Erase images of cowboy hats, dusty bars and the Wild West from your mind before you book your airfare to Dallas. What is wild about the 9th largest city in the United States are the professional sports teams, blaring jazz clubs and bustling commercial skyscrapers towering over Downtown. The gigantic metropolitan area of Dallas (nearly 6 million people) is home to two major airports: Dallas/Fort Worth and Love Field. Be sure to check both airport destinations when searching for airfare to Dallas.
Even Dallas’ beginnings were more white-collar and industrial than the rest of the south and southwest of the United States. Once Dallas was incorporated into the United States, most of its industry revolved around its world-class cotton industry and manufacturing trade. In the 1930s, oil was discovered near Dallas and the rest of the city’s booming economy is history. Financiers, insurance and banking industries were consequently drawn to Dallas, which is the foundation for the modern financial and technology boom that occurred throughout the 1970s until the close of the 20th century.
Texas Cosmopolitan: Dynamic Dallas
Downtown Dallas is the city’s heart and soul, where nightlife, dining, shopping and Texan history come together. To get the best feel of Dallas through history, begin your trip in Main Street. Several historic buildings have been preserved here, standing out awkwardly against the post modern designs of the recent urban renewal projects. Main Street is also the traditional city center for Dallas, although the urban sprawl of the city renders this no longer true.
The Arts District in downtown is home to a renaissance of emerging modern artists, galleries, lofts, public art/sculpture gardens and Dallas’ major performing arts facilities. Spend an evening at the Symphony and take a starlit stroll past the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin Guadalupe and through the Nasher Sculpture Center. By day you might enjoy the West End Historic District, where an old trading post sprouted into a steady rise of brick manufacturing warehouses that are now preserved as restaurants, galleries and boutiques. The West End also happens to be the home of Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Visit the Sixth Floor Museum in the old Texas Depository Building, the location from which Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, according to government investigations.
Everything’s Bigger in Texas
Despite Dallas’ humming technology industry and commercial prosperity, the city still maintains quite a few amusements. If it’s the right season, treat yourself to a Dallas Cowboys football game or round up the kids and head to Six Flags for some rollercoasters or waterslides. Dallas also boasts an elaborate zoo, an aquarium and tranquil botanical gardens on White Rock Lake for those who need some fresh air and escape from the shadows of post-modern skyscrapers. In Dallas, everything is possible; it’s time to secure your airfare to Dallas and see why this city is in a league of its own in Texas.
