Katy Trail

"On Your Left!"

Happy (Katy and Trinity Strand) Trails

Lesse. Do You Want the Katy Trail or an "Attractive Alley"?

Dyer Straits: Or, When a City Council Member Doesn't Trust the City

Real Good Friends of the Katy Trail

Bonus MP3: The O's -- "California"

Tough Glove

Ayala tries for Comeback King

A Trinity Project That's Awfully Hard to Argue With -- Right, Jim? Jim?

A postcard scene from the Wycliff Trestle ... in the future! About a year ago, Mayor Tom debuted a slice of land that'll connect the Katy Trail to the Trinity Strand Trail -- you know, that 7.8-mile-long hike-n-bike that goes from the Katy Trail to the Trinity River Project slated to begin taking ... More >>

This Katy Trail Arts Loop Sounds Interesting. But That's a Lot of Green.

Looks like the meeting at the Nasher Sculpture Center was last week, but the Friends of the Katy Trail only today posted the sneak peek at the proposed Katy Trail Arts Loop, which is just what it sounds like:This connection improves the bicycle and pedestrian facilities between the Katy Trail and Do ... More >>

Aural Ambush: Los Campesinos!

Sarah WilmerThis week, two new interns joined the Aural Ambush squad and our $20 Discman was replaced with a borrowed iPod. A few weeks/months off and suddenly this is a high class operation? Well, actually, that's fitting: Only the best would do for the esteemed Knox Street patrons and joggers of t ... More >>

You Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching You? Well, Rockwell, Get Used To It.

Another item of interest from this afternoon's Public Safety Committee get-together: a sneak peek at where the city plans to put its surveillance cameras downtown (not to mention a color-coded map containing the location of every single camera already in place). Says the briefing memo, crime's down ... More >>

Dallas, So Close to "World-Class"

The view of the city from the pool at the Belmont HotelOn this Friday morning, let's sneak a peek at the Sunday New York Times travel section, which spends "36 Hours in Dallas" and serves up this howdy-do: "DALLAS may not be a world-class city, but it's pulling out all the stops to get there." Alas, ... More >>

If You Were Naked and Painted Orange on the Katy Trail Yesterday, DPD Wants a Word

And now, from KXAS-Channel 5, the story of the naked, "terracotta-colored" man spotted along the Katy Trail Thursday morning. At first, the woman who saw him thought he was a statue. Till he moved. And, please, do keep in mind: "This is very offensive and something that is not funny, not funny at al ... More >>

Halvsies

Split a long run in two at Victory Park

Beaten paths

A plan for hike-and-bike trails faces gridlock

Katy Is A Friend of Ours

A plan for hike-and-bike trails faces gridlock

Ride, They Said

Downtown Dallas becomes a two-wheel world

Face Off

Big D and Cowtown take the court

In Dallas, "Day of Decision Rally" to Follow Cali Court's Ruling to Uphold Gay Marriage Ban

Alexa SchirtzingerOne of the messages greeting Katy Trail-ers this morningThe Katy Trail's morning exercise contingent saw something new today: a series of musings on the meaning of marriage. Every few yards, there was a message scribbled in sidewalk chalk, among them: "What is marriage worth?" and ... More >>

Riding Somewhere South of Heaven, Heading Back to the Newly Opened Santa Fe Trail

Alexa SchirtzingerWhere the Santa Fe Trail ends ... at Hill AvenueThis weekend marked a quiet little victory for East Dallas: the opening of a section of raised street crossings on the Santa Fe Trail, from South Carroll Avenue southwest to Hill Avenue, which means cyclists can now ride from Woodrow ... More >>

The Wyndemere Cries, "Quarter Mil"

View Larger MapThe New York Times' Great Homes and Destinations blog wonders what kind of pad you can get for $250,000 and comes up with a few options: a three-bedroom, three-bath 179-year-old house near the Fore River in Portland, Maine; a five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath house in Athens, Georgi ... More >>

Stop, Look And Cycle

View Larger MapThe New York Times' Great Homes and Destinations blog wonders what kind of pad you can get for $250,000 and comes up with a few options: a three-bedroom, three-bath 179-year-old house near the Fore River in Portland, Maine; a five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath house in Athens, Georgi ... More >>

Remember When Everyone Was Going to Build Hotels Near Turtle Creek? Like, a Year Ago?

