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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 29 July 2008 |
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Yes, Dallas does have something Fort Worth doesn't have - a real city thirty miles away .
- Amon Carter, publisher, philanthropist, Fort Worthian
FORT WORTH , often dismissed as some kind of poor relation to Dallas, in fact has a rush and energy largely missing in its more complacent neighbor thirty miles east. Unlike comparably cosmopolitan Dallas, this is one of the most "Western" cities in Texas. In the 1870s it was the last stop on the great cattle drive to Kansas, the Chisholm Trail ; when the railroads arrived, it became a livestock market in its own right, with its own packing houses, while remaining a haven for cowboys and outlaws. The cattle trade is still a major industry, after aviation and defense, but the city can also pride itself on its thriving cultural life. Unlike the more anxious Dallas, Fort Worth doesn't feel the need to brag about its many excellent museums . For a place so wealthy (the grand Western Hills area claims to have proportionately more millionaires than any other US locale), it's surprisingly laid-back.
Fort Worth's main attractions fall tidily into a triangle anchored by downtown with the Cultural District and the Stockyards two miles away to the west and north respectively. The chief focus of downtown Fort Worth is Sundance Square , a leafy, redbrick-paved fourteen-block area of shops, restaurants and bars between First and Sixth streets, ringed by glittering skyscrapers and pervaded with a genuine enthusiasm for the town's rich history. It owes its existence to vast injections of cash from the Bass family; the whole ensemble is dominated by the two gleaming glass skyscrapers of the Bass-owned City Center Towers , while the extremely tasteful Nancy Lee & Perry R. Bass Performance Hall (tel 817/212-4325, ) is evidence of its continuing development. Notice the carvings of longhorn skulls everywhere, and the many trompe l'oeil murals - especially the Chisholm Trail mural on Fourth Street between Main and Houston streets. The Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art , tucked away at 309 Main St (Tues-Wed 10am-5pm, Thurs-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 11am-8pm, Sun 1-5pm; free; tel 817/332-6554, ), has a small but excellent collection of late works by Remington, including some of his best black-and-white illustrations, and early elegiac cowboyscapes by Charles Russell.
Naming the square after the Sundance Kid isn't particularly appropriate; he, and other outlaws such as Bonnie and Clyde, spent their time a few blocks south, just north of I-30 at the city's original settlement. Even into the 1950s " Hell's Half Acre " was renowned for bawdy lawlessness; these days it's much less exciting, although the bubbling fountains and pools of its central Water Gardens offer refreshing respite.
The Cultural District , two miles west of downtown, is an impressive area of museums and art galleries. The finest collection is at the small Kimbell Art Museum , 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd (Tues-Thurs 10am-8pm, Fri noon-8pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; free, around $5 for special exhibits; tel 817/332-8451, ), a splendid vaulted, naturally lit building designed by Louis Kahn. Downstairs displays concentrate on pre-Columbian and African pieces, with some noteworthy Mayan funerary urns, while upstairs, as well as canvases by Gauguin, Cézanne, Picasso and Monet, you can admire a seventh-century Khmer figure of a Hindu deity, ancient Chinese bronzes and a fourteenth-century Japanese polychrome wood statue of En no Gyoja. The museum café itself is adorned with relief sculptures by Henri Matisse.
American art in the recently renovated and expanded Amon Carter Museum , just up the hill at 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; free; tel 817/738-1933, ), includes great photographs of Western landscapes, as well as a fine assortment of Remingtons and Russells and works by Winslow Homer and Georgia O'Keeffe. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth , 1309 Montgomery St (Tues-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 11am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; free; tel 817/738-9215, ), which specializes in twentieth-century abstract art, is being moved to a larger facility to be unveiled in 2002. South of here, the wide-ranging Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (Mon-Thurs 9am-5.30pm, Fri-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun noon-5.30pm; $6.50; tel 817-255-9300, 1-888/255-9300, ) includes a planetarium and an IMAX theater. The museum's most popular exhibits include ExploraZone - a kid-friendly area for exploring topics like magnetism, weather, math, etc - and DinoDig, where amateur paleontologists can dig through an "outdoor discovery zone" for dinosaur bones.
