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Dallas is a city inTexas, United States.
The city has historically been predominantlywhite but its population diversified as it grew in size and importance over the 20th century. The largest ethnic minority group in the city areHispanics—Dallas is a major destination forMexicanimmigrants seeking opportunity in theUnited States because it is relatively close, along with the rest of Texas, to the U.S.–Mexico border. In addition to theNew Great Migration, since around 2010, many African Americans have been moving to Dallas for its affordablecost of living and job opportunities.[1] The southwest area of the city, especiallyOak Cliff, is predominantly or completelyHispanic. The southern areas of the city, especiallyPleasant Grove andSouth Dallas, are predominantly or completelyBlack. The eastern parts of the city are mostly white and the northwestern portion of the city is home to a fairly equal mix of Hispanics and Blacks. The city also contains localized populations of Chinese, Taiwanese,Korean, Thai,Indian,German, Middle Eastern, Polish, Russian andJewish peoples. The Asian communities tend to reside in the northern Dallas suburbs such as Plano, Irving, Carrollton, and Richardson.
Dallas is renowned forbarbecue, authenticMexican andTex-Mex cuisine. The Dallas area is home to large numbers of restaurants featuring cuisines from all over the world. Suburbs such as Plano, Irving, Carrollton, Richardson, and Arlington feature authenticIndian,Chinese,Korean, Vietnamese, African Cuisines, Pakistani, Taiwanese, and Persian Cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include El Fenix, Mi Cocina, the Mansion on Turtle Creek, and thefrozen margarita.[2] On average, Dallasites eat out about four times every week, which is the third highest rate in the state, behind only Houston and Austin.[3]
Dallas is the center of the North Texas region's art scene. Some areas known especially for the local art and culture include:
TheArts District ofdowntown is home to several arts venues, both existing and proposed. Notable venues in the district include theDallas Museum of Art, theMorton H. Meyerson Symphony Center,The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art and theNasher Sculpture Center. In 2009, theAT&T Performing Arts Center was completed, which includes the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, the Annette Strauss Artists Square, and the Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park. Construction of the City Performance Hall was scheduled for completion in September 2012.The Arts District is also home toDallas Independent School District'sBooker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
TheMajestic Theatre is a historic theater in the City Center District that has been restored for use as a performing arts facility.
Deep Ellum originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the primejazz andblues hotspot in thesouth. Artists such asBlind Lemon Jefferson,Robert Johnson, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, andBessie Smith played in original Deep Ellum clubs like The Harlem and The Palace. Today, Deep Ellum is home to hundreds of artists who live in lofts and operate in studios throughout the district alongside bars, pubs, and concert venues. One majorart infusion in the area is the city's lax stance ongraffiti, and thus several public ways including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets are covered in murals.
TheCedars is home to a growing population of studio artists and an expanding host of entertainment venues as well. The area's art scene began to grow in the early 2000s with the opening of Southside on Lamar, aSears warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail. Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub. EntrepreneurMark Cuban purchased land in the area nearCedars Station, and locals speculate that he is planning an entertainment complex.[4]
TheBishop Arts District inOak Cliff is home to a growing number of studio artists living in converted warehouses. Walls of buildings along alleyways and streets are painted with murals and the surrounding district is home to many eclectic restaurants and shops.
Dallas has many local newspapers, magazines, television stations and radio stations that serve theDallas/Fort Worth Metroplex as a whole, which is one of the largestmedia markets in theUnited States.
Dallas has a daily newspaper,The Dallas Morning News, which was founded in 1885 byA. H. Belo and is the company's flagship newspaper. TheDallas Times Herald, started in 1888, was theMorning News's major competitor until Belo purchased the paper on 8 December 1991 and closed the paper down the next day. A. H. Belo also publishesAl Día, a Spanish-language paper.
Other significant paper-publications include theDallas Observer, an alternative weekly newspaper, andD Magazine, a monthly magazine about business, life, and entertainment in the metroplex.
The Dallas area has a station from every major television broadcasting network —KDFW 4 (FOX),KXAS 5 (NBC),WFAA 8 (ABC) (which for many years was owned byBelo Corporation alongside theMorning News),KTVT 11 (CBS),KERA 13 (PBS),KTXA-21 (IND),KUVN 23 (UNI),KDAF 33 (The CW) andKXTX 39 (TMD).
Dallas is served by a large number of radio stations. Because of the city's centrally located position and lack of nearby mountainous terrain, many high-strength antennae in the city have bands that can broadcast as far off asNorth Dakota and can be used as emergency broadcasting antennae when broadcasting is down in other major metropolitan areas in the United States.
TheTexas Jewish Post serves the Jewish community of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.
There is a largeProtestantChristian influence in the Dallas community and the city is deep within theBible Belt.Methodist andBaptist churches are prominent in many neighborhoods and anchor the city's two major private universities. TheCathedral of Hope, anLGBT Protestant church, is the largest congregation of its kind in the world.[5]
TheCatholic church is also a significant organization in the community—it operates amajor university in Irving and itsCathedral Santuario de Guadalupe in theArts District oversees the second-largest membership in the United States. Dallas is also home to threeEastern Orthodox Christian churches.[6]
The city is also home to a sizableLDS community.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has fifteenstakes throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs.[7] The Church built theDallas Texas Temple, the first temple in Texas, in the city in 1984.[8]
Dallas has a large Jewish community, many of whom reside ineastern andnorthern Dallas.[9]Temple Emanu-El, one of the largestsynagogues in the South and Southwest, was founded in 1873. The community is led by RabbiDavid E. Stern. See theHistory of the Jews in Dallas, Texas.[10]
Dallas' most significantMuslim community lies in the city's northern and northeastern suburbs, and a strongHindu community exists inIrving,Plano and other northwestern suburbs.
The most notable event held in Dallas is theState Fair of Texas, held annually atFair Park since 1886. The fair is a massive event for the state of Texas and brings an estimatedUS$350 million to the city's economy annually. TheRed River Showdown (UT-OU) game is held at theCotton Bowl each year, during the fair's run.
Other festivals in the area includeCinco de Mayo festivities hosted by the city's largeMexican population,Saint Patrick's Day parades inIrish communities especially alongeast Dallas'Lower Greenville Avenue,Juneteenth festivities, theGreek Food Festival of Dallas, and an annual Halloween parade onOak Lawn Avenue.
Most of the notable architecture in Dallas ismodernist andpostmodernist. Iconic examples of modernist architecture includeI. M. Pei'sFountain Place, theBank of America Plaza,Renaissance Tower, andReunion Tower. Examples of postmodernist architecture include theJPMorgan Chase Tower andComerica Bank Tower. Several smaller structures are fashioned in theGothic Revival andneoclassical styles. One architectural "hotbed" in the city is a stretch of homes alongSwiss Avenue, which contains all shades and variants of architecture fromVictorian to neoclassical.