Till April of last year, this Harwood K. Smith-designed building was at 2505 Turtle Creek. Now it's one more empty lot awaiting an economic rebound.​Seems like forever ago preservationists were fighting to save the Harwood K. Smith-designed office building at 2505 Turtle Creek Boulevard -- which, ... More >>

Line Goes Deep as Troy Aikman Helps Friends of the Katy Trail Kick Off Membership Drive

Photos by Sam MertenNFL Hall of Famer and Fox broadcaster Troy Aikman braved the stiff winds and cool temperatures Thursday night while promoting the kickoff of the inaugural Friends of the Katy Trail membership drive. Joined by his two daughters, 7-year-old Alexa and 8-year-old Jordan, Aikman graci ... More >>

The Bridge On the Lane Mockingbird

​What you see above is the "841-ft long, 16-ft wide signature pedestrian bridge over Mockingbird Lane" that the city hopes to have up and running (see what I did there?) by December 2011, fingers and toes crossed. Of course, that's if the city can find the walking-around money to fund Phase VI of ... More >>

Happier, Safer Trails

​Apparently we have a stack of photos from yesterday's running of the White Rock Marathon forthcoming; till then, then, this is, for obvious reasons, an early front-runner for kosher fan favorite (speaking of, Happy Hanukkah!). And speaking of White Rock, more or less, users of Dallas's trails net ... More >>

Taking One More Step Down Katy Trail

The city expects to begin construction of Katy Trail Phase III by no later than March.​On Friday, the Friends of the Katy Trail posted photos of two new entrances: the Beasley staircase at Hall Street and the Tao of Warren at Armstrong Boulevard, paid for with private funds. On Wednesday, the coun ... More >>

Two Years Later, City Council to Get Peek at Southwestern Medical District Area Plan

​Actually, it's the "Stemmons Corridor-Southwest Medical District Plan," which has been simmering since 2008 as officials from UT Southwestern, Love Field, Crow Holdings, Parkland and so forth worked with area residents to hash out the (transit-oriented) development details. Nothing's final yet -- ... More >>

Oak Cliff Activists Say Dallas Can Keep its Slogan. They've Got a Better One.

​Says Bike Friendly Oak Cliff and Go Oak Cliff, the slogan you see above is intended to counter the more familiar Dallas motto: "Live Large. Think Big." It's precisely that kind of thinking, writes Jason Roberts, that got the city where it is today, for better or worse. Hence this new slogan, pres ... More >>

Purple Onion: Good Things are Worth the Wait. This Breakfast Wasn't.

​Purple Onion 1838 Irving Blvd. 214-747-0101 Promised Delivery Time: 20 minutes Actual Delivery Time: 50 minutes Getting my favorite meal of the day delivered to work: 50 Getting that meal 30 minutes late: -20 Big menu, small prices: 20 Short-tempered employee: -10 Lingering scent of French ... More >>

DPD Reports a Cyclist Hit on Katy Trail

​Speaking of the need for Complete Streets ...On Sunday morning, Angela Hunt wrote on her website:Last week, I met with city staff and Friends of the Katy Trail board members to discuss ways to make the trail safer in response to Lauren Huddleston's tragic death. We will have a plan to address tra ... More >>

"Hardass" Election Judge Explains Why Troy Aikman Got Really Wet Before Voting Tuesday

Sam MertenTroy Aikman signs autographs last year while kicking off the inaugural Friends of the Katy Trail membership drive.​Inevitably, a slew of anecdotes make the rounds in the days following an election, most of which we're unfortunately sworn to secrecy not to expose. However, we've been ... More >>

TxDOT to Help Dallas Pay for "Enhancing the Safety of the City's Shared-Use Pathways"

Click to embiggen one of the suggestions for improviing safety standards along the Katy Trail​Not far from the Harvard Street-Cole Avenue stretch of the Katy Trail where a cyclist and motorist recently had their head-on how-do is the Knox Street intersection, which city planners have long identifi ... More >>

City Council to Get a Peek at Initiatives Intended to Make Katy and White Rock Trails Safer

​After the death of Lauren Huddleston in October, when a cyclist crashed into the jogger along the Katy Trail, and a car-and-cyclist collision two weeks later, council member Angela Hunt wrote that she'd met with city staff and Friends of the Katy Trial to "address trail safety for all users." A p ... More >>

Potemkin Village: Signs Urge Dallas to Keep the Homeless in its Heart. What Heart?

