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JJG you are overhyping that statement. I have lived in Fort Worth all my life and never road a horse or saw cattle roaming the streets. I rarely see if at all see residents wearing cowboy boots and hats (unless you are in the Stock Yards). What Fort Worth has done is preserved its history. Fort Worth is just as modern as any other city and offer the same amenities as Dallas.
Well not litteraly.
Of course Fort Worth is a modern city, but it keeps its old west heritage more than Dallas does, that it practically seems not as modern.
The neat thing about Texas is that the large cities have their own style and are fairly close to each other (yet far enough). The exception is El Paso which has more ties with New Mexico and that SW desert culture.
Florida cities and towns mimic each other very much (Miami is just a grittier version of Tampa by the ocean, Orlando is just Tampa removed from the water...Daytona, Bradenton, Jacksonville, Ft. Myers all have very similar textures though St. Augustine is definitely a different animal).
Los Angeles and San Diego look a lot alike in their streetscape, San Jose and places around San Francisco don't look too different from San Diego (San Francisco itself is an exception, a classic East Coast style city)...Orange County always came across as a shared suburban extension between LA and San Diego, I mean Ocean Beach is not too far from places like San Clemente, Dana Point and all.
But Texans cities really do have their own character. San Antonio's core looks nothing like Houston. Austin's setting is definitely different than San Antonio's.
That being said, while I love Texas, Houston is THE GLUE which hold it all together for me in this region.
Dallas is a cool place, I've always loved it. The times I'd be out in Irving, it was always cool to see the neon glow of Dallas' skyline in the distance from a parking lot.
Houston's always just had a more open and chaotic, more international feel at its core and edge...and I prefer that. Dallas is international too but there's kind of a repressed nature up there...maybe that's just me.
But the OP said "Dallas is more cosmopolitan" while saying along the lines Houston is "more international." That's a contradiction in terms. I think he might have meant to say glitzy. Houston has just as much glitz but the presentation of things here in H-town is more chaotic and jumbled while in Dallas, driving along I-35W, seeing everything from their Doubletree to the Dallas Apparel Mart and all that into downtown, you capture their glitz in one fell swoop.
Ft. Worth is a great contrasting resource in the Metroplex. It's got great character and I usually enjoy Sundance Square. It's fun but kinda clean cut, reminds me of the San Diego Gas Lamp but better.
The thing I REALLY enjoy about Houston is that while our entertainment districts are in and of themselves subdued compared to other towns...other towns do not have the package of contrast we do.
Rice Village has a Santa Monica vibe but in a Euro-grid village which I think is kind of unique, rather than just being a typical straight drag which is all too common in SoCal for my tastes.
Montrose is a straight drag with a dangerous curve but look at that texture! It's part Melrose in spots but contemplate those converted Victorians which house some of my favorite coffee bars/lounges like Avantgarden to Agora Ka, and Byzantio in neighboring W. Gray. I feel that Dallas, San Diego and LA lack those types of places.
Midtown is a catwalk type environment with lots going on. W. Gray full of bars and eateries (Coco's, The Fish, Backyard, etc.) is sort of that mini slice of a NY hood that gives way to an oak tree-lined quasi-Victorian hood with more bars and eateries such as Byzantio, Cecil's and so on! You don't have that in NY or LA so much.
I love that little section of restaurant bungalows on Richmond Ave between Kirby and Shepherd, Blue Fish, Hobbit Cafe and two others...just the look of them, the feel...just in the bowels of a shiny, modern city, there is something quasi-rustic to serve up gastronomic pleasure in such an environment that lets us know that we are not in LA or NY or Dallas. By the way, you can take a few steps to McElroy's Pub or Davenport Lounge or Azteca...or an Asian spa in the Shepherd Plaza environs after the meal.
Downtown proper...talk about a Sunbelt city that has cool enough nightlife, a true urban look with skycrapers, big sidewalks with people about, Frank's Pizza, No-tsu-oh, Azuma, Tropioca, the Pavilions. LA and Dallas lack that in their downtown proper core. San Diego has the semblance but again, the Gas Lamp misses that edgy vibe. It's too Disney
And a contrast to downtown Houston...the Kemah Lighthouse District. That's a great collection of clapboard bars and cafes by the sea! I love the mom n pop vibe of it. It is offset by that more corporate Kemah Boardwalk but nobody can say that Kemah isn't a balanced entertainment area.
