. It one place I genuinely like there.

Linkat,

So you and your family are moving to Dallas. My sympathies. But as I told Thomas, there are ways to live the good life there if one knows where to go and live and who to hang out with. Let me know if you have any questions. I laughed out loud when I read the piece posted by sozobe. Thanks for it, soz!

Thomas,

I wish I'd known you were visiting Dallas, I probably could have been helpful. I'll have to box Mr. Bernie's ears.

I'm glad to hear you already listen to and enjoy All Things Considered. My point was that it's worth the commute from a fun part of town because you have to make time for ATC anyway each day. And besides, when I lived near my office but far away from the part of town I wanted to play in, I found I spent more time commuting to have fun that I did to work. So finally, I just moved there. And what a relief it was.

So please do let me talk you into it.

Hey, why didn't I catch this when you posted it? Well, I'm technically not a Yankee, because I'm not an American. But I could use a guide to Dallas, and I love her humor. Thanks for the pointer!

Hi Thomas,

I'm going to bed now. See you later.

Sweet dreams!

Amazon's page for the Survival Guide also recommends Kinky Friedman's Guide to Texas Etiquette. You don't happen to have read it, do you Sozobe?

Hmmmm, Esquire's restaurant of the year -


http://www.esquire.com/features/best-new-restaurants-2007/fearings1107

Nana - Dallas, TX - makes Gourmet magazine's best 50 restaurants in the US/2007 list.



(I'm busy reading an LA Times article and ran into these lists...)