| Oak Lawn | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s): Gaybourhood | |
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Official
Unofficial
Location in Dallas. |
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| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| Counties | Dallas |
| City | Dallas |
| Area | |
| • Total | 12 sq mi (31 km2) |
| Elevation | 479 ft (146 m) |
| ZIP codes | 75201, 75204, 75205, 75219, 75235 (small area) |
| Area code(s) | 214, 469, 972 |
| Website | http://www.oaklawncommittee.org/ |
Oak Lawn is a neighborhood in Dallas, Texas (USA), defined in Dallas City Ordinance 21859 as Planned Development District No. 193, the Oak Lawn Special Purpose District. The unofficial boundaries are Turtle Creek Boulevard, Central Expressway, the City of Highland Park, Inwood Road, and Harry Hines Boulevard. It is over 12 square miles (31 km2) in area. Officially it is bounded by the City of Highland Park, the North Central Expressway, Stemmons Freeway, Woodall Rodgers Freeway, and other roads. The district is within the boundary defined by the City of Dallas law, excluding any existing planned development districts within.[1]
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Oak Lawn is one of the wealthier parts of Dallas, with many professionals and urban types living in upscale townhouses, condos, apartments, and duplexes. Along the Uptown portion on McKinney Avenue and along Turtle Creek Boulevard, there are many new high-rise condominiums and apartments. It is also a very diverse neighborhood with well established areas of older, single family homes.
For most of the 20th century the southern portion of the neighborhood near the intersection of Cedar Springs Road and Harry Hines Blvd was known as "Little Mexico". St. Anne's Catholic school served as the center for the community. With the redevelopment of the neighborhood beginning in the 1980's Little Mexico vanished. Only a few structures of this original community remain for most have been replaced by high rise office buildings, luxury hotels, and condominiums. As of 2010, St Ann's Catholic School, which had closed, in is now an upscale restaurant.
Oak Lawn is known for its good restaurants, as well as its many bars and clubs, in particular those catering to the LGBT community of Dallas. Running through the center of Oak Lawn from downtown to Love Field is Cedar Springs Road, which has housed the center of the Dallas gay community for over 35 years at the intersection of Cedar Springs Road and Throckmorton Street.
Oak Lawn became a magnet for the counterculture movement in the late 1960s due to its inexpensive apartments and its proximity to Lee Park. Homosexuals settled in Oak Lawn because the hippies were tolerant of gay people. By 1980 Oak Lawn became Dallas's "gayborhood," with the intersection of Cedar Springs Road and Throckmorton Street as the center of the gay community. Cedar Springs Road had many bars, clothing stores, gift shops, and restaurants with gay themes.[2]
The United States Postal Service operates the Oak Lawn Post Office at 2825 Oak Lawn Avenue.[3]
The Federal Bureau of Prisons South Central Region Office is in Oak Lawn.[4]
The Consulate-General of the United Kingdom in Dallas was located in Suite 940 at 2911 Turtle Creek Boulevard.[5][6]
In April 2005 the British government announced that it was closing the Dallas consulate in the summer of 2005; its territory was transferred to the consulate-general in Houston. It was one of 19 British diplomatic missions shut down around that time period.[7] The Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom said that the consulates and embassies closed as a way to decrease costs.[7][8]
The Consulate-General of Mexico in Dallas is also located in Oak Lawn. Alfredo Corchado of The Dallas Morning News said that as of 2009, in terms of activity and size of the area Mexican population, the Dallas consulate is considered to be the third most important Mexican consulate after Los Angeles and Chicago.[9]
The consulate moved from 8855 North Stemmons Freeway to 1210 River Bend Drive in January 2009.[10]
The public schools in Oak Lawn are part of the Dallas Independent School District and are zoned among the following:
The William B. Travis Academy/Vanguard for the Academically Talented and Gifted is located near McKinney Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue.
The current Sam Houston Elementary campus was scheduled to open in the northern hemisphere fall of 1999.[11]
Central Expressway (US 75) flanks the community on the east. Spur 366, known locally as Woodall Rodgers Freeway, runs along the southern border of the community. The Lomac and Uptown portions of Oak Lawn are served by the free M-Line, provided by the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority and Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The Blue and Red light-rail lines stop at Cityplace Station, right outside Oak Lawn. Just outside Oak Lawn to the southwest is Victory Station in Victory Park, which is served by the Trinity Railway Express, both red and blue lines during special events, and eventually the future Green and light rail lines.
Oak Lawn is considered to be the epicenter of Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex's gay- and lesbian-culture. Cedar Springs Road, between Oak Lawn Avenue and Wycliff Avenue, has numerous businesses, retail establishments, restaurants and night clubs catering to the LGBT community. The area has some of Dallas' most renowned gay bars and nightclubs, including Station 4 (formerly The Village Station), The Brick, Woody's (formerly Moby Dick's), J.R.'s, Sue Ellen's (recently opened in the Throckmorton Mining Company's old location), The Mining Company (recently opened in the former location of Sue Ellen's), Havana, The Round-Up Saloon, Drama Room (formerly Mickey's and BJ's), Alexandre's (formerly After Dark), Illusions(now closed), Pekers (formerly The Side 2 Bar and Phases), Zippers, BJ's NXS (formerly Crews Inn), Pub Pegasus, The Hidden Door, The Tin Room, Level Bar and Grill (formerly Rush), Cross Bar, and The Hideaway, which closed in 2009, most of which are located along, or close to, Cedar Springs Road. Oak Lawn is contiguous with the Dallas Design District, and so much of the area conveys a very "artsy" and upscale feeling. The sight of Rainbow flags hanging in front of businesses and homes and same sex couples holding hands and showing public affection is very common here.
The area also hosts some of the larger city festivals including the annual Halloween street festival, Gay Pride parade, and Easter in the Park at Lee Park.
There is a large concentration of Hispanic owned businesses, restaurants, grocery stores, nightclubs, and retail establishments on the Maple Avenue corridor between the Inwood Road and the North Dallas Tollway.
Oak Lawn is one of the older neighborhoods in Dallas. Continuous redevelopment of the neighborhood has created a mixture of architectural styles spanning much of the 20th century to the present day.
Measuring by structural height, the tallest buildings in or adjacent to Oak Lawn are as follows [1]:
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