Getting a feel for Fort Worth
March 8, 2012 6:42 AM Subscribe
I'll be visiting Fort Worth, TX for a couple of days with an eye towards moving there. What are some things that I should plan on doing to help me decide whether I want to start spending my life there?
Young professional male, single, politically liberal, currently located in Virginia. I live in car-centric suburbia right now and am looking to try out city living, being able to walk places, being in close proximity to things to do and people like me. I've lived on the east coast all my life, I'm well acquainted with brutal summer heat, but what else should I know about this part of Texas? I'll have a rental car and about a day and a half -- might be able to return to check it out again for a longer time later. Help me fill out my itinerary.
Young professional male, single, politically liberal, currently located in Virginia. I live in car-centric suburbia right now and am looking to try out city living, being able to walk places, being in close proximity to things to do and people like me. I've lived on the east coast all my life, I'm well acquainted with brutal summer heat, but what else should I know about this part of Texas? I'll have a rental car and about a day and a half -- might be able to return to check it out again for a longer time later. Help me fill out my itinerary.
Texas seems car-centric, from my brief experience. Also, I lived on the East Coast 29 years. Austin in July? Something else entirely!
posted by tremspeed at 7:16 AM on March 8, 2012
posted by tremspeed at 7:16 AM on March 8, 2012
I grew up in Fort Worth.
Fort Worth is pretty car-centric, but it's been changing a lot in the years since I've lived there. I think it might be possible to be fairly car-independent downtown, in the museum district, in the hospital district, or possibly along 7th around the Montgomery Ward center (or will be in the not-so-distant future). There's affordable housing near the museums, but I'm pretty sure it's damn expensive in the others. The hospital district (roughly around Magnolia street, near the hospitals) seems to be the current center of urban liberalism.
Fort Worth isn't as hot as Austin usually (200 miles North), but we had a week of 110 degree weather last summer. This sucked, but was not so much cause for alarm aside from drought, to give some perspective on the summers here.
Yeah, the museums, all of them, are world class. The Modern, the Amon Carter and the Kimball are all world renowned museums. The Kimball was recently the only American stop of a mind-blowing show of Caravaggio and his followers. The Modern gets all of the major shows. The Science and History museum is great, and the zoo is also world class.
Go to Angelo's on White Settlement for barbecue. It's something of a Fort Worth institution, and it's one of those places that people will argue is the best in the world. That or Cattleman's Steakhouse on Exchange in the stockyards (which is also a thing)are the only places I can think of that are Fort Worth Experience places to eat, but there's good food everywhere.
As for surrounding areas, the only reason to go to Dallas is for a few of the galleries and for bigger-name type concerts (or sporting events). Fort Worth, I hear, has some good galleries too, but the "scene" is still in Dallas. For live blues, Fort Worth is where it's at anyplace in the world (I once met the Blues Breakers after they played a show at a Central Market because my guitar teacher at the time, who was one of Chuck Berry's guitarists, was playing with them. That's just how it is and not a greatly remarkable story.). Key's Lounge is a hotspot, and The Bluebird is still open, I think. For other live music, Denton was recently named best music scene in the country by Rolling Stone.
That's all I can think of right now.
posted by cmoj at 8:36 AM on March 8, 2012
Fort Worth is pretty car-centric, but it's been changing a lot in the years since I've lived there. I think it might be possible to be fairly car-independent downtown, in the museum district, in the hospital district, or possibly along 7th around the Montgomery Ward center (or will be in the not-so-distant future). There's affordable housing near the museums, but I'm pretty sure it's damn expensive in the others. The hospital district (roughly around Magnolia street, near the hospitals) seems to be the current center of urban liberalism.
Fort Worth isn't as hot as Austin usually (200 miles North), but we had a week of 110 degree weather last summer. This sucked, but was not so much cause for alarm aside from drought, to give some perspective on the summers here.
Yeah, the museums, all of them, are world class. The Modern, the Amon Carter and the Kimball are all world renowned museums. The Kimball was recently the only American stop of a mind-blowing show of Caravaggio and his followers. The Modern gets all of the major shows. The Science and History museum is great, and the zoo is also world class.
