Locations

[AKA Our 80's Life]

Bobby, Christopher, and Lisa Alden go to Penny Whistle Park in season 11. Although the former indoor amusement park is now closed, you can still make out the name on the arch spanning the parking lot’s entry. It is located at 10717 Northwest Hwy in Dallas.
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Oh my goodness, I LOVED this place as a kid!! We haven't gotten to season 11 yet, but I'm excited to watch this scene. I attended countless birthday parties and playdates at this wonderful children's amusement park. Thanks for sharing! I'll have to dig out my pictures from Penny Whistle Park, I know I have many! ~Abby

 

[Lastkidpicked]

@AKA Our 80's Life A very warm welcome to you!

I noticed your profile says Wichita, so I have two questions for you:

We have a lot of family up the road from you in Hillsboro. And we always played sports against Hesston. We always wanted to beat Hesston because they were the "rich kids". Do you know if those small town rivalries still exist in Kansas? They definitely do in Texas!

And second, Aunt Lil was from Emporia Kansas, about an hour from you.
@TJP , @johnmmil10 , and @garry will know where they filmed the scenes in front of the house.

My question for you is, do you agree that the producers did an excellent job of capturing the "feel" of small town Kansas?
Small town America, for that matter.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[AKA Our 80's Life]

@AKA Our 80's Life A very warm welcome to you!

I noticed your profile says Wichita, so I have two questions for you:

We have a lot of family up the road from you in Hillsboro. And we always played sports against Hesston. We always wanted to beat Hesston because they were the "rich kids". Do you know if those small town rivalries still exist in Kansas? They definitely do in Texas!

And second, Aunt Lil was from Emporia Kansas, about an hour from you.
@TJP , @johnmmil10 , and @garry will know where they filmed the scenes in front of the house.

My question for you is, do you agree that the producers did an excellent job of capturing the "feel" of small town Kansas?
Small town America, for that matter.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for the welcome! We are originally from Texas (Dallas is my hometown, and Keith is from Nacogdoches, Texas) but we have been living in Wichita since we were relocated here about 16 years ago. Although we definitely miss aspects of living in Dallas, we've adopted Kansas and love living here. Not sure about the rivalries in these small towns, but I suspect they haven't changed much.

Yes, we think the producers of Dallas did a great job capturing the small-town feel of the midwest, and Wylie was a good stand-in for Emporia, Kansas. I suspect it would be more of a challenge today as the suburbs surrounding Dallas have grown-up to have less of that small-town look and feel. When we visited Krum, Texas (aka Landowne Louisiana from season 3) it looked very much the same as it did in the show; however, the traffic on that main street was horrendous!! Rerouting all the 18-wheelers and pass-through traffic nowadays would be a nightmare for the producers!

We are currently doing research for seasons 4-6 and planning to film videos for those soon. Perhaps we'll visit the real Emporia and compare it with its on-screen likeness. That would be fun! ~Abby

 

[Barbara Fan]

To @AKA Our 80's Life - I love your videos of Dallas and surrounding areas, have been 3 tmes to the city

Twice in 2008 and then again in 2009 and takes me back to all the Dallas TV show places that I visited as that was the main reason to visit the city as a huge Dallas fan

I love Thanksgiving Square and the lovely ceiling in the Chapel of Thanksgiving

Welcome to the forum BTW
love BF xx

 

[Lastkidpicked]

To @AKA Our 80's Life - I love your videos of Dallas and surrounding areas, have been 3 tmes to the city

Twice in 2008 and then again in 2009 and takes me back to all the Dallas TV show places that I visited as that was the main reason to visit the city as a huge Dallas fan

And here is what I like about your videos, @AKA Our 80's Life :

I'm sure Barbara fan will agree, it's cool visiting Southfork. But what I always tell people it is after you visit Southfork, it's just as much fun to rent a car and visit the filming locations. You'll find that the producers did a nice job of capturing the feel of Dallas and the surrounding areas.