That's the great pleasure of living in H-town. So what if we don't have a grand Times Square or Santa Monica 3rd St Promenade. We do have all the VARYING entertaining corners that make up the entertainment scene here which is set in ways not like in other cities. You can get bored with 3rd St Promenade or Times Square as such but I can never get bored of the different array of entertainment corners around Houston.
I could go on but Houston is more my taste. My younger bro lives up in Dallas. He's the corporate clean cut type and he loves Big D. Me, a medical profession type, I like my hair long and full, he goes for the popular head shave. So to each his own. Like brother, like not, LOL.
My old geography professor used to say that the South begins where cotton, pine trees, and forrest begin and that the Southwest begins where cattle, cowboys, and prarie begin.
By that standard Houston would be considered part of the South and DFW, Austin, and San Antonio would be more Southwestern. I agree with that myself.
I've always thought that Dallas had more of the stereotypical "Texan" feel than Houston. Houston's ties to the Piney Woods/East Texas and (particularly) Louisiana seem to be a lot more stronger than Dallas' ties to East Texas. Not saying that Dallas doesn't have ANY ties to the area, but Houston's seem stronger.
I consider Dallas as a southern city, but is it as southern as Houston? Not to me. YMMV though. Neither are as southern as say, Atlanta or Memphis, but their ties to the south are a lot stronger than say, Austin or San Antonio.
So, so true. I used to live in Austin, and I don't know many people that claim themselves to be Southerners. Austin and San Antonio seem way more connected to a "TEXAN" western, Southwest type culture, then a southeastern type culture the same way Houston is. Heck, cactus is a native plant and grows wild in the Austin area. That's doesn't scream SOUTHERN to me at all.
Well first off, there is really no such thing as a city feeling too "Texas". The media has stereotyped and publicized Texas as something it's not. Texas is not about cowboys, rodeos, cows, horses, boots, dust,etc
Texas has always had strong relations with slavery, spanish, and more. Dallas pushes the "stereotyped" Texas more than Houston, but it doesn't feel more country than Houston. Houston definitely feels more southern and laid-back than Dallas. Southern is usually always paired with laid-back.
The most southern you can get in Dallas is South Dallas and around downtown. In Houston you can go North, South, or east. It fades the farther west you go.
Once you drive west OF I-45 Texas Southernness starts to fade. But overall parts of Houston feel just as Southern as Atlanta. But Houston is soooo big, so it can't just be molded into one shape. Houston is a mix between Southern, Cajun, Tropical(in the south towards the gulf), but with no traces of Southwestern culture, other than the LARGE Hispanic population. Can't deny this, and Dallas is just a large mixture of South, Frontier West, and MAYBE a little bit of Southwest. Austin has traces of Southern culture, but NOTHING obviously southern. I'd really hesitate to call Austin Southern, but it CAN be seen as Southern to SOME. Even CACTUS is native to Austin. So that just leaves us with SA. San Antonio!? A Southern city!?! LOL, San Antonio is about as Southern as DC or Baltimore. San Antonio on WEST in TX is undoubtedly the beginning of the American SOUTHWEST. While Austin to DFW, I35 and everywhere in between is debatable, and Houston and everywhere EAST of I45 is undoubtedly the beginning of the American SOUTH. Does anyone agree?
Once you drive west OF I-45 Texas Southernness starts to fade. But overall parts of Houston feel just as Southern as Atlanta. But Houston is soooo big, so it can't just be molded into one shape. Houston is a mix between Southern, Cajun, Tropical(in the south towards the gulf), but with no traces of Southwestern culture, other than the LARGE Hispanic population. Can't deny this, and Dallas is just a large mixture of South, Frontier West, and MAYBE a little bit of Southwest. Austin has traces of Southern culture, but NOTHING obviously southern. I'd really hesitate to Austin Southern, but it CAN be seen as Southern to SOME. Even CACTUS is native to Austin. So that just leaves us with SA. San Antonio!? A Southern city!?! LOL, San Antonio is about as Southern as DC or Baltimore. San Antonio on WEST in TX is undoubtedly the beginning of the American SOUTHWEST. While Austin to DFW, I35 and everywhere in between is debatable, and Houston and everywhere EAST of I45 is undoubtedly the beginning of the American SOUTH. Does anyone agree?
This is a southern as it get in the state of Texas
Beaumont
Marshall (My favorite east Texas town "Very nice scenery")
Port Arthur
Tyler
Wiley
Terrell
I would throw Longview, Carthage, and Jasper on that list.
Terrell feels somewhat Southern to me, but not to the degree as the other cities on your list.
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