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During your Dallas vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
Swiss Avenue Historic District
Toward the turn of the 20th century, the Dallas elite began to abandon the area that now comprises the Arts District and move east (near the modestly funky Lakewood neighborhood). Sprawling, grand homes from the early 1900s -- English Tudor, Georgian, Spanish, you name it -- line a broad avenue, about 4 blocks of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Wilson Blocks (2800 and 2900), named for Frederick Wilson, who built a number of the homes there, are especially attractive. Around the holidays, Swiss Avenue is a favorite for Christmas lights cruisers. A drive-by can be done in 15 minutes; allow a half-hour if you want to stroll.
The Studios at Las Colinas
North Texas's major movie and TV studio -- where Walker, Texas Ranger and Silkwood were filmed -- offers daily tours of its grounds, including displays of movie memorabilia and hands-on demonstrations of special effects (from that memorable blockbuster Addams Family Values) and blue-screen technology. You'll see the Oval Office set used in Oliver Stone's JFK, as well as costumes from Star Trek and Forrest Gump. If you've been to studios in Hollywood or the movie museums in other parts, you've probably seen more and better; however, if you've always wanted to visit a movie set, you'll at least get a glimpse here. Tours last about an hour and 15 minutes.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
November 22, 1963, is a day Dallas can't live down and the world can't forget. A sniper's bullets assassinated the nation's 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, in Dallas as his motorcade traveled west on Elm Street. Whether or not there was a single shooter or more camped out on the grassy knoll below, and whether or not the Cubans or the Russians or the CIA were involved, the Warren Commission concluded that 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald fired his rifle at least three times from a window perch on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, killing JFK and critically injuring the Texas governor, John Connally. (Oswald had only days earlier secured a menial job at the School Book offices.)The redbrick building overlooks Dealey Plaza, an otherwise unremarkable spot that is ingrained in the memory of most Americans and people across the globe. The museum, the top draw in North Texas, preserves the spot where Oswald crouched and fired his rifle (now encased in Plexiglas), but it also examines the life, times, and legacy of the Kennedy presidency. The exhibit provides a moment-by-moment account of the day of the assassination and a day-by-day recollection of that harrowing November week. The display, which includes documentary film footage and more than 400 photos, summons the "Camelot" White House before getting to the event that put Dallas on the quivering lips of people across the globe. On view are images from the famous Zapruder film, whose frames have been isolated and examined more than any footage in history. However, there is no original evidence on display; everything examined by the Warren Commission forms part of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The JFK assassination has been so hashed over and occupies such a place in pop culture that few visitors are likely to discover much in the way of new information. It is, however, a place to revisit the tragic episode and recall (or tell your kids about) the impact it had on you and a stunned nation -- as children's drawings from the period and visitor remarks inscribed in "Memory Books" at the museum's exit attest. Unless the information here is new to you or you want to relive the episode in great detail, spending no more than a couple of hours here should be plenty.Dealey Plaza, which draws two million curious visitors annually, remains a stark public square at the junction of a triple underpass, virtually unchanged from 4 decades ago. A red X marks the spot on the asphalt of Elm Street where Kennedy was struck; incredibly, many visitors to Dallas feel compelled to dodge traffic and have their pictures taken while standing on the X as cars hurtle by. Unless you really want to follow in the footsteps of JFK, however, I strongly advise against such reckless participation in our nation's history.
Quality Inn Dallas Market Center
All of our guest rooms offer free wireless high-speed Internet access. Minutes from the Dallas Market Center, the American Airlines Center (Home of the Dallas Stars and Mavericks), Medieval Times Dinner Theater, the Dallas Design District, West End Marketplace, JFK Memorial, and 6th Floor Museum. Complimentary continental breakfast in our courtyard coffee shop overlooking lush interior courtyard and olympic size pool. 244 beautifully appointed guest rooms with city view or pool view rooms. ...
Cooper Guest Lodge Hotel Spa and Conference Center
COOPER GUEST LODGE IS LOCATED IN THE HEART OF NORTH DALLAS, HALF-WAY BETWEEN DOWNTOWN DALLAS AND THE THRIVING BUSINESS DISTRICTS OF PLANO AND FRISCO. EASY ACCESS TO 635/LBJ FREEWAY, 75/CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY, THE DALLAS TOLLWAY AND THE GEORGE BUSH TURNPIKE. CONVENIENT TO THE ADDISON RESTAURANT ROW, AS WELL AS THE FAMOUS GALLERIA MALL, THE HOTEL IS 19 MILES EAST OF DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, 8 MILES NORTHEAST OF LOVE FIELD, AND 5 MILES SOUTH OF ADDISON ...
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