Some seem to think Houston doesn't take pride in its appearance. Thoughts? (The Woodlands: loft, house)

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by C2H (ComingtoHouston)

and by them looking for something different do you really mean looking for something ugly? Because right now, we still have to wait on the Regency Squares and West Avenues to even be fully built out. Why oh why couldn't they connect these places with some sort of mass transit?

Is bus not good enough? Metro Rail university line will travels about 1/4 mile south of West Ave (which has phase one almost completed) in a couple of years. Regency Square already has bus serving the area but phase 3 of Metro's rail expansion has LRT going by the area of Regency Square.

Just from your posts you seem like a glass half empty kind of guy or maybe it's been a rough few weeks.

[TVC15]

Originally Posted by worldlyman

Houston is not inherently a tourist city. That can be said a lot of times until cows turn into tofu.

But after living in Southern California and Gulf Coast Florida, not to mention having traveled to places like Manila, Amsterdam, San Fran, NY, Copenhagen, Toronto...

I don't get the feeling Houston is "weird" or "odd" or "just plain ugly" in a negative way.

I left San Diego in 2006, supposedly "America's Finest City" and I will never go back there. I love Houston, warts and all. Some things could be done better here but that's that.

Do we need a Times Square or a Picadilly or a 3rd Street Promenade or a Strøget and such in order to put Houston in some esteemed "world's favorite cities club?"

Heck no. For me, I LOVE the do-it-yourself feel of Houston. That's what makes it different and maverick. Let Dallas, Atlanta and San Diego be cute. Houston...that's another different story.

I and many others actually enjoy Houston's bag of different DISTINCT corners: Montrose, Rice Village, Old Town Spring, Kemah Lighthouse District (not necessarily the Boardwalk), downtown, the Strand, Texas Med Center, Midtown@W. Gray, 19th Street Heights not to mention some of the newer layouts that are beginning to grow on me such as Sugar Land Town Center, Woodlands Waterway environs and that very impressive City Centre. These different distractions make for a very entertaining city all around.

I mean where do we find something as unique and offbeat with its incomparable charm as Old Town Spring in reasonable grasp in L.A. or New York or Las Vegas? Las Vegas. Yeah, great "urban" 24 hours. But then it doesn't even have the DIVERSE AMENITIES of Houston! Neither does another favored vacation spot like Tampa Bay.

We can have urban setting in downtown, have odd claptrap in Old Town Spring, faux Santa Monica in Rice Village, oddball bungalows-Victorians-to-conventional but colorful storefronts of Montrose, sci-fi style over at City Centre...Houston's simply got a variety of sets...that other major cities don't have. Los Angeles and Manhattan are fabulous...but their cityscapes all look the same, basically. Chinatown in Manhattan is the same structure as SoHo or Little Italy. Same sidewalks and buildings. In L.A., same goes for Melrose, Robertson, Colorado, Valley Blvd, Santa Monica, Sunset, Western, and so forth. Dizzying array of stuff, yes...but same concrete setting as far as I'm concerned.

Just sitting at the corner of Westheimer/Fountainview drinking al fresco at Cafe Europe, or having shaved ice cream at Oasis off Hillcroft/Bellaire...this city has BUZZ even in strip centers! I have a different perspective on urban. The people meandering in and out of the establishments, cars going in and out...that's a city on the move. Yes, people actually walking on the sidewalks of Hillcroft as people eat al fresco at Mambo's and Oasis...Houston offers a new mode of urbanity, evolved for daily convenience.

EXAMPLE: San Fran's Chinatown is for the tourists and for holiday. For most of the year, I'd rather take the convenience of Houston's New Chinatown Bellaire. It offers the same thing...and guess what, those centers such as Sin Chao, Dun Huang and Dynasty among others are just as bustling with people in its lots and sidewalks, adding to the excitement factor.

