What’s with the flying red Pegasus? Look up in downtown Dallas and you may catch a red horse with wings, glowing against the night. The flying red Pegasus has watched over the city since 1934, when an oil company raised a rotating neon “Flying Red Horse” atop the Magnolia Building — then the tallest tower west of the Mississippi — to welcome the oilmen of a national convention. It was visible for miles, bright enough that pilots are said to have steered by it, and it quickly became the thing Dallas loved most about itself. Nine decades on, taken down, rebuilt, and re-lit, the Pegasus still turns above the skyline — the unofficial mascot of Big D.
The skyline tells that story. Reunion Tower — “the Ball,” a geodesic sphere on a slender stem, lit up at night — went up in 1978 and became an instant landmark. Out at Fair Park stands something rarer still: the largest collection of Art Deco exposition buildings in the world, raised for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, all murals and statuary and grand promenades. Downtown, the Dallas Arts District grew into one of the biggest urban arts districts in the country, its concert halls and museums drawn by some of the most famous architects alive. Dallas has always liked to build big, and to be seen doing it.
Why People Visit Dallas
Dallas rewards visitors who like a city with confidence: a skyline you can read like a history book, a world-class arts district, museums of real weight, and food worth crossing town for. Add the flying red Pegasus, the Art Deco of Fair Park, and Texas hospitality scaled up, and Big D makes a strong case for itself.
