Saturday Morning Walk Around Downtown Fort Worth With Sundance Square Plaza Video

Sundance Selfie

This first Saturday of October I walked around what many, well some, bizarrely believe to be the Best Downtown in America.

Fort Worth, Texas.

I think I have mentioned before that a time or two or maybe more others have opined that I have too much fun making fun of Fort Worth.

To which I say I do not make fun of Fort Worth. I make fun of goofy stuff in Fort Worth or goofy stuff some say about Fort Worth.

Such as claiming that Fort Worth's downtown is the best in America. That is just a super silly claim to make.

Now, let me be real clear, if I have not been previously. Fort Worth's downtown is one of the nicest downtowns I have ever walked around in. It's good-looking, nicely landscaped, easy to walk around in and is just overall an attractive downtown.

However, downtown Fort Worth is a bit unlively at times. Like this morning. Or on the busiest shopping day of the year.

Now, in most downtowns in America one would not consider it to be a good jogging location. But as you see above, in downtown Fort Worth you can safely jog on the mostly car-free streets. I saw multiple joggers jogging the downtown Fort Worth streets this morning.

Make note of the wide sidewalk above, and below.

If I remember right I have complained a time or two about Fort Worth's lacking in the sidewalk department. That is true in the Fort Worth hinterlands, but not true in downtown Fort Worth where one finds wide, landscaped sidewalks, many paved with bricks.

Downtown Fort Worth has an interesting mix of old and new buildings. Many from the Art Deco era.

In this photo you are standing in Sundance Square Plaza, looking slightly northeast. You see those three buildings? In the back is a modern short skyscraper. In front of the modern short skyscraper is a brick four story building that looks like it could date back to the 1890s. In front of the brick four story building is a building that looks like, I don't know, the Parthenon in Athens?

See what I mean about the eclectic mix of architecture in downtown Fort Worth?

Today I walked by Fort Worth Firehouse #1, a small, short brick building surrounded by big new buildings, with Firehouse #1 being some sort of museum or historical relic.

Walking around downtown Fort Worth one walks by a lot of history in the form of old buildings. These are scattered all over the downtown. A newer town's downtown, like Seattle for instance, does not have this type blend of old and new. Seattle does have the Pioneer Square part of downtown, but it is just not the same type thing as one sees walking around downtown Fort Worth.

Downtown Fort Worth looks so much better than when I first laid my eyes on the town, late in the last century. I remember being perplexed by many things back then. Like where is this Sundance Square all these signs are pointing to? And what's up with that ugly fake facade Courthouse Annex stuck to the cool looking Tarrant County Courthouse?

Well, both those problems have been solved. Well, the ugly Courthouse Annex has been solved. Fort Worth is still calling its downtown Sundance Square. But the town is confusing fewer of its few tourists because there actually now is a square in Sundance Square, goofily called Sundance Square Plaza.

The ugly Courthouse Annex has been removed, restoring Tarrant County Courthouse to its former glory, complete with new landscaping.

That cannon you see above is stationed on the east side of the aforementioned Tarrant County Courthouse. The cannon is pointing to the south side of the new Tarrant County Courthouse Annex. I rather like the design of this new building.

In the video below I am walking around Sundance Square Plaza. Soon after leaving Sundance Square Plaza I walked around the Tarrant County Courthouse, to its north side, to check out the current state of Fort Worth's Heritage Park. I took video of what I found. But, that will have to wait for a new blogging, likely tomorrow morning.....