Sunday Flashback: Dallas West End
This flashback began with a discussion between myself and the famous “door” at Edna’s bar along the old Classen Circle. With the addition of the Drunken Fry, 51st Street Speakeasy, a handful of other veteran bars and surrounding Belle Isle development, it’s fair to say this area has the potential to become yet another thriving entertainment district with and emphasis on bars and clubs. For whatever reason, the Door, friendly enough, makes it a point to promote the area at the expense of Bricktown (indicating parking and traffic is bad, area is expensive). At some point in this Twitter conversation I pointed out that West End is a reminder that districts like Bricktown are not invincible.
I spent a few days in West End, Dallas in 2006 not long after the landmark West End Marketplace closed. I returned last year and found that conditions hadn’t improved much. The marketplace was, and still is, closed. The area is now a forgettable mix of restaurants and clubs that include well-worn names like TGIFridays.
You might notice in this 2006 story that there was a hope in West End that development of Victory Park would reverse its fortunes. No such benefit has taken place. And Victory is, from what I saw, a far cry from being the 24/7 success story originally envisioned. Major projects have been shelved and the ground floor store fronts are dead and empty.
So now in 2010 we have another “victory” being pursued in an area we call “Core to Shore” – and we’re told Bricktown has had its share. No need for it to be included in Project 180, no need for it be a major recipient of MAPS 3. Thanks to Edna’s door, a fresh read of this story was well overdue.
THIS STORY WAS PUBLISHED IN 2006:
DALLAS — Fourteen years ago, a delegation of Bricktown developers and merchants traveled to the West End district in Dallas to learn what it takes to create a successful entertainment district.
West End was the region’s premier entertainment district, drawing millions of visitors and sparking a revitalization of downtown Dallas.
Greg Schooley, executive director of the West End Association, hasn’t seen the Bricktown visitors since. But they still may have something left to learn from one of the region’s oldest downtown entertainment districts.
West End, Schooley said, is in a transition. Others say it’s dying a slow death.
“On the face of it, it doesn’t look good,” Schooley said. “But as much as you see some empty space in the district, you need to know that there is still a lot here. A lot of deals are in the works, and the end result will be good.”
The West End Marketplace, once home to a 10 screen theater, five floors of retail and a Planet Hollywood restaurant, closed for good in June. Also dark is Dallas Alley, the former mega-club complex that once boasted the highest concentration of liquor sales in Texas. Gone also are landmark West End restaurants Dick’s Last Resort, Tony Roma’s and Lombardi’s.
Ed Shelton, strolling West End with his wife Cessnie, was shocked to see a district that on a Friday night two weeks ago was a virtual ghost town. Less than a dozen people were gathered to listen to a free musical performance in the plaza outside the West End Marketplace. The Oklahoma City couple didn’t see any hints of decline when they last visited West End six years ago.
“These streets used to be filled with people,” Ed Shelton said. “It’s totally changed.”
Standing in front of the darkened Tony Roma’s, the Sheltons said they were in Dallas for a friend’s wedding and thought the West End might be a fun night-time distraction. Instead, the only excitement consisted of hustlers selling flowers and Hare Krishna followers dancing, singing and offering out free cookies.
“We might as well go back to the hotel,” said a disappointed Cessnie Shelton, clutching a small flower bouquet. The couple said their first thought was of Bricktown as they first encountered the quiet West End.
“I think we’re seeing in Bricktown what was here five years ago,” he said. “I’d hate to see it get to where it is like this.”
Perception problems and solutions
The Bricktown Association estimates the downtown Oklahoma City entertainment district now draws more than 10 million visitors a year, rivaling West End’s popularity at its peak in the early 1990s.
But Bricktown is battling complaints about parking, that it’s becoming too touristy and after some recent shootings that it might be dangerous late at night. West End fought off similar image problems.
And West End is no longer the exclusive downtown hot spot in Dallas. In the past decade, competition emerged in the off-beat Deep Ellum and the more urbane West Village, Greenville and McKinney districts.
Josh Adkins, one of hundreds enjoying a hot, hazy Saturday afternoon recently at a West Village restaurant, took comfort in thinking that area is also off the radar of out-of-town visitors.
Adkins cited a list of reasons why locals have abandoned West End: no free parking, street hustlers and a gang element late at night.
“West End is for tourists,” said Adkins, a Dallas resident. “I’ve not been there since college — back when Reagan was president. I’ll bet nobody else around here has either.”
But even tourists arriving at West End are disappointed. The district was a favorite downtown Dallas destination for Oklahomans throughout the 1980s and 1990s. But as they return, they’re seeing a West End that falls short of the district they knew and loved.
“I’ve not been here in five or six years,” said Marilyn Wallace of Altus. “I’m just kind of shocked this has all dried up.”
Like the Sheltons, Wallace and Edmond resident Denise Kramer’s discovery of a locked up Marketplace spelled the end of their brief visit to West End.
“There is no retail here anymore, so it’s only restaurants,” Kramer said.
“Bricktown is trying to incorporate a lot of clubs and bars and retail, and stuff to do other than eating, so that’s good.
“I’m impressed they’re turning it around, it’s really expanded beyond the Bricktown area and I think they’ve really cleaned it up a lot.”
Schooley warns against declaring West End dead, and says it is emerging from years when it wasn’t quite sure whether it wanted to be a family destination or an adult club district.
“We had our heyday in the late ’80s and early ’90s,” Schooley said.
“That’s when Dallas Alley was open, we had all the nightclubs, and they were rolling. In the ’90s, we stayed flat — we were stagnant.”
