Downtown

Renaissance. Revitalization. Momentum. Downtown Dallas is being built anew, becoming recognized locally and globally for the quality of life offered by our residences, business, hospitality, entertainment and culture. With thirteen unique districts - from Main Street and Victory Park, to the Arts District, South Side and Deep Ellum - Downtown is evolving and changing at a more aggressive pace than ever in its history.

Lation Cultural Center

The Latino Cultural Center (LCC), was designed by world-renowned architect Ricardo Legorreta and dedicated on September 16, 2003. A multidisciplinary arts center that presents Latino artists in the visual and performing arts, film, and literature, the LCC also supports local artists and arts organizations by developing and celebrating Latino art and culture.

Address: www.dallasculture.org 75204
Telephone: 2600 Live Oak Street

Tiffs Treats

Best cookies in Downtown! Guaranteed to arrive fresh!

Address: 1001 Ross Avenue 75202
Telephone: 214-720-0500

Winspear Opera House

Opening in 2009 this magnificent and awesome red-drum building with transparent, soaring 60-foot glass walls has become an icon to the skyline already. The Winspear houses performing residence companies like the Dallas Opera (DallasOpera.org), the Texas Ballet Theater (TexasBalletTheater.org) and TITAS (TITAS.org). Outdoor performances are adjacent to the building Annette Strauss Artists Square

Theatre 3

Dallas-born Norma Young founded Theatre Three in 1961 with a $3,000 inheritance from a great-aunt she never knew. Ms. Young had worked as a teacher, as an actress, and as a stage manager in New York, and at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Eager to establish a professional theatre in her hometown, she attracted three additional co-founders to her vision (Jac

Alder, Esther Ragland, and Robert Dracup) and began producing a wide range of dramatic literature. Plays were staged in-the-round (the first seven show season was at the just-opened Sheraton Dallas Hotel) and immediately met with critical and popular approval.

John Rosenfield, the nationally important critic of The Dallas Morning News proclaimed the season contained "...the best acting Dallas has seen in years and years and still more years." Many in the audience had strong and positive memories of Margo Jones' theatre-in-the-round that had been nationally important from 1947 until Ms. Jones' untimely death in 1955. Margo had put Dallas "on the map" as a theatre town, with her emphasis on developing writers and importing actors.

Ross Akard Gallery

Ross Akard Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery. The gallery is dedicated to the promotion of local, national and international artists, providing original fine art to established and emerging collectors and catering to special events in support of organizations that foster social awareness and promote environmental issues through fine art.
The idea was to create an intimate space, in which an artist could present a single important work of art or a coherent body of work within a focused environment.

Black Academy of Arts and Letters

MISSION STATEMENT To create and enhance an awareness and understanding of artistic, cultural, and aesthetic differences utilizing the framework of African-American Arts and Letters. To promote, foster, cultivate, perpetuate and preserve the Arts and Letters of African-Americans in the Fine, Literary and Performing Arts. TBAAL is a multi-discipline arts organization whose mission is to create and enhance an awareness and understanding of artistic, cultural and aesthetic differences utilizing the framework of African, African-American and Caribbean Arts and Letters. Additionally, its purpose is to promote, foster, cultivate, perpetuate and preserve the Arts and Letters of Africans, African-Americans and Caribbean in the Fine, Literary and Performing Arts. TBAAL is in the midst of its 35th Season which began September 2011 and runs through August 2012. July 17, 1977, Curtis King founded this art institution on his dining room table with a personal investment of $250. TBAAL was grown out of the New York City based, Black Academy of Arts and Letters in 1969. Now based in Dallas, Texas, TBAAL is housed in a 250,000 sq. ft. facility (In the heart of downtown in the Dallas Convention Center). TBAAL is the only arts institution and African American organization housed in a major urban convention center in the nation. Our facility has 2 theatres (Naomi Bruton Main Stage - seats 1800 and Clarence Muse Cafe Theatre - seats 250), costume shop, 5 large banquet/meeting rooms, gallery, gift shop, administrative offices, etc. We have a full-time staff of 16 employees, a 9 member board of directors and operate with over 100 volunteers. TBAAL is supported by the Dallas Mayor Office and City Council. In the early 1980s, TBAAL received its first $5,000 grant from the City of Dallas. Since then that support has grown to $300,000 to support its programs and operations. TBAAL has received arts and education funding from the Dallas Independent School District for several years. Its first year funding of $52,000 has increased to over $120,000. Annually, TBAAL services an audience of over 1 million patrons, has a membership base of 10,000 members, sends brochures to 50,000 persons on our nationwide general mailing list, receives over 2 million hits on the institution's website, www.tbaal.org and advertises/communicates daily to over 30,000 patrons on our email database. TBAAL reaches over an average of 8.6 million patrons throughout our season via in-house direct marketing campaigns. Also annually, TBAAL presents and produces over 100 programs in theatre, music, dance, literary arts, film and visual arts. TBAAL has been the launching pad for such notable artists as Grammy winner Erykah Badu and Emmy winner Regina Taylor In November 2009, TBAAL presented HIP HOP BROADWAY-THE MUSICAL, a piece written and directed by Curtis King, at Dallas' new AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Winspear Opera House. The production starred Grammy Winner Erykah Badu, Tony Award Winners Jennifer Holliday and Melba Moore, Metropolitan Opera Star Harolyn Blackwell and Tony Award Nominee Felicia P. Fields. To date, TBAAL's HIP HOP BROADWAY-THE MUSICAL performance boasts the highest attendance of any program offered during the AT&T Performing Arts Center inaugural season. In TBAAL's 35th Season some notable celebrities who will perform/appear are Academy Award nominee and Kennedy Center Honoree Ruby Dee, Antonio Fargas, Vondie Curtis Hall, Alice Randall, Clifton Davis, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Te'Keyah Crystal Keyman, Lou Myers, CeCe Winans, and Maysa from Ingocnito.

