The Cedars neighborhood is situated on the south side of downtown Dallas. The Cedars is considered to be a culturally rich neighborhood because it is a lively place complete with art, restaurants, nightlife, churches, schools, and a wide array of housing options. The area was first developed during the late 1800s, and it made for Dallas’s middle-class residents. Back then, the Cedars neighborhood had Victorian styled homes as well as a Jewish population. In 1960, all of the remaining Victorian-style homes in the neighborhood were destroyed in order to make way for several highway projects. That is why today, there is only a handful of homes from the Cedar’s original residents, and unfortunately, none of them are in restored condition.
The Cedars began to change for over 20 years, and it became a haven for creative professionals and artists. In 2003, The Cedars founded its neighborhood association, and the mission of the Cedars Neighborhood Association is to help improve the total quality of life in Cedars by helping promote the economic, cultural, and aesthetic richness of the neighborhood. The residents of Cedar all have a goal of moving the community towards a positive direction. Since then, The Cedars has been on the move. Keep in mind that The Cedars Neighborhood Association is not restricted to homeowners – business owners, members, developers, and anyone who likes to visit the neighborhood frequently or has any interest in moving and investing in the area free to become a member.
Over the years, The Cedars pushed to become a trendy entertainment district. However, the city of Dallas failed to do so because of the neighborhood’s overwhelming homelessness cases. That is why to pursue their plans for The Cedars, the City of Dallas decided to open a homeless shelter in the Cedar neighborhood, and they called it The Bridge. The homeless center is open 24 hours every day to serve the people who need accommodation. The city of Dallas spent about $21 million to build this said shelter and take extra steps to help solve the problem of continuous homelessness in the area by providing low-cost health care, laundry services, haircuts, and even pet care. The Bridge homeless facility is about 75,000 square feet big and has about 175 cots. Since the center opened in 2008, it has been a positive driving force in the area.
Today, Cedars has become a unique and diverse neighborhood. Though, the City of Dallas still works hard to improve the Cedar neighborhood by developing nightspots, residential development areas, shopping malls, and recreational areas. Although the Cedars doesn’t have that much vitality compared to what is seen in neighborhoods such as The Bishops Art District or West Village, City officials in Dallas continues to make slow but sufficient progress in the area. Aside from that, the Cedars residents are helping the city by coming up with bold and unique ideas to help propel the neighborhood and move forward with the rest of Dallas.
They started to organize exciting events that help promote and attract new businesses and residents in the area. One event is called the Cedar Open Studios, and it is where Cedar artists come and showcase their artworks to the public in order to give other people a chance to learn about the neighborhood.
The Cedars is slowly experiencing the beginnings of an urban transformation with renovated warehouse lofts, newly constructed townhomes, apartments, and other establishments such as the Alamo Drafthouse, DART’s Cedars Station, and Cedars Union.
