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You know why Houston boosters go so hard? Because they are constantly being insulted! People everywhere boost their city, yes, even Atlanta. So quit whinning and get over it! Complaining isn't going to make them disappear.
Valencian, that was a great post. I like how you actual gave good info on Houston. I think Houston is a really underrated place for culture, but not near the top.
And whoever tried to bash Houston by comparing it to lubbock...just stop trolling.
Valencian That is the most informative post about Houston I've ever seen on here. You did more in that one post than has been done my entire time on this board
Instead of talking about the quality of the temples, food, clothes, culture that can be found in Chinatown instead you've got your big Texas belt buckle on tight and your mindset set to being one of the largest Chinatowns. Size is so irrelevant, it's becoming laughable.
Why don't you go in depth and tell them about the different types of Chinese food you'll find in Houston? Between the Han, Sichuan, Henan, Jiangsu, or Anhui? Why aren't you telling them about the FOI's and other huge festivals in Houston?
Instead your so wasting your time with this cruddy space man talk and strip mall square mileage.
Why are you avoiding Houston's real cultural advantages? Like the Rothko Chapel, Museum of Natural Science, Museum of Fine Arts, Holocaust Museum, Asia House, THE MENIL COLLECTION, or the Houston Zoo. Why are you not talking about the Alley Theater, Bayou Place, Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, or Hobby Center of Performing Arts. Instead you're messing around talking like a small towner and repeating stupid Forbes quotes like "second largest theater district in the United States".
Why are you not talking about how the Houston Grand Opera is the only Opera in the United States to win all three major wards with a Tony, Grammy, & Emmy.
Why are you not talking about how the Houston Ballet having an endowment of $55 million a year, one of the largest for any public dance operations and being one of the most successful dance operations in the country and competing globally with the likes of Moscow each year in performances.
Why are you not talking about the Alley Theaters long history in performing arts and the awards and honors its won along the way, including Tony's and being held as one of the most respected theater instillations.
Why no mention of the Houston Symphony Orchestra?
Why are you not talking about the MENIL COLLECTION?
You're not even talking about food properly, you cant just say "Houston has better food, nah uhhh Atlanta doesn't" and leave it at that. That's totally stepping on stones.
Houston's a well positioned place geographically for food, its where Soul food, Tex-Mex, authentic Mexican, Seafood, Cajun, & various ethnic cuisines meet. On Hillcroft & Harwin you have your South Asian food, typically it starts off as British Indian in the beginning, moves onto Punjabi, then Himalayan, from there Gujarati with across the street being Pakistani & Halal, going further down Bengali (West Bengal) with across the street being Tamil & Telegu, & it finishes off near Unity street as Bangladeshi (Bengali). Then from there to the right on Richmond it becomes more Persian, you'll have your Hookah Bars & Kabob corners before it starts moving into Soul food, & then finally authentic Mexican food before you get inside the loop where it becomes a mix and much more fine dining options. Houston has an average Korean offering, not really all that "on the map" but not non-existent either. Koreatown in Houston is decent. Could be better but hey, it's what it is. Japanese food is nice and there's plenty of offerings, I can think of a few fusion examples of that with Mexican. Japneros is one I believe. Vietnamese is strong, very strong and you can find it in the International District or Little Saigon. Halal is strong as well & Pakistani food is strongly concentrated on Wilcrest near the West Belfort intersection & off Harwin. Salvadoran is strong in Sunnyside area. Guatemalan you can get a good concentration off Bissonett near Beltway 8 area. For the most part Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican are concentrated and them have a splash of it all over the region. Thai food is strong in southwest Houston but less concentrated than other Asian foods for obvious reasons (smaller population). I have yet to find Thai food anywhere besides Bangkok, Thailand or New York as good as Bangkok Chef (I recommend). Costa Rican food can be found between West Airport & Beechnut to some extent but it's mostly scattered throughout the region in small clusters. Brazilian is concentrated within the loop, small clusters but they're trackable. Overall it's a very multicultural city and it's not one aspect where it doesn't show, it does very well on that and the cuisine both regional & ethnic is a reflection of that in my opinion. Also for what it's worth, Houston has amazing Persian food and super awesome Hookah bars (no not Cafe Layal, I hate that place). I wouldn't put Houston's food scene with New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or San Francisco but it's easily and I do mean easily in the next group. After moving to Washington, one thing I admit that I miss is definitely the food, I miss it everyday. Houston is a great foods town, seriously. Cherish it and appreciate it and stop taking it for granted (Matt).
