Uptown Dallas for 1 Sep

We are staying at the Sheraton Dallas on Olive St. From what I have researched, we are a mile walk from Uptown. As for your other question, I have no idea.

Addison is far north Dallas, a very long way from the game. But, it's the coolest area that far north with lots of bars and restaurants. You're going to want to party in Uptown, Lower Greenville (pronounced Greenvul), and Deep Elum -- a little seedier, but lots of great music (it's not Austin l, but the best Dallas has).

Uptown Dallas is a nice, fun, somewhat fancy area between downtown Dallas and Park Cities neighborhood. It is loosely defined as the area between the Woodall Rodgers freeway to the south, the North Tollway (to the west), US-75 (tobthe east) and it may go as far north as Mockingbird Lane (but some would say that's getting in to Highland Park). SMU's campus is (beautiful; worth a look) and just north of Mockingbird Lane in University Park. Those to neighborhoods with "Park" in their names make up the larger area called Park Cities.

Addison is a city north of Dallas (I-635 is roughly the northern border of the city of Dallas). I would not recommend staying up there. It is perfectly pleasant but suburban. There is a new mixed-use (commercial/residential/retail) development confusingly called Ptown hatis being built along I-635; but that's totally different. The Galleria is one big shopping mall. I don't recommend it if you want to go see what Dallas is all about.

In the uptown area, there are lots of bars and restaurants along McKinney avenue (the southern portion of it) and in the Knox-Henderson area (where Knox Knox St and Henderson Ave come together) especially to the east of US-75 all the way toward Greenville Ave and the cute M Streets neighborhood (named because all of the east-west streets begin with the letter M). The area around Fitzhugh Ave is also getting cool.

I usually stay at one of two Kimpton properties when I am in Dallas. Both are technically in University Park by SMU- Hotel Palomar or The less expensive Hotel Lumen. Hotel ZaZa is a new hip hotel further south that has a cool restaurant and bar. That would be fun. If you want to Less expensive, there is a La Quinta Inn in Uptown right on US-75 and Garrett Ave and a Best Western as well.

You have to check out the Katy Trail Ice House when you're in Dallas. Huge outdoor beer place right along a running trail. Feels very "Texas". Everybody goes there before Mavs games and walks the trail to the arena. Have fun!

Addison is pretty nice. Lots of bars/restaurants but it is about 40 minutes from the stadium. Just depends on what you want. I'm about five minutes from there and I'm right next to Fox and Hound, the alumni bar. I'm happy with it but if you want "downtown nightlife" then you probably want Deep Ellum. My two cents...

Deep Ellum was going to hell in a hurry when I left in the mid-2000s. It was great in about 2000.  How is it now?

To me, if it is safe and still loaded with hopping bars, that's your choice.  It was always a pretty unpretentious crowd. Lower Greenville was always consistent but didn't have the number of bars in a row to give you good variety. 

Actually downtown Fort Worth was my favorite and about the same distance from the stadium  as Dallas.

Addison, Uptown, and the Park Cities (near SMU) was always full of snots and credit card millionaires.  I'd steer clear of all those places for nightlife.

I am staying at the Renaissance Hotel(Marriot).  It is about a mile or so away from the Mavericks and Stars arena and about 1/2 hour away from Arlington. 

Having been stationed in Oklahoma city when I was in the military I made it down to Dallas a handful of times.  House of blues is good for both music and food.  The Dallas World Aquarium is a very underrated nature getaway.  Also,  my hotel is right across the street from Medieval Times.  Dealey Plaza is also a good place to walk around and get pictures. Pioneer Plaza has a what looks like a stampede of bulls made out of metal, so I also recommend heading there and snapping some photos.

In Fort Worth, there is a great art museum, which I believe is called Kimball.  That is, if you're into that kind of thing. I'm hoping to see even more this time down.

I can't help with any specific hotels, but the little bit that I do know I'll share. First off, while the DFW (AKA Metroplex) does have a decent mass-transit train system, it does not have any stops within walking distance of either Rangers Ballpark or Jerryworld, which are basically next to each other. So if you're looking for a place to stay, and driving to and from the game will be an issue, I'd suggest staying close by. Obviously getting a cab will most likely cost a small fortune. If you're looking to stay close to Cowboy Stadium, which some of the locals like to call the Death Star, I can say that the "Mid-Cities" area is nice, of which, few have many questionable neighborhoods. FYI Mid-Cities just means the area between Fort Worth and Dallas, so basically near the DFW Airport. It's also generally the area where a lot of the more recent transplants live. I work in Keller and I work with more people of Polish descent than of Hispanic descent (3-2, myself included, 2 of us from the old Warrendale neighborhood, in Detroit, the other from Chicago). I'm mentioning that because if you are looking for that "Texas flare", you may be somewhat disappointed.

Some of the cities that I know that are safe enough to stay in without a threat of being knifed are, and in no specific order: Grapevine (home of Great Wolf Lodge), Southlake (similar to Birmingham, maybe richer), Keller, North Richland Hills (has NRH20 a local water park),  Northern parts of Arlington (Rangers/Cowboys/Six Flags) H-E-B which is Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Haltom City, Watauga, Roanoke, Richland Hills, Trophy Club, Grand Prairie (Huge live & simulcast Horse track and sports bar), if you're looking to stay in either Forth Worth or Dallas proper, it's fairly common to hear that as long as you're north of I-30, you're OK. 

