A compact grid of one and two storey brick storefronts built in the 1920s around a streetcar stop on Davis Street.
What Bishop Arts District looks like
North Bishop Avenue meets Davis Street at the center of a commercial grid bounded by Ninth Street, Adams Avenue and Madison Avenue. Storefronts built in the 1920s sit flush to the sidewalk, one storey of brick under fabric awnings and painted signs, with cars parked along the curb on both avenues.
The on West Eighth Street is one of only two buildings in these blocks taller than a single storey, its second floor windows set above the ground floor shops. Everywhere else the roofline stays low enough to hold open sky above the storefronts, and the downtown Dallas towers are visible to the northeast from the rise along Bishop Avenue.
Corners carry stepped and curved brick parapets, some still lettered with a building's own name above the awning line. A block off the main corner, a plain corrugated metal shed holds another storefront, its signage painted straight onto the sheet siding rather than set into brick and glass.
The Dallas Streetcar's Bishop Arts extension runs along Davis Street, a modern rail line laid into a district built for an older one. Sidewalks are brick paved at some corners and plain concrete at others, with young trees set into cutouts along the curb and a DART shuttle bus running the block on weekday routes.
Shot in Bishop Arts District
The PBS travel series The Daytripper stopped here for its 2016 Dallas episode. The host browses M'Antiques and visits the chocolate shop Dude, Sweet Chocolate a few doors down. Both stops show the district playing itself, part of a half-hour tour of the city rather than a dressed set.
The Daytripper, PBS, 2016
The host is offered a complimentary Lone Star beer while he looks over the shop's stock of stuffed cobras, swords and shark teeth. The building keeps the same painted DFW M'Antiques sign and hand-lettered pictograms along its base that the episode shows.
What Bishop Arts District can double for
Near Southside in Fort Worth, Texas
Magnolia Avenue's one and two storey commercial buildings grew up around a streetcar stop the same way Bishop Avenue's did. Most of its storefronts are renovated rather than rebuilt, keeping their original brick fronts and window openings. Magnolia Avenue has more sidewalk patio seating and string lighting than Bishop Avenue, so a wide shot needs to stay off the outdoor dining setups to hold the period line. Try searching one and two storey storefronts now.
North Park in San Diego, California
Adams Avenue's storefronts went up in the same decade as Bishop Avenue's, one and two storeys of brick with shop glass at the sidewalk. The street keeps a similar antique and boutique mix behind the glass. Palm trees and a shallower roofline pitch give away Southern California in a wide shot, so tighter frames on the storefronts themselves hold the match better. Try searching brick storefronts with shop glass now.
Ballard Avenue's brick storefronts sit at the same street level scale as Bishop Avenue's, shopfronts under glass transoms with rooms above. The buildings there run two and three storeys against Bishop Avenue's mostly single storey line. Keep the frame low and tight on the ground floor, since a full elevation shot gives away Ballard's extra height and its ironwork balconies, which Bishop Avenue does not have. Try searching brick storefronts under glass transoms now.
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