Seafood you'll find more of south of I-10, that's where Houston starts shifting into "coastal mode". The interstate is a psychological and in my opinion cultural & topographical dividing line in the Houston area. North of there you'll typically find few palm trees and more pine trees, it's generally going to be much more tree covered. South from there it starts becoming dramatically less tree covered and palm trees start showing up by the numbers as you head to the coast while becoming a standard plain before turning into marshes and the abundance in seafood & cajun food options will grow as you keep going south.
Houston is particularly gritty for a sunbelt city and it shows, it's not exactly clean either but it's by far cleaner than cities like Baltimore, San Francisco, or Philadelphia. The area is medium density sprawl and the automobile is not just a transportation module but also a mindset. Houston is very suburban in its mindset, more so than Dallas, Atlanta, or Austin. I think about equally with Miami honestly with the car dependency. Even in urban stretches like Upper Kirby, Midtown, Neartown, Allen Parkway, Montrose, Rice Village, Old Freedmans Town, Rice Military, Greenway, and so on and so forth you'll find few souls walking those sidewalks. The city is catered by the car, people take a lot of pride in it too which is why Houston has a massive underground street racing scene off Westheimer near George Bush Park & Highway 6, Mason Road, & FM 1464 and to suit it has a huge "ricer" culture too. For those that don't know what a ricer is, that's someone that drives a car (most times a cruddy one) that's been moded up just for street racing. Then there's the music scene in Houston which is not club music, it's primarily made for "car culture" and you'll often see the "pokers" on their rims and people "swanging" (Houston style of driving) while bumping this sort of music. It's car culture.
In the suburbs it's a little different. I grew up in Sugar Land, which I can confidentially say is more diverse than Houston, cleaner and a better place to live for schools and quiet surroundings. We were taught to hate Houston there for looking rundown, being poor, and whatever. It's sort of a stuck up place, car culture reigns there too. If you're 15 and get your permit then it's expected by your 16th birthday to have a car given to you. It's not an option, it's seen as a standard and most Houston suburbs and large parts of the city are the same way. I compared the car culture to Miami because more than anywhere else and despite Miami being much more denser than Houston, I noticed that people there also harp on their cars way too much. There is barely a soul walking on the sidewalks there in the city and its suburbs (excepting Miami Beach for sure). Car culture there reminds me of where I grew up, the need to have a flashy, high end, performance driven car. In Miami you're 10 times more likely to see an exotic car than Houston, 10 times more likely to see car meets, & just as likely to see (if not more) street racing and car culture. Car tunings, modifications, NosO2, and so on and so forth. Parking garage mentality, to drive somewhere, park your car and then get back in and hop somewhere else instead of walking. I don't know where this suburban nature comes from but Houston is hooked to the car like it's a drug for it. It's becoming more "urban" with the infill but its adding a paltry amount of feet to the sidewalks.
The sidewalks vary, in some places they're appropriate for large masses of people and in some areas (I'm talking inner loop) they're not. Walking isn't impossible in Houston but it's hard, area like Westheimer and Greenbriar you could be walking along the sidewalk and crash into a power pole because it consumes 75% of the sidewalk there and becomes a block getting by when there are actually others walking with you. The sidewalks could be bigger, like Miami it's small size and in between the curb area and the sidewalk there is this grass buffer zone, which I wish they would do away with and extent the actual sidewalk itself. It can be a walkers nightmare and during traffic hours, because how small and poorly planned the sidewalks are you have to pay close attention otherwise you can get hit by the car and that's not any fun.
