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But November, December, Jan. Feb, March and April more than make up for July, Aug, Sept. (at least IMO)
(After living in Ireland for 2 years, England for a total of 5 years- I was more than glad to have nice, bright, sunshine during the winter. By October it was dark at 4:30 in Dublin)
That is exactly how my husband and I feel. We lived in Seattle for almost 10 years and I hope to never again live in a place that gets dark so early and is gray so much of the year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malvie
Having been raised mostly in Texas (with a little Arkansas, Oklahoma mixed in), I thought I'd love the winters too--especially during college/20's, when I skiied a lot in Colorado.
What I found, though, is that like many things, snow is a lot of fun for VACATIONS. When you actually live with it---not so much.
I love Houston, and I find the heat and humidity daunting. I'd still rather put up with the humidity than shovel snow, or suffer ice storms.
AGREED! We moved to Colorado and after getting snowed in several times just the first winter alone, I was done. Houston highways might be stressful because of traffic but at least there isn't the constant thread of sliding off the road into a ditch because of all the snow and ice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jfre81
Anyway, I'm not here to try to change your mind. I'm not a PR firm. Wish you well when you find your way out of here.
Ha, Houston needs a PR firm as I can't think of any other city with so much to offer with such bad press.
I'd lived in San Diego and Tampa Bay; city life and opportunities are much more substantially satisfying here.
San Diego is over-rated. It has a dark side underneath that sunny whitebread touristy appeal that I never liked. It didn't take a Mike Davis book to make me aware of it either.
Houston is a bit of a cultural wasteland to most. Of course there are pockets of ethnic activity going on but it can't compare to many other cities in the US that are much smaller than we are even in that category (see: Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, etc etc etc).
Yeah, we have Mexican food but so what? Pretty much every other large city in the nation does also...and it's not like Mexican food consists of complicated cooking techniques that you can't replicate anyway. We have a lot of restaurants but so does every other city of considerable size. Our restaurants are nothing special AT ALL...I mean, you have Mexican restaurants, a bunch of chains, Chinese buffets, and overpriced sushi places filled with hipster kids and people dressed up like they're going to a club.
Our night life is terrible. Our music scene is absolutely shameful for our size.
We have museums and theatres but, honestly, how many of you people actually go to those places? I can go to the museum once every couple of years but it isn't exactly my idea of a fun evening.
There is absolutely no natural beauty here....at all. Galveston is not only plagued by very uninspiring views and ugly water, but also by crackheads and alcoholics wandering all over the places. In my opinion, the only place where there is any natural beauty in the BROAD, general area is Livingston...but that is too far to go to often.
Downtown is pathetic for a city of our size. It is absolutely dead after people get off of work and on the weekends. It is even dead during the weekdays except for a bunch of people silently going to lunch from their offices. There are no street performances, no activities, no life......
Our city is EXTREMELY stressful since you have to spend a lot of time on highways full of speeding drivers and intense traffic. I am not so lazy that I would mind walking. The problem is that it's impossible to walk anywhere of importance (or interest) here unless you live in a very few select areas. I hate driving. I hate our drivers. I hate our traffic. I would love to be able to WALK places like I could in other cities. Not only would this be healthier, but our city would have much more life such as street food vendors, performances, and just people together, spending time outside. To me, that would be a great thing.
There's a reason why virtually NO tourists come to Houston: because there's really nothing special here...at all. They always opt to go to either Austin or Dallas if they are in Texas. I hate Dallas but Austin actually has natural beauty that you can really enjoy...like lakes, caves, hills, great bike trails. What do we have? Memorial and Hermann parks.....Whoopie!!!
I hate this city and I don't want to live here. Unfortunately, it's tough to just pick up and move. About the only thing this city has going for it is the cost of living and the Medical Center...but that's not too important to me since I don't spend a lot of time hanging out in hospitals.
Well, golly gee. How many Filipino restaurants can you find in Philly and Boston compared to Houston? Can Philly and Beantown claim to have two or three Chinatown areas as well as a distinct Little Korea? Can you find Salvadoran pupuserias in spades up in Beantown? Even San Fran's Viet cafes are no match for Houston's. Bowls of pho in San Francisco seem to be a joke.
Nothing special at all about H-town's restaurants? The city that put Vietnamese food on the US culinary map according to NY food critic John Mariani back in 1993 (Esquire Magazine, Nov)? The city that he says is typically at least the 6th best restaurant town in the USA.
Our nightlife is "terrible?" So many clubs and bars in varying settings from downtown to Midtown to Washington Ave (which got great press from the NY Times) to the Montrose to White Oak to Rice Village to the Kemah Lighthouse as well as a gazillion establishments spread out all over the city.
