West is Among the Best for Culture and Shopping-and- Dining Delights

by Michael H. Price

H“Happy to follow the bumpy brick road,” reads a newspaper headline from 1981 — a lasting assertion that Camp Bowie Boulevard’s historic brick pavement must endure, and never mind the occasional trafficengineering idea of modernizing the pathway with concrete and asphalt. Now as then, seekers of entertainment, adventure, and dining experiences remain

“happy to follow the bumpy brick road,” as a principal gateway to Fort Worth’s west side and its many commercial and civic offshoots.

The attractions range from a burgeoning

West 7th Street district to a broadening cultural and historical district – connecting southward with University Park Village, westward with the Chapel Hill shoppingand-entertainment development, and branching out further with new moviegoing venues, boutique eateries, and varied opportunities for strolling and sightseeing amid architectural innovations on a comfortably human scale. Pioneering publisher and civic booster

Amon Carter characterized Fort Worth as

“where the West begins.” And for locals and visitors alike, the west side marks the beginning of that beginning: The West hardly could have picked a keener starting point than Fort Worth. Prominent among the newer landmarks is Dickies Arena, a versatile 14,000-seat showplace named after the Fort Worthbased manufacturer of workplace clothing.

Located at 1911 Montgomery Street within the Will Rogers Memorial Center, Dickies

Arena complements and expands the scope of the adjacent Will Rogers Complex, providing a new home for the Fort Worth

Stock Show Rodeo. And Fort Worth, in turn, hardly could have picked a site more right for its burgeoning west side Cultural District.

Rippling with heavy-duty commercial, artistic, and residential growth since the dawn of the 21st century, the west side overall has seen its very skyline change with the transformation of a busy West 7th Street into a streamlined conduit connecting the downtown area’s Sundance Square development with the Cultural District. Heading west (naturally) from downtown Fort Worth, one finds the Cultural District radiating from the intersection where Seventh Street crosses University Drive and, in the process, morphs into the historic, brick-paved Camp Bowie Boulevard.

Visitors in search of western-style discoveries — from plain-and-fancy dining, to fine art and varied entertainment — will find such delights in volume on the west side. Cultural attractions, restaurants, mainstream and special-interest shopping, and lavish natural gardens flourish as a reminder of how Fort Worth has built upon its frontier origins. Several of the world’s finer museums, playhouses, and galleries anchor a vast Cultural District. The hand-laid redbrick pavement of Camp Bowie Boulevard is an attraction in itself, lined with an everexpanding array of art galleries, stage-andscreen auditoriums, boutiques, scholarly museums, restaurants and lounges, and shopping malls.

One long-standing favorite, Domain XCIV, 3100 W. 7th Street, originated in 1994 along Camp Bowie Boulevard. Persistent growth has led to a 6,500-squarefoot showcase, combining fine furniture and vintage European treasures and accessories. Collections include Theodore Alexander, Wesley Hall, and Guild Master. Domain XCIV has long supplied anchorage for the village-within-a-city developments of the West 7th Street area.

A newly settled popular attraction, the Grand Berry Theatre at 2712 Weisenberger Drive, emerges as a showplace for indepen-

dent and art-house motion pictures, complementing the mainstream Hollywood movies at Movie Tavern West 7th and enhancing the art-film fare that the Modern Art Museum has brought since the early 2000s via its Magnolia at the Modern screening series. The Grand Berry is an early example of the expanding entertainment potential of the historic Foundry District, located north of Montgomery Plaza.

Farther along to the west of the west, the newly dedicated Como Community Center’s $12 million complex at 4660 Horne Street has installed a gymnasium, a library, after-school activity centers, and allages activity programs.

Luncheon attractions, sparked by the addition of Alabama-based Chicken Salad Chick in Ridglea Village, have grown to include such established draws as

Blue Bonnet Bakery, Feastivities, Secret

Garden Restaurant, and The Lunch Box. Wild Acre Brewing Co. has opened a Camp Bowie location to complement its downtown home base. A longtime popular favorite, Ol’ South Pancake House at 1509 S. University Drive, anchors the lower reaches of the west-by-south side and lends a sense of history to the immediate area’s dining opportunities.