Houston's nightlife overall is mediocre. I say this because I'm not a fan of strip clubs (which are the main scene in the city of Houston outside the inner loop) & the clubs inside the loop like those on Washigton Avenue, Montrose, Rice Village are underwhelming. Too many guys and the weird thing with Houston is that all the hot chicks already are in relationships, so it's like why bother going to the club anyway when you just wanted to spend time with only your significant other. So for out of towners, Houston's club scene is sort of underwhelming, the hot girls are taken guys and if they're not then it's the second problem, there's too many guys. Way too many. Houston is a house party city or a "invite to exclusive party only city" and that's how locals get in on their nightlife. There is a house party everywhere in the region and more than any other city I've been too. It's crazy in Houston but you have to know someone to get to those parties, you cant be an out of towner just walking into someone's packed house. The invite only parties are more like charter types, you can find them on Upper Kirby, Shephard, Greenbriar, Voss Road, San Felipe, Briar Forest, or whatever but they're more toned down and hush hush and you have to know people and have a lot of money to get in. Houston's bar scene is great though, it's one of the more underrated things about the city for sure but you wouldn't know that because Houstonians on this forum are too busy talking about Neil Armstrong or boosting the biggest belt buckles instead of this. The only problem is the car nature of the city, if you want to play it safe, go there by a car and leave by a car or wait it out to drive. This is where having no transit SUCKS. Great bars, really sucky transportation methods to get to and from them unless you literally live closeby but it's Houston and people don't live that close to where they spend their time because most of them are suburbanites from across town or something. I would think that on nightclubs that Atlanta takes it by far compared to Houston. It's not that bad, I mean there is a great variety of Asian clubs, Latino clubs, black clubs, young clubs, old clubs, and everything but it can and most likely will be underwhelming for a city of it's size. Then again, I'm not much of a clubber and more of a bar guy, so I couldn't care less for it. To be fair, if you're LGBT then Montrose is a great nightlife area for real. I'm straight but I would say Rice Village is getting better and Washington Avenue is the only nice clubbing street in Houston from my experience. The rest can be a sausage fest or "hey you hitting on my girl man" type of experience, which is of course no bueno and mediocre.
Before I forget. Music in Houston city is not to my liking. Honestly, I'm not a fan of Screwston at all and never was. Honestly, I'll just come right out and say it, I hate that music. I hate it a lot. If you live in Houston city, southwest, west, east, or south from Houston then it's a Screwston, Hip Hop, Rap, & R&B territory. There is a decent techno & trance base in Katy & Sugar Land and the northern suburbs in Montgomery County counterbalance (but cant since Montgomery is wayyyy smaller than Harris) that Screwston culture with Rock, Indie Rock, Metal, Trance, Techno, major Dubstep territory, electronica, pop, & country music. It's also a rave territory up there, there's lots of that going on and like almost every weekend or every other weekend. Lots of that rave culture and whatnot up there. So in a way, Houston area isn'tt musically devoid of variety but it's Screw nation almost across the map for the entire metro besides that one corner that I used to spend a helluva lot of time in.
Houston overall is a city I like sometimes but also dislike strongly sometimes, I think I can say that but I'm not a fan of the people that live there that I know of. Houstonians (the ones I know) can be invasive and intrusive in your personal life, they'll talk about irrelevant things (like Metro Matt is here) like having Fortune 500 companies (I know a lot of people in Houston that do for the record), & they'll have a suburban mindset. They don't acknowledge the great aspects in Houston, instead of talking about the accomplishments and success of the performing arts in Houston, they will instead talk about how big the theater seats are or how big the land area for the Theater District is. It's because a lot of them are unfamiliar with these things, many of them have a suburban mindset, they know it exists but they don't want to embrace it or explore it. Not saying all of them but from my experience so many of them.
Just look at Uptown Houston, yes the district's name is Uptown but look at what the suburban mindset has done to the city. They call the freaking place "Galleria area", an entire business district being falsely regarded to for a MALL. Houstonians still haven't discovered their own city yet, it's not a surprise that it gets so much hate. How can you defend your city when you cant even tell others what it's strengths are, just look at this thread for example. You have your characters like Metro Matt going on and on about how big the land area is for the Chinatown in the suburbs and spending the entire time talking about "space" instead of Houston's real strengths like Rothko Chapel, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Opera, Houston Ballet, and so on and so forth.
Another thing, when it comes to public art there is no doubt that Houston is lacking in that. It has a few monuments and memorials, there is the San Jacinto Monument for one that I can think of off the top of my head and those monuments or sculptures in Herman Park but it could do better in this area.
