Allandale

When Megan Little and her husband Nate moved from Westlake to Allandale, they were looking for a place that was down-to-earth, had a good sense of community and good schools. “We wanted a ‘No keeping up with the Joneses’ mentality and we found it here,” Megan shared. “And once you find your area of town, you just want to stay.”

“Allandale is welcoming and warm. A little bit more hippie, artsy and laid-back crowd,” Megan said. It’s also an active neighborhood with huge bike lanes and people always out for a run. Allandale is bound by Burnet Road to the west and MOPAC to the west, with Hancock Drive and West Anderson Lane forming north and south borders. The neighborhood has a bounty of quirky places that get lots of love from its residents—Ginny’s Little Longhorn, Top Notch Burgers and Skateland.

The Littles now have four little Littles, ages two to seven. And they have lots of little friends—33 children on their street, the definition of kid heaven. “On any given day I have kids in and out of my house,” Megan said. “When the weather is great and it’s early evening, you pop outside and it’s like, ‘Yay! Instant kid-friendly happy hour!’”

The first Thursday of every month is the official, unofficial Dad’s bike night in their area of Allandale. TRIBEZA was there to capture the street fest on wheels in May, where tricycles, Razor scooters, bikes with training wheels and of course the upright adult variety shared the pavement and driveway. Kids swarmed on their metal steeds, popsicles in hand. Parents mixed it up with their own treats in a cup. The gathering lasted about an hour before the dads, en masse, were waved off to the neighborhood El Chile for what guys do over beer and great Mexican food.

By Megan’s description, Gullet Elementary School is the center of Allandale’s universe. It generates the support, love and acceptance that keeps kids and their parents happily orbiting. “There’s something unique about that little school that draws our community in,” she said.

Megan describes her neighbors as the most selfless, loving, helpful people on the planet. “All the ladies on my street have a group text where we can always hit each other up for things: eggs, sugar, kids’ sports gear, advice, babysitters, date night recommendations…the list goes on! I once used a garage keypad code to get into my neighbor’s house to borrow deodorant.” She shared that a neighbor once gifted her with the penultimate present for a young family of six: a reserved school parking space, purchased at the Gullet Elementary Spring Fling silent auction.

Many of the residents seem to know their UPS delivery guy by name—Danny—and so do the neighborhood dogs. “He hands out treats to the neighborhood dogs and ours has jumped right into his truck many times in hopes of scoring one,” Megan laughed. “Usually three out of four of my kids are right behind him!”

_{Read more from the Neighborhoods Issue | June 2016}