Fry Street: Set On Fire By Students

[FireFightnJoey]

took me a sec to figure this one out

Ooops. I meant to spell it right ... accelerant

[GBarksdale]

It has been for years, too many years and thankfully, finally someone is doing something about it. I look forward to the new cleaner look across the street from our campus.

Rick

Rick

I'm curious as to when it started going downhill? The 90s? When I was at UNT in the 80s it was relatively clean and certainly safe. Mainly college kids. I did notice when I visited in the early 90s that some hippies/bums were starting to hang out there, but at that time they were a distinct and tiny minority.

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

Cant beat free publicity

[trud1966]

Amatuer Video of the Fire (didnt see if anyone had posted this yet)

[NTPhiKap99]

Rick

I'm curious as to when it started going downhill? The 90s? When I was at UNT in the 80s it was relatively clean and certainly safe. Mainly college kids. I did notice when I visited in the early 90s that some hippies/bums were starting to hang out there, but at that time they were a distinct and tiny minority.

By the time I started hanging out on Fry Street in 99 hippies had over run the street by the Tomato and Cool Beans. The bars were still great but getting there was sometimes an adventure.

[Eagle1855]

but getting there was sometimes an adventure.

Not if you had a steel-toed boot... or a sword (if you were a pirate or a ninja, that is). Then it was pretty easy.

[greenminer]

Not if you had a steel-toed boot

Hey I think I've seen you on Fry!

[Eagle1855]

Hey I think I've seen you on Fry!

it's certainly possible... I spent an inordinate amount of time at The Tavern and Cool Beans in the early 2000s.

Steel-toed boots are like kryptonite to hippies. Once donned, there is no counter-move nor retaliation for our bongwater-glazed friends. Check mate, game over.

Edited June 29, 2007 by Eagle1855

[Censored by Laurie]

Well...as seems to frequently occur on here...I seem to be the minority in my opinion of whats happening on Fry Street...and as GMG's faaaaar-left resident I do atleast feel the need to chime in: Denton has done an decent job in its city planning...but allowing corporate interests into the Fry St. area I feel is a huge mistake. I appreciate and want Denton to expand...and for the most part its focus has been the 288 area, and the new Rayzor Ranch area...while Denton's history and unique culture is focused on the downtown square and Fry St...and the aesthetic of these areas needed to be protected. Instead of knocking down an entire city block and replacing it with a cookie cutter corporate shopping center, the focus of these new investors should've been required to have been placed on building improvement and tenant replacement....identifying which tenants were important to the area (The Tomato, Cool Beans, Chopsticks) and which could be replaced to improve the area. These were not decrepid buildings, and these were not struggling businesses.

Uptown Dallas does not need to be across the street from Luck Lou's...and no the answer isn't to knock down Lou's to put in an Apple store with an overpriced 600 square foot apartment above it. I would love to see this type of development in Rayzor Ranch...or even better the University St. area. For Uptown, Dallas has Deep Ellum. For Victory Park, Dallas has Lower Greenville. For Knox-Henderson, Dallas has Lakewood. Dallas should by no means be our model...but most cities and large towns work in this way. There is a unique-ness to each of these areas...and a city works to encourage diversity in what makes these particular areas appealing.

If I every here talk of putting a Chilis on the downtown square...I swear I'm running for Mayor...and I hope that you'll support my Pro UNT, Pro Loophole platform.

[adman]

Well...as seems to frequently occur on here...I seem to be the minority in my opinion of whats happening on Fry Street...and as GMG's faaaaar-left resident I do atleast feel the need to chime in: Denton has done an decent job in its city planning...but allowing corporate interests into the Fry St. area I feel is a huge mistake. I appreciate and want Denton to expand...and for the most part its focus has been the 288 area, and the new Rayzor Ranch area...while Denton's history and unique culture is focused on the downtown square and Fry St...and the aesthetic of these areas needed to be protected. Instead of knocking down an entire city block and replacing it with a cookie cutter corporate shopping center, the focus of these new investors should've been required to have been placed on building improvement and tenant replacement....identifying which tenants were important to the area (The Tomato, Cool Beans, Chopsticks) and which could be replaced to improve the area. These were not decrepid buildings, and these were not struggling businesses.

Uptown Dallas does not need to be across the street from Luck Lou's...and no the answer isn't to knock down Lou's to put in an Apple store with an overpriced 600 square foot apartment above it. I would love to see this type of development in Rayzor Ranch...or even better the University St. area. For Uptown, Dallas has Deep Ellum. For Victory Park, Dallas has Lower Greenville. For Knox-Henderson, Dallas has Lakewood. Dallas should by no means be our model...but most cities and large towns work in this way. There is a unique-ness to each of these areas...and a city works to encourage diversity in what makes these particular areas appealing.

If I every here talk of putting a Chilis on the downtown square...I swear I'm running for Mayor...and I hope that you'll support my Pro UNT, Pro Loophole platform.

