Dallas is known for its barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita. Fearing's restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel in Uptown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US for 2009 by Zagat Survey. The Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel was also named 2009 best US hotel by Zagat, and 2009 No. 2 hotel in the world by Zagat, trailing only the Four Seasons King George V in Paris, France. A number of nationally ranked steakhouses can be found in the Dallas area, including Bob's Steak & Chop House, currently ranked No. 1 according to the USDA Prime Steakhouses chart.
Arts The Winspear Opera House and the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Downtown Dallas Arts DistrictThe Arts District in the northern section of Downtown is home to several arts venues, both existing and proposed. Notable venues in the district include the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Wind Symphony, The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and The Dallas Children's Theater.
Venues that are part of the AT&T Dallas Center for the Performing Arts include the Winspear Opera House home to the Dallas Opera and Texas Ballet Theater, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre home to the Dallas Theater Center and the Dallas Black Dance Theater, and City Performance Hall.
Also, not far north of downtown is the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University. In 2009 it joined up with "Prado on the Prairie" for a three-year partnership. The Prado focuses on Spanish visual art and boasts the best collection of Spain's art in North America, with works by Picasso, Goya, Velasquez, El Greco, Murillo, Zurbaran, Ribera, Fortuny, Rico, de Juanes, Plensa and plenty of other Spaniards. These works, as well as Non-Spanish highlights like sculptures by Rodin and Moore have been so successful of a collaboration that the Prado and Meadows have agreed upon an extension of the partnership.
The Arts District is also home to DISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet school which was recently expanded.
City Center District, next to the Arts District is home to the The Dallas Contemporary.
Deep Ellum, immediately east of Downtown, originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hot spot in the South. Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in original Deep Ellum clubs such as 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. A major art infusion in the area results from the city's lax stance on graffiti, and a number of public spaces including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets are covered in murals. One major example, the Good-Latimer tunnel, was torn down in late 2006 to accommodate the construction of a light rail line through the site.
Like Deep Ellum before it, the Cedars neighborhood to the south of Downtown has also seen a growing population of studio artists and an expanding roster of entertainment venues. The area's art scene began to grow in the early 2000s with the opening of Southside on Lamar, an old Sears warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail. Within this building, Southside on Lamar hosts the Janette Kennedy Gallery with rotating gallery exhibitions featuring many local, national, and international artists. Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub. Dallas Mavericks owner and local entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005, and locals speculate that he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.
South of the Trinity River, the flourishing Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff is home to a number of studio artists living in converted warehouses. Walls of buildings along alleyways and streets are painted with murals and the surrounding streets contain many eclectic restaurants and shops.
Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The office is responsible for six cultural centers located throughout the city, funding for local artists and theaters, initiating public art projects, and running the city-owned classical radio station WRR.
Media See also: Newspapers of Dallas, Texas, List of radio stations in Texas, List of television stations in Texas#Dallas/Fort Worth, List of movies set in Dallas, Texas, and List of television shows set in DallasDallas has numerous local newspapers, magazines, television stations and radio stations that serve the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as a whole, which is the 5th-largest media market in the United States. Dallas has one major daily newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, which was founded in 1885 by A. H. Belo and is A. H. Belo's flagship newspaper. The Dallas Times Herald, started in 1888, was the Morning News' major competitor until Belo purchased the paper on December 8, 1991 and closed the paper down the next day. Other daily newspapers are Al Día, a Spanish-language paper published by Belo, Quick, a free, summary-style version of the Morning News, and a number of ethnic newspapers printed in languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
Other publications include the Dallas Weekly, the Oak Cliff Tribune and the Elite News, all weekly news publications. The Dallas Morning News also puts out a weekly publication, neighborsgo, which comes out every Friday and focuses on community news. Readers can post stories and contribute content at the Web site, . The Dallas Observer and the North Texas Journal are also alternative weekly newspapers, D Magazine, a monthly magazine about business, life, and entertainment in the Metroplex. Local visitor magazines include "WHERE Magazine" and "Travelhost" – available at hotel desks or in guest rooms. In addition, the Park Cities and suburbs such as Plano also have their own community newspapers. Also, THE magazine covers the contemporary arts scene.