Anyway I'm not saying everyone from Houston fits these descriptions but many do, people like Metro Matt definitely do. Where is Nairobi? He can take over and talk more about Soul food, how southern gulf coast culture meets Texas and deep south culture and the local cultures here. He's more qualified on that than I am.
ALot of what he said made sense and alot of it was standard surburb crap..
1.As far as scewton..dude no one has bumped screwed up music since I was like in high school (2002). Dont confuse Houston rap with houston screw music..your running off at the mouth about something you admit you dont listen to.
I dont really like country but I have a understanding enough to know their are diffrent genre even in country..
I've never been to Atlanta, but I did live in Houston for 3 years. Here's what I have to say on the Houston end.
1. A thriving arts scene- Houston is not necessarily known for this, but there are plenty of World Class museums, however if you want local art, Austin's your place.
2. A plethora of restaurants specializing in various ethnic cuisines. Shops and groceries stores are also emphasized.- Houston has a great variety of restaurants, and most of them make delicious food. Just about every cuisine can be found, and there's plenty of restaurants in quantity.
3. Better museums.- Again, Houston has great museums, world class and a good variety too.
4. Better fashion.- Houston is not really known for its fashion, but places like the Galleria have plenty of great designer and world class shopping if that's what you like.
5. Better cultural festivals and events.- Houston has plenty even though they're not really known for it. Most of them happen around summer or autumn though, when it tends to be quite hot.
1.As far as scewton..dude no one has bumped screwed up music since I was like in high school (2002). Dont confuse Houston rap with houston screw music..your running off at the mouth about something you admit you dont listen to.
Apart from not listening to it, I don't think he has spent much time out recently in Houston. He has been in Austin for a few years and would only come back for visits.
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Valencian
Stop man. You do Houston no justice. Seriously.
Instead of talking about the quality of the temples, food, clothes, culture that can be found in Chinatown instead you've got your big Texas belt buckle on tight and your mindset set to being one of the largest Chinatowns. Size is so irrelevant, it's becoming laughable.
Why don't you go in depth and tell them about the different types of Chinese food you'll find in Houston? Between the Han, Sichuan, Henan, Jiangsu, or Anhui? Why aren't you telling them about the FOI's and other huge festivals in Houston?
Instead your so wasting your time with this cruddy space man talk and strip mall square mileage.
Why are you avoiding Houston's real cultural advantages? Like the Rothko Chapel, Museum of Natural Science, Museum of Fine Arts, Holocaust Museum, Asia House, THE MENIL COLLECTION, or the Houston Zoo. Why are you not talking about the Alley Theater, Bayou Place, Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, or Hobby Center of Performing Arts. Instead you're messing around talking like a small towner and repeating stupid Forbes quotes like "second largest theater district in the United States".
Why are you not talking about how the Houston Grand Opera is the only Opera in the United States to win all three major wards with a Tony, Grammy, & Emmy.
Why are you not talking about how the Houston Ballet having an endowment of $55 million a year, one of the largest for any public dance operations and being one of the most successful dance operations in the country and competing globally with the likes of Moscow each year in performances.
Why are you not talking about the Alley Theaters long history in performing arts and the awards and honors its won along the way, including Tony's and being held as one of the most respected theater instillations.
Why no mention of the Houston Symphony Orchestra?
Why are you not talking about the MENIL COLLECTION?
You're not even talking about food properly, you cant just say "Houston has better food, nah uhhh Atlanta doesn't" and leave it at that. That's totally stepping on stones.