Baylor

Anchored by Baylor University Medical Center, the Baylor District is home to several non-profit organizations, along historic Swiss Avenue. The area offers pedestrian friendly streets within a neighborhood of historic homes, condos and apartments. Other notable destinations include the Latino Cultural Center, the Bryan Place neighborhood and Exhall Park.

Come here if you like: home tours, parks and culture

Civic Center

The Civic Center District is the regional hub of many landmark destinations. Here you'll find Dallas City Hall, Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library and the Allen Courts Building. This district is home to the new Omni Dallas Convention Center Hotel and one of largest convention centers in the country.

Dallas Farmers Market

The Dallas Farmers Market encompasses a large area bounded by Jackson, North Central Expressway, R.L. Thorton Freeway and St. Paul. The district is anchored by the Farmers Market, which has been providing fresh produce and landscaping materials for over six decades. The newly enclosed Shed 2 offers unique food and specialty vendors. This district is home to a collection of historic buildings and contemporary townhomes and apartments.

Deep Ellum

Deep Ellum boasts a storied past and unique atmosphere. The many nightclubs, eclectic restaurants, performance venues, art galleries and creative office spaces form a vibrant entertainment destination. Deep Ellum's historic buildings, small blocks and tight grid street network create an authentic, organic urban neighborhood.

Dallas Design District

One of Dallas's most successfully-branded destinations, the Dallas Design District consists of more than 300 specialty merchants offering unique art, furnishings and design goods. The Dallas Design District is emerging into more than an attraction for interior designers, with numerous residential and other commercial projects adding to the district's vitality.

Main Street District

Landmark destinations including the Neiman Marcus flagship store, Comerica Bank Tower, The Joule, Magnolia and Adolphus Hotels, and numerous restaurants combine to form the central district, known as the Main Street District. Historic buildings have been converted to residential, making the district a great area to live, work and play. Other landmarks include Main Street Garden, Stone Street Gardens and Pegasus Plaza.

Reunion District

The Reunion District is widely known for two primary landmarks, Reunion Tower and Union Station. Reunion Tower, one of Dallas' most iconic symbols, now includes Five-Sixty, a fine dining restaurant by Wolfgang Puck. Union Station is a hub for the Trinity Railway Express, DART Light Rail and Amtrak intercity rail. Another landmark is the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Riverfront District

The Riverfront District occupies an area between the heavy rail tracks west of South Side, Grand Avenue, the west bank of the Trinity River Corridor and Continental Avenue. The Riverfront District will become Downtown's front door to its greatest natural asset - the Trinity River. This area has created the most significant change to the skyline with the recent construction of the Margret Hunt Hill Bridge.

Thanksgiving Commercial Center

Downtown's visual identity is owed in large part to the skyline established in the Thanksgiving Commercial Center. The skyscrapers built in this district helped define the image of modern Dallas as a national center for energy and finance. Today the district is made up of several landmarks including: Thanksgiving Tower, Thanks-Giving Square, Bryan Tower and Plaza of the Americas.