​As a community, we get horrible leadership from City Hall. Terrible. City Hall brings out the worst in us. On Monday, Building Community Workshop (called bcWORKSHOP), a housing advocacy group, began installing plywood silhouette figures of homeless people around town with cardboard signs urg ... More >>

Last Night, a Vow That New Bike Plan Will Lead to "A Radical Transformation of Dallas"

A proposed cyclists' bridge over N. Central Expressway​The third public meeting for the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan, billed as an opportunity to review the first full draft of the document City Council will see this spring, was as much pep rally as policy session. The map unveiled last night has been ... More >>

(Trail Safety) Signs o' the Times

​Exactly two months ago, Angela Hunt spoke to Unfair Park about the work the Friends of the Katy Trail had done to put on paper "a really thoughtful, long-term plan for how to deal with safety needs" along the city's hike-n-bike trails system following the death of Lauren Huddleston in October, wh ... More >>

Liveblogging Today's Trail-Tastic Quality of Life Committee Meeting

Mind the gap?​Greetings to you, Unfair Friends, from City Hall, where the Quality of Life Committee kicked off their meeting about trash and trails today just after noon o'clock -- and after David Neumann gave a clowny and enthused interview to a TV camera. Willis Winters, Assistant Director of Pa ... More >>

From the Mailbag: You've Got Questions, People Who Know More Than We Have Answers

​Every so often, Friends of Unfair Park send in e-mails full of questions to which we only wish we knew the answers. And I'll send those queries to the experts. So, this morning, we tackle two topics pulled at random from the grab bag. First up ...Friend of Unfair Park Wyatt asks: My neighbors and ... More >>

Katy Trail Ice House's Snafus Might Be Coming to an End

Katy Trail Ice House promised us these beers and gave us a Shiner. Not that we don't like Shiner, but damn.​When Katy Trail Ice House opened along the eponymous exercise trail on March 25, it was feted as the next it-bar. Capitulating to this hysteria, I too visited the bar on opening day, muc ... More >>

Western Swinging Through the City's Star-Studded "Happy Trails" Music Video

Happy Trails 2:00 from Jake Ferguson on Vimeo.Like I wrote Tuesday, the city's about to officially unveil its "Happy Trails" campaign intended to make those 104 miles' worth of hike-n-bike paths safer following the death of Lauren Huddleston on the Katy Trail in October and another car-on-cyclist co ... More >>

Whitt's End: 5.13.11

​Whether you've reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *Went and watched the American professional debut of Cuban defector/Rangers' prospect Leonys Martin last night in Frisco. In a word, wow! With his father and agent in the stands at Dr Pepper ... More >>

A Better Ross Ave. and "Tactical Urbanism"

​At some point the conversation below, concerning the plan to create a so-called quick-win trail that would link Bishop Arts to the Katy Trail across the Trinity, took an odd swerve, with someone insisting that Jason Roberts, Andrew Howard and the rest of the Better Block-ers are trying to "kill t ... More >>

Five of Our Favorite Dallas Patios (Because It's Going to Be 70 Degrees Today)

Sara KerensThe Katy Trail Ice House: Patio heaven.​Editor's note: If you're thinking this item looks familiar, it is. I was talking with Rallo about how today's weather demanded an outdoor lunch, and like idiots we sat there for five minutes trying to think of good patios. Then we realized tha ... More >>

If Only We Could Have Fried Cake Balls at Sam's Club

​ This week in food news, diners and their dogs flocked to patios to enjoy the cooler weather, we got the results of this year's Big Tex Choice awards and actually found a guy who has a problem with cake balls. Read on. City of Ate Scott Reitz came across new friends and a new beer this week ... More >>

That Katy Trail-to-Bishop Arts Trinity Trail is Ready to Go. Now, to Fund and Fix the Streets.

​If, say, during your lunch break this afternoon you were to dip between the Trinity River levees, you would see the trail Jason Roberts first promised back in June -- the one that, when completed, will link Bishop Arts on one side of the river to the Katy Trail on the other side. It's nothing par ... More >>

Katy Trail Ice House: Soon With More Fire

You're going to miss that hot, awful weather very soon​While it may be 80 today, Fall is definitely here. With evening temperatures falling, patio drinking is becoming more of a challenge. I was at the Katy Trail Ice House this weekend and saw several waitresses wearing gloves to protect their ... More >>

Campo Lives, RedFork Dies, and More from a Busy November in Restaurant Openings and Closings

Del Frisco's Grille​November was a busy month for restaurant owners in Dallas, with several spots opening and a few closing their doors. Read on for the full slate, and be sure to share tips about restaurant openings or closings in the comments section below or at dish@dallasobserver.com. Ope ... More >>

Company Cafe's Second Location is Open, and She's a Looker (Photos)

Lauren Drewes Daniels​Company Café's second location is open, in a renovated building tucked behind Texas de Brazil alongside the Katy Trail. Its modern design is coupled with vintage flare where patchwork walls made from old barn wood contrasts with contemporary pieces, like metal chairs and ... More >>

Bolsa Mercado, Oak and Other Openings and Closings from December in Dallas Dining

Bolsa Mercado, by Lauren Daniels​December welcomed a handful of highly anticipated restaurants, with Bolsa Mercado setting up shop just a few doors down from Bolsa, the design District's Oak opening its doors and the Galleria welcoming Townhouse Kitchen and Bar. Read on for the full opening a ... More >>