Houston's a well positioned place geographically for food, its where Soul food, Tex-Mex, authentic Mexican, Seafood, Cajun, & various ethnic cuisines meet. On Hillcroft & Harwin you have your South Asian food, typically it starts off as British Indian in the beginning, moves onto Punjabi, then Himalayan, from there Gujarati with across the street being Pakistani & Halal, going further down Bengali (West Bengal) with across the street being Tamil & Telegu, & it finishes off near Unity street as Bangladeshi (Bengali). Then from there to the right on Richmond it becomes more Persian, you'll have your Hookah Bars & Kabob corners before it starts moving into Soul food, & then finally authentic Mexican food before you get inside the loop where it becomes a mix and much more fine dining options. Houston has an average Korean offering, not really all that "on the map" but not non-existent either. Koreatown in Houston is decent. Could be better but hey, it's what it is. Japanese food is nice and there's plenty of offerings, I can think of a few fusion examples of that with Mexican. Japneros is one I believe. Vietnamese is strong, very strong and you can find it in the International District or Little Saigon. Halal is strong as well & Pakistani food is strongly concentrated on Wilcrest near the West Belfort intersection & off Harwin. Salvadoran is strong in Sunnyside area. Guatemalan you can get a good concentration off Bissonett near Beltway 8 area. For the most part Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican are concentrated and them have a splash of it all over the region. Thai food is strong in southwest Houston but less concentrated than other Asian foods for obvious reasons (smaller population). I have yet to find Thai food anywhere besides Bangkok, Thailand or New York as good as Bangkok Chef (I recommend). Costa Rican food can be found between West Airport & Beechnut to some extent but it's mostly scattered throughout the region in small clusters. Brazilian is concentrated within the loop, small clusters but they're trackable. Overall it's a very multicultural city and it's not one aspect where it doesn't show, it does very well on that and the cuisine both regional & ethnic is a reflection of that in my opinion. Also for what it's worth, Houston has amazing Persian food and super awesome Hookah bars (no not Cafe Layal, I hate that place). I wouldn't put Houston's food scene with New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or San Francisco but it's easily and I do mean easily in the next group. After moving to Washington, one thing I admit that I miss is definitely the food, I miss it everyday. Houston is a great foods town, seriously. Cherish it and appreciate it and stop taking it for granted (Matt).
Seafood you'll find more of south of I-10, that's where Houston starts shifting into "coastal mode". The interstate is a psychological and in my opinion cultural & topographical dividing line in the Houston area. North of there you'll typically find few palm trees and more pine trees, it's generally going to be much more tree covered. South from there it starts becoming dramatically less tree covered and palm trees start showing up by the numbers as you head to the coast while becoming a standard plain before turning into marshes and the abundance in seafood & cajun food options will grow as you keep going south.
Houston is particularly gritty for a sunbelt city and it shows, it's not exactly clean either but it's by far cleaner than cities like Baltimore, San Francisco, or Philadelphia. The area is medium density sprawl and the automobile is not just a transportation module but also a mindset. Houston is very suburban in its mindset, more so than Dallas, Atlanta, or Austin. I think about equally with Miami honestly with the car dependency. Even in urban stretches like Upper Kirby, Midtown, Neartown, Allen Parkway, Montrose, Rice Village, Old Freedmans Town, Rice Military, Greenway, and so on and so forth you'll find few souls walking those sidewalks. The city is catered by the car, people take a lot of pride in it too which is why Houston has a massive underground street racing scene off Westheimer near George Bush Park & Highway 6, Mason Road, & FM 1464 and to suit it has a huge "ricer" culture too. For those that don't know what a ricer is, that's someone that drives a car (most times a cruddy one) that's been moded up just for street racing. Then there's the music scene in Houston which is not club music, it's primarily made for "car culture" and you'll often see the "pokers" on their rims and people "swanging" (Houston style of driving) while bumping this sort of music. It's car culture.
In the suburbs it's a little different. I grew up in Sugar Land, which I can confidentially say is more diverse than Houston, cleaner and a better place to live for schools and quiet surroundings. We were taught to hate Houston there for looking rundown, being poor, and whatever. It's sort of a stuck up place, car culture reigns there too. If you're 15 and get your permit then it's expected by your 16th birthday to have a car given to you. It's not an option, it's seen as a standard and most Houston suburbs and large parts of the city are the same way. I compared the car culture to Miami because more than anywhere else and despite Miami being much more denser than Houston, I noticed that people there also harp on their cars way too much. There is barely a soul walking on the sidewalks there in the city and its suburbs (excepting Miami Beach for sure). Car culture there reminds me of where I grew up, the need to have a flashy, high end, performance driven car. In Miami you're 10 times more likely to see an exotic car than Houston, 10 times more likely to see car meets, & just as likely to see (if not more) street racing and car culture. Car tunings, modifications, NosO2, and so on and so forth. Parking garage mentality, to drive somewhere, park your car and then get back in and hop somewhere else instead of walking. I don't know where this suburban nature comes from but Houston is hooked to the car like it's a drug for it. It's becoming more "urban" with the infill but its adding a paltry amount of feet to the sidewalks.
