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Dude, I really want to understand your "varied streetscapes" thing but I just feel like you're completely talking out of your ass.
I'm pretty sure all you mean by "funky" or whatever is undeveloped. The streets are pretty damn similar in LA and Houston in terms of width and layout and whatever, especially in the inner loop. The main difference is that Houston hasn't developed it's corridors to a truly urban level. Many of them still have a rural feel, even when there are relatively dense housing developments nearby. I think that as the inner loop gets more developed it'll start looking a lot more like LA.
I think all you're reacting to is that LA streetscapes are all built out. Every parcel has a building. That's all. Because outside of that, I really can't understand how you can look at, say, abbot kinney and say it looks at all like Lincoln, a few blocks away.
Also, I look at streetscapes in Houston and they all look like Houston to me.. either under-developed, shoddy, and rural-like, or brand-new suburban mall crap. All that stuff you wax poetically about, I just can't relate to it at all...
So maybe we'll just have to chalk this up to each being illiterate about each other's cities.
That said, I do want to know how you can say that these streetscapes all feel the same:
Again, I really like LA...it does have its distinct appeal.
But those multiple streetscapes you've shown are basically typical low-rise Manhattan, typical city-block types. "Urban" and more dense compared to Houston's outer streetscapes, ok, I get that. Some of those have a Disney-vibe more than others.
Other than that, what really looks different about Melrose, Montana, Valley and say, Whittier in terms of basic streetscape?
However, as I've posted, you clearly see quite greater texture and spacing in the Houston metro's commercial facades. I've seen LA up close and personal many times as a former SoCal resident. And I see Houston up close now.
I really hope that Houston's outer areas do not begin to look like LA's, to be honest. I'm glad there are truly different looking commercial areas from the cheesy but open-sky Richmond Strip to funky Old Town Spring to ultra-modern City Centre to Atascocita (lake) to Woodlands (forest/canal walk).
Houston is "underdeveloped?" "Rural?" LOL. I'm truly appreciative of some blank green spaces in between certain areas here in the Houston metro, thank you.
And as I've said, I'll take Houston's variety/eccentricity over LA's uniform density. Just my personal preference, if I may so out of my "ass."
Last edited by worldlyman; 05-07-2011 at 05:41 PM..
Substantial nightlife on Richmond Avenue? Like 10 years ago. It's dead now. There is also nothing substantial about the nightlife in The Woodlands, Sugar Land, and City Centre. Those are just big mixed used developments. Pretty much every suburb has one of those.
Richmond Avenue is quite far from being "dead." From Thurs-Sat, those patio decks are quite full, from Mazaj to Uptown Hookah to Concert Pub to British Arms to Sam's Boat to Horn to Rocca Bar (to Gertner's, Darband and Cafe Europe on the Fountainview cross street).
Richmond Avenue, like many other Houston nightlife districts, simply isn't overloaded in any one area anymore. A sign of maturity and balance in this metro.
City Centre has a pretty flowing and full, if a bit more upscale, nightlife. That is a very happening and pedestrian area (Yard House and Flora & Muse have become personal faves)...and people love it. I personally love that futuristic nightlife feel if I don't feel like doing the traditional urban Gotham thing downtown or Washington Avenue. And here's the best part, City Centre isn't even fully leased yet.
Same with Sugar Land Town Square, I see people, to various degree, either eating late night pizza or drinking on the outdoor patios or hanging out at the Square chatting past midnight!
So what if City Centre and Sugar Land are nouveaux? They are still substantial nightlife OPTIONS.
Also, these new developments COMPLEMENT the traditional, more urban-style nightlife areas of the Houston metro (but then, the detractors don't get that).
That's the beauty of Houston and its immediate areas. We don't have to go into a crowded urban core. We can have a BUNCH of different type areas, each with their own little to heavier crowds, depending what area or areas are chosen for the night.
