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What kind of City is Dallas?

Posted by Additional-Sky-7436@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 26 comments

Is Dallas more closely associated with the South? Midwest? Or the West?

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26 Comments

ubersooner@reddit

Historically speaking Dallas is a southern city. This place was set up as a trading place for all of the cotton plantations that sprouted up around this area, so take it fwiw. We have the hallmarks of southern culture...large native black population, big emphasis on Protestant religion, etc. There is also a pretty strong connection to East and Northeast Texas, which are by far the most "southern" part of the state. Nowadays I'd still argue the southern feel has declined but still holds despite waves of inmigration from other areas, not unlike Atlanta or Charlotte. Definitely not midwest, and honestly not even western. Just don't see any modern or historical connections to either.
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BrotherMouzone3@reddit

Late to the party...agree 100%. I'm black and a 7th generation Texan. Ancestors were sold from plantations in South Carolina and Georgia during the 1820s to 1840s...down to Louisiana and Texas. Anyone that reads "The Accommodation" by Jim Schutze will learn quickly that Dallas is and has been damn near the belt buckle of the Bible Belt and a center of "southerness." It doesn't feel that way because of all the transplants and Dallas' tendency to frequently reinvent itself and whitewash its own history. Most people coming from the outside can't see the southern nature of Dallas because they live in northern burbs around other transplants. Demographically Dallas is most similar to Houston...both are quite southern but maybe not in the same way Mobile, Alabama or Jackson, Mississippi is "southern."
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Secret_Comedian638@reddit

Dallas is the least Texas place in Texas. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, just a fact. And by Dallas I mean Dallas proper, once you venture north of 635 things become more Texas. Austin has the capitol. Houston desperately wants to be a cowboy city (see the rodeo). San Antonio has the most iconic Texas landmark. Fort Worth prides itself on being Cow Town. Dallas sees itself as a cosmopolitan, global city. Again, I'm not saying that it's true, just how the city and its residents perceive it.
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Dallas2Seattle@reddit

True. So true. I think the daughter of the Shah lived there. George Michael and Kenny Goss. It goes on and on…
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binger5@reddit

> > Houston desperately wants to be a cowboy city (see the rodeo). Houston is oil and gas with NASA and a huge medical center. Very few people here cares about the rodeo.
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Secret_Comedian638@reddit

Based on my friends and family that live in Houston, the rodeo is a bigger deal in Houston than the State Fair is in Texas. They all get dolled up in their western wear and have what appears to be multiple "rodeo days" at the school. A majority of the people I know in Dallas do not own a pair of boots or a cowboy hat, much less wear them to the State Fair, nor do they ever go to a rodeo of any kind.
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binger5@reddit

As a Houstonian I've gone to the State Fair more than the rodeo in the last 20 years.
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beardownforfinals@reddit

This might be the wildest Houston take I’ve seen in my life
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beardownforfinals@reddit

None of the above. The biggest metros in the country are frankly just their own thing — Chicago, New York, LA have transcended their historic geographical context, and Dallas is largely in the same place with the sprawl and immigration. Historically, the I-35 corridor is essentially the transition point from the east to the west, and even to an extent from the plains to the hill country. That context is probably the biggest reason for DFW’s regional and cultural diversity even within one metro. So more than any one identity, DFW is a cultural transition point. Texas as a whole primarily contains Southern and Southwestern cultural influences, along with Mexico in South Texas. There’s some Great Plains overlap in the Panhandle, but the Midwest ain’t anywhere close to here.
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ajuicebar@reddit

Wrong. New York is NorthEast. Chicago is MidWest. LA is the West. The southwest would be El Paso, Pheonix, Southern NM. The south is from Louisiana to Virginia.
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beardownforfinals@reddit

Chicago has very little in common with Indianapolis or St Louis. New York is quite different than Boston or Providence. The major cosmopolitan cities are big, diverse and transient enough that they don’t really fit within the box of their geographical context. LA is a lot more culturally similar to New York than to, like, Fresno.
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NeedHobbies@reddit

It's coke and not soda or pop, therefore of the major regions, I'd say south wins
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Minimum_Intention848@reddit

Lol, I'm sorry people but all the down votes for every mention of the midwest is some serious denial. Dallas imo is religiously southern/Baptist evangelical economically western, cattle, cotton & oil built the town even if tech & finance rule now. But culturally VERY midwestern. Sprawling, bland, corporate & a little xenophobic. Wholesome to your face but savage in the voting booth. And like it or not it's a plains city. Drive around the perimeter of Dallas and you couldn't distinguish it from Tulsa, Kansas City or DesMoines if it weren't for the signs.
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beardownforfinals@reddit

I don’t know how to tell you this but Tulsa and Des Moines aren’t midwest cities either.
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Boss8399@reddit

Similar to Atlanta. If you want a southern city check out Fort Worth. Dallas is a big city
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TwerkForJesus420@reddit

The state as a whole is more of a southwest state imo, we're def not the midwest.
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Additional-Sky-7436@reddit (OP)

I strongly disagree. Parts of Texas, yes. But certainly not all of Texas. I'm pretty sure I don't think Dallas really acts much like a "southwest" city.
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External_Fun3848@reddit

Why ask if you are just going to say “nu uh”.
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DonkeeJote@reddit

You asked, it was answered. Nothing about Dallas is 'midwest'.
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NintendogsWithGuns@reddit

I’s say it’s South meets Southwest, but overall ethnically diverse and cosmopolitan. If local food reflects local culture, then I’d say we’re obsessed with following modern trends. However, our oldest restaurants are El Fenix (1918) and Dickies (1941), which certainly feels like there’s a core appreciation for Texas culture. That being said, we’ve also got some of the best damn Japanese, Korean, and Ethiopian restaurants in the state. So I definitely feel that we’re more of melting pot than anything.
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GymnasticSclerosis@reddit

Dallas is where the East ends and Fort Worth is where the West begins
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NintendogsWithGuns@reddit

Fort Worth certainly says that about themselves because of the stock yards, but it’s mostly a touristy thing.
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ActonofMAM@reddit

Arlington is The Middle.
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azwethinkweizm@reddit

If I had to pick one of the 3 I would say west. Maybe a western city that tries hard to come across as a southern city
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Electricdragongaming@reddit

We're a Texas kind of city. Texas tends to be it's own kind of thing.
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i-am-from-la@reddit

Its mish mash of midwest with a dash of South Asia and Africa. Fort worth on the other hand is a bit more west
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