Go to Angelo's on White Settlement for barbecue. It's something of a Fort Worth institution, and it's one of those places that people will argue is the best in the world. That or Cattleman's Steakhouse on Exchange in the stockyards (which is also a thing)are the only places I can think of that are Fort Worth Experience places to eat, but there's good food everywhere.
As for surrounding areas, the only reason to go to Dallas is for a few of the galleries and for bigger-name type concerts (or sporting events). Fort Worth, I hear, has some good galleries too, but the "scene" is still in Dallas. For live blues, Fort Worth is where it's at anyplace in the world (I once met the Blues Breakers after they played a show at a Central Market because my guitar teacher at the time, who was one of Chuck Berry's guitarists, was playing with them. That's just how it is and not a greatly remarkable story.). Key's Lounge is a hotspot, and The Bluebird is still open, I think. For other live music, Denton was recently named best music scene in the country by Rolling Stone.
That's all I can think of right now.
posted by cmoj at 8:36 AM on March 8, 2012
Check out some of the bars on Magnolia - particularly The Usual and the Boiled Owl Tavern. Eat some Joe T. Garcia's or Benito's.
posted by kaseijin at 9:16 AM on March 8, 2012
posted by kaseijin at 9:16 AM on March 8, 2012
I have a friend who lives in a very small but cool and fairly affordable apartment around 7th. She can do a lot of her daily non-work errands on foot or bike. Neither of those seem very appealing six months or more out of the year, but if you have a good weather tolerance it might work for you.
I adore the Sundance/downtown area. I suspect it is ungodly expensive to live there, though.
You can do a grand tour of the main tourist areas and get a pretty good feel for the non-suburban, funkier parts of Fort Worth. Drive Camp Bowie Blvd end to end (stop at Kincaid's or Original Mexican, if it's still there). Then go over around Overton Ridge/Hulen Mall, just so you know.
There's lot of active Fort Worth Yelpers, so you might use that to decide on a few other parts of town to check out.
My grandparents lived in Fort Worth all my life, and I lived in North Richland Hills for 8 years. I like Fort Worth a lot and think there's a lot to like. It's probably going to be more car-centric than you want, but that may be the only real downside you find.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:37 AM on March 8, 2012
I adore the Sundance/downtown area. I suspect it is ungodly expensive to live there, though.
You can do a grand tour of the main tourist areas and get a pretty good feel for the non-suburban, funkier parts of Fort Worth. Drive Camp Bowie Blvd end to end (stop at Kincaid's or Original Mexican, if it's still there). Then go over around Overton Ridge/Hulen Mall, just so you know.
There's lot of active Fort Worth Yelpers, so you might use that to decide on a few other parts of town to check out.
My grandparents lived in Fort Worth all my life, and I lived in North Richland Hills for 8 years. I like Fort Worth a lot and think there's a lot to like. It's probably going to be more car-centric than you want, but that may be the only real downside you find.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:37 AM on March 8, 2012
West 7th street, downtown, & possibly the hospital district are walkable, more so if you work there too. It's kinda hard to walk from West 7th to the big Lockheed plant, for example.
Definitely grab a burger at the original Kincaid's. If you're into vegan food, there's a place called the Spiral Cafe which is nice. Riscky's BBQ in downtown is pretty decent, & I've also heard good things about Cooper's up in the Stockyards area.
If the weather is nice, go for a stroll in the Botanical Gardens.
posted by AMSBoethius at 9:47 AM on March 8, 2012
Definitely grab a burger at the original Kincaid's. If you're into vegan food, there's a place called the Spiral Cafe which is nice. Riscky's BBQ in downtown is pretty decent, & I've also heard good things about Cooper's up in the Stockyards area.
If the weather is nice, go for a stroll in the Botanical Gardens.
posted by AMSBoethius at 9:47 AM on March 8, 2012
Kincaid's
Kincaid's, sadly, is owned by some knuckleheads now and is nowhere near its former glory, unless something has changed very recently.
posted by cmoj at 11:48 AM on March 8, 2012
Kincaid's, sadly, is owned by some knuckleheads now and is nowhere near its former glory, unless something has changed very recently.
posted by cmoj at 11:48 AM on March 8, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:15 AM on March 8, 2012