In terms of the larger metro area, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is another significant daily newspaper, covering Fort Worth/Tarrant County and its suburbs. It also publishes a major Spanish-language newspaper for the entire Metroplex known as La Estrella. To the north of Dallas and Fort Worth, the Denton Record-Chronicle primarily covers news for the city of Denton and Denton County.
Area television stations affiliated with the major broadcasting networks include KDFW 4 (Fox), KXAS 5 (NBC), WFAA 8 (ABC) (owned by Belo), KTVT 11 (CBS), KERA 13 (PBS), KUVN 23 (UNI), KDFI 27 (MNTV), KDAF 33 (The CW) and KXTX 39 (TMD). KTXA-21 is an independent station formerly affiliated with the now-defunct UPN network.
63 radio stations operate within range of Dallas. The City of Dallas operates WRR 101.1 FM, the area's main classical music station, from city offices in Fair Park. Its original sister station, licensed as WRR-AM in 1921, is the oldest commercially operated radio station in Texas and the second-oldest in the United States, after KDKA (AM) in Pittsburgh. Because of the city's centrally located geographical position and lack of nearby mountainous terrain, high-power class A medium-wave stations KRLD and WBAP can broadcast as far as southern Canada at night and can be used for emergency messages when broadcasting is down in other major metropolitan areas in the United States.
Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC), the largest company in the Spanish-language radio station business, is based in Dallas. In 2003, HBC was acquired by Univision and became Univision Radio Inc., but the radio company remains headquartered in the city.
Slavic Voice of America media group serves Russian-speaking Americans out of Dallas, TX.
Religion The Catholic Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe juxtaposed against the JPMorgan Chase Bank Tower in the Downtown Dallas Arts District. Gaston Avenue Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas (postcard, circa 1905-1924)There is a large Protestant Christian influence in the Dallas community. Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches are prominent in many neighborhoods and anchor two of the city's major private universities (Southern Methodist University and Dallas Baptist University). Dallas is also home to two evangelical seminaries, the Dallas Theological Seminary and Criswell College and many Bible schools including Christ For The Nations Institute.
Dallas is called "Prison Ministry Capital of the World" by prison ministry community. It is a home for International Network of Prison Ministries, Coalition of Prison Evangelists, Bill Glass Champions for Life, for more than 30 years to Chaplain Ray's International Prison Ministry, and for more than 60 other prison ministries.
The Catholic Church is also a significant organization in the Dallas area and operates the University of Dallas, a liberal-arts university in the Dallas suburb of Irving. The Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe in the Arts District is home to the second-largest Catholic church membership in the United States, and oversees over 70 parishes in the Dallas Diocese. The Society of Jesus operates the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. Dallas is also home to three Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The city of Dallas and Dallas County have more Catholic than Protestant residents, while the converse is usually true for the suburban areas of Dallas.
Dallas' Jewish population of approximately 45,000 is the largest of any city in Texas. Since the establishment of the city's first Jewish cemetery in 1854 and its first congregation (which would eventually be known as Temple Emanu-El) in 1873, Dallas Jews have been well represented among leaders in commerce, politics, and various professional fields in Dallas and elsewhere. See History of the Jews in Dallas, Texas for more information.
The Cathedral of Hope is a predominantly LGBT congregation located in the Oak Lawn area. The Dallas Cathedral of Hope is said to be the world's largest Christian LGBT church. Located on the campus of the Cathedral of Hope, the Interfaith Peace Chapel was the last project that Priktzer award-winning architect Philip Johnson designed. Johnson is quoted as saying, "this is a building I’ve waited all my life to build. It will be my memorial."
