NYT thinks Houston is "The place to go" in the U.S. (and the world) in 2013

[GTRdad]

Originally Posted by RAS909

Recent transplant to Houston and really missing the beautiful public parks and spaces in the NorthEast. Are there any parks or gardens in the city like the National Cathedral garden in DC or the Alamo garden in SA? Even a small green shaded garden will do. Outdoor Miller Theatre is very nice but the rest of the Hermann Park looks very parched right now. H'town lovers, please don't flame, I am not putting the city down, just want to see if I am missing something.

The japanese garden is all we have. And it has crape myrtles and wisterias :\

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by RAS909

Recent transplant to Houston and really missing the beautiful public parks and spaces in the NorthEast. Are there any parks or gardens in the city like the National Cathedral garden in DC or the Alamo garden in SA? Even a small green shaded garden will do. Outdoor Miller Theatre is very nice but the rest of the Hermann Park looks very parched right now. H'town lovers, please don't flame, I am not putting the city down, just want to see if I am missing something.

MFAH | Visit | Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Bayou Bend is the MFAH house museum for American decorative arts and paintings. Displayed in the former home of Houston civic leader and philanthropist Ima Hogg (1882–1975), the collection is one of the finest showcases of American furnishings, silver, ceramics, and paintings in the world. The house is situated on 14 acres of organically maintained gardens in Houston's historic River Oaks neighborhood.
Open year-round, Bayou Bend welcomes thousands of visitors annually for tours and special programs. With the addition of the Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center, which includes the Kitty King Powell Library and Study Center and The Shop at Bayou Bend, as well as state-of-the-art education and rental spaces, Bayou Bend has established its place in the continually growing cultural arts scene of Houston.

Go there then tell us what you think....

Also when the time comes

http://www.riveroaksgardenclub.org/AzaleaTrail.cfm

The purpose of River Oaks Garden Club is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by RAS909

Recent transplant to Houston and really missing the beautiful public parks and spaces in the NorthEast. Are there any parks or gardens in the city like the National Cathedral garden in DC or the Alamo garden in SA? Even a small green shaded garden will do. Outdoor Miller Theatre is very nice but the rest of the Hermann Park looks very parched right now. H'town lovers, please don't flame, I am not putting the city down, just want to see if I am missing something.

Try:
-Houston Arboretum (next to Hermann Park)
-Japanese Gardens (in Hermann Park)
-Buffalo Bayou Park
-Memorial Park
-Terry Hershey Park
-Spotts Park
-Sesquicentennial Park in downtown
-Discovery Green
-Lawns surrounding the Menil Gallery
-Gardens at the Bayou Bend Mansion (my favorite during springtime)
-Take a walk/run around the Rice Loop

[Spade]

Originally Posted by worldlyman

"Random" suburban malls are typically surrounded by an endless vast sea of asphalt/concrete parking lots. By that standard, the Houston Galleria is not, where parking is much more measured and obscured.

Suburban malls totally have non-mitigating horizontal qualities. The Houston Galleria while certainly horizontal also, does have UNIQUE elegant vertical features, within and nearby.

Suburban malls do not have the striking architectural sophistication of the Houston Galleria. Even the celebrated indoor malls in the Los Angeles area like South Coast Plaza (which reminds me of an upscale version of Countryside Mall in Clearwater, Florida) and Beverly Center cannot touch the Galleria in that aspect.

Rodeo Drive is an outdoor construct whose street texture is like Melrose or Robertson...more akin to Miracle Mile in Chicago. No, the Houston Galleria is an indoor uber-swank architectural phenomenon no matter how you cut it, no matter how some of us may find indoor malls unfavorable.

Suburban malls do not typically have dense surrounding, adjacent and BUZZING commercial synergy. The Houston Galleria (as well as the Beverly Center) does.

The Houston Galleria is very attractive to affluent Latin American, Middle Easterners and Asian shoppers from abroad. We need not be ignorant of the fact that foreigners-in-the-know DO come to Houston just to shop, Galleria included.

I mean really, what "random...suburban mall" was the "envy among retailers around the world" like the Houston Galleria?
D Magazine : ANATOMY OF A SUPER MALL



It's interesting though, how the Anal Urbanists might go through the trouble of extolling the virtues of something such as cute public outdoor markets though a great many may look and smell quite the same in different cities, yet criticize indoor malls as all being one and the same. Golly, I didn't know that Memorial City Mall randomly looked like the Houston Galleria.

The Texas Medical Center is an international magnet, so let's not even address any hater's snide remarks against it. Houston is the city NY Times architecture critic Ada Huxtable once said "that scholar's flock to for the purpose of seeing what modern civiliation has wrought." The Med Center is one manifestation of that.

Actually, there are travelers who would find Houston an interesting visit BECAUSE of its unique qualities I mentioned.

One of my Florida visitors was impressed by the downtown tunnels in his first visit because he said that most any tourist can go to the Statue of Liberty or Golden Gate Bridge, but something so functional AND unique like the downtown Houston tunnels, not many "tourists" can claim to have observed them. His second visit, this time with his significant other, ANOTHER tour of the downtown tunnels was his request just to show her.

You're still proving to us how great Houston is for living, not visiting. Like another poster said, nobody outside of Rich Mexicans is flying to shop at a mall. A mall is a mall and yes, it's still suburban. Houston could do far better than the Galleria. I hope River Oaks district turns out well for Houston. Also, are you seriously touting a medical center as a tourist destination? It's only popular for people who actually NEEDS to go there. And the tunnels? You're reaching. Anal urbanists? Is that your phrase of the year?

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Trae713

If the JSC would actually spruce itself up and not be crap. I went there a couple times as a kid and it was like going to chuck e cheese, just bigger.

Like jm02 said, the JSC was a missed opportunity. Houston and the metro area could have done something great with that. I hate to say this as even I and many Texans have become embarrassed by this. But I think Houston and Texas in general really should have embraced it's Cowboy culture and image. It's obvious a big part of the state and the state will not let go of it. But we became so sophisticated and so uppity that we try to shy away with that. Doing some research from it, there are more cool aspects of Cowboy culture than there are negative aspects of it.

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by Spade

Like jm02 said, the JSC was a missed opportunity. Houston and the metro area could have done something great with that. I hate to say this as even I and many Texans have become embarrassed by this. But I think Houston and Texas in general really should have embraced it's Cowboy culture and image. It's obvious a big part of the state and the state will not let go of it. But we became so sophisticated and so uppity that we try to shy away with that. Doing some research from it, there are more cool aspects of Cowboy culture than there are negative aspects of it.

Space Cowboys! That would be perfect as our city theme.

[3shipguy]

Spade, how can Houston do better when it already has the ultimate mall that is "an indoor uber-swank architectural phenomenon?" No matter how you cut it, I might add.

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by crono_clone

I'd say we're approaching this argument wrong.

Here's how we should approach this: Houston is not boring -- all the attractions are meant for us who live here, not for tourists.

This right here.

Nothing is for the tourists - it's for us.

We will never be a tourist destination. That's OK.