Dallas News Blog

Makes the Merc look like a salt shaker.

The coolest thing about Traveling Man is that we get a different of image of Dallas, one that does not include the Bank of America Tower. Dallas' skyline from east looks even better than from the west.

Now we wouldn't want to go insulting ol' Big Tex by calling him "Dallas's Most Photographed Man" (or that hockey player from up north).

If Big Tex has watched "Lost in Space" he would have plenty of insults for this platinum parvenu.

To wit: "Hopless Heap of Tainted Tin"

http://irwinallen.wikia.com/wiki/Dr._Smith's_Insults

Personally I like the sculpture and this wonderful photograph of my hometown - yes, things do look better from the east side of town!

Those two posted photos are pretty dope, I must say. (yes, I DID just use the term "dope"... Eat it)

8)

Observist:

You're in the ballpark -- ahem -- with your point about the oddly scattered nature of Dallas' renewal efforts. A number of factors contribute to this: One, the destruction of a lot of downtown's stock of older buildings. Those older "pre-car" towns often have cool, bricks-and-mortar in-fill between the shiny new wonders to provide contrast and background. We have parking lots. Two, freeways like Woodall Rodgers and the Mixmaster helped isolate downtown and decimate that stock of older buildings. Three, Dallas' city blocks are inhumanly long. So there's a football field of flat, baked concrete to cross to get to the next corner. If you don't believe this is a factor, consider Sundance Square in Fort Worth, where everything feels close at hand.

I've often told out-of-towners that with the Arts District, Farmers Market, Main Street-and-Commerce redevelopment, Deep Ellum, the West End and a number of the retro-fitted condo towers that have gone in, Dallas actually has the makings of neato downtown. It's just that every attraction is two miles away from the next attraction, so it might as well exist alone. We need more "connective tissue" not more barbarities like Victory Park, which pretty much replicated all of the mistakes it took the rest of Dallas half a century to perfect.