Part of that stagnation is blamed on the Dallas city council’s refusal to create a business improvement district (BID) in West End to pay for security, marketing and cleanup — even as BID assessments were set up for other emerging districts including Deep Ellum and Victory around the American Airlines Arena.
Tax Increment Financing for new development also was withheld from West End even as it too was extended to competing entertainment districts, including West Village.
“The city turned us down every time,” Schooley said. “We would get a pat on the head and be told ‘you’re the West End — you’re doing just fine.’”
So to this day, the district’s upkeep and operations are supported only by association dues and special events.
Forced to stand out on their own, Schooley said district’s merchants and property owners had to decide, “what do we want to be?”
West End made its choice, and is now looking at everything in terms of whether it will draw families.
Special events, including the Taste of Dallas and OU/Texas Weekend, still draw tens of thousands of visitors, and Schooley said the district hasn’t had to turn away people because of a lack of parking.
West End might not be what it was, but better days are ahead, Schooley said.
“We actually have chains leaving, and local stuff coming in,” he said.
“We’re drawing more attractions — the House of Blues is coming in, the Museum of Nature and Science coming in, the Holocaust Museum coming in.
“And with the House of Blues coming in, we think that will bring back the clubs … I’m proud of the fact the district has survived as well as it has.”
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Comments
Ah yes… very good observation. Interesting tidbit – the House of Blues, if I recall correctly, actually opened in Victory, not West End.
Great flashback Steve.
Can you refresh our memories as to, is Bricktown a BID area?
Also Steve, have you ever done a comparison to Bricktown and San Antonio’s Riverwalk?
It’s been years since I was in SA, I’m curious if this area is still thriving.
I followed the discussion on twitter with interest, I also frequent both areas through out the month. The question that comes to my mind is this: Has Bricktown shown a decline? Have all areas shown a decline? Or is this story an attempt to show that it can happen and for now all is good? Or are you saying that each area should be a protected venture and other areas should not be allowed to point out what they offer over the other?
Steve, I got into your Twitter frenzy with the Door last evening.
I think what the Door does is to point out the obvious to the locals. If you don’t want to fight the crowds and parking, then the Calssen Crawl makes sense. With Speakeasy, Drunken Fry, Ednas, HiLo, Republic, Laredo’s, and even Chili’s you almost have a \walking distance\ group of dining and entertainment venues.
Do they compete with Bricktown? I don’t believe so, because Bricktown entertains both locals and tourists. The Crawl appears to be more for locals.
In Las Vegas, the locals go to off-Strip venues, like Sam’s Town, Palace Station, or Arizona Charlie’s. When friends or family come to town, they will take them to the casinos on the Strip. The same could be said for Bricktown and the Crawl.
My point was quite simple. It’s a cautionary tale. The Twitter discussion was quite simple as well – you’ve got bars in the Classen Circle area like Edna’s that are far more genuine, have far more staying power than anything in Bricktown, and that perpetuating perceived problems in Bricktown can do damage. I think the Classen Circle area is great, is getting better, and I just don’t understand the need of \inner-loop\ districts to bash each other. If you feel like you’ve got to get ahead by bashing another area (which I still don’t understand), why not bash the clubs and bars along Memorial Road – isn’t that your true competition? Bricktown has nightclubs, most of which don’t typically last more than a couple of years. Classen Circle is totally different – celebrate that!
Steve, I have said for years that it’s unfortunate when inner-city businesses or districts feel compelled to tear each other down in attempt to build themselves up. I don’t believe that downtown or near-urban-center districts compete with one another so much as they get people (many of them suburban) in the habit of spending their time and entertainment dollars in the inner city. I think they are together competing with the ‘burbs.
I think instead of creating progressively smaller slices of the same pie, we’re actually all – TOGETHER – baking a bigger pie. The evidence of this is how new restaurants and districts keep popping up within blocks of one another, yet without apparently hurting the performance of any of them. The reason: more and more people see the area inside the Grand loop as the place to be, and more and more business is being created, rather than just divvied up.
The more Bricktown, Automobile Alley, Midtown, Western Avenue, Plaza, Paseo, etc., etc., thrive, the better for everybody concerned. Conversely, if one of them fails, it’s negative and ominous for all.
The one other point I would make is that very few people want to go to ONLY one of these places. Diversity of selection and purpose keeps it fresh for everyone. Therefore, many of Edna’s customers likely ALSO frequent Bricktown and other areas regularly. I know I fall into this category, as do a number of people I know.
The dangerous thing about Edna’s (or anyone) dogging out a place that their patrons might also like, is the unintended consequence of angering YOUR OWN CUSTOMER BASE. You’re basically demanding your customers choose sides, and you might not be happy with the results every time. I know that seeing those tweets made me feel the first mild negativity towards Edna’s that I’ve EVER felt, in 20+ years as a loyal customer of theirs. Is that what they intended? Doubtful – in fact they obviously hoped for the opposite – but that was the result. Just seems like an unnecessarily risky PR move.
Does that mean I’ll stop going to Edna’s? Of course not. But why run the risk of alienating ANYBODY? Doesn’t make much sense.
Schooley (West End Executive Director) said the West End is “looking at everything in terms of whether it will draw families,” but is excited about the House of Blues and bringing in more clubs?
Doesn’t sound like taxpayer money was the issue here. Bricktown seems to share the same lack of direction. Watching from a distance, I have no idea whether Bricktown is looking to be more family friendly, more of a club scene, or something in between. Ultimately, if Bricktown fails, it’s nobody’s fault but Bricktown.