The Dallas Texas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe city is also home to a sizable Latter-day Saint community. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has fifteen stakes throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs. The Church built the Dallas Texas Temple, the first temple in Texas, in the city in 1984.
Jehovah's Witnesses also have a large number of members throughout Dallas and surrounding suburbs.
There are several Unitarian Universalist congregations, including First Unitarian Church of Dallas, founded in 1903.
Furthermore, a large Muslim community exists in the north and northeastern portions of Dallas, as well as in the northern Dallas suburbs. The oldest mosque in Texas is located in Denton, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Downtown Dallas. The oldest mosque in Dallas is Masjid Al-Islam located just south of Downtown Dallas.
Dallas also has a large Buddhist community. Immigrants from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Tibet, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka have all contributed to the Buddhist population, which is concentrated in the northern suburbs of Garland, Plano and Richardson. Numerous Buddhist temples dot the Metroplex, including The Buddhist Center of Dallas, Lien Hoa Vietnamese Temple of Irving, and Kadampa Meditation Center Texas and Wat Buddhamahamunee of Arlington.
A sizable Sikh community resides in Dallas and its surrounding suburbs. There are at least three Sikh Gurudwaras in this metropolitan area.
There are several Hindu temples in DFW area in cities such as Irving and the Indian Community is growing in the DFW Metroplex. There's also a Jain Temple, ISKON Temple, Sai Baba Temple and other temples in DFW.
For the atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever and strictly spiritual individuals, there is "The Winter SolstiCelebration". After 15 years, this celebration has become a minor Dallas cultural tradition for the "spiritual but not religious" people of North Texas. "That gentle rejection of commonly held ideas fills many of those who will take part in the event. They are mostly people who refuse to be pigeonholed by any one religion – but who long for the sense of community that an organized faith supplies."
Events The Texas/OU Red River Shootout in 2006.The most notable event held in Dallas is the State Fair of Texas, which has been held annually at Fair Park since 1886. The fair is a massive event, bringing in an estimated $350 million to the city's economy annually. The Red River Shootout, which pits the University of Texas at Austin against The University of Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl also brings significant crowds to the city. The city also hosts a series of bowl games including the Ticket City Bowl at the Cotton Bowl, the Cotton Bowl Classic held at Cowboys Stadium, and Armed Forces Bowl held at Gerald J. Ford Stadium owned by Southern Methodist University.
Other festivals in the area include several Cinco de Mayo celebrations hosted by the city's large Mexican American population, and Saint Patrick's Day parade along Lower Greenville Avenue, Juneteenth festivities, the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, the annual Halloween event "The Wake" featuring lots of local art and music, and two annual events on Halloween include; a Halloween parade on Cedar Springs Road and a "Zombie Walk" held in Downtown Dallas in the Arts District.
With the opening of Victory Park, WFAA Channel 8 has begun to host an annual New Year's Eve celebration in AT&T Plaza that the television station hopes will reminisce of celebrations in New York's Times Square, and on New Year's Eve 2011 set a new record of 32,000 people in attendance. Also, several Omni hotels in the Dallas area host large events to welcome in the new year including murder mystery parties, rave inspired events, and other events. The city has their own New Year's Day parade, the Comerica Bank New Year's Parade.
See also: U.S. cities with teams from four major sportsDallas is home to teams in all four major sports: the Dallas Cowboys (National Football League), Dallas Mavericks (National Basketball Association), Texas Rangers (Major League Baseball), and Dallas Stars (National Hockey League).
In 2011, Dallas became the first city to host the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the NBA Finals, all within the same 12-month period. Both the Texas Rangers and Dallas Mavericks won successive playoff games to reach the championship in their respective sports, whereas the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington was chosen in advance to host the Super Bowl.
SoccerThe Major League Soccer team FC Dallas, formerly the Dallas Burn, used to play in the Cotton Bowl, but moved to FC Dallas Stadium (formerly Pizza Hut Park) in Frisco upon the stadium's opening in 2005.