The sidewalks vary, in some places they're appropriate for large masses of people and in some areas (I'm talking inner loop) they're not. Walking isn't impossible in Houston but it's hard, area like Westheimer and Greenbriar you could be walking along the sidewalk and crash into a power pole because it consumes 75% of the sidewalk there and becomes a block getting by when there are actually others walking with you. The sidewalks could be bigger, like Miami it's small size and in between the curb area and the sidewalk there is this grass buffer zone, which I wish they would do away with and extent the actual sidewalk itself. It can be a walkers nightmare and during traffic hours, because how small and poorly planned the sidewalks are you have to pay close attention otherwise you can get hit by the car and that's not any fun.
Houston's nightlife overall is mediocre. I say this because I'm not a fan of strip clubs (which are the main scene in the city of Houston outside the inner loop) & the clubs inside the loop like those on Washigton Avenue, Montrose, Rice Village are underwhelming. Too many guys and the weird thing with Houston is that all the hot chicks already are in relationships, so it's like why bother going to the club anyway when you just wanted to spend time with only your significant other. So for out of towners, Houston's club scene is sort of underwhelming, the hot girls are taken guys and if they're not then it's the second problem, there's too many guys. Way too many. Houston is a house party city or a "invite to exclusive party only city" and that's how locals get in on their nightlife. There is a house party everywhere in the region and more than any other city I've been too. It's crazy in Houston but you have to know someone to get to those parties, you cant be an out of towner just walking into someone's packed house. The invite only parties are more like charter types, you can find them on Upper Kirby, Shephard, Greenbriar, Voss Road, San Felipe, Briar Forest, or whatever but they're more toned down and hush hush and you have to know people and have a lot of money to get in. Houston's bar scene is great though, it's one of the more underrated things about the city for sure but you wouldn't know that because Houstonians on this forum are too busy talking about Neil Armstrong or boosting the biggest belt buckles instead of this. The only problem is the car nature of the city, if you want to play it safe, go there by a car and leave by a car or wait it out to drive. This is where having no transit SUCKS. Great bars, really sucky transportation methods to get to and from them unless you literally live closeby but it's Houston and people don't live that close to where they spend their time because most of them are suburbanites from across town or something. I would think that on nightclubs that Atlanta takes it by far compared to Houston. It's not that bad, I mean there is a great variety of Asian clubs, Latino clubs, black clubs, young clubs, old clubs, and everything but it can and most likely will be underwhelming for a city of it's size. Then again, I'm not much of a clubber and more of a bar guy, so I couldn't care less for it. To be fair, if you're LGBT then Montrose is a great nightlife area for real. I'm straight but I would say Rice Village is getting better and Washington Avenue is the only nice clubbing street in Houston from my experience. The rest can be a sausage fest or "hey you hitting on my girl man" type of experience, which is of course no bueno and mediocre.
Before I forget. Music in Houston city is not to my liking. Honestly, I'm not a fan of Screwston at all and never was. Honestly, I'll just come right out and say it, I hate that music. I hate it a lot. If you live in Houston city, southwest, west, east, or south from Houston then it's a Screwston, Hip Hop, Rap, & R&B territory. There is a decent techno & trance base in Katy & Sugar Land and the northern suburbs in Montgomery County counterbalance (but cant since Montgomery is wayyyy smaller than Harris) that Screwston culture with Rock, Indie Rock, Metal, Trance, Techno, major Dubstep territory, electronica, pop, & country music. It's also a rave territory up there, there's lots of that going on and like almost every weekend or every other weekend. Lots of that rave culture and whatnot up there. So in a way, Houston area isn'tt musically devoid of variety but it's Screw nation almost across the map for the entire metro besides that one corner that I used to spend a helluva lot of time in.
