Hold on to Your Hat

A new Texas story is unfolding in Fort Worth. Nora Walsh boot-scoots her way around sleek hotels and world-class museums.

- Nora Walsh

FORT WORTH HAS more than a handful of nicknames: Cowtown, Wall Street of the West, the Unexpected City, Where the West Begins.

This is not because the place has an identity crisis-it's because it has so much to offer, as I discovered on a recent visit. Fort Worth has managed to maintain its Old West charm and cowboy roots while modernizing into a cultural powerhouse, with an identity distinct from Dallas, its larger neighbor. The best thing of all? It took only a weekend to see its transformation for myself.

FRIDAY

I got my bearings at the 35-block Sundance Square in the city center, which has a plaza that's anchored by a fountain and a giant disco-mirrored cowboy hat. Next I made my way to Water Gardens, a series of reflecting pools that were featured in one of Kendrick Lamar's music videos. As I walked, I paused to read a series of historical plaques detailing the characters of Fort Worth's past, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

At lunchtime, I pulled up a seat at Don Artemio (entrées $35-$82), a James Beard Award semifinalist, for enchiladas stuffed with queso fresco and drizzled with tamarind mole.

Post-meal, I freshened up in my suite at the Crescent Hotel (doubles from $300), a slick 200-room property that opened last November. It is home to Canyon Ranch's first Wellness Club, which has a 9,000-square-foot fitness center and spa that has a range of treatments, including facials with diamond peptides.

The Crescent is close to a quartet of art institutions that rival any city. The Louis Kahn-designed Kimbell Art Museum has one of Michelangelo's first known paintings (and the only one to hang in an American museum), in addition to works by Monet, Mondrian, and Rembrandt, plus an exhibition hall designed by Renzo Piano.