The Dallas Sidekicks, a former team of the Major Indoor Soccer League, used to play in Reunion Arena, as did the Mavericks and Stars before their move to the American Airlines Center. The Sidekicks currently play at the Allen Event Center.
Hockey Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center.Dallas is the home of the Dallas Stars. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Stars have won seven division titles in Dallas, two President's Trophies as the top regular season team in the NHL, the Western Conference championship twice, and in 1998–99, the Stanley Cup. The team plays its home games at the American Airlines Center.
The Allen Americans, founded for the 2009–10 season, play in the Berry Conference of the Central Hockey League. Their home arena is the Allen Event Center located in Allen, Texas, approximately 30 minutes northeast of Dallas. The Texas Tornado, three-time defending champions of the North American Hockey League, plays at the Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco.
FootballMultiple different teams were referred to as the "Dallas Texans". The Dallas Texans (NFL) played the National Football League for one season in 1952. Another version of the Dallas Texans was a charter member of the American Football League IV in 1960, before becoming the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963. Another version, the Dallas Texans competed in the now-defunct Arena Football League from 1990–1993, after which the AFL team was the Dallas Desperados from 2002–2008. In 2010, the Dallas Vigilantes began playing in the American Airlines Center as a part of the restructured Arena Football League.
Nearby Arlington, Texas is the new home to the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. Since joining the league as an expansion team in 1960, the Cowboys have enjoyed substantial success, advancing to eight Super Bowls and winning five; according to profootballreference.com, as of the end of the 2009 season they were the winningest active NFL franchise. Known widely as "America's Team", the Dallas Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports 'franchise' in the United States, worth approximately 1.5 billion dollars. They are also the second most valuable sports organization in the world. The Cowboys are only out-valued by Manchester United, who are valued at 1.8 billion dollars. In 2009, the Cowboys relocated to their new 80,000-seat stadium in Arlington, which was the site of Super Bowl XLV. The college Cotton Bowl Classic football game was played at the Cotton Bowl through its 2009 game, but has moved to Cowboys Stadium.
Basketball Dirk Nowitzki playing with the Dallas MavericksThe city is home to the Dallas Mavericks. Their original arena was the now demolished Reunion Arena, but now they play at the American Airlines Center. They won their first championship in 2011 led by their German superstar Dirk Nowitzki.
BaseballAlso in Arlington is Rangers Ballpark, home of the 2010 and 2011 American League Champion Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.
Horse racingAbout halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, horse-racing takes place at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie.
Rugby LeagueThe Dallas Dragons, formed in 2010 are part of the AMNRL's Western Expansion.
Rugby UnionRugby union is a developing sport in Dallas as well as the whole of Texas. The multiple clubs, ranging from men's and women's clubs to collegiate and high school, are part of the Texas Rugby Football Union. Currently Dallas is one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League represented by Dallas Harlequins.
CricketCricket is another sport that is popular among diaspora from South Asian countries. Local universities such as SMU, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Texas at Dallas have their own cricket clubs that are affiliated with USA Cricket.
Other sportsOther teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth area include the Fort Worth Cats and the Grand Prairie AirHogs, minor league baseball teams. The Dallas Diamonds, the two-time national champions of the Women's Professional Football League, play in North Richland Hills. McKinney is home to the Dallas Revolution, an Independent Women's Football League team. The Dallas Bluestorm was a charter of the United National Gridiron League, a proposed minor football league that had planned to begin play in 2010.
Dallas has no major college sports program within its political boundaries, although it has one such program within its city limits—the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University are located in the enclave of University Park. Neighboring cities Fort Worth, Arlington, and Denton are home to the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks, and University of North Texas Mean Green respectively.
