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Of course if you don't like Houston or love it like the people there that makes them "snooty". Why can't people in Houston get over the fact that other people don't really care for their city that much? Doesn't mean it's a bad place or anything but not everyone is going to like it, just not like everyone likes San Diego obviously. The inferiority complex of people from people in and around Houston is getting incredibly annoying on these forums. It's like you can't say anything remotely negative, whether its' just a personal observation or not, without someone from Houston coming in to correct you and shove their point of view in your face and why Houston is so great. People in San Diego don't care if it's not someone else's cup of tea, go somewhere else for all we care b/c most of us like what we have. So enjoy Houston and what it has to offer and get over the fact that there are people out there that don't care for it.
Nah, these are just the biased perceptions of a snooty Californian. These elements of Houston are indeed what make it a far more interesting and eccentric city.
Snooty? Because I have an opinion of my visit to Houston that you don't agree with? If Californians are snooty, then Texans are arrogant. When people found out I was from Calif, all I got was "Well, you're in Texas now" or "That's the way we do it in Texas".
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I lived in San Diego for four years and found it to be nothing more than a packaged borderline-fascist postcard. Bland, so colonial, so whitebread in one corner and then Latino in the other, and the police forces horribly oppressive.
I've never had a run-in with the police so I can't comment here.
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San Diego is very segregated...Houston at least feels like everybody's town. At least it's a mixed cultural stew. I can walk down Richmond Avenue and see an old blood but well-to-do neighborhood and then be in a strip center housing Latino clubs, washaterias and such. You really don't see that all that much quartering in San Diego. Nice white 'hoods don't really touch the Latino out in Bland Diego.
Give me a break, as if Houston is less segregated? It's just like any other big city. My friend is a Houston firefighter, and he basically told me that much of the area east of the 45 and 286 from downtown was Black and Hispanic, while the southwest quadrant was mostly white. How is that integrated?
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Hillcrest/Uptown-nothing more than San Diego's lame copycat version of West Hollywood. At least the Montrose has its own style and vibe. 24 hour cafes in the Montrose like Biba's Greek, West Gray and Katz's. Can't knock on that!
Style and vibe? Sorry, but you need more than a few tattoo parlors and antique stores to create a vibe. There are way more restaurants to choose from in Hillcrest than in Montrose from what I saw. The Hillcrest area has Rudford's and Brian's, both of which are open 24 hours.. Also, Hong Kong and Asian Bistro are open till 3:00am everyday. And don't forget about the 24 hour Mexican food joints everywhere.
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Seaport/Coronado-Same touristy seaside stuff as Kemah...but at least Kemah takes the fun level many more notches.
Are you kidding me? Kemah is one of the cheesiest place I've ever been to, with that lame boardwalk and tacky carnival atmosphere. I'll take Coronado and Seaport over Kemah, anyday.
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Balboa Park-nothing compared to Memorial Park...heck I'll still take the true stateliness of Hermann. Balboa Park is so, nothing actually compared to Hermann. I guess it's a matter of opinion.
It's definitely a difference of opinion here. Hermann is centered around a statue of a man on a statue and a reflecting pool.....pfft. Memorial Park? I didn't bother mentioning it the first time because it was so insignificant. Tennis courts, sand volleyball courts, red-faced joggers/walkers along the loop trail....meh. You can imagine how unimpressed I was, because as you may recall, we have Mission Bay Park that offers much more to do than Memorial. It's pretty with all the trees, but what else?
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La Jolla-just San Diego's knock off of Santa Monica...with cliffs and seal beach. At least Rice Village has its own unique style. Nice grid layout and more choices of Thai Restaurants. To be honest, it's not a whole lot different, just in eccentric Houston style.
Are we talking about the same Rice Village with the the anchor Gap store on Kirby? That mess of a commercial district that tries to pass itself off as a charming village? Sure...it's exactly like La Jolla
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The junkfood culture of San Diego is just as bad if not worse than Houston's. I mean, they love In N Out and Carl's Jr. more so than Houstonians love Whataburger.
Sure, if you say so.
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Lots of overweight people in car-mode San Diego as in Houston. But lots of pretty folks in Houston as in San Diego too.
Ok
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The Texas Medical Center. That place has empty streets? LOL. You must have been there on a Sunday night. I work at Ben Taub Hospital and I always have to avoid hitting pedestrians on Macgregor, Fannin and Main! Besides, its a HUGE district of meaningful employment rather than the tourist kiosks at Horton Plaza or Pacific Beach or Fashion Valley... Some folks might have differing thoughts on the Navy.