 

[Barbara Fan]

One thing i realised is that you do need a car to get a round Dallas and I didnt - however did a couple of tours to see the place, have met former member Tessie twice to see parts of the city and used the Dart a lot to get from A to B, train to Fort Worth (really cheap) and buses to get to Galleria and other filming locations etc

It surprised me the lack of shops in the centre, i always thought it would be like NY or Boston with all the big stores in the centre of the city and it doesnt have that

I loved SF outdoors, the land, the space, the patio, just walking around and soaking it all up, but think the inside is really disappointing -
A its tiny
B- its tacky - I still laugh when I think of "Bobbys room" - yes when he was 8 1/2 yrs old!! that awful red and white kitchen
C - it bears no resemblance to the show in terms of decor and i think thats a missed opportunity

 

[Lastkidpicked]

I loved SF outdoors, the land, the space, the patio, just walking around and soaking it all up, but think the inside is really disappointing -

And this is why I cringe when friends from out of town want me to take them to Southfork. See if you agree with what I tell them, @Barbara Fan

"I'll gladly take you to Southfork, but it won't be what you expect. Everybody says the inside is much smaller than they thought. And even though our brain tells us it's silly, our heart wants us to see Miss Ellie or J.R. walking out the front door and that is not going to happen. But the best part is wandering around the grounds, imagining Ray's pickup parked here, Sue Ellen's wagon parked there, and Jock's Lincoln parked over there."

"Soak in the atmosphere. Soak in the FEELING of being on a sprawling ranch in Texas. You will see why if you were the owner of an oil company and could live anywhere in the world, Southfork is the only place you'd want to be."

 

[Rove]

I'll gladly take you to Southfork, but it won't be what you expect

It would be everything I'd expect however it's not the hideous interior I'd be interested in, just the exterior. Though I would like the opportunity to walk through the sliding door from the patio. This is where the action happened. I also agree with Barbara Fan that the owners of Southfork have missed an opportunity to renovate the downstairs to reflect the original layout. This of course has been much spoken of on this forum.

 

[Rove]

We are currently doing research for seasons 4-6 and planning to film videos for those soon

I look forward to seeing them

 

[Bill B.]

Locations video for the Dallas mini series...

"DALLAS TELEVISION SERIES-"In The Beginning=1978".

 

[Bill B.]

Locations video for the Dallas mini series...

 

[Bill B.]

Thanks y'all (and thanks to Garry for sharing our videos!) We're so excited to find this group and honored that you approved of our Dallas Filming Locations video series. We're currently working on research for seasons 4-6. We'll probably be asking lots of questions in this forum as we proceed. We're still culling through all of your helpful information in this thread. Nice to meet everyone, Abby & Keith (AKA Our 80's Life on YouTube.)

Welcome!....If you didn't already,check out my Facebook page= DALLAS TELEVISION SERIES "In The Beginning-1978" [created about 2 years ago!]....posted your cool videos on my page.

 

[AKA Our 80's Life]

Welcome!....If you didn't already,check out my Facebook page= DALLAS TELEVISION SERIES "In The Beginning-1978" [created about 2 years ago!]....posted your cool videos on my page.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[johnmmil10]

In season 13’s Fathers and Other Strangers, Ellie and Clayton are just about to finish their quest in Montana when they drive through a briefly seen stone gate. I believe this is an old gate to Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch located off of 19802 Placerita Canyon Road in Newhall, California.

The top two pictures are from the episode. The third is from Google Maps and the fourth is from an image search of the old gate.

T

 

[AKA Our 80's Life]

Does anyone know where this tank farm is located from season 4, episode 7 "The Fourth Son?" Bobby flies in on a helicopter, speaks to the foreman, and uses the phone in his office. We are also looking for the oil field in the next episode "Trouble at Ewing 23." Where is Ewing 23 located? We're stumped. We were thinking it might be near Caddo Mills since that's the municipal airport that was used in this episode. Thoughts?

 

[johnmmil10]

Does anyone know where this tank farm is located from season 4, episode 7 "The Fourth Son?" Bobby flies in on a helicopter, speaks to the foreman, and uses the phone in his office. We are also looking for the oil field in the next episode "Trouble at Ewing 23." Where is Ewing 23 located? We're stumped. We were thinking it might be near Caddo Mills since that's the municipal airport that was used in this episode. Thoughts?