Major league sports teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth area:
Club League Sport Venue Established Championships Texas Rangers MLB 1972–Present Baseball Arlington Stadium 1972–1993 Rangers Ballpark in Arlington 1994 – present 1972 2 American League Championship Titles – 2010, 2011 Dallas Cowboys NFL 1960–Present Football Cotton Bowl (stadium) 1960–1970 Texas Stadium 1971–2008 Cowboys Stadium 2009 – present 1960 5 Super Bowls – 1971 (VI), 1977 (XII), 1992 (XXVII), 1993 (XXVIII), 1995 (XXX) 8 National Football Conference Championship Titles – 1970, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1992, 1993, 1995 Dallas Stars NHL 1993–Present Hockey Reunion Arena 1993–2001 American Airlines Center 2002 – present 1993 1 Stanley Cup – 1999 2 Western Conference Championship Titles – 1999, 2000 Dallas Mavericks NBA 1980–Present Basketball Reunion Arena 1980–2001 American Airlines Center 2002 – present 1980 1 NBA Title – 2011 2 Western Conference Championship Titles – 2006, 2011 FC Dallas MLS 1995–Present Soccer Cotton Bowl 1996–2002, 2004 Dragon Stadium 2003 Pizza Hut Park/FC Dallas Stadium 2005 – present 1995 1 Western Conference Championship Title – 2010 1 U.S. Open Cup – 1997 Dallas Sidekicks MISL 1984-1992 CISL 1993-1997 WISL 1998-2001 MISL 2002-2004 PASL 2012–Present Indoor Soccer Reunion Arena 1984–2004 Allen Event Center 2012–present 1984–2004 2012 1 MISL Title 1987 1 CISL Title 1993 2 WISL Titles 1998, 2001As reported by Olympic news outlet Around the Rings, Dallas is looking at a 2020 Summer Olympics bid. Those in favor of Dallas say that it should be chosen because no major stadiums would have to be built for the games.
Recreation A local league baseball game at Reverchon ParkThe City of Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (85 km2) of parkland. Its flagship park is the 260-acre (1.05 km2) Fair Park, which hosted the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. The city is also home to Texas' first and largest zoo, the 95 acres (0.38 km2) Dallas Zoo, which opened at its current location in 1888.
The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (17.81 km2). In addition, Dallas is traversed by 61.6 miles (99.1 km) of biking and jogging trails, including the Katy Trail, and is home to 47 community and neighborhood recreation centers, 276 sports fields, 60 swimming pools, 232 playgrounds, 173 basketball courts, 112 volleyball courts, 126 play slabs, 258 neighborhood tennis courts, 258 picnic areas, six 18-hole golf courses, two driving ranges, and 477 athletic fields.
As part of the ongoing Trinity River Project, the Great Trinity Forest, at 6,000 acres (24 km2), is the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States and is part of the largest urban park in the United States. The Trinity River Audubon Center is a new addition to the park. Opened in 2008, it serves as a gateway to many trails and other nature viewing activities in the area. The Trinity River Audubon Center is the first LEED-certified building constructed by the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.
Dallas also hosts three of the twenty-one preserves of the extensive (3,200 acres (13 km2)) Dallas County Preserve System. Both the Joppa Preserve, the McCommas Bluff Preserve the Cedar Ridge Preserve are all within the Dallas city limits. The Cedar Ridge Preserve was formerly known as the Dallas Nature Center, but management was turned over to Audubon Dallas group, which now manages the 633-acre (2.56 km2) natural habitat park on behalf of the City of Dallas and Dallas County. The preserve sits at an elevation of 755 feet (230 m) above sea level, and contains a variety of outdoor activities, including 10 miles (16 km) of hiking trails and picnic areas.
Just southwest of Dallas is Cedar Hill State Park, maintained by the Texas Parks and Wildlife state agency. A 1,826-acre (7.39 km2) urban nature preserve, the park is located on the 7,500-acre (30 km2) Joe Pool Reservoir, and offers activities such as mountain biking, birding, camping and fishing; swimming is allowed at the swimming beach only.
To the west of Dallas in Arlington is Six Flags Over Texas, the original franchise in the Six Flags theme park chain. Hurricane Harbor, a large water park owned by Six Flags, is also in Arlington.
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