Metroplexing

Dallas' Free Observation Deck

One of the most iconic buildings in the Dallas skyline is Reunion Tower, but a ticket to the top is now $16.
Equally iconic is the Chase Tower, with a keyhole near the top of the 55th floor.

The Sky Lobby observation deck sits right below the keyhole and offers spectacular north and south views of Dallas. Although the deck is free, you must check in at the security desk and show ID before heading up.

Directions

The Sky Lobby, A Garden on the 40th Floor

Looking north toward Klyde Warren Deck Park and the Museum Tower

Looking South toward the Sheraton and my reflection

Looking up toward the Keyhole

Be prepared to check in at the Security Desk before taking the Express Elevator to Sky Lobby. The deck is open during normal business hours.

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Super Bowl Sunday: Let's Have an Implosion

In case you missed you it, there was an implosion Sunday morning in Dallas. The Xerox / ACS Building at 3988 North Central Expressway (Between Fitzhugh and Lemmon) was imploded early this morning.

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Dallas' Bridge Park

First there was the wildly successful Klyde Warren Deck Park between Uptown and Downtown. Now comes Dallas' newest attraction, the Bridge Park.

Opened with relatively minor fanfare, the bridge park was built on the old Continental Avenue Bridge which was replaced by the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Today it connects pedestrians to the two areas which are predicted to have immense changes in the next 20 years, Riverside Boulevard (formerly Industrial Boulevard) and West Dallas.

Below are a few photos of Dallas most unusual park.

The Continental Bridge in the shade of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.

Looking east, toward downtown

A climbing . . . blob

Chess Tables, Umbrellas and Vines that will eventually add shade

Misters and loungers give a place to cool off and get sun.

Underneath the bridges, running trails

One of many chairs, benches and tables on the bridge park

Looking west toward Trinity Groves

A small playground with the climbing blob

Great views of the parallel Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge

A short distance away is the new Sylvan Avenue Bridge which has an offramp that will connect you to the new running trails and other park features in the Trinity River Project.

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Update: Fort Worth's Forgotten Park to Reopen

Note: This Story was originally published in 2011. This past week, the city of Fort Worth announced that they are taking bids to restore and reopen the park, hopefully by 2016.

Can you have a city park designed by a prominent landscape architect and have nobody notice when it closes? The answer is yes, which is easy to understand when you consider that few people have ever noticed that the park even existed. What makes this story so unbelievable is that the park is on a busy downtown corner across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse.

Heritage Park was opened on the corner of Belknap and Main in downtown Fort Worth to commemorate the founding of the original military post in 1849. The park, designed by noted architect Lawrence Halprin, opened in 1976. It featured numerous water features intermingled with shaded paths and a cantilevered walkway built over the bluff overlooking the Trinity River.

But even though the park was located on a busy intersection, it was one with little foot traffic. Few people noticed Heritage Park. And even fewer noticed in 2007 when the park fell into disrepair and was closed.

It's been three years since the park has closed. But there is little public uproar to reopen the grounds. I contacted the city of Fort Worth and received a reply from Fernando Costa, the Assistant City Manager. He wrote that the city is working with Downtown Fort Worth Inc. to raise funds to repair and upgrade the park. But in the past three years, little has been done. Meanwhile, the park is slowly being taking over by nature.

The cantilevered walkway can still be seen on the bluff above the Trinity, even though the trees have begun to block the view.

The Water Wall behind chain link.

An ironic caption 'The Vision Endures" on the sign outside the park

A Water Wall that includes the map of the original settlement sits behind chain link.

An urban oasis on the other side of the fence.

A diminished view of the park from the Main Street Street Bridge.

Heritage Park on North Main Street at the top of the Trinity River Bridge

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NEW Country 96.3 KSCS' Christmas Gift that keeps on giving

A few years ago, along with Southwest Airlines, we at 96.3 KSCS started something called "Bring a Lone Star Home." Each Christmas season, we ask families to tell us about a loved one that can't make it home for the holidays, usually due to lack of finances.

I love calling the families and surprising them, telling them we are going to bring home their son, daughter, parent, soldier or long lost relative. It is by far the best thing we do each year.

Today, I received this lovely letter passed, on by Mariah, whose father had a tough year but is coming home for Christmas. I wanted to share it with you.

Merry Christmas,

Hawkeye

I wanted to share a letter from my paw! Thank you, Hawkeye and Terry!

"GOD is so good. All of us have had the joy of his grace at one time or another.
Today I experienced his grace and blessings again.
When I moved to Ft. Worth years ago , I found a country station that was just awesome.

The station was KSCS RADIO FM in Dallas. My favorite show was the Terry Dorsey show which featured Terry and his sidekick "Hawkeye". Together they were the funniest guys I had ever heard on radio. They played off one another so well!
Several years after my experience with prostate cancer, they announced that Terry was going to be away for a time-he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I sent an email to him to offer some encouragement and shared some of my experience with him. He responded back and after his treatment, he returned to our delight!
Any time we've been back, I start looking for reception a hundred miles out.
This morning I was getting ready to leave for my radiation treatment when my phone rang. No name was listed...just an area code 214 number. I didn't recognize the number and was hesitant to answer the phone. Naturally , curiosity got the best of me and I said "hello".
The voice on the other end said "Jon" and I said "yes!" The voice then Identified himself as "Hawkeye" with KSCS Radio. It didn't sound like the guy I remembered and began wondering if this was a prank call. He said he and Terry were calling on behalf of someone named "Mariah" and did I know her. I said she was my daughter. Then Terry ( whose voice I recognized immediately) said that Mariah was on the phone with them and they wanted to wish me a "Merry Christmas". My head was just spinning wondering what was going on!

