Philanthropists Explore Dallas

Last month good friends, philanthropists and world travelers, who I met on the front row at the TED conference over a dozen years ago, visited Dallas. Their network of leaders in education, preservation, health and other disciplines is amazing. Knowing their fondness of food, taking me to great restaurants in their hometown of Chicago, and to the best restaurants in Vancouver, it was with confidence our first stop was Khao Noodle. They loved it. Our second stop was ice cream—another way they judge a city. When I show friends and clients Dallas, I am exhilarated by their reaction to the city. Museums are fabulous, but what is interesting to me in a city are the neighborhoods. The city’s pattern of neighborhood development is like rings on a tree. Understanding the neighborhoods allows one to understand the history of a city and its future. The gentleman requested a route for his 4-mile audiobook speed-listening morning walk. My recommendation was similar to the same path where I take people first. Walk down Turtle Creek to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed theater center, down the private drive of Turtle Creek Park where one sees a John Allen Boyle-designed Mediterranean home across from a Frank Welch designed modern home, on through the neighborhood and through Northern Hills to Knox Street, and then jump on the Katy Trail back to the John Allen Boyle designed Mansion. With his wife, we then weaved through the Fitzhugh corridor lined with historic and conservation districts and modest neighborhoods infiltrated by architect-designed modern homes and way too many generic apartments. Swiss Ave on to the Arts District just 20 blocks away, through Deep Ellum, Fair Park, Lakewood, White Rock Lake, SMU, Highland Park, Greenway Parks, Volk Estates, Bluffview, Preston Hollow, and interspersed subneighborhoods. Their overriding impression was how clean Dallas was and how low the buildings were. In Dallas we often forget how clean our city is and how many neighborhoods we still have that are only two stories, filled with gardens and trees. *Philanthropists Explore Dallas
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