Downtown Houston is but one entertainment option (and it is far from "dead"; goes to show how much you know what you're talking about..nocturnal downtown L.A. proper doesn't even have true flavor of downtown Houston's nightlife). Unlike other cities, we MANY types of entertainment districts that don't all look like the cliched alleyways and wide sidewalk variety. It's nice to have a collection of converted bungalows and Victorians housing cool-ass bars and clubs in the Montrose YET have the actual urban vibe of downtown Houston. Heck, it's even nice having something like W. Gray, with a few bars under an oak tree neighborhood.
You will not find a Montrose format in NYC. Just the same jumble of brownstones and same sidewalks. In H-town, yeah a brownstone bar in downtown (resembling a slice of NY or Chi-town), yet a Victorian coffee/martini lounge in the Montrose (?? in NY or Chi-town), a clapboard liquor bar in Kemah Lighthouse District (?? in NY or Chi-town)...how do you beat that variety in a metro package?
As much as I love L.A., those sidewalks and fronts of Robertson, Santa Monica, Melrose, Colorado Blvd and such look and feel the same after awhile. In Houston, we have a far greater variety of fronts. Heck, Rice Village is H-town's faux-Santa Monica option. Now, again, how many cities have the diverse collection of DIFFERENT entertainment areas like Houston?
San Diego and Tampa Bay only wish they had the cross section of what Houston's got...and ain't it funny that the Space City is not "touristy" like them?
I agree, the music scene in Houston could be better but it could be worse.
And you're going to complain just because Houston's got museums and theaters? Wow. I guess a city can try too hard to please and entertain its population. So people (or boosters) in San Fran and NY must be saying to themselves..."golly gee, who goes to those things!?"
You can't walk in Houston? I do it quite a bit. Many types of venues.
There's Arthur Storey Park for immense personal pleasure for one.
I''m a city guy and I use METRO about 50% of the time when I feel like it (to save gas, wear and tear on my beloved Montero)...and I walk refreshingly around the Med Center to catch the Line 2 bus after work...and on a Sunday choose to get off the Fondren/Richmond 25 stop so I can walk down Richmond Ave homebound (a day in lieu of my Figure 8 cardio workout). I love walking Richmond Ave early in the morning after work. Are anal urbanists so coordination-challenged that they cannot handle Houston's 3ft wide sidewalks?
I enjoy walking to La Madeleine, Chili's, 713 Lounge, Sherlock's and such from our apartment here in Westchase. It's a very different kind of urbanity, something beyond the comprehension of the subconscious Disney-minded.
So you can't walk in Houston? Must these anal wanna-be urbanists always have a well-defined San Fran Market Street or Times Square or 3rd St. Promenade poking in their faces?
So what if Houston's not touristy? I much prefer it to the tourist wastelands like San Diego and Tampa Bay.
And Houston's supposed "lack" of beauty. So the Hudson rim around NY is something H-town should envy. And isn't Chicago so loaded with topgraphy that would make Santa Barbara envious. Houston is nicely laced with green pastoral surroundings...unlike cramped L.A. with its brown dirtyness.
The Texas Medical Center is a construct that is UNMATCHED by anything else in this world. It is hub of international and national traffic. Jacklyn Smith's husband is thoracic surgeon at Memorial Hermann. Eddie Van Halen had a cancer treatment at M.D. Anderson.
The fact that you trivialize the Med Center shows how senseless someone like you is when it comes to the incessant and USELESS Houston bashing.
Houston is a bit of a cultural wasteland to most. Of course there are pockets of ethnic activity going on but it can't compare to many other cities in the US that are much smaller than we are even in that category (see: Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, etc etc etc).
Yeah, we have Mexican food but so what? Pretty much every other large city in the nation does also...and it's not like Mexican food consists of complicated cooking techniques that you can't replicate anyway. We have a lot of restaurants but so does every other city of considerable size. Our restaurants are nothing special AT ALL...I mean, you have Mexican restaurants, a bunch of chains, Chinese buffets, and overpriced sushi places filled with hipster kids and people dressed up like they're going to a club.
Our night life is terrible. Our music scene is absolutely shameful for our size.
We have museums and theatres but, honestly, how many of you people actually go to those places? I can go to the museum once every couple of years but it isn't exactly my idea of a fun evening.
There is absolutely no natural beauty here....at all. Galveston is not only plagued by very uninspiring views and ugly water, but also by crackheads and alcoholics wandering all over the places. In my opinion, the only place where there is any natural beauty in the BROAD, general area is Livingston...but that is too far to go to often.
Downtown is pathetic for a city of our size. It is absolutely dead after people get off of work and on the weekends. It is even dead during the weekdays except for a bunch of people silently going to lunch from their offices. There are no street performances, no activities, no life......
