Back to the Future

Whether I'm at the Legacies Dallas History Conference, listening to my family talk about "going downtown on the streetcar to shop" with the rest of Dallas, attending the community forum in Oak Cliff on the return of the streetcar, or reading Unfair Park, it seems like I'm constantly being bombarded with "Dallas used to be SO cool." As Robert Wilonsky points out, it would seem that many of our current aspirations are simply pages taken from the Dallas of the past: streetcars, downtown retail, bicycles and pedestrians on multi-modal streets.

It would appear that Jason Roberts & Co. are really just pining for a modern version of the Dallas of my grandparents. But, it would seem there are legitimate and tangible benefits to be drawn from the proposals supported by the likes of the DowntownDallas360 plan. Somewhere along the way, as Dallas and the rest of America became wrapped up in the American dream, we lost touch with our neighbors, choosing to drive everywhere and isolate ourselves from those in our midst, choosing what was perceived as comfort and convenience over all else. Old photographs of Dallas without freeways looks incredibly different, more like one large urban center rather than neighborhoods separated by highways.

Of course, since the post-war boom and urban sprawl began, the generations have finally come to realize the potential negative side-effects of so many cars and highways on our environment and our city centers. I believe we do have something to be learned from our predecessors, especially those members of the generation of my grandparents. Dallas WAS cool. Sitting in the Hall of State at Fair Park, built in the 1930s, listening to tales of city leaders and personalities who envisioned a Dallas full of possibilities and promise, its hard not to find admirable personalities and ideas worthy of imitation. As much as Dallas attempts to be a "city of the future," perhaps some of the answers to a prosperous future lie in our past.

There is some phenomenal architecture in Dallas - architecture that often tells a story. I would just remind you to be aware, and to stop and take it all in, especially in areas like downtown, Oak Cliff, and Deep Ellum. Why are the streets laid out like this? Why do those buildings hug the street corner? What does that old sign say? The city looks different when observed from street-level. Sometimes, its like taking a look into the past/future.