The lively, interactive Cattle Raiser's Museum is, for now, slightly farther north at 1301 W Seventh St (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; $3) - it's scheduled to be relocated to the Cultural District by 2004. The changing economic face of the cattle trade is traced from the days of the open range, via the great cattle drives, to modern ranching and latterday cowboys - with displays of spurs, assorted tangles of barbed wire and some interesting history on the travails of early women pioneers. After the move, the museum will be adjacent to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame , set to open in 2002.
However, museums, no matter how good, aren't necessarily what you want from a cowtown. The ten-block Stockyards Area , with its wooden sidewalks and old storefronts centered on Exchange Avenue two miles north of downtown, is a glorious evocation of the days when Fort Worth's stockyards made this "the richest little city in the world." It's much more than a cynical creation for cowboy-hungry tourists and even the daily march down East Exchange Avenue of the fifteen or so Texan Longhorn cattle (with six-feet horn spans) is done in good, educational taste. The drives occur, weather permitting, at 11.30am from the corrals behind the Livestock Exchange Building with the herd arriving back around 4pm; one of the best views can be found directly in front of the visitor center.
Along with the restaurants and bars, the stores will have Western-wear obsessives in heaven. Look out for Fincher's rodeo equipment store and M.L. Leddy's expansive saddle shop; and check out the Maverick Trading Post, packed with hip, bright cowgirl regalia, and a bar serving good cold beers. They encourage you to drink first and buy later; this is not a good idea. If all the authenticity is too much to bear, there's a nearby mall with a slightly more tourist-friendly orientation: the shops and restaurants in the Stockyards Station , a brick-floored enclave in the old hog pens, are squeaky clean; one of the best is the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, next to the Stockyards Wedding Chapel. From here the magnificent Tarantula steam train puffs along to Eighth Avenue downtown (departs Wed-Sat noon, Sun 3pm; 30min; $10; tel 817/625-RAIL, ).
The Stockyards no longer host live cattle auctions ; instead, images are beamed by satellite into the huge 1902 Livestock Exchange Building at 131 E Exchange Ave, home of the Stockyards Collections Museum (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; free), packed with meaty memorabilia. The mission-style Cowtown Coliseum next door, used for rodeos (tel 817/625-1025, ; ticket prices vary) and concerts, is fronted with a bust of Bill Pickett, the black rodeo star who invented the unsavory but effective practice of "bulldogging" - stunning the bull by biting its lip.
ARRIVAL
The main road between Fort Worth and Dallas, I-30 , cuts the city north-south; Loop 820 encircles it. An Airporter express bus (daily 5am-midnight, every half-hour at peak times; $10; tel 817/334-0092) runs to and from DFW International Airport, seventeen miles northeast; a taxi costs around $45. Amtrak pulls in four times per week in either direction just southeast of downtown in the lovely red 1899 Santa Fe Depot, 1501 Jones St (tel 817/332-2931). Greyhound operates out of the depot at 901 Commerce St, next to the Convention Center. The city's public transportation system, The T , operates bus service throughout the city, as well the tourist-oriented Longhorn Trolley , which travels between the major attractions and some downtown hotels ($1 for the bus, $2 for the trolley; tel 817/871-6200, ).
There are three visitor centers : in the Stockyards at 130 E Exchange Ave (daily 9am-6pm; walking tours are $2, call for times; tel 817/624-4741, ), downtown in the CVB at 415 Throckmorton St (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm, Sat 10am-4pm; tel 817/336-8791 or 1-800/433-5747), and in the Cultural District at the Will Rogers Memorial Center at 3401 W Lancaster Ave (Mon-Thurs 9am-5pm, Fri-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun noon-4pm; tel 817/882-8588). The downtown Sundance Square and Stockyard areas are well patrolled and safe to walk around after dark; for a taxi between the two, call Yellow Cab Co tel 817/534-5555.
EATING
If you love steak , Fort Worth is for you. Meat here is hefty, fresh and prepared with tender loving care, especially in the Stockyards area, where the many good home-cooking cafés are frequented as much by cattle ranchers as by visitors. Mex and Tex-Mex tastes are well covered though vegetarians will do less well; try the upmarket restaurants downtown. The café in the Kimbell Art Museum makes for a pleasant place to snack or eat lunch.