Our city is EXTREMELY stressful since you have to spend a lot of time on highways full of speeding drivers and intense traffic. I am not so lazy that I would mind walking. The problem is that it's impossible to walk anywhere of importance (or interest) here unless you live in a very few select areas. I hate driving. I hate our drivers. I hate our traffic. I would love to be able to WALK places like I could in other cities. Not only would this be healthier, but our city would have much more life such as street food vendors, performances, and just people together, spending time outside. To me, that would be a great thing.
There's a reason why virtually NO tourists come to Houston: because there's really nothing special here...at all. They always opt to go to either Austin or Dallas if they are in Texas. I hate Dallas but Austin actually has natural beauty that you can really enjoy...like lakes, caves, hills, great bike trails. What do we have? Memorial and Hermann parks.....Whoopie!!!
I hate this city and I don't want to live here. Unfortunately, it's tough to just pick up and move. About the only thing this city has going for it is the cost of living and the Medical Center...but that's not too important to me since I don't spend a lot of time hanging out in hospitals.
Well, golly gee. How many Filipino restaurants can you find in Philly and Boston compared to Houston? Can Philly and Beantown claim to have two or three Chinatown areas as well as a distinct Little Korea? Can you find Salvadoran pupuserias in spades up in Beantown? Even San Fran's Viet cafes are no match for Houston's. Bowls of pho in San Francisco seem to be a joke.
Nothing special at all about H-town's restaurants? The city that put Vietnamese food on the US culinary map according to NY food critic John Mariani back in 1993 (Esquire Magazine, Nov)? The city that he says is typically at least the 6th best restaurant town in the USA.
Our nightlife is "terrible?" So many clubs and bars in varying settings from downtown to Midtown to Washington Ave (which got great press from the NY Times) to the Montrose to White Oak to Rice Village to the Kemah Lighthouse as well as a gazillion establishments spread out all over the city.
Downtown Houston is but one entertainment option (and it is far from "dead"; goes to show how much you know what you're talking about..nocturnal downtown L.A. proper doesn't even have true flavor of downtown Houston's nightlife). Unlike other cities, we MANY types of entertainment districts that don't all look like the cliched alleyways and wide sidewalk variety. It's nice to have a collection of converted bungalows and Victorians housing cool-ass bars and clubs in the Montrose YET have the actual urban vibe of downtown Houston. Heck, it's even nice having something like W. Gray, with a few bars under an oak tree neighborhood.
You will not find a Montrose format in NYC. Just the same jumble of brownstones and same sidewalks. In H-town, yeah a brownstone bar in downtown (resembling a slice of NY or Chi-town), yet a Victorian coffee/martini lounge in the Montrose (?? in NY or Chi-town), a clapboard liquor bar in Kemah Lighthouse District (?? in NY or Chi-town)...how do you beat that variety in a metro package?
As much as I love L.A., those sidewalks and fronts of Robertson, Santa Monica, Melrose, Colorado Blvd and such look and feel the same after awhile. In Houston, we have a far greater variety of fronts. Heck, Rice Village is H-town's faux-Santa Monica option. Now, again, how many cities have the diverse collection of DIFFERENT entertainment areas like Houston?
San Diego and Tampa Bay only wish they had the cross section of what Houston's got...and ain't it funny that the Space City is not "touristy" like them?
I agree, the music scene in Houston could be better but it could be worse.
And you're going to complain just because Houston's got museums and theaters? Wow. I guess a city can try too hard to please and entertain its population. So people (or boosters) in San Fran and NY must be saying to themselves..."golly gee, who goes to those things!?"
You can't walk in Houston? I do it quite a bit. Many types of venues.
There's Arthur Storey Park for immense personal pleasure for one.
I''m a city guy and I use METRO about 50% of the time when I feel like it (to save gas, wear and tear on my beloved Montero)...and I walk refreshingly around the Med Center to catch the Line 2 bus after work...and on a Sunday choose to get off the Fondren/Richmond 25 stop so I can walk down Richmond Ave homebound (a day in lieu of my Figure 8 cardio workout). I love walking Richmond Ave early in the morning after work. Are anal urbanists so coordination-challenged that they cannot handle Houston's 3ft wide sidewalks?
I enjoy walking to La Madeleine, Chili's, 713 Lounge, Sherlock's and such from our apartment here in Westchase. It's a very different kind of urbanity, something beyond the comprehension of the subconscious Disney-minded.
So you can't walk in Houston? Must these anal wanna-be urbanists always have a well-defined San Fran Market Street or Times Square or 3rd St. Promenade poking in their faces?
So what if Houston's not touristy? I much prefer it to the tourist wastelands like San Diego and Tampa Bay.
And Houston's supposed "lack" of beauty. So the Hudson rim around NY is something H-town should envy. And isn't Chicago so loaded with topgraphy that would make Santa Barbara envious. Houston is nicely laced with green pastoral surroundings...unlike cramped L.A. with its brown dirtyness.
