What's there to like and hate about Houston?

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

There are a few you're right but Houston nightlife is still pretty strong. It's just more spread out. The few nightlife districts I've been to down Wash Ave and Midtown have gotten rowdy as heck.

Its just different. In every other city Ive lived in (LA, Chicago, Dallas, and DC) you could stumble from one club/bar to the other because the nightlife districts were cohesive. In Houston, that just isn't the case. Midtown is the one possible exception. Washington Ave. definitely is spread out way too much.

[RMESMH]

Originally Posted by Prey521

The weather and the drivers are my 2 biggest dislikes of living here. Otherwise, I love it and you couldn't pay me enough to move back to NY!

I actually like the weather .

I agree with you re the drivers. I've driven all over the 'Lower 48', and IMO the only area that is worse is the southern part of Florida (draw a line across Florida at Bradenton....any thing south of that line...).

My other big dislike is being so far away from an Alpine ski area .

Otherwise, I love it as well

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

Its just different. In every other city Ive lived in (LA, Chicago, Dallas, and DC) you could stumble from one club/bar to the other because the nightlife districts were cohesive. In Houston, that just isn't the case. Midtown is the one possible exception. Washington Ave. definitely is spread out way too much.

Maybe Hollywood but for the most part LA lacks the same cohesion. All the NIMBYism has killed a lot of nightlife. I was amazed by how non-rowdy LA is. I thought it was going to be Vegas on steroids, the real sin city but it's way more laid back with small pockets of cohesive rowdy nightlife like Hollywood. Even then the cops swim around there like sharks and it isn't like 6th Street at all. Midtown get more packed. Holidays may be a bit different.
For what it's worth Houston offers great nightlife. I remember back in the hey day of Houston's DJ party scene I had one girl from Manhattan say she was impressed with what Houston built as far as warehouse parties and club events. I don't know if that still goes on or not.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

Its just different. In every other city Ive lived in (LA, Chicago, Dallas, and DC) you could stumble from one club/bar to the other because the nightlife districts were cohesive. In Houston, that just isn't the case. Midtown is the one possible exception. Washington Ave. definitely is spread out way too much.

Don't forget the Historic District / Market Square area in Downtown, very hopping and compact.

Also Rice Village, to a lesser extent.

Nevertheless, people expect to drink and drive in Houston, it's a longstanding cultural tradition. Some think that's OK, others don't.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Maybe Hollywood but for the most part LA lacks the same cohesion. All the NIMBYism has killed a lot of nightlife. I was amazed by how non-rowdy LA is. I thought it was going to be Vegas on steroids, the real sin city but it's way more laid back with small pockets of cohesive rowdy nightlife like Hollywood. Even then the cops swim around there like sharks and it isn't like 6th Street at all. Midtown get more packed. Holidays may be a bit different.
For what it's worth Houston offers great nightlife. I remember back in the hey day of Houston's DJ party scene I had one girl from Manhattan say she was impressed with what Houston built as far as warehouse parties and club events. I don't know if that still goes on or not.

I never said that Houston didn't have good nightlife options, but I completely disagree about LA. In LA, you have West Hollywood, Sunset, Hermosa Beach, Silver Lake, Santa Monica, Venice, etc. that have good nightlife options (bars and clubs) that are all within stumbling distance of each other within themselves.


Houston has Midtown and that's really about it. I would not put downtown or Washington Ave. like that at all.

[gwarnecke]

Others have it pretty well covered already, but I'd contribute the following:

-Like: OUR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS NOT THAT BAD. No, it's not perfect, but consider the monumental challenge of serving a community as large and spread-out as Houston. When people comment that a city has excellent public transportation, they usually mean that public transportation can get you to most important destinations in the city, because all of these are fairly close together. Houston is enormous! Even if we had dozens of rail lines and more-frequent bus service, it would still take far longer to travel long distances in the city than driving would. Thus, rather than spending a fortune to provide public transportation options that would still provide inferior service to private vehicles, Houston focuses its public transportation dollars on two objectives, both of which it actually does pretty well. 1 - provide frequent bus and light-rail service in the densest parts of the city, where parking is actually limited/expensive enough that many would rather not drive. 2 - provide high-quality commuter bus service to the CBD (via P+R buses) and other business districts (via STAR Metro vanpools) during the hours that these services add the most value (ie rush hour)

-Dislike: Poor condition of streets and sidewalks, due to both underinvestment and our expansive clay soils. But the city is working to address, it's just a slow process.

[Gunion Powder]

Atlanta sprawls far worse than Houston, but they made rail work pretty well for them. DFW and South Florida are more interconnected. I don't think there's any valid excuse for Houston.