Today was spent in Richardson and Plano: Richardson because I wanted to go to an Indian kosher restaurant there (Madras Pavillion, which I stronglyy recommend)- otherwise boring sprawl.
Then I went to downtown Plano, since I'd heard about a new urban development there. Not very much to see; a big set of apartments with some (but not very much) ground floor retail. There were a couple of gentrified-looking commercial blocks with brick sidewalks.
However, the surrounding blocks were even more boring- road widenings, the substitution of garden apartments for houses, and parking lots apparently had erased much of the historic downtown. But (unlike Richardson and N. Dallas) what was left wasn't rich enough or developed enough to look like typical suburban middle-class sprawl.
Instead, the nearby blocks reminded me a bit of where I used to live in Fort Smith, Arkansas- not historic or as pedestrian-friendly as a real downtown, but still much more small-town like than typical suburbia.
Then I went home for shabbos; I'll do Dallas' intown neighborhoods (Highland Park, the M Streets, Uptown, Dowtown to the extent I have time) on Sunday.
