A Family Guide to Omaha's Dundee Neighborhood

Park the car once and you barely need it again. That's the whole trick to Dundee. The business district clusters right around 50th and Underwood, a couple of walkable blocks of brick storefronts, and once you're on foot the kids can wander from ice cream to a bookshop to the park without anybody buckling back into a car seat. It's one of Omaha's oldest neighborhoods, laid out early last century, and it still feels like a small main street dropped into the middle of the city. Here's how to spend a family afternoon in it.

Start with the obvious one, because the kids will make you. eCreamery is right there at 5001 Underwood, and yes, it's the one you've seen on Shark Tank. Twelve flavors that rotate daily, gelato, dairy-free sorbet, the works, all churned in the parlor. It's the anchor of the whole block. Get the cones first or get them last, but you're getting them. There's usually a small line on a warm evening, which tells you everything.

Coffee for the grownups is a half-block away. Dundee Double Shot over on North 50th is a small roaster-café that does the job while the kids finish their ice cream out front. It's the kind of place where you can stand on the sidewalk, hold a coffee, and let a five-year-old count the cars at the light. Low stakes. That's Dundee.

Now the building everybody points at. The Dundee Theater opened back in 1925 and is Omaha's longest-running cinema. It sat shuttered for a stretch until Film Streams, the local nonprofit arthouse, took it over in 2017 and restored it. Now it's got the historic 300-seat main house and a tiny 25-seat microcinema, plus a little bookshop and a café-wine bar called Lola's tucked inside. Family films turn up on the calendar regularly, so check Film Streams before you go. Note it's actually addressed on Dodge, at 4952 Dodge Street, a block off the main Underwood strip, and it's closed Mondays.

The part that makes Dundee a real neighborhood and not just a shopping block is the houses. Wander a couple streets off Underwood and you're in early-1900s Omaha, big front porches, brick and stucco, the kind of tree cover that turns gold in October. It's a genuinely nice walk. Strollers roll fine on the sidewalks, and the whole district is flat enough that little legs hold up. Let the kids pick which house they'd buy. Ours always pick the one with the turret.

When everybody needs to run, Memorial Park is right on the edge of the neighborhood at 6005 Underwood, a short hop west. Sixty-five acres, a playground, ball fields, big open lawns, and the rose garden the Omaha Rose Society has tended since 1959, over a thousand bushes when they're blooming. It was dedicated by President Truman in 1948 as a memorial to Douglas County's service members, so there's a little history to point out too. It's also the summer concert spot, so check the city calendar if you're around in June.

Here's the parking tip, because it's the one thing that trips people up. There's on-street parking all along Underwood and the side streets, and it fills up on nice evenings, especially when eCreamery's busy and there's a movie starting. If the strip is full, swing a block north or south onto the residential streets and walk in. Film Streams also has free lots on the north and east sides of the theater. Come a little early on a Friday or Saturday and you'll save yourself the circling.

Dundee pairs well with the rest of Omaha's neighborhood-hopping, too. If you liked this kind of walkable, park-once afternoon, the Old Market downtown runs on the same energy with cobblestones and a horse-drawn carriage. Benson a few minutes north is the artsier, quirkier cousin. And if the ice cream didn't fill everybody up, one of Omaha's best family burger spots is a short drive from the strip.

Here's the tip. Do Dundee in the early evening. The light gets warm on the brick, the ice cream line is worth it, and if you time it right you can catch a family movie at the Dundee to close out the night. Park once, walk the block, and let the neighborhood do the rest.

Hours and showtimes change, so check before you go. Then go spend an easy evening in Dundee.