Great, people can come to one place to see their doctor or have an operation - Big Deal. It's no different from the Galleria, but with medical buildings, dead after 6:00pm during the weekdays
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The Houston Galleria...no mall in SoCal is as architecturally striking. Horton Plaza, I like and appreciate as the other end of the architectural spectrum...but the Galleria is what it is. One of the most elegant malls in the world.
In the world? You don't get around much do you? Go to any mall in Asia and the Galleria is chop liver. Elegant how? As if it's the only mall with high end stores. Fashion Valley has Tiffany's, Hermes, Gucci, Carolina Herrera, Neimans, Saks, etc. Galleria is nothing but a glorified Mission Valley, if you ask me.
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Houston's streets can be well landscaped but still have a bit of an urban vibe. In San Diego, there's some really trashy places that are the norm for the seriously depressed working class such as Golden Hill, El Cajon, National City...no thanks. Westchase, Sharpstown, West Bellfort in Houston look like garden paradises in comparsion. San Diego's well landscaped streets like Mira Mesa...feel so plastic. Nah, there's a lot more urban energy in Houston's Bellaire Blvd. Blows away Convoy, that's for sure. And Bellaire Blvd has better and green landscaping (not to mention Asian cafes).
Sorry, but more trees in Houston don't hide the numerous rundown apartment complexes throughout the city. Bellaire Blvd is line with what? More strip malls that happen to have Asian businesses. I think you are confusing it's "urban energy" along Belleaire with good ole traffic.
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For the average man, San Diego is a GHETTO compared to Houston. Away from Pacific views, San Diego is so...brown. Houston is magnificently green and the intermittent thunderstorms give a refreshing emotional quality here SO LACKING in "perfect" SoCal.
Pfft...as if all of Houston looks like River Oaks and the area around Rice? You keep telling yourself that.
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Houston does have REAL cultural offerings in the Theater District rather than Iowa Bob and Marys running amok in Gaslamp and the Cowbunga Boys in Pacific Beach!
Like everything about Houston, it's all about quantity, not quality, isn't it?
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Interesting how the Los Angeles Times did an article back in December entitled, "Flocking from SoCal to Houston." So Houston must really suck. Asians have increased by 80% from 1990 to 2000 in Houston. But oh well.
Bottom line is that's it's an embarassingly cheap place to live and do business. Good for them.
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Without Los Angeles' proximity...San Diego is really a nothing place. It's just a fratboy Gaslamp district and a Navy boy paradise. Houston's a better deal. At least the water issues are quite more in order here.
Yeah, that's it. Houston, on the other hand, is blessed with natural beauty and good weather, with fantastic access to the outdoors.
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"Conroe the ugliest drive?" Now we know Cali delusion is at work here. That is one of the prettiest canopies of piney forests. It sure beats that drive from San Diego to El Centro! In fact, the rolling meadows, ponds and piney forests along I-45 from Dallas to Houston are a lot more interesting than say I-5 from San Fran to L.A. Yeah, that stretch on I-45 from downtown to about Greenspoint is garish (but some visitors get excited by that decadence)...but Woodlands to Conroe? C'mon, now.
Drive from DC to Baltimore or from Boston to Maine and tell me how beautiful those piney forests are, afterwards. Again, it's a matter of taste.
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Just because it's in Texas doesn't mean it's ugly and just because it's in Cali doesn't mean it's pretty.
No argument here.
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Sorry to be harsh, but San Diego wasn't all that. Had some nice times and all there but...
Not being harsh, just giving your opinion just like I have.
Again... it's not that everyone expects you to be super impressed or something, but that's different than saying there's nothing to do or see!
I guess the bottom line is what you said above, I wasn't impressed. Am I glad I visited? Of course! I love going to new places. Would I go back? If it wasn't for my friend to who lives there, probably not. It's been added to my "One and done" list of places I only need to see once, right alongside, OKC, Jacksonville, Macau, Panama City, Panama, among many others.
You will be happy to know that I do prefer it to Dallas, if that is any consolation.
Last edited by sdurbanite; 07-28-2008 at 06:57 PM..
We're just not cut from the "Bigger is better-Pickup Truck Driving-Barbeque Eating-Cowboy" culture.
I know there are people who think that Texas is the best nation in the union and it's very hard for them to wrap their heads around the fact that some of us just don't agree.
Funny story,
I was in college, and was taking a course (color theory, to be precise), and the professor mentioned something about Texas State history, I believe some battle, and asked me a question. I asked what she was talking about. She was amazed, nay, SHOCKED that I wasn't familiar with the subject.
I said "Miss, I grew up in Oregon, we didn't study Texas History"
She gasped and said "Why NOT?!" as if everybody should study the history of Texas.