It's great to have the Houston urban skyscrapers, doing a FREE Jones Plaza concert, go grab a bite at Bayou Place or coffee at Minuti on Thursday night...
then go have some truly FUNKY spaces like Boheme or Fairview Bar in the Montrose's hidden little "main streets"...or sit with some pitchers at Ginger Man or Baker St in the Rice Village on Friday night...
then head down to the colorful, bawdy wood porches of Kemah Lighthouse District on Saturday night...have some great sliders and spirits at Zone 504 and watch those sexy girls walk by to Palapas Bar just across!
Not many metros have those incongruent yet accessible nightlife spaces like Houston's.
Midtown Houston is a great nightlife optin. There's great traditional pedestrian and sidewalk action on W. Gray in Midtown at places like CoCo's, Front Porch, Christian's Tailgate, Komodo Pub, Cross Lounge...then to break up the predictability and cliche...there is the axis along Bagby/McGowen in more of a loose urban grid, from Barcadia to Pub Fiction to Glitter to Continental Club to Pink Lounge.
Last edited by worldlyman; 05-07-2011 at 05:58 PM..
Again, I really like LA...it does have its distinct appeal.
But those multiple streetscapes you've shown are basically typical low-rise Manhattan, typical city-block types. "Urban" and more dense compared to Houston's outer streetscapes, ok, I get that. Some of those have a Disney-vibe more than others.
Other than that, what really looks different about Melrose, Montana, Valley and say, Whittier in terms of basic streetscape?
However, as I've posted, you clearly see quite greater texture and spacing in the Houston metro's commercial facades. I've seen LA up close and personal many times as a former SoCal resident. And I see Houston up close now.
I really hope that Houston's outer areas do not begin to look like LA's, to be honest. I'm glad there are truly different looking commercial areas from the cheesy but open-sky Richmond Strip to funky Old Town Spring to ultra-modern City Centre to Atascocita (lake) to Woodlands (forest/canal walk).
Houston is "underdeveloped?" "Rural?" LOL. I'm thankful for some blank green spaces in between some areas here in the Houston metro, thank you.
And as I've said, I'll take Houston's variety/eccentricity over LA's uniform density. Just my personal preference, if I may so out of my "ass."
Ok, I'm starting to sort of understand what you're saying.. I think you mainly just like that sort of "roadhouse" style of urbanism: a lot of what you show in those pictures has that sensibility. I can't think of a single nightlife district in LA that has that feel, though there are definitely commercial districts, in, say, the mountains that have some of that ramshackle quality. I do find some of those pics you posted interesting that have that quality.
Outside of that, though, there's really nothing else I'm seeing that is unique. You have malls. Check. You have a couple classic main street town center streets. Check. You have some new urbanist-style condo corners. check.
Every city has these, so I'm really not buying the overall diversity/variety argument.
But in general, I think there is this unique roadhouse-urbanism quality in what you show of Houston: of small buildings set apart from one another, often with gravel parking lots, patios, etc. that you really only find in LA on highway 1 on the way to malibu. It's like biker-bar urbanism. And I think it's cool that Houston has a lot of these areas--San Antonio's st. mary's st. is like that.
To say that LA's streetscapes are uniform and "low-rise manhattan" is still ridiculous. Just because there's often a consistent streetwall doesn't mean the feel is the same. Especially given how much more diverse the architecture is in Los Angeles than in most places.
You know what's a place in LA I think you'd really like? Sawtelle. It has a lot of that roadhouse-y disconnected feel (not with gravel parking lots.. but sorta similar) and yet still vibrant. I like hanging out there.
Houston does have a small town/roadside feel to those pictures posted above
no doubt appealing to some, not to others, I don't see anything I would not be able
to find in a third tiered Californian city like Sacramento, or a small LA neighborhood like
Eagle Rock or Silverlake
Yeah, you're right, Daortiz. Eagle Rock is a lot like those pics:
Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Lincoln Heights, parts of Echo Park and silver lake all have similar "roadhouse" feels along certain roads. I wasn't thinking about them because they also all have traditional "main streets" as well with small storefronts close together.
The first couple few pics of Houston's bar scene look more like a parking lot than an interesting nightlife scene. There is no character or street connectivity at all. Atmosphere adds so much to the experience. The LA pics are great!
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