Adam Shows Us Gay Dallas in a Different Light[/caption]
My hometown city is a place I saw surprisingly little of despite living there for 18 years. My wasted youth was spent mostly beside a swimming pool, in an heavily air-conditioned mall or in the local ice cream shop. Can you blame a guy? A brownie fudge sundae for a couple of dollars is hard to resist! The suburban life can be so hard…
So, on my most recent trip home (I now live in Berlin, where I write my travel blog Travels of Adam), I decided to finally dive into the deep end of Dallas. Growing up, I never heard much about the gay scene there (but then again, I wasn’t really looking for it either).
But, over the years, Dallas has had an increasingly visible presence for its LGBTI locals. Dallas Pride has been running consistently for nearly 30 years, and the gayborhood of Oak Lawn is consistently ranked among the most gay-friendly places in the USA (despite some recent anti-gay attacks in 2015 and 2016).
By Adam Groffman – Full Story at Gay Star News
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I love it when I visit a place without any expectations and end up being pleasantly surprised. And I happened to visit one such place this month. A place I never even thought I’d visit: Dallas. In my head, Dallas was a big, personality-lacking, dull, corporate kind-of-city.
Instead, I found a city filled with interesting attractions, a fantastic restaurant scene, great bars, street art (even more than in much more alternative Austin!).
To be honest, I didn’t even plan to visit any other Texan cities while I was in Austin, but as so often, the opportunity to go up there for the weekend arose suddenly, and I jumped on it, because.. Why not? And I already began to think that I should’ve allocated more time to exploring Dallas when I, upon researching cool stuff to check out in Dallas, came across this list of 50 free fun things to do in Dallas of which I wanted to check out over a dozen! All I got during this brief weekend trip was a teaser of the city, and the desire to come back for more (which is luckily extremely likely to happen if I get to spend more time in Austin in the future, which I’d love).
Dallas is proud of some of its stereotypes. The “Big D” is, after all, where you’d head to find big hats and big cowboys wearing them, most of them sporting big appetites to boot. Then there’s football, another Big D, the silver-starred Cowboys. Even the classic TV show Dallas is something locals are proud to call their own, and not just for the big hats and big hair that made it the ultimate, iconic melodrama of the 1980s.
On the other hand, there are quite a few Dallas clichés ready to get bucked. Top among them is that this city is too conservative to have much LGBT culture. On a recent visit to Oak Lawn, one of the state’s, and perhaps all of the South’s, busiest gay neighborhoods, it was plain to see that queer folks are also pretty big in Dallas. Of course, where there’s a vibrant gay community there tends to be a strong dining scene. In Dallas, that’s true both in the gayborhood and around town. From staples like Tex-Mex and barbecue, to spicy send-ups and restaurants with soul, it’s time to refresh our notions about what Dallas has cooking.
LOCKHART SMOKEHOUSE
Vegetarians beware: This may not be the restaurant for you. The first tipoff are staff T- shirts that read, simply, “Wood fire meat beer.” The second is a menu that lists chick- en and turkey under “TX Vegetarian.” But for those who appreciate barbecued brisket, ribs, and other carnivorous delights, Lockhart Smokehouse delivers. This family operation is a relative newcomer having opened in the cute, walkable Bishop Arts District in 2011. Today it upholds the standard for central-Texas-style smoked meats and is considered by many to be one of the best places for barbecue nationwide.
Dallas is proud of some of its stereotypes. The “Big D” is, after all, where you’d head to find big hats and big cowboys wearing them, most of them sporting big appetites to boot. Then there’s football, another Big D, the silver-starred Cowboys. Even the classic TV show Dallas is something locals are proud to call their own, and not just for the big hats and big hair that made it the ultimate, iconic melodrama of the 1980s.
On the other hand, there are quite a few Dallas cliches ready to get bucked. Top among them is that this city is too conservative to have much LGBT culture. On a recent visit to Oak Lawn, one of the state’s, and perhaps all of the South’s, busiest gay neighborhoods, it was plain to see that queer folks are also pretty big in Dallas.
Of course, where there’s a vibrant gay community there tends to be a strong dining scene. In Dallas, that’s true both in the gayborhood and around town. From staples like Tex-Mex and barbecue, to spicy send-ups and restaurants with soul, it’s time to refresh our notions about what Dallas has cooking.
LOCKHART SMOKEHOUSE
Vegetarians beware: This may not be the restaurant for you. The first tipoff are staff T- shirts that read, simply, “Wood fire meat beer.” The second is a menu that lists chick- en and turkey under “TX Vegetarian.”