Deep in the Heart of Dallas with Lindsey Farrar

Welcome to Deep in the Heart of Dallas! Our latest series, focused on sharing the stories of the Dallas Black community, follows local creatives through the city to learn about favorite spots, must-taste foodie finds and how the city inspires their work. Today, we're featuring Lindsey Farrar!

Lindsey is the founder and publisher of CRWN Magazine, a hair culture and lifestyle magazine for Black women. The California native's journey to Dallas was a decision based on business, and personal wants and needs. Let's take a deep dive into Lindsey's story!

Lindsey, tell us about your journey to Dallas.

I was 26 or 27 when I moved to New York. That's where I launched CRWN Magazine with my now husband - who was a longtime friend. We met in LA and he was visiting New York on business. We were both in a transitional place in our career and started talking about voids and opportunities, particularly as it related to - at the time- the natural hair movement that was showing up in a strong way on social media, and how that really mirrored what was happening in our lives and communities. That's what we spent most of our time in New York working on. As we were looking for places to move, we dug into our data and noticed we have a really big following in Texas, which was our No. 3 market. We loved that Dallas is a travel hub and halfway between California and New York. One interesting thing is that we did an impromptu pop-up here in Dallas in 2016 in a hotel lobby during a layover and people came out and were enjoying each other's company. They did not want to leave. We loved the idea of being able to foster communities between Black creatives in the way that we have been able to in New York. It made sense to have feet on the ground here in Dallas.

What makes Dallas home?

Family, honestly. When we came here, we got pregnant almost immediately. Being able to have space and a different lifestyle is very hard to achieve in New York and California unless you're like a millionaire (laughs). Being able to walk to the park that's right around the corner or having a big backyard has been a wonderful thing.

Describe your perfect day in Dallas.

A sunny day, but not too sunny. Being in a family-oriented season of life, it would really be spending time with our little one. My favorite thing these days is just watching him run around our backyard. He's at that stage where his personality is blossoming. We love the Dallas Arboretum. We've also taken our kid to the Dallas World Aquarium.

Where's your favorite place to eat in Dallas?

We love Stock and Barrel in the Bishop Arts District. They change their menu a lot. I'm now non-dairy so I can't have this, but they have a crab spaghetti dish with hollandaise. It sounds random, but it's really, really good. They have a bread pudding that's crazy good, too. Azucar, which means sugar in Spanish, is our favorite ice cream spot. I've been non-dairy for almost 2 years, but they have vegan options that are really good.

Tell us about a neighborhood you love.

I hate to say Bishop Arts again, but I really love Bishop Arts. It's super cute, very walkable. They have string lights up so at night it's beautiful. I also love the White Rock Lake area. It's so gorgeous. I've ridden my bike over there and gone on walks over there with the family.

What is your favorite Dallas memory?

Doing our CRWN Magazine event and the Wax Space in 2019 was just so fulfilling. I loved getting feedback from the different creatives who spoke and working with another Dallas creative on the event, Aarika Cofer of RosesRntRed Events. Those are always my favorite moments in life, just creative people coming together to celebrate each other and vibe.

What are you looking forward to this year?

Hopefully getting out of the house a little more, seeing more of the city and continuing to build community, especially local businesses - like Pan African Connection Bookstore, where we held our very first event in Dallas. So many of us have been isolated so I'm very excited to make more connections and create more moments.