Don't get me wrong, We studied world history, local history, State and national history. I even took African history in High school (I am not of african descent, i simply found it interesting) I know the "basics" of Texan history, such as the Alamo, and the Battle of San Jacinto. I make it a habit to learn about the places I have lived in. I have studied world religions, culture, and several languages.
But pardon the hell out of me for not knowing the details of the Battle of Agua Dulce.
I don't for one minute expect anyone who didn't grow up in Oregon to know about the Applegate Trail, Bluebucket Mine, and Champoeg. Or be familliar with the year Robert Grey entered the Columbia on his search for the Northwest Passage. Or be familliar with what mushrooms are safe to eat in the national forests, or the time of year that they grow.
Shame on my sub-standard American educational experience, surely it must be a result from growing up on cheeseburgers and coca cola, smoking the marijuana and watching cartoons.
We should really quit bringing other places into this. I know both San Diego and Houston quite well and am keeping things relative when comparing both towns.
I have fully realized that Houston does attract many types of people who do like it because of its weird and strange appeal...just as there are those who do not find it their cup of tea and prefer dull postcard towns.
Biggest cop-out is Houston is appealing only for being "cheap." It's like you folks cannot believe that among 5 million plus people only a few think of being here other than for "cheap" reasons, forgetting that Houston's restaurant scene and cultural scope simply blow San Diego out into the Pacific. Forget that Houston's economy is more MASSIVE and farther reaching than San Diego's. San Diego has biotech and high tech to pepper its economy but it's those tourist shops that keep it going some degree. Construction and finance in San Diego...are KAPUT now. The high tech manufacturer I once worked at in San Diego...now kaput or close to it.
Oh, and that fake mortgage industry that helped pump San Diego for awhile, now it's biting that town in the butt.
Houston defied its presumably "harsh" setting to become the successful metro that it is. San Diego was "blessed" with its pretty setting and it couldn't become more than it is? Wow. Just a playground for Navy boys.
San Diego is increasingly 3rd World. Nice candy for the tourists but ghetto holes for the working middle class. I enjoy Houston's nicer living environment for the price.
Are you proud of $400,000 homes in San Diego that would be in Houston's poorest areas? So what is "cheap?" My quality of life here in Houston compared to what I could only afford in a National City or Imperial Beach certainly ain't "cheap." Here in Westchase, I live extremely close to a nice 24 hour Kroger Supermarket, in a pleasant place...so what's "cheap?"
There was no 24 hour Kroger equivalent in San Diego, or at least the South Bay...yet I sure loved my expensive surroundings in National City and Imperial Beach. Hell, even when we lived in the Gaslamp, that Ralph's Market closed at 11 pm!
There was no Barnes & Noble or Borders Books where I lived in San Diego in the Southbay (and no, don't count that relatively far off East Chula Vista stuff). Here in Westchase, there's a large Borders just on Gessner the NEXT block. Houston is nice and integrated, socio-economically inclusive for those of us who are not exactly the most upscale compared to San Diego. Like I'm going to waste gas to get to Mira Mesa for a large bookstore.
But someone here said Houston is not too impressive as a city...and I quite frankly do not agree with that.
I have met Californians during my time in San Diego who put Houston down just because...and that's quite snooty. People here in Houston, per se, do not put San Diego down.
As a Houstonian, I will put San Diego down if Houston is put down.
I've visited places like Amsterdam and Manila and the bottom line is, BOTH HOUSTON and SAN DIEGO are much more alike as cities than they are different, they are sister cities in some ways, especially compared to a New York or San Francisco which are Old World-style cities. Houston just happens to be quite less segregated and does not feel as grimy in the average neighborhoods compared to San Diego.
In fact, San Diego, Phoenix, greater L.A., Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa and Houston among other Sunbelt towns really are similar even if we take into account things like topography and weather. They all sprawl and have boulevards made up of strip malls and endless cul-de-sac neighborhoods.
Houston just happens to be the hardest to figure out and thus, to me at least, the most endearing. And Houston's the better place to live than San Diego as far as this topic is concerned. The dry flaking skin I had in San Diego has disappeared upon returning to the Gulf Coast.
Last edited by worldlyman; 07-29-2008 at 01:34 AM..
I dunno, my brother lives in Houston for two reasons:
1. Low cost of living and he has to support a family.
2. His job is there.
So, while I understand it's my anecdotal evidence, I think there are a lot of people moving there for that reason. No one moves to San Diego for financial reasons. He's stated that he would move if he had an opportunity, but it's just not there.
I've visited a several times and I'm not really impressed. Whenever I head there I feel like I get a lot of the disadvantages of LA with none of the advantages. The vibe in both cities is different, I kind of doubt that one person who digs the vibe in Houston will dig the vibe in SD, and vice versa.
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