I see those things every day!

It makes sense that the tank farm in Caddo Mills would be the one we are seeing, but I have never been able to fully confirm it. I feel like it was definitely filmed in Texas. I can’t help with the Ewing 23 location either.

 

[AKA Our 80's Life]

I see those things every day!

It makes sense that the tank farm in Caddo Mills would be the one we are seeing, but I have never been able to fully confirm it. I feel like it was definitely filmed in Texas. I can’t help with the Ewing 23 location either.

Thanks anyway! That's pretty much what we were thinking. We might drive out that way if we have time on our next trip to Dallas. Sometimes it's easier to see things in person, and the Google street view from the road is super blurry. Hope you're having a nice weekend. We're planning another trip and we'll have some more location queries for you soon if you're up for the challenge!

 

[johnmmil10]

Thanks anyway! That's pretty much what we were thinking. We might drive out that way if we have time on our next trip to Dallas. Sometimes it's easier to see things in person, and the Google street view from the road is super blurry. Hope you're having a nice weekend. We're planning another trip and we'll have some more location queries for you soon if you're up for the challenge!

You are correct. Google Street View isn’t too helpful! I had to run to town a little while ago and took a drive by the tank farm. Even then, I couldn’t really tell. Someone that works there was driving behind me though and I know I was kind of coming across kind of stalkerish so I couldn’t linger too long. I was mainly looking for that sidewalk that comes out of the office building and the partially bricked office building. Historic Aerials didn’t help with the sidewalk. The tanks closer to 36 at Explorer Pipeline were numbered with three digits. I didn’t notice the numbering system on the later sets of tanks down by JP Energy.

Maybe y’all can find something when y’all come to town!

 

[AKA Our 80's Life]

You are correct. Google Street View isn’t too helpful! I had to run to town a little while ago and took a drive by the tank farm. Even then, I couldn’t really tell. Someone that works there was driving behind me though and I know I was kind of coming across kind of stalkerish so I couldn’t linger too long. I was mainly looking for that sidewalk that comes out of the office building and the partially bricked office building. Historic Aerials didn’t help with the sidewalk. The tanks closer to 36 at Explorer Pipeline were numbered with three digits. I didn’t notice the numbering system on the later sets of tanks down by JP Energy.

Maybe y’all can find something when y’all come to town!

Interesting clues... thanks John! We've definitely gotten some weird looks whenever we're scouting out filming locations- and imagine if you're doing it while talking into a camera! I can't tell you how many folks have stopped and offered to help us "take our picture" LOL! Okay, onto the next mystery location:

Can you help us identify the location of Dave Culver's fundraising event in Season 4, episode 9 "The Prodigal Mother?" The exterior is shown at night, a round building with water features outside and fountains behind. I'm stumped! Not sure whether or not they used the same place for the interior, which looks like a typical banquet hall. Here are some pics:

 

[johnmmil10]

I believe the interior scenes would have been shot at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel by the Galeria (4801 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy) since that is the hotel that was providing production support at the time. Their pool (formerly enclosed) shows up in the series a few times so I suspect that this is their ballroom.

Funny aside. I was supposed to attend a workshop at this hotel last spring just as the pandemic was getting in full swing. I was the only one of my coworkers looking forward to attending, although it was just because Dallas filmed there! The workshop ended up getting canceled so I have still not ventured to the hotel in person.

Back to the location. The exterior is footage from LA. I suspect it was shot just outside the Mark Taper Forum (approximately from this location: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.057...5.67159-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352!9m2!1b1!2i38). Although the location in Google Maps does not line up perfectly, it does give you an idea of the rounded portion of the building shown on the right screen, the covered walkway and looking onwards to the Power and Water building shown on the left of the screen. Fountains near the P&W building can be seen on screen.

The fountains at the Power and Water building appear on screen once more in season 12 in a scene with Sue Ellen and Don Lockwood.