University Park Village, too, is rich in variety — a high-end shopping district offering such popular brands as Ann Taylor,

Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn,

Anthropologie, and lululemon, among casual and fine-dining experiences alike, and the high-tech wonderland of the Apple Store.

The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History commands the westward view of the district from Montgomery Street, and just northward are additional cultural touchstones: Designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art houses a definitive collection of American paintings, photography, and sculpture. The collection spans early 19th-century art to mid-20th century modernism. It is also home to nearly 400 works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Nearby is the Kimbell Art Museum still living up to Newsweek’s description as “arguably the most beautiful museum in America” including its new Renzo Piano Pavilion addition. The neighboring Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is the oldest such museum in Texas — housed in a workof-art 2002 building designed by worldrenowned Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, and featuring bold gallery exhibitions, concert attractions and, every weekend, leadingedge independent-studio films.

The Museum of Science and History, anchoring a campus within the Cultural District, has been designed by similarly renowned architects Ricardo and Victor Legorreta. Inside the Museum of Science and History, one finds vast galleries of Texas-bred dinosaur specimens and the state’s oil-and-gas heritage, in addition to the Cattle Raisers Museum, the Fort Worth Children’s Museum, Stars Café, and the digital Noble Planetarium. The

Omni Theater, an IMAX® superscreen

dome, links with the Museum of Science and History and will reopen December 2023 after renovations. Nextdoor is the

National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of

Fame, honoring women of the American West who lived and worked on ranches, who led an expedition, sat before an easel, aimed a rifle and hit the bull’s eye, or sat on the Supreme Court.

When the museum meanderings trigger an appetite for fine dining, two longestablished, museum-based cafés stand ready to serve. The Kimbell Buffet Restaurant offers indoor or patio lunch and a light evening menu within one of the most beautiful modern buildings in America. The Modern Art Museum’s 250seat Café Modern, with an outdoor terrace, overlooks a serene reflecting pond. The Modern’s full-service kitchen delivers superb cuisine for lunch, Sunday brunch, and scheduled seasonal dinners.

Neighboring the museum community is the city’s landmark Will Rogers Memorial Center, a versatile 85-acre entertainment complex — with 45 acres housing the Will Rogers Coliseum & Auditorium. Its majestic Pioneer Tower dates from the Texas Centennial Celebration of 1936. Still a dominant feature within the district, the coliseum holds pride of place as the first

domed structure of its kind in the world. The complex also boasts an equestrian center and exhibit halls, home to the annual Fort Worth Stock Show.

Southward off University Drive, visitors can experience the glories of nature at Trinity Park, a pristine oasis bordered by a fork of the placid Trinity River. Here, picnickers, joggers, and strollers can explore wandering pathways or travel on a miniature railroad. Opposite the park, across University Drive, Fort Worth’s Botanic Garden beckons. Founded in 1934, it’s a lush 109-acre tapestry of dappled shade accented by vibrant splashes of color. The Garden is home to thousands of species of native and exotic plants in 21 specialty gardens and is and the oldest major botanic garden in the state of Texas. The European-designed Rose Garden features more than 3,400 roses, and the 10,000-square-foot Conservatory houses tropical flowers and foliage from around the world. Adjacent to the Botanic Garden is the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) whose mission is to “reduce its footprint on the natural world as well as protect and restore ecosystem services.” BRIT’s building was designed as an example of how much of this can be accomplished.

A short distance southward lies the illustrious Fort Worth Zoo, nationally ranked among the finest. The Zoo is home to thousands of animals, both native and exotic. Viewing facilities and natural habitat exhibits are set up for optimal views of the animals, often separated from their observers by only a river, a waterfall, or a large window. Shaded rest spots and picnic tables are available, with several on-site eateries.

Across from the Zoo, Log Cabin Village offers another view of the city’s rich frontier history boasting seven authentic log homes, dating from the mid-to-late 1800s. Perioddressed interpreters greet visitors inside each cabin offering a living history of the home and its origin.

The mood to explore might be triggered by art, dining, shopping, or the wonders of nature. Fort Worth’s west side meets all these interests and then some!

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Wangechi Mutu, The Seated III, 2019. Bronze. 82 7/8 × 37 3/4 × 33 3/4 inches. Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Friends of Art Endowment Fund and Museum purchase. Photo by Kevin Todora. © Wangechi Mutu