Lower Westheimer vs Montrose vs Museum District vs Midtown (Houston: best neighborhood, apartments)

[ParaguaneroSwag]

I'm shocked that some people are still having trouble knowing what neighborhood they are in but oh well. I'll break down each neighborhood by area and description.

Midtown (should be the easiest):
- Location: South of Downtown which is separated by I-45, East and South borders are Hwy 59, and Bagby to the west
- Description: Lots of mid and high rise apartments, office buildings as well, and lots of professions that want to live close to downtown live here.

Museum District:
- Location: South of Midtown (see borders above), and north of the Texas Medical Center. Eastern borders are 288, and Main St to the West. Some people like to include the Menil Collection to the Museum District, but it is simply not the same neighborhood, even though it is fairly close.
- Description: Lots of museums, Hermann Park.

Lower Westheimer:
- Location: West of Midtown, North of Hghwy 59, East of Shepherd (and Upper Kirby), and South of Gray St
- Description: An incredible neighborhood. Lots of hipsters, great food, thrift stores, graffiti on walls, coffee shops, and best neighborhood for local live music and live music bars in Houston.

Montrose:
- Location: A neighborhood within Lower Westheimer, North of Westheimer, East of Dunylave, West of Midtown
- Description: A big part of Lower Westheimer, very gay friendly.

[txdemo]

I've always considered Montrose bounded by 59, Shepherd, W. Dallas and the edge of what is now known as Midtown.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

I'm shocked that some people are still having trouble knowing what neighborhood they are in but oh well. I'll break down each neighborhood by area and description.

Thanks for taking these amorphous areas and so clearly defining them for us. I'm shocked, shocked I say, that everyone doesn't know this.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by astrohip

Thanks for taking these amorphous areas and so clearly defining them for us. I'm shocked, shocked I say, that everyone doesn't know this.

I am not shocked, only because I was in the area some 30 years, and discovered parts of Midtown and Montrose only about five, or so years ago. I lived in Katy my entire time, but got tired of the commute, and with kids, it was getting harder and harder to leave my job and commute to Katy for kids activities.

When I began to look for homes, I would drive around areas near to downtown Houston, and I was quite surprised to be honest, with the feel, and look of what I discovered. I mean, I had heard about all of these places, but never visited. I had never driven around Midtown, 4th Ward, 6th Ward, Museum district, etc. It opened up my eyes back then that Houston was not just modern city.

Sadly, I see many of the old Bungalows and Foursquares being torn down, and two 4 story high beasts take their place, three if on a corner.

Anyway, if one does not ever visit these areas, then they will not be familiar with the names. Most people out in the burbs will not be able to tell you where Freedmen's Town is, Hyde Park, Cherryhurst, Woodland Heights, EaDo, etc.

[lotophage]

Referring to stuff along Richmond as "Lower Westheimer" may get you laughed at, but don't let that dissuade you. You'll have to talk to the city council about removing the Museum District signs from around the Menil. Also tell MUSE and the Fairmont to change their signs from "Museum District" to "Lower Westheimer."

[Vicman]

One difference too is that Midtown has no area elementary schools (it does have a magnet high school: Houston Academy of International Studies). The last public elementary school in Midtown, J. Will Jones, closed in 2009, and now almost everybody's zoned to Gregory-Lincoln for elementary and middle school (the high school is Heights, formerly Reagan).

Neartown has Wharton and Wilson K-8 schools, plus AOS private K-8 and St. Stephen's Episcopal private K-12. Lanier Middle School (6-8) and HSPVA are also there (though HSPVA will move). Parts of Neartown are zoned to Gregory-Lincoln Middle and Poe and MacGregor elementaries, which are not in Midtown.

I do get the feeling Neartown is more family-oriented in a way (for hippie families) compared to Midtown.

[Texas Ag 93]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

I am not shocked, only because I was in the area some 30 years, and discovered parts of Midtown and Montrose only about five, or so years ago.

I mean, I had heard about all of these places, but never visited. I had never driven around Midtown, 4th Ward, 6th Ward, Museum district, etc. It opened up my eyes back then that Houston was not just modern city.

I know what you mean. I moved to Houston at age 9 and was familiar with only with SW Houston until I went to High School at DeBakey, which is in a very urban location. There were students there from all over Houston. Neighborhoods and wards and places I had never heard of until that point. We had a lot of opportunities to be off campus, and visited people's homes on weekends etc, and I remember driving around so many areas that were so different from my neck of the woods.

Neighborhood maps help me on threads like these. I googled some Houston neighborhoods ones and came across several, including this one that shows most the ITL neighborhoods discussed in this thread. There are other maps of the original wards etc.

http://photo.houstonproperties.com/n...orhood-map.jpg

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

I know what you mean. I moved to Houston at age 9 and was familiar with only with SW Houston until I went to High School at DeBakey, which is in a very urban location. There were students there from all over Houston. Neighborhoods and wards and places I had never heard of until that point. We had a lot of opportunities to be off campus, and visited people's homes on weekends etc, and I remember driving around so many areas that were so different from my neck of the woods.

Neighborhood maps help me on threads like these. I googled some Houston neighborhoods ones and came across several, including this one that shows most the ITL neighborhoods discussed in this thread. There are other maps of the original wards etc.

http://photo.houstonproperties.com/n...orhood-map.jpg

I loooooooove how they call Third Ward "University Area."

[theSteevo]

Originally Posted by lotophage

Referring to stuff along Richmond as "Lower Westheimer" may get you laughed at, but don't let that dissuade you. You'll have to talk to the city council about removing the Museum District signs from around the Menil. Also tell MUSE and the Fairmont to change their signs from "Museum District" to "Lower Westheimer."

This is part of what led to my question in the other thread.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by lotophage

Referring to stuff along Richmond as "Lower Westheimer" may get you laughed at, but don't let that dissuade you. You'll have to talk to the city council about removing the Museum District signs from around the Menil. Also tell MUSE and the Fairmont to change their signs from "Museum District" to "Lower Westheimer."

Referred to it for a long time, hasn't happened yet. Unless that's what you're doing, in which case that is the first. Two things wrong with that.

First thing is that, the signs are there because the museums are fairly close, not because it's the same neighborhood. The city of Houston has not designated what exactly the Museum District is, like it has for other neighborhoods. The neighborhood feel you get in Menil and in the Museum District are completely thing, plus you're divided by a bunch of interstate, and not like Downtown and EaDo where it's an easily crossed interstate, but one where you can't cross it just like that.

The second thing is that Richmond is a major road south of Westheimer, anyone in the right mind considers it in the same area. Unless what you're thinking is that by "Lower Westheimer" people are talking about the road, in which case you're wrong. Obviously the reference is named after the road, but it isn't solely the road. Same thing with Upper Kirby and the Washington Corridor.