October 14, 1989: At Home in Dallas
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On the first Saturday in October, Grant and I and our friend Larry Marshall went out to Las Colinas to walk around. It was a beautiful day, and we just wanted to get out of the house. I took a few pictures, and this will be the page for them.

The Las Colinas Development

Originally called El Ranchito de Las Colinas ("the Little Ranch of the Hills"), Las Colinas was developed in 1972 by cattle ranching millionaire Ben H. Carpenter. It was one of the first planned communities in the United States and was once the largest mixed-use development in the South, with a land area of more than 12,000 acres. Urban planners were consulted to lay out the entire town, an undertaking that predated later projects in Plano, Allen and other suburbs.

As we came around the southeast side of the huge Las Colinas development, I took some pictures of the area where I worked in the mid-1990s; it has certainly changed a great deal. These pictures are below, keyed to the numbers on the aerial view below, right.

During the 1980s building boom, Las Colinas became a popular location for relocating companies and office developers, attracting many corporations—including the global headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies and offices of more than 30 others, such as Exxon Mobil Corporation, GTE Telephone (now Verizon), Kimberly-Clark and Associates Corp.

In 1985, the first sign of financial trouble appeared at Las Colinas due to a real estate market crash, but the community recovered by this year. The aerial view at left is, of course, current to 2016, but the layout of the development was basically the same in 1989.

In the aerial view at left, Las Colinas encompasses all of what you see west of the dark green flood plain (where no building is allowed as the area is prone to flooding), but it also extends north, northwest and west far out of the picture. Las Colinas has three private country clubs and four championship golf courses surrounded by gated communities.

It also contains high-rise office towers, retail centers, upscale residences, apartment complexes, and leisure facilities. Notable attractions include the Mustangs at Las Colinas sculpture and fountain and Las Colinas Flower Clock. The Mustangs of Las Colinas are featured in the courtyard of the Towers at Williams Square. The complex also features a River Walk-styled canal offering gondola cruises, as well as the above-ground Las Colinas APT (elevated tram) System.

We just wanted to come out here today because the weather was so nice and because Grant had never seen the Mustangs at Williams Center. We planned to walk around for a while and perhaps find a place out here for lunch.

Grant at One of the Las Colinas Water Taxis Las Colinas has a series of canals, and these old Chris Craft boats ply them as taxis. Grant's friend Carol Hazelwood was working at Inland Sailboats, and they had two boats out there being shown, and so we went to see those.

A Las Colinas Water Taxi I took this shot as one of the water taxis left the dock on its rounds through the canals.

I should mention that Grant sold his 8-meter S-2 in April, and bought a larger one, a 9.2-meter, newer model in July. We had gone to Eagle Mountain lake North of Fort Worth to see it early in the Summer, and Grant had closed a deal to buy it by the end of July. It has been moved to Chandler's Landing, and is actually in the same slip the old one occupied. It has a wheel, and I don't hit my head on the hatchway all the time. It was an expensive boat, but Grant can make the payments and it didn't seem important to wait, considering his health.

Here's Grant with the mustangs at Williams Center. You can see that Grant doesn't look much different that he always has; we continue to hope that with treatment he can remain healthy even though he has the HIV virus.

The Mustangs at Williams Center, Las Colinas

We had a pleasant time walking around Las Colinas, and the three of us had dinner back near the townhouse.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	October 14, 1989: At Home in Dallas
	Return to the Index for 1989