What is Houstons Identity?

[marcopolo2000]

It doesn't have one.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by marcopolo2000

It doesn't have one.

[annie_himself]

Screw music, strip clubs, and NASA. That is all.

[txstate]

plus benz beemers and buicks

[annie_himself]

Apparently someone took my above post to heart and felt the need to leave a nasty message, thanks for the rep points whoever you are!

[Redlionjr]

I like that pic...might have to put on a shirt.

[NYer75]

Houston is unique.

No zoning makes our hoods so interesting.

Houston is diverse and friendly.

Houston is pro-business.

[bigpapasmurf76]

Houston is underrated in areas like food, diversity, and the arts.

It is very pro-business, incredibly spread out, and for the 4th-largest city in America, has a merely "ok" downtown as far as entertainment goes.

It is incredibly affordable, has two great neighborhoods near downtown (Heights and Montrose), and has a fantastic medical center.

It is surrounded by a bevy of soulless suburbs, has many random crime-ridden pockets in it and surrounding it, and most of Houston and its metro is not very pretty to look at (with some notable exceptions).

It has made many improvements in the recent years in the way of the arts, parks, crime, and seems to have its citizens' overall quality of life more in mind than it used to in previous decades.

Houston is a very underrated city, and I think that factors greatly into its identity. I think most people from other parts of the US would be surprised by how diverse and artistic Houston is and how decent of a city it is overall...I feel most Americans who are not from here or have never lived here probably wouldn't think Houston was any different than Dallas, and a lot of people in Houston have this "we don't suck like you think we do"-chip on their shoulder as a result (which is earned, I feel).

However, there is still a huge portion of Houston's population that just puts in their 9-to-5 and then scurries back home...still a very work-oriented city, though that seems to have lessened somewhat in recent years. As I've said before, one thing that's great about Austin is that such a large percentage of its population genuinely cares about getting out of their homes, having fun, and making the city a more interesting/entertaining place to live. You can really feel that energy there...if more people in Houston felt that way, we could easily be one of the better cities in America.

It is nice to go downtown to Discovery Green and see families just hanging out like they do in other big cities' downtowns, though. We definitely seem to be headed in the right direction!