Angelo's Barbecue 2533 White Settlement Rd tel 817/332-0357. Venerable westside restaurant open for lunch and dinner and cited by locals as the best in the city.
Angeluna 215 E 4th St tel 817/334-0080. Tasty Caribbean-Asian-Southern fusion food across the street from Bass Hall.
Cattlemen's Steak House 2458 N Main St tel 817/624-3945. Dim lighting and wall-sized portraits of prize steers. A Fort Worth institution thanks to its steaks and margaritas. Dinner is around $20.
J & J Oyster Bar 612 N University Drive tel 817/335-2756. Try the fresh crab and oysters at this local institution near the Cultural District.
Joe T Garcia's Mexican Dishes 2201 N Commerce St tel 817/626-4356. Nationally famed Mexican restaurant in the owners' 1930s home, serving hefty set tortilla/fajita dinners (around $10) and frosty margaritas. Outdoor seating available next to the family swimming pool.
Mi Cocina 509 Main St tel 817/877-3600. Healthy Tex-Mex dishes in a modern, eclectically decorated joint.
Star Café 111 W Exchange Ave tel 817/624-8701. Neon-lit café serving some of the least expensive steaks - not just in the Stockyards but in the entire city. They also know how to chicken-fry steak well.
NIGHTLIFE AND ENTERTAINMENT
You'd be hard pushed not to find something to your taste amid Fort Worth's late-night drinking and carousing. This is a truly cosmopolitan city, where roustabouts will happily down a few beers with modern jazz fans. Bar crawling is safe and fun, and there's a great mix of live music venues (though the pick-up joints in the Stockyards are best avoided). Check the Fort Worth Weekly ( ) or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ( ) for listings. The Nancy Lee & Perry R. Bass Performance Hall (tel 817/212-4280) is the new downtown home of the city's orchestra, opera, theater and dance companies and hosts visiting spectacles.
In addition to the regular cowboy venues below, the Chisholm Trail Round-Up (mid-June; ) and Pioneer Days (September) are two hugely enjoyable annual Western-style celebrations in the Stockyards. Cowtown Coliseum holds a championship rodeo (Fri and Sat 8pm; $8.50; tel 817/625-1025, ) and special events throughout the year.
Billy Bob's Texas 2520 Rodeo Plaza tel 817/624-7117). The largest honky-tonk in the world, down in the Stockyards, with bull-riding (Fri & Sat 9pm & 10pm), pool tables, bars, restaurants and stores, and big-name concerts. Live music nightly; open until 2am. Tours Mon-Sat 11am, 2pm & 4pm, Sun 2pm & 4pm. Cover Mon-Thurs & Sun $3-5, Fri & Sat $5-10.
The Caravan of Dreams 312 Houston St tel 817/877-3000. A superb downtown club in a beautiful building with a cactus garden. Attracts a friendly, stylish crowd and regular big-name acts. Cover $12-60, though access to the Rooftop Grotto Bar is free.
Casa Mańana Theater 3101 Lancaster Ave tel 817/332-6221. Alternative comedy and plays in the Cultural District, with a great selection of kid-friendly plays as well.
8.0 111 E 3rd St tel 817/336-0880. Highly popular downtown bar in Sundance Square, flamboyantly decorated inside and with sidewalk tables.
Flying Saucer 111 E 4th St tel 817/336-7468. Over 200 beers, often with enticing promotional prices, in a fun Sundance Square setting, with live music Tues-Sun.
J&J Blues Bar 937 Woodward Ave tel 817/870-BEER. Westside joint with regional blues acts Thurs-Sat.
J&Js Hideaway 3305 W 7th St tel 817/877-3363. Good neighborhood bar in the Cultural District, and a welcome respite from the more aggressively Western-themed outlets.
White Elephant Saloon 106 E Exchange Ave tel 817/624-1887. Notoriously wild and authentic Stockyards saloon with a cowboy hat hall of fame; prop yourself up at the long wooden bar and listen to cowboy singer and owner Don Edwards. $4 cover Fri. Open till midnight weekdays, 2am Fri & Sat.
Wreck Room 3208 W 7th St tel 817/870-4900. Underground westside hangout with occasional leftfield rock bands. |
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Fort Worth 