Hopefully this helps, and again, I've only lived down here since March of '11, so I'm still finding things out myself. If anyone has anything to add or correct, please feel free.

PS Not to ruin it for anyone, but "Don't mess with Texas", is literally a 25 year old anti-littering campaign.

funkytown's where it's at

I tend to regard "Uptown" as a strip running to the west of Stemmons and 75 and east of Cedar Springs, from about Pearl to Blackburn. I haven't heard anyone refer to the Knox-Henderson area as Uptown, and it definitely doesn't extend to Mockingbird (anything north of Knox on that side of 75 is Highland Park, not Dallas).

I can only think of a few hotels that are in uptown; Zsa Zsa and the Crescent. If people are staying there it's likely because there is a vast tract of apartments and townhouses in Uptown where it seems a large proportion of young professional types end up when they first move to Dallas, so odds are good that recent graduates staying with friends would end up there. Addison is pure suburbia (hence chain bars like Fox and Hound) with its only redeeming features being the occasional good ethnic restaurant. The Galleria is where Oklahoma goes to shop on the weekends.

There are some decent bars in Uptown, but, like much of Dallas, the crowd is pretty flashy and pretentious--young lawyers and hedgies trying to impress overdressed strumpets with top-shelf hooch and rich white trash from Highland Park taking their new Maseratis to show off in the valet line. To find a more laid-back scene you'd mostly have to go to lower Greenville or Deep Ellum, though the Greenville area also spills over to Henderson. I don't spend much time clubbing, but if you want more specific recommendations for food or bars intended for drinking I can probably offer some advice.

Also, none but the most timorous ought to regard almost any part of Dallas as unsafe, particularly in comparison with the Detroit area. Ann Arbor probably has a higher violent crime rate than a lot of places in
Dallas that people will tell you are dodgy.

Anyone know of a decent hang out in Arlington?  Staying at a cheap Knights in (about 2 miles from stadium). 

for anyone that has questions about the area.   It is almost impossible to find the "best area" in the motroplex because there are so many places to stay and things to do in DFW (pick a couple of places to visit and keep it simple).   There are almost 7 million people living in DFW so everyone will have a different opintion on what is "fun" or "nice."   My rec is stay close to Cowboy Stadium because traffic is hell all the time, construction up the ass all over the city , and on game day if it rains you will want to add two hours to your commute.   My 35 minute drive from my house to Cowboy Stadium is 1.5-2 hours when it rains, more if there is an accident and there always is one.

I live in Addison, and as described above is overflowing with great restaurants and bars -Glorias, Sherlocks, Twin Peaks, Flying Saucer, Houlihans, also several 5 star restaurants, all within a 1/2 mile radius. Uptown is essentially the nice end of downtown. Very nice atmosphere - you'll spend a lot more for your time down there but worth it. Deep Ellum is definitely a thing of the past unfortunately. Arlington is such a long drive from these areas, but the game isn't until 8 so traffic should be no concern. There are several ways to get to and from Arlington. Dozens of highways intertwine the metroplex.

The SMU area is a nice place to stay and the down town Ft Worth area is nice as well with lots of food and bars. There are alot of areas to steer clear of while you are here Oak Lawn, the Grove and parts of the Greenville area can get rough as well. Can't wait for all of the Wolverines to flood the city!

...is the place to be. Anyone recommending JV Addison should have their posting privileges revoked. If someone came to visit Detroit/Ann Arbor for a game, would you tell them to go hang out in freakin' Canton?!?

Go grab dinner at Bob's or Del Frisco's if you want a steak, and go hit up Javier's if you want Mexican and a really good cigar bar. After dinner, if you want the strongest drinks in town and a dive bar feel (plus a lot of talent) go hit up The Loon. If you want a fancier experience, hit up Sfuzzi or Renfield's and your head will be on a swivel.

You don't want to stay in Addison if you're wanting to go out at night unless its to a chain restaurant.  You also don't want to STAY in Deep Ellum - visit yes, but not STAY.  I suggest uptown to stay and play.  Coal Vines is good brick oven pizza; Javier's is Mexico City Mexican fare (not Mexican Fiesta, though I love and miss it too); Nick & Sam's or Al Biernet's are good steakhouses in uptown area; and you should try one of the restaurants in the Bishop Art's district (Bolsa, Hattie's etc.) in Oak Cliff for a different vibe.

Uptown is the place 2 be for sure...but wow, please don't revoke my posting privileges!! Didn't mean to offend buddy! I'm still biased to Addison bc I've been here since I moved here and the bartenders treat me well and vice versa. That and if anyone else reading is black and likes live music and fine sistas, you wanna visit Buttons or Stonetrail in Addison on Friday night.

For those looking for location help see D-Magazine's location map. My wife and I lived in Dallas for the last two years so I'll offer a few comments.

Uptown is a sure thing, but perhaps pricey.

Deep Ellum is a bit of a mixed back, but seems to be trying to make a comeback.

Park Cities is a neighborhood with money.

Addison has most restaurants per capita, but won't have the downtown feel.

Stay north of downtown if possible.

And may I also recommend Fort Worth, especially Sundance Square, quieter than Uptown, but a nice place.

Also be careful saying, "I'll stay near x place." Things can change quickly from street to street in Dallas.