September/October 2005 | Larger-than-life Dallas

The greatest--and as yet greatly undiscovered--truth about modern Dallas is that it’s a magnificent multicultural mecca, a place where warm hospitality rules, but where the throbbing vibe of an enlightened and evolving populace is palpable around every bend. Dallas’s gay scene is powerfully alive--as amazingly diverse, as gushingly friendly, and as downright groundbreaking as they come. With its overtly gay-friendly mayor, Laura Miller, and consistently strong queer city-council presence, Dallas is clearly a far cry from being the homo no-man’s-land many imagine it to be. And though locals are quick to point out that things aren’t nearly so GLBT-peachy beyond the city limits, Dallas offers so many options for seeing and doing that one really need never venture outside its comfy confines.


Melrose Hotel, Hotel ZaZa

ESSENTIALS

ACCOMODATIONS
Dallas’s Melrose Hotel (3015 Oak Lawn Ave., 214-521-5151) boasts the rare perfect convergence of those penultimate gay travel criteria: location, panache, and GLBT-friendliness. Built in 1924, this grande dame of Dallas luxury now stands, as luck would have it, at the end of the city’s main gay drag, rendering it the perfect homo home away from home. Though its regal air shows slight but charming signs of wear around the edges (e.g., the plaque announcing “Best Elevator, 1986”), the Melrose is above all exceedingly queer-welcoming, with staff members that are either “family” themselves or friends thereof. Other solid options include the Hilton Anatole (2201 Stemmons Freeway, 214-748-1200) and Hotel ZaZa (2332 Leonard St., 214-468-8399). The former is an astoundingly massive but efficiently run minicity of over 1,600 tastefully appointed and comfortable rooms, plus any and every on-site amenity one can imagine. The latter is an ultrahip boutique hotel close to Dallas’s fast-exploding arts and theater districts, and the preferred local residence of visiting filmmakers and celebs--including Christina Aguilera, who reportedly so loved the eclectic decor of her suite that she begged (successfully) to leave with one of its lamps.

RESTAURANTS
An oft-heard local culinary claim is that Dallas boasts more restaurants per capita than Manhattan, and accordingly the city abounds with dining options--a gamut-running palette from hearty Americana to tasty Mexicana to all global points beyond--with quite a few delightfully eclectic stops in between. One of the metro area’s most esteemed restaurateurs--and most vibrant political forces--is Monica Barros-Greene, who narrowly lost a recent bid to become the city’s first transgender city councilmember. Her renowned Monica’s Aca y Alla (2914 Main St., 214-748-7140) and Ciudad D.F. (3888 Oak Lawn Ave., Suite 135, 214-219-3141) are two perennial Dallas faves for foodies of all proclivities. The former mixes Mexico City and Tex-Mex cuisine, while the latter serves contemporary Mexican fare specializing in the central and Yucatan regions. For those seeking rapid comfort-food sustenance along the gay strip, Hunky’s (4000 Cedar Springs Rd., 214-522-1212) offers some of the best burgers and fries in town, cherished especially by late-night between-drink connoisseurs; for the morning after, there’s Café Brazil (3847 Cedar Springs Rd., 214-461-8762), sure to ease the harshest of homo hangovers with its hearty breakfast bounty.

NIGHTLIFE
Nowhere is the sheer vigor and versatility of Dallas’s queer community on parade better than in the Oak Lawn area along Cedar Springs, where a wide swath of bars and clubs cater to a bevy of the city’s many GLBT factions. The Round-Up Saloon (3912 Cedar Springs, 214-522-9611) is the place for cowboys, cowgirls, and their admirers. Woody’s (4011 Cedar Springs, 214-520-6629) is for sports-loving guys. Sue Ellen’s (3903 Cedar Springs, 214-559-0650) is a sprawling lesbian club that on Fridays features live bands on its outdoor streetside stage.Station 4 (a.k.a. S-4, 3911 Cedar Springs, 214-559-0650) is the latest thumping incarnation of a longtime Dallas dance-club institution, and the de facto ground zero for many gay locals. Throckmorton Mining Company (a.k.a. TMC, 3014 Throckmorton, 214-559-0650) is a more down and dirty dance venue. Further afield, other great spots worth hitting include the wonderfully lesbian and gay–mixed and totally attitude-free Barbara’s Pavilion (325 Centre St., 214-941-2145); the Latin king-and-queen-dom Kaliente (4350 Maple Ave., 214-520-6676), and the straight and gay–mixed but homo-hipster-heavy Minc (813 Exposition, 214-370-4077).