Hear, hear!

[EagleD]

There is a unique-ness to each of these areas...and a city works to encourage diversity in what makes these particular areas appealing.

A city should work to do that. I feel Denton does this downtown in the square, but the Fry Street "renovation" hits close to home. Football fans and college bars go hand in hand. The square is too far to walk from the dorms, and I don't even know if there is public transportation in Denton. The city could/should have invested in the local businesses they had.

In my home town of Longview sits my favorite pizza joint in all the world. It's called "Pizza King". I think it was a failed national chain back in the day. but this place stayed open. Cheap, good, pizza, and cold beer. The building was very run down and not in the best neighborhood. But the owner dropped some cash into it, he actually built a new restaraunt next door. When it re-opened, It was still the same great pizza and cheap cold beer, in the same neighborhood, only in a modern building with a retro theme. I can't back it up, but I'd be willing to bet the city of Longview gave the owner a tax break for renovations etc. I'd also be willing to bet the city of Denton gave these investors to Fry street a nice break.

If Denton had helped the businesses out and actually repaired some of the infrastructure, and seen the economic benefit to aiding local owners, I think we'd all be a little happier.

[UNT_92_Fan]

Well...as seems to frequently occur on here...I seem to be the minority in my opinion of whats happening on Fry Street...and as GMG's faaaaar-left resident I do atleast feel the need to chime in: Denton has done an decent job in its city planning...but allowing corporate interests into the Fry St. area I feel is a huge mistake. I appreciate and want Denton to expand...and for the most part its focus has been the 288 area, and the new Rayzor Ranch area...while Denton's history and unique culture is focused on the downtown square and Fry St...and the aesthetic of these areas needed to be protected. Instead of knocking down an entire city block and replacing it with a cookie cutter corporate shopping center, the focus of these new investors should've been required to have been placed on building improvement and tenant replacement....identifying which tenants were important to the area (The Tomato, Cool Beans, Chopsticks) and which could be replaced to improve the area. These were not decrepid buildings, and these were not struggling businesses.

Uptown Dallas does not need to be across the street from Luck Lou's...and no the answer isn't to knock down Lou's to put in an Apple store with an overpriced 600 square foot apartment above it. I would love to see this type of development in Rayzor Ranch...or even better the University St. area. For Uptown, Dallas has Deep Ellum. For Victory Park, Dallas has Lower Greenville. For Knox-Henderson, Dallas has Lakewood. Dallas should by no means be our model...but most cities and large towns work in this way. There is a unique-ness to each of these areas...and a city works to encourage diversity in what makes these particular areas appealing.

If I every here talk of putting a Chilis on the downtown square...I swear I'm running for Mayor...and I hope that you'll support my Pro UNT, Pro Loophole platform.

Effin Hippie

[UNTFan23]

I liked the Square waaaaaaay better then I like Fry St. Better class of businesses (except no good bars) and people that went there.

[rcade]

So dont know how true that it is. My bet is TAMS students.....

TAMS students? The overachieving teens who went to college early?

[Coffee and TV]

Well...as seems to frequently occur on here...I seem to be the minority in my opinion of whats happening on Fry Street...and as GMG's faaaaar-left resident I do atleast feel the need to chime in: Denton has done an decent job in its city planning...but allowing corporate interests into the Fry St. area I feel is a huge mistake. I appreciate and want Denton to expand...and for the most part its focus has been the 288 area, and the new Rayzor Ranch area...while Denton's history and unique culture is focused on the downtown square and Fry St...and the aesthetic of these areas needed to be protected. Instead of knocking down an entire city block and replacing it with a cookie cutter corporate shopping center, the focus of these new investors should've been required to have been placed on building improvement and tenant replacement....identifying which tenants were important to the area (The Tomato, Cool Beans, Chopsticks) and which could be replaced to improve the area. These were not decrepid buildings, and these were not struggling businesses.

Uptown Dallas does not need to be across the street from Luck Lou's...and no the answer isn't to knock down Lou's to put in an Apple store with an overpriced 600 square foot apartment above it. I would love to see this type of development in Rayzor Ranch...or even better the University St. area. For Uptown, Dallas has Deep Ellum. For Victory Park, Dallas has Lower Greenville. For Knox-Henderson, Dallas has Lakewood. Dallas should by no means be our model...but most cities and large towns work in this way. There is a unique-ness to each of these areas...and a city works to encourage diversity in what makes these particular areas appealing.

If I every here talk of putting a Chilis on the downtown square...I swear I'm running for Mayor...and I hope that you'll support my Pro UNT, Pro Loophole platform.

Thread closed.

[NTPhiKap99]

TAMS students? The overachieving teens who went to college early?

That's them those overachieving underage terrorists. Not being able to get to bars makes people crazy I remember when I lost my fake ID.