Houston is very definitely a sun belt type city in respect to sprawl and all that, it is what it is. There are pedestrian friendly spots, but it is not generally a pedestrian friendly city overall. It is a car-centric culture any way you cut it. You just have to learn to embrace it. You can, however, do better within parts of Montrose.
Montrose is still one of the more interesting, eclectic, urban & fun parts of town. It is probably the best place for you to rent being new to Houston, and then learn the city and go from there. Many of the rentals are from individuals and they only use signs in the yards. You can check the rentals on
Houston Real Estate - Houston Homes, Houston Home Value and Houston Relocation for some, craigslist and print publications like the inner loop greensheet and the Houston Chronicle. Still, a lot will be simply signs in the yard.
There is a large GLBT population in Houston and lots of clubs, churches, and every manner of organization here.
Montrose continues to be the epicenter of a lot of the activity but due to rising real estate values, it is far from the "gay ghetto" it was 20 years ago. The community isn't as concentrated here as in some other places, even less concentration IMO than what you see in Dallas for example.
The community has fanned out over much of the inner-loop, especially the Heights area, as well as neighboring Timbergrove Manor and Lazybrook and across the loop in Garden Oaks and Oak Forest. Westbury in southwest Houston is sort of known now as "the new Montrose" because of the influx of Gays that have fixed up the 50's era ranch style homes out there. There is some group out there called WAGL, (Westbury Association of Gays & Lesbians) that has several hundred members supposedly. A growing number have moved east to stay closer in & take advantage of the lower prices of emerging markets in places like Eastwood, Idylwood & my hood, Glenbrook Valley.
Moral of the story, ultimately don't feel limited to being in the Montrose gayborhood, as for the most part, it is where people still go out and do stuff, but when it comes to actually buying a place a lot within the community can no longer afford it and have fanned out to a number of other places.
Be sure and hit Baba Yega's on Grant for lunch.
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Gay man heading to Houston from Seattle.
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