Brick warehouses and rail-adjacent lots south of downtown, and the Longhorn Ballroom where Aerosmith filmed What It Takes.
What The Cedars looks like
The Cedars sits directly south of downtown Dallas, separated from it by Interstate 30. Brick warehouses and light industrial buildings run along wide streets here, most one or two storeys. Gravel lots and rail spurs break up the blocks between them.
The largest single building is the former Sears mail-order warehouse on Botham Jean Boulevard, now , a multi-story brick block with round-arched window bays holding loft apartments and offices. occupies part of the same complex, its own entrance facing the parking lot.
Corinth Street marks the southern edge of the neighborhood. The keeps its Western-style marquee and longhorn sign over the sidewalk there, in the same industrial stretch of low buildings and open lots.
The DART sits a few blocks north at Belleview and Wall Streets, its two side platforms open to the tracks. From the platform, the downtown towers rise directly behind the rail line and the warehouse rooftops.
Vacant and cleared lots break up several blocks between the warehouses. Some serve as surface parking for the surrounding lofts and studios, marked with painted lines directly on the gravel.
sits on its own fenced twenty-acre grounds on Harwood Street, a collection of relocated nineteenth-century buildings kept apart from the surrounding warehouses. Its shaded lawns and picket fences look nothing like the blocks around it.
Shot in The Cedars
Aerosmith filmed one of two music videos for "What It Takes" at the Longhorn Ballroom on Corinth Street. The video plays the room as a rowdy Texas dance hall, chicken wire strung across the stage front before a barroom brawl breaks out.
Aerosmith, "What It Takes" (official music video), 1990
Longhorn Ballroom
The 1990 video for "What It Takes" was shot inside the Longhorn Ballroom, the band performing behind chicken wire to a floor of dancers who turn a barroom brawl by the end of the song. The venue's Western-style marquee and longhorn sign still stand over the sidewalk on Corinth Street.
What The Cedars can double for
RiNo Art District in Denver, Colorado
RiNo matches the Cedars in scale and setting, low brick warehouses beside gravel lots and active rail spurs with downtown Denver's towers rising directly behind them. Murals appear on several blocks of brick here, the same as on Botham Jean Boulevard. RiNo's murals run denser and more saturated than the Cedars, so a wide shot needs a plainer wall to hold the match. Try searching brick warehouses murals now.
The North Loop matches the Cedars in scale, converted brick warehouses holding lofts and studios a few blocks from the Minneapolis skyline. Its buildings run taller though, five and six storeys against the Cedars' one and two. Keep wide shots low and tight on the cornice line, since a taller loft building in frame gives away the difference in scale. Try searching converted brick loft warehouses now.
Fulton Market District in Chicago, Illinois
Old meatpacking warehouses in Fulton Market carry the same low brick scale and loading docks as the Cedars, with the Chicago skyline a short walk east. Many blocks have been rebuilt with glass office towers and high end restaurants in the last decade. Frame tightly on the older brick blocks near the river, since a wider shot picks up the newer glass towers that would give away the location. Try searching old brick meatpacking warehouses now.