Hawkeye said that he understood that I had been going through some difficult times and they just wanted to help out at Christmas. At this point I'm wondering where this whole thing was going! Then he told Mariah to say hello which she did and we just said "I love you!" By this time, my emotions were rolling along at warp speed....my eyes were full with tears....not "sad"' tear drops but "I miss you" drops ! Terry spoke up and said that each year at Christmas they try and help someone come home who possibly might not be able to do it. They had a contest on that topic and Mariah had WON!!! Then Hawkeye said they were so impressed with Mariah's letter as to why her dad should come home that "Jon we are going to fly you home to Ft Worth for Christmas.!! I was just sputtering at all this! Believe me, it took everything I had to keep from bawling like a baby!!! Finally they just said that they hoped this would be a Christmas we would remember forever. No problem there son!!
So, I just wanted to share this blessing with you. Thank you Sis for thinking of me and making the trip home to Ft Worth possible...and now I'm thinkin, there really must be a Santa Clause too!!"

An End To Fort Worth's Most Beautiful Building?

The massive columns of the downtown Fort Worth Post Office, located at Lancaster and Commerce

This afternoon, I went to the downtown Fort Worth Post Office to mail my Christmas packages. For me, it is a yearly tradition to use the old Main Office, even though there is a Post Office just a few blocks from my house.
Why do I bother? Mainly it's an excuse to visit one of the city's architectural gems, and I have made it part of my annual yuletide tradition. Sadly, the Post Service is thinking of moving the downtown branch to smaller quarters. It no longer needs the massive building, which once served as the main postal center for Fort Worth when it was built in 1931.
The city of Fort Worth has expressed an interest in buying the building and making into a new City Hall, but the economics of the purchase may not be in its favor.
I realize that this may be the last year I'll be able to stop there during the Christmas season and I wanted to take a few pictures, for those who've never thought to mail a letter in this palace like structure

One of two main entrances, the art deco touches reflect the style of 1931

Massive marble columns great visitor in the entry portal

Notice the details ceiling

The rows of PO Boxes and continuation of the green marble

The strange detail on a lamp inside the lobby

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What's the Story Behind this Giant Hat?

I recently noticed this giant bowler hat sitting in a field across from downtown Dallas. As public art goes, this is a pretty cool piece. But how did it end up there? And why?

The hat was created by artist Keith Turman, commissioned for Timothy Oulton's furniture store on Central and Knox Street. However, the store didn't have the proper permit for the giant hat and it was never installed.

The Timothy Oulton Logo, featuring the Bowler Hat

Upon suggestion, Turman donated the unused work to the Cedars neighborhood in Dallas, home to a variety of artists and studios. Today, when driving eastbound on I-30 thru downtown, you can get a short glimpse of the Bowler when you look south of the Convention Center. It's best to see it when driving thru the Cedars at the corner of Ervay and Griffin Street.

Note: The Timothy Oulton store has now closed, but the hat remains.

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The Case of the Missing 3 Ton Sculpture

NOTE: This post originally ran in my San Antonio Uncovered Blog. We got so much positive response that I thought I would post this story here also.

One might wonder, how could a three ton sculpture go missing, disappearing from the 1968 World Fair's site? That was a question that many were asking after Hemisfair closed.

Such was the case of Asteriskos, a piece of modern art that was commissioned from New York sculpture Tony Smith by the Cato family for the fair. After Hemisfair closed, the piece, which sat between the Arena and the Convention Center, disappeared. It took a year for the piece to be rediscovered. Unfortunately, it was no longer intact.

It seemed that Asteriskos was carted off after the fair by city workers who did not realize that it was art. It was blow torched into smaller pieces, fitted with wooden lids and turned into tool boxes and ice chests for afterwork beer parties at the Zarzmora Public Works Yard.

The Cato family generously commissioned a replica from the artists and donated it to the city's McNay Art Institute where it sits today.

For the rest of the world it is art. For us San Antonians, it is a beer party waiting to happen.

Asteriskos II today

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Fire Strikes Former Scientology Mansion

UPDATE: A few days after the fire, I decided to return to the former Scientology Mansion on Buckner Road to see if there was any hope of saving the abandoned building. See if you can come to the same conclusion I did.

Before the fire. The mansion, built in the 1940's, had also been a Bed and Breakfast, a Wedding chapel and a private home. It had been vacant for the last few years

The mansion during the fire

The mansion today

THE ORIGINAL POST:

This afternoon, the former Scientology Headquarters in East Dallas caught on fire. Ironically, the vacant mansion sat on the edge of the Ash Creek neighborhood just of Buckner Road. The building was for sale in a neighborhood of modest homes and obviously in need of some repairs. It had been on the market for quite a few months.

Here are a few photos I snapped of the fire