re: Going to Dallas this weekend.....need hotel recs.

are you wanting to be able walk from the hotel to bars or are you going to cab it?

I know the Mansion has a car service but I think it only goes for a few miles away from the hotel. It would probably get you to Uptown/West Village, Highland Park Village, Deep Ellum, Knox/Henderson, and Lower Greenville.

You sound like you want a more laid back environment?

To me that sounds like you'd prefer either Deep Ellum or Lower Greenville. Those two areas are what I would say have the most "Austin" vibe to them as it pertains to a single area with bars and music venues.

Uptown/West Village can be trendy but its probably the highest concentration of bars that are all on top of each other. It's lost a little appeal to me since the Loon has closed though as that was pretty much the one place you could go in that area and not worry about having to act like an OT baller. There are a ton of hot women in that area though.

Deep Ellum is a little like 6th street though no where near as full of bars and restaurants. It's in the middle of an urban renewal project so its a bit jacked up right now with Elm all torn up and there are a couple of completely dead spots. My favorite places in that area are The Anvil, Angry Dog, Sirius Pizza, DaDa, and Trees.

I prefer to hang out on Lower Greenville though you should know that its not all one big line of stuff. LG is basically broken up into 3 sections between Mockingbird and Ross. The first section is where the Grenada Theater, Sundown, Gloria's, and OT Tavern are. Then its homes for a few blocks leading into the second section where Stan's Blue Note, the Londoner, Dubliner, Dodi's, Blue Goose and a few others are located. Then again its a few more blocks of homes before you get to the lowest section of LG where the Truck Yard, Nora, Kush, and the Libertine are located.

That part of LG has a few empty spots b/c it recently went through the same type of urban renewal that DE is going through and between the year of a torn up street and new zoning rules we lost a few of the bars.

On Knox/Henderson it gets a little more trendy again but its not as bad as Uptown and you can find laid back places like Beauty Bar, Barcadia (a bar w/old arcade machines) Chuy's, or Sangria. Only problem with that area is its kind of split in half by 75 so you'd have to walk over the highway bridge if you want to bar hop. Its not awful but it annoying enough that I tend to stay on one side instead of walking across the way.

Also, if you are staying at the Mansion nearby is the Katy Trail Ice House. If you can't have fun there something might be wrong with you. There and the Truck Yard in Lower Greenville are by far the most "Austin" like places in Dallas I can think of.