Houston overall is a city I like sometimes but also dislike strongly sometimes, I think I can say that but I'm not a fan of the people that live there that I know of. Houstonians (the ones I know) can be invasive and intrusive in your personal life, they'll talk about irrelevant things (like Metro Matt is here) like having Fortune 500 companies (I know a lot of people in Houston that do for the record), & they'll have a suburban mindset. They don't acknowledge the great aspects in Houston, instead of talking about the accomplishments and success of the performing arts in Houston, they will instead talk about how big the theater seats are or how big the land area for the Theater District is. It's because a lot of them are unfamiliar with these things, many of them have a suburban mindset, they know it exists but they don't want to embrace it or explore it. Not saying all of them but from my experience so many of them.
Just look at Uptown Houston, yes the district's name is Uptown but look at what the suburban mindset has done to the city. They call the freaking place "Galleria area", an entire business district being falsely regarded to for a MALL. Houstonians still haven't discovered their own city yet, it's not a surprise that it gets so much hate. How can you defend your city when you cant even tell others what it's strengths are, just look at this thread for example. You have your characters like Metro Matt going on and on about how big the land area is for the Chinatown in the suburbs and spending the entire time talking about "space" instead of Houston's real strengths like Rothko Chapel, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Opera, Houston Ballet, and so on and so forth.
Another thing, when it comes to public art there is no doubt that Houston is lacking in that. It has a few monuments and memorials, there is the San Jacinto Monument for one that I can think of off the top of my head and those monuments or sculptures in Herman Park but it could do better in this area.
Anyway I'm not saying everyone from Houston fits these descriptions but many do, people like Metro Matt definitely do. Where is Nairobi? He can take over and talk more about Soul food, how southern gulf coast culture meets Texas and deep south culture and the local cultures here. He's more qualified on that than I am.
If I could rep you 1 million times for this, I would. This is exactly the type of post that explains a city and leaves it at that. No need to boost or tear down, it is what it is. Kudos to you!
If you were capable of simply clicking hyperlinks and reading, you'd see that this thread was started by a Charlestonian, not an Atlantan.
EXACTLY! And as huge as Houston is, isn't it interesting that HOUSTON is always the underdog in these comparisons? Atlanta really is beyond having to "prove itself" to the world. Poor Houston continues to play catchup.
Metro Matt is not a Houstonian. He is from and currently lives in Tyler, Texas, which almost 200 miles north of here.
I read Valencian's post, and since it was quite lengthy, I have to admit that I mostly just skimmed through it, and might have missed some points.
What does stick out to me is that he seems to be describing a different Houston than the one I've known. I don't doubt that this is due to the fact that he grew up in the suburbs, and I was raised in the city.
For one, I think he laid it on pretty heavy concerning the suburban mindset. Because outside of their immediate cores, trust me when I say that Dallas, Atlanta, and Austin hold the exact same attitudes; especially Atlanta. There, not only do they love their cars, but they love their space. The large lots and long, winding roads are unlike anything we have in most of urban Texas. I was even in awe to find myself in some areas of Atlanta that someone would've described as "the hood", and I'm looking at big, beautiful yards with nice landscaping and long, sloping driveways. As for Houstonians being in love with their cars and lacking an urban attitude, I can see how one might hold that perception if they've always been most accustomed to the most suburban ways of life here. But when you've been a long time resident of the inner loop, you get to meet more than just a few people who don't even own cars and use their feet/bicycle/public trans as their primary way of getting around. Taking the bus may not be as sexy and smooth as rail, but it's an effective point-to-point MOT.
As someone else pointed out, the whole screw thing is more dated than it is popular, and its glory days are behind it. It has little more than mere nostalgic value for most of us, it seems. Every (and I do mean every) genre of music can be found in this city. There are plenty of talented musicians and artists from all over. I've even been introduced to styles of music I never even heard of, right here in Houston. It's currently to the point where I'm starting to think that there's hardly one genre of music that can be described as dominating here. The key is getting off the beaten path. If you blink, you might miss something.
Also, I don't think it's very wise to look at the posters on a message board as an example of how the actual people of a city are. If real Atlantans annoyed me as much as the posters do, I would've hated it there So you might describe Houstonians as invasive and essentially simple-minded, but I'd call them laid back, hard working, jovial, and quite possibly the most open-minded people in the entire southern region.
...now, back to another late night of work
Last edited by Nairobi; 10-13-2012 at 03:02 AM..
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