The Texas Medical Center is a construct that is UNMATCHED by anything else in this world. It is hub of international and national traffic. Jacklyn Smith's husband is thoracic surgeon at Memorial Hermann. Eddie Van Halen had a cancer treatment at M.D. Anderson.
The fact that you trivialize the Med Center shows how senseless someone like you is when it comes to the incessant and USELESS Houston bashing.
I nearly spit out my water after reading this!!!!! Thanks for describing your fictional Houston to us all.
I choose to move here from Waco (yes I'm part of the cult). Personally, I could've went with either Houston or Dallas; However, ended up choosing Houston because it was the farthest from home out to the two!
I had options to go out of state, but I prefer to remain in Texas. I think we all know their are better cities out there than Houston. However, better doesn't exactly mean NYC, Chicago, or LA. It's all subjective and opinions.
My wife and I visited Houston this summer because we are looking to move to a decent size city after we graduate (Her: Masters in Elementary Education, Me: JD/MBA). We are a relatively very young family with three kids all under 5. Houston was a blast! Coming from an area where cultural diversity is largely lacking unless you count NASCAR as culture (Charlotte, North Carolina) it was awesome to be in a city that actually seems like the melting pot of America. We visited so many places, attended an Astros game, and checked out UH Law School (getting my LLM in Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Law in a year hopefully). This city has energy! It has spunk and it is alive. I have lived a variety of places along the East Coast with family from Philly, NYC, DC, NC, and ATL. For me and mine, it seems as if no place is better. I have watched the housing market for the past five years and the economy for the past two while in law school and for you folks complaining about how bad Houston is, you really don't have a clue about how great the city of Houston is and the state of Texas.
You are likely to have problems anywhere you go. You can find issues with anyplace you live, but I always base my opinion on a city (at least for people 30 and younger) on the amount of opportunity that is present to make something of yourself. As a young African-American male, I am really thankful to live in a country where if you work hard and strive to be the best you might not achieve everything you want in life, but you can almost certainly have a nice home, reliable transportation, and decent food on your table. Houston seems to have so many opportunities for people to advance education and career-wise while also enjoying a variety of activities (I wish I would have had a chance to hit the golf courses!) that I think these things overshadow most complaints about the city.
Picture living in a place like West Virginia where the Democrat senator was a former Grand Wizard Klansmen (Robert C. BYrd). Yet he still gets elected. Where the water is absolutely horrible (i'm talking the color of coca-cola), and kids are drinking and bathing in this stuff filled with arsenic, iron, lead, etc... The coal companies claim the coal refuse they are injecting into the wells are not causing people to get sick but lists of people are dying from similiar types of cancer all in the same neighborhoods, and no one will act because coal is the only thing this g-dforsaken state has. Public education and poverty is one of the worst in the country in a state that is 95 percent white. Let's face it, things could be a lot worse.
Overall, I gotta say that Houston is a gem. How many other big cities can match its diversity, cost of living, and quality of life in the United States? Not many. Are there more desirable cities to live in? Probably. Personally I would like to give San Francisco a try, but I am not about to pay 3000 a month for an apartment either. I f you really look at these other big cities in the US, most of them are not made for people to get ahead or really enjoy themselves unless yoiu are a rich bachelor/ette. I would rather be able to have a huge house, some toys (convertible and boat), and a few rental properties to boot. While I am sure that I could acheive these things in other states, I would rather live in a place where I dont have to slave for the next 20 years to have a glimpse at a decent lifestyle before I croak early from work, stress, and the inability to make the ends meet. From a job perspective, lawyers in Houston are paid New York rates (top firms paying 160-180,000 a year) but do not have to worry about a New York lifestyle as much. While our move is somewhat job related, the entire decision for us is based on just having a better life, access to big city amenities, decent place to raise a family, and our piece of the American dream. So you guys who are complaining can leave your plate at the table, because I will gladly take your seat. Let's go Texans!
I just want to say that I love reading your post. It's pretty much a slap in the face for all the whiners/bashers. Welcome to Houston! We hope to be a Houstonian/Texan soon. Can't wait.
The city is ugly, concrete and there are no hills. The ocean is gross, dirty and far away. The lakes are man made, dirty and swamp-like. There is absolutely no scenery. It's not walkable. It's dangerous. Huge. Sprawl. Humid. Hurricanes. Flooding. Roaches.
Oh, I will admit that people in Houston are very friendly and nice. That is not the norm in other cities.
An attribute you apparently failed to absorb during your time here.
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We moved to Colorado and after getting snowed in several times just the first winter alone, I was done. Houston highways might be stressful because of traffic but at least there isn't the constant thread of sliding off the road into a ditch because of all the snow and ice.
). Personally, I could've went with either Houston or Dallas; However, ended up choosing Houston because it was the farthest from home out to the two!
Love your post
