Oliver Stone restored Dealey Plaza for JFK, and Dallas City Hall's inverted pyramid played OCP headquarters in RoboCop.
What Downtown Dallas looks like
Downtown Dallas is a dense grid of reflective glass and granite office towers, most raised during the building boom of the 1970s and 1980s. , the tallest at 921 feet, is edged in green argon lighting. Locals call it the Pickle. , Comerica Bank Tower, JPMorgan Chase Tower and Fountain Place rise within a few blocks of it.
The keeps a group of late nineteenth century brick warehouses on the western edge of downtown, most converted into restaurants and shops. Underneath and above the rest of downtown, a network of tunnels and skybridges covers 36 city blocks. It links office towers, garages and parks without a single crossing at street level.
sits at that same western edge, a triangular park completed in 1940 where Main, Elm and Commerce streets converge above a railroad bridge known as the triple underpass. Curved concrete colonnades and reflecting pools line Houston Street, and two columnar pergolas gate the Elm and Commerce side. A grass slope rises on the plaza's northwest corner. The seven story faces the plaza from Elm Street, its top two floors now the Sixth Floor Museum.
Three blocks south on Marilla Street, is an inverted pyramid designed by I.M. Pei, its concrete face sloping outward at 34 degrees so each of the seven above ground floors overhangs the one below. In front of it, a two block plaza holds a 180 foot reflecting pool. The plaza is bounded by Young, Ervay, Marilla and Akard streets.
Shot in Downtown Dallas
Oliver Stone spent 4 million dollars restoring Dealey Plaza to its 1963 appearance for JFK. The production paid 50,000 dollars for five months of negotiated access to the sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository and closed the surrounding streets for three weeks. Dallas City Hall's inverted pyramid played the exterior of OCP headquarters in RoboCop, with visual effects added to make the seven story building look taller than it really is.
Dallas, 1987 to 1988
The JRE Industries tower
Bank of America Plaza's dark glass tower stands in for JRE Industries, a fictional company headquarters, in Season 11 of the CBS series Dallas. The series aired in 1987 and 1988. It is downtown's tallest building at 921 feet, with 72 storeys of reflective glass rising over the Main Street District. Street View
What Downtown Dallas can double for
Lower Downtown in Denver, Colorado
Lower Downtown keeps more than 100 restored Victorian era brick warehouses in a compact historic district, most built after an 1863 fire pushed builders toward brick. Many now hold restaurants, shops and loft apartments the same way the West End does. Both districts use their old loading docks for outdoor dining, and that reads the same on camera. Denver's district runs wider and its mountain backdrop rules out a high angle outdoor shot, so a ground level frame on one block works better than a full establishing shot. Try searching brick warehouses district lofts now.
Downtown in Houston, Texas
Downtown Houston's underground tunnel system links 95 city blocks below the same kind of granite and glass office towers Dallas built in the same decades. The tunnel half of Dallas's own network is a workable match for it, and both downtowns cluster their tallest towers within a few blocks of each other. Houston's tunnel system runs underground for most of its six miles, with only a few open air breaks, while Dallas mixes tunnels with above ground skybridges. A shot with more than the occasional window gives the city away. Try searching underground tunnel office towers now.
Downtown Core in Calgary, Alberta
Calgary's Plus 15 network connects 130 downtown buildings with 86 enclosed bridges built up through its own 1970s and 1980s oil boom. The elevated half of Dallas's skybridge network is a workable double for it, and both cities raised most of their tallest office towers in the same two decades. Calgary's network runs in daylight well above the street rather than below it. The Rocky Mountains fill any wide shot outdoors, so this works best inside one bridge. Try searching enclosed bridges office towers now.
