Houstonians, Are The Entertainment Options Growing With The Rapidly Growing Population? (Austin: house, safe neighborhood)

[HtownLove]

Worldyman I am always with you 101% so I dunno where I am finding room for disagreement but I have to.

Yes Houston is not lacking in Entertainment.
I don't know why idiots on here paint things so broadly.
Transportation now means underground rail.
Urban now means old and glued together.
Downtown now means a place where people walk to do things.

Anyway back to disagreeing with you.
What Houston lacks is a cohesive adult party spot that is accessible to a lot of people and provides easy ways to get home.

Downtown ten years ago was the closest we got to that. As many nightspots as there are in Wash Ave it is still disconnected and not really drunk friendly.

Houston is perfectly fine for resident partying but kind of difficult for visitor partying. Its a pretty huge city landwise so having cabs canvas all the partying areas and areas of interest is difficult.

This is my dream for midtown. There are already a good variety of bars. They are just too spread out. I see those pour taxis going from bar to bar circling and burning gas. Midtown too is going crazy on housing but not much else. Well, i am talking a bit too strong. Randalls is in midtown and there is a wakmart close enough. But i dont think the shopping is keeping up with the growth. It would be nice if builders would go easy on the garden style apartments and start using prime ground floor real estate more wisely

[Brit Charlie]

Originally Posted by Oildog

If you're bored in Houston, its your own fault.

I’ve seen this type of comment a number of times and it bugs me as I find it really close minded as if this city is the ideal location for everyone.

Yes you can certainly find things to do in Houston, and don’t get me wrong I enjoy being here and it works for me….but there is no point trying to claim that Houston can compete (currently…) with the variety and options that you get in a world-class city (NYC, London, Sydney, HK etc) so you need to put it in perspective.

The point is, these days it’s increasingly easy to move around the world and work in different places – and Houston is doing a great job at job creation so will continue to rise up the list of potential places to work in. It was important, for me, to make the decision with my eyes open as to what was good (lots) and what was not so good vs. a big city where I was coming from.

I’m not trying to hate on Houston – again I really enjoy being here….but need to put everything in perspective…

[Oildog]

^^^ Lets not go with the tired comment of "Houston is not like NYC, London etc." there have been threads ad nauseum about that.

There are plenty of things to do in Houston to not be bored...museums, theatres, opera, symphony, ballet, parks, zoo, watersports, sports, etc.

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by Brit Charlie

I’ve seen this type of comment a number of times and it bugs me as I find it really close minded as if this city is the ideal location for everyone.

Yes you can certainly find things to do in Houston, and don’t get me wrong I enjoy being here and it works for me….but there is no point trying to claim that Houston can compete (currently…) with the variety and options that you get in a world-class city (NYC, London, Sydney, HK etc) so you need to put it in perspective.

The point is, these days it’s increasingly easy to move around the world and work in different places – and Houston is doing a great job at job creation so will continue to rise up the list of potential places to work in. It was important, for me, to make the decision with my eyes open as to what was good (lots) and what was not so good vs. a big city where I was coming from.

I’m not trying to hate on Houston – again I really enjoy being here….but need to put everything in perspective…

What we mean by that comment is that the people who whine that there is nothing to do in Houston, are those who refuse to get off the freeways to actually take a look around.

These people want a Time Square or a French Quarter in Houston so that all they have to do is park and party.

But sorry, that's not what Houston is about. We're not claiming that this city is ideal for everyone (in fact, we'd love it if the lemmings would leave us alone and move back to California where they belong).

So the sentiment stands: if you're bored in Houston, it's because you haven't actually looked around. Hence -- your fault.

[Brit Charlie]

I'm with you 100% that Houston doesn't need / shouldn't be about having those type of places. But I don't think the sentiment stands...

As I said - I really like living Houston (still miss things that it doesn't have - I knew that coming here though so I don't whine about it)....and agree 100% that if it's not what people want it to be then there are plenty of other places to go.

But, to put it another way - would you want to live in NYC or London or somewhere else where everything is on top of you? I assume not (putting words in your mouth for the sake of argument, but I know many Texans/Houstonians that wouldn't) but that is your preference just as much as it's someone else's preference to not enjoy living in a city which is so spread out (hence I know people do fit it more boring as you can't just drop what you are doing and go do something, you have to plan to drive etc etc...)

There are so many things which I prefer about the US and its people than most countries that I have been to & lived in, but the one thing that I find lacking more than most places is the ability to accept someone else's viewpoint/there may be a better way (particularly if it's not from "here", wherever that is!)...

Rant/

[worldlyman]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

Worldyman I am always with you 101% so I dunno where I am finding room for disagreement but I have to.

Yes Houston is not lacking in Entertainment.
I don't know why idiots on here paint things so broadly.
Transportation now means underground rail.
Urban now means old and glued together.
Downtown now means a place where people walk to do things.

Anyway back to disagreeing with you.
What Houston lacks is a cohesive adult party spot that is accessible to a lot of people and provides easy ways to get home.

Downtown ten years ago was the closest we got to that. As many nightspots as there are in Wash Ave it is still disconnected and not really drunk friendly.

Houston is perfectly fine for resident partying but kind of difficult for visitor partying. Its a pretty huge city landwise so having cabs canvas all the partying areas and areas of interest is difficult.

This is my dream for midtown. There are already a good variety of bars. They are just too spread out. I see those pour taxis going from bar to bar circling and burning gas. Midtown too is going crazy on housing but not much else. Well, i am talking a bit too strong. Randalls is in midtown and there is a wakmart close enough. But i dont think the shopping is keeping up with the growth. It would be nice if builders would go easy on the garden style apartments and start using prime ground floor real estate more wisely

It is true Houston lacks that large, broad centralized party district. But I am OK with it. I just simply like the character spaces in different parts of the city. From the tight backstreet of Taft/Fairview's cool bars to the wide open spaces and magnificently huge party decks of Richmond Avenue. From the tight Main St. collection of Austin-style bars off the HCC/Ensemble Station to the "Blade Runner" futurism of the bars off Main St. Square downtown...a mere METRORAIL ride. I personally will enjoy Houston's myriad collection of micro party clusters all around. I just never get tired of going out here.

Indeed, navigating Houston's range of sprawl is not desirable for disconnected visