Dallas Midtown Park vs Dallas Midtown (Plano, Sherman: low income, neighborhood, college)

[TXNGL]

"Dallas Midtown Park" (Meadow/Walnut Hill, east of Central) is in the middle of a huge building boom, while developers are about to demolish Valley View (several miles northwest) and calling it "Dallas Midtown", plans underway but not building as of now. Won't this be confusing to newcomers? I've wondered if there has been any fighting over the name Midtown, did some searching and didn't find anything. I live near "Midtown Park", which has carried the name well before the crash, so no confusion on my part but if you are going to title something with a name as general as Midtown, wouldn't you take into consideration location? North of LBJ is midtown (lower case m intentional)?

[Kosmonova]

My only frame of reference are my years spent
growing up in the REAL Downtown, Midtown, and Uptown in NYC, which of course, make geographic sense. When I moved to SF, there was just "The City", and since I have been in DFW, I have not been able to understand how either of these "Midtowns" can be miles north of Uptown.

[turf3]

Bunch of foolishness.

I urge you not to get caught up in what some developer's marketeers make up for names.

The traditional name for Meadow/Walnut Hill Lane area east of Central is Vickery.

The traditional name for the area around Valley View Mall was, long before the mall was built, ---wait for it --- "Valley View". There was a Valley View Road there decades before there was a mall; LBJ Freeway was built over Valley View Rd. in that area. VV Rd. still exists to the west of there in Farmers Branch.


"Uptown" is stupid enough as its real name is just "Oak Lawn" but at the time the marketeers devised the "Uptown" name, Oak Lawn was the gay neighborhood and they thought this would be a turnoff for the yuppies they wanted to attract.

If Uptown is that part of Dallas just north of Woodall Rodgers, and downtown is, as it always has been, that part of Dallas just south of Woodall Rodgers, then clearly the only part of Dallas that could be called "Midtown" - is the traffic lanes of Woodall Rodgers.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by turf3

Bunch of foolishness.

I urge you not to get caught up in what some developer's marketeers make up for names.

The traditional name for Meadow/Walnut Hill Lane area east of Central is Vickery.

The traditional name for the area around Valley View Mall was, long before the mall was built, ---wait for it --- "Valley View". There was a Valley View Road there decades before there was a mall; LBJ Freeway was built over Valley View Rd. in that area. VV Rd. still exists to the west of there in Farmers Branch.


"Uptown" is stupid enough as its real name is just "Oak Lawn" but at the time the marketeers devised the "Uptown" name, Oak Lawn was the gay neighborhood and they thought this would be a turnoff for the yuppies they wanted to attract.

If Uptown is that part of Dallas just north of Woodall Rodgers, and downtown is, as it always has been, that part of Dallas just south of Woodall Rodgers, then clearly the only part of Dallas that could be called "Midtown" - is the traffic lanes of Woodall Rodgers.

Oh I agree! I think it's ridiculous. Vickery makes sense to me (historically) but I think people get a negative feeling about the name due to the concentration of low income housing, and it wasn't always so, in the area...which is being erased. Midtown Park doesn't make sense to me, having two "midtowns" miles away from each other makes even less. I realize it's marketeers making up names, I get that. What I don't get is how new folks are going to know the difference. Similar name, nowhere near each other. And yes, I am caught up in it only because it's been bugging me since the "Midtown Park" signs started going up in that area years ago.

Editing to mention that the Valley View area was previously a freedman's town called Alpha (street is named after it). When I was very little, in the 60s, my father would take us on Sunday drives in "the country" in that area. Cotton fields as far as you could see.

[rantanamo]

They aren't midtowns, just development names.

[TheOverdog]

It's midtown because it's halfway between downtown and 121/DNT Corridor. It's not that complex a name. And Valley View was always a dumb name because there is no valley there so it doesn't have any sort of significance. And that's the problem - all of Dallas' traditional names are godawful because they are totally attached to horrible racism at worst or a natural feature that was bulldozed to nothing at best.

And cities around here don't care if names of things are confusing - witness the Dallas North Tollway, Dallas North Parkway, Park, Parker Road, Park Lane within a dozen miles of one another.

[DTXman34]

Originally Posted by turf3

If Uptown is that part of Dallas just north of Woodall Rodgers, and downtown is, as it always has been, that part of Dallas just south of Woodall Rodgers, then clearly the only part of Dallas that could be called "Midtown" - is the traffic lanes of Woodall Rodgers.

I think a true "Midtown" for Dallas would be from Klyde Warren Park through State Thomas. That would include the nightlife areas, Crescent, etc. The area from around Breadwinners through West Village seems like a true "Uptown."

[turf3]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

It's midtown because it's halfway between downtown and 121/DNT Corridor.

Well, that's pretty silly, like saying Van Alstyne ought to be renamed "Midtown" because it's halfway between Dallas and Sherman. The intersection of the tollroad and 121 isn't even in Dallas.

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

And Valley View was always a dumb name because there is no valley there so it doesn't have any sort of significance.

The Elm Fork of the Trinity River has considerable bottom land. If I had to guess, I would guess that is what is referred to. Or I suppose Trinity Valley Junior College should be renamed "Midtown Junior College" because Athens is approx. halfway between Dallas and Nacogdoches.

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

And that's the problem - all of Dallas' traditional names are godawful because they are totally attached to horrible racism at worst...

Huh?

How do "Vickery", "Oak Cliff", "Lakewood", "Preston Hollow", "The Cedars", "Oak Lawn", etc. reflect "horrible racism"?

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

It's midtown because it's halfway between downtown and 121/DNT Corridor. It's not that complex a name. And Valley View was always a dumb name because there is no valley there so it doesn't have any sort of significance. And that's the problem - all of Dallas' traditional names are godawful because they are totally attached to horrible racism at worst or a natural feature that was bulldozed to nothing at best.

And cities around here don't care if names of things are confusing - witness the Dallas North Tollway, Dallas North Parkway, Park, Parker Road, Park Lane within a dozen miles of one another.

121/DNT is not near Dallas so why is it a reference for calling something Midtown (Dallas)? I agree the names make no sense and do not expect them to. But being half way between DT Dallas and the Plano/Frisco boundary is no reference point to call an area midtown. No need to add this confusion lol

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

It's midtown because it's halfway between downtown and 121/DNT Corridor. It's not that complex a name. And Valley View was always a dumb name because there is no valley there so it doesn't have any sort of significance. And that's the problem - all of Dallas' traditional names are godawful because they are totally attached to horrible racism at worst or a natural feature that was bulldozed to nothing at best.

And cities around here don't care if names of things are confusing - witness the Dallas North Tollway, Dallas North Parkway, Park, Parker Road, Park Lane within a dozen miles of one another.

121 isn't Dallas, though. I don't know how the town (actually I think it was unincorporated) of Alpha became Valley View. Does anyone remember Alpha? I barely do. I remember boarding our dog out there, the place was out in the country.

Agree about Park and Parker in Plano, that always confused me back in the days of Mapsco and before I started spending more time in Plano.