Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 03/07/2026 00:52:00

Mickey Gilley's legendary honky-tonk - the Houston-area club that inspired Urban Cowboy - was resurrected in Dallas in 2003, mechanical bull included. Gilley's Dallas, at 1135 Botham Jean Boulevard (formerly South Lamar Street) in the Cedars neighbourhood just south of downtown, fills the historic Schepps Grocery Supply warehouse with more than 92,000 square feet of event and concert space. The conversion, by preservation specialists Norman Alston Architects, kept the bones - original brick walls, tin roof tiles and steel fire doors - while building out what has grown to seven distinct venues: the South Side Ballroom, the South Side Music Hall, the Saloon, the Loft, the Brazos and Lonestar rooms and the Bonnie and Clyde Speakeasy, hosting anything from 50 to 5,000 people. The 26,000-square-foot main room opened with a 10,000-square-foot wooden dance floor and full production rig, and artists from the residency program at neighbouring South Side on Lamar crafted the steel drink rails and paint schemes. The South Side Ballroom has become one of Dallas's busiest mid-size concert rooms, with national tours across rock, country, hip-hop and Latin music running year-round alongside the private-event trade. The Texas-themed toolkit remains the calling card for corporate bookings: mechanical bull rides, armadillo races, dance instruction and barbecue spreads, all four blocks from the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center - a proximity that keeps the complex full of conference after-parties and galas. Practical notes: the campus has around 1,100 parking spaces plus valet on show nights, the DART Cedars station is a short walk, and each venue runs its own calendar - check the specific room when booking tickets. Twenty years in, the Cedars' pioneer anchor keeps the neighbourhood's revival rolling.