The corner of Winrock/Westheimer...every type of food and diversion there from boba tapioca, late night pool, late night Italian at Little Napoli's...the gentlemen's clubs...that's an awesome UNPACKAGED entertainment district right there...and it is MUCH MORE visceral in a city context than something like the San Diego Gas Lamp. San Diego doesn't have that kind of all-around-sprawl excitement and dynamic of Houston. SD's simply packaged for tourist kiosks on its cute sidewalks and beachwalks.

I'm not stuck on the old view of crowded and inconvenient parallel parking with wide and perfectly linear pedestrian sidewalks in every single district.

And actually just as there are people who don't find Houston their cup of tea, there are other visitors that actually find its offbeat eccentricity a great appeal. Visitors I've shown around Houston had a MARVELOUS time. One even came back and wanted a repeat trip through the downtown tunnels.

Not every visitor wants an On-and-Off Tour Bus in Manhattan or London! Some like to see all the gems and oddities of a Space City in its sprawling do-it-yourself form.

After all Houston is home to some of the most notable museums, restaurants and performing arts as well as the other stuff like Art Car, Orange Show, Beer Can Houses and the like.

So it's no wonder Houston is home to some 90 different languages.

I love the way u write about Houston!

[TexasTheKid]

Originally Posted by C2H (ComingtoHouston)

and by them looking for something different do you really mean looking for something ugly?

Not at all, but common perception and preferences tend to evolve over time. 150 years ago, the only people who lived in NYC were those unfortunate few who couldn't afford to leave it. 50 years ago, suburbs were the awesome new thing. In another hundred years, I'm willing to bet the city that marched to the beat of its own drummer (talkin' 'bout Houston here) will probably be the big hip thing. Styles don't remain static.

[blkgiraffe]

It takes a ugly person to know what ugly is!

OOOOOOOOOOOOO BURN!

[stoneclaw]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

It takes a ugly person to know what ugly is!

OOOOOOOOOOOOO BURN!

oooh burn. don't make me post pics of myself. everyone i meet tells me i shoulda been a model. OOOOOOOOOOO SLAM DUNK!!!

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by C2H (ComingtoHouston)

Since the city limits are so big where most major cities' political boundaries are the size of the 610 loop (or smaller). The city should devide itself into different quadrants, which they could work on beautifying certain sectors. The fact that the city has so many square miles, makes it harder to manage than alot of other cities. That would a plan to lead to some sort of cohesiveness like finnisher was talking about.

Houston has been beautifying itself in different areas of the city. A good example of this is all of the trees that have been planted along the freeways over the past few years. From downtown on north to The Woodlands its almost a continuous stretch of newly planted pine trees along I-45. South of downtown on the Gulf Freeway all the way to the Beltway South, palm trees of varying species line the sides of the freeway. The recently completed Katy Freeway has had pine trees extensively planted & so has 610 around the Galleria area.

[TexasTheKid]

Originally Posted by C2H (ComingtoHouston)

That would a plan to lead to some sort of cohesiveness like finnisher was talking about.

There was no planning in Rome or Paris, and there's definitely no cohesiveness. Two millenia of architectural fashions have led to a hodgepodge, seemingly random sort of spackling of urban development. Give Houston time, and stop expecting it to be something it's not. It'll fill out quite nicely on its own, and in its own time. In the meantime, go to the Museum District/Hermann Park and enjoy a taste of Madrid or hit up the East End and enjoy a taste of Guatemala City.

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by C2H (ComingtoHouston)

oooh burn. don't make me post pics of myself. everyone i meet tells me i shoulda been a model. OOOOOOOOOOO SLAM DUNK!!!

Put up or is all I got to say.

[Callo]

Houston's main problem is that it's growing, but it's the wrong kind of growth.

When your main growth area is illegals and transients, while the Anglo population continues to decrease, that a very bad sign for the future.

[honeyinhouston]

Originally Posted by Callo

Houston's main problem is that it's growing, but it's the wrong kind of growth.

When your main growth area is illegals and transients, while the Anglo population continues to decrease, that a very bad sign for the future.

Well that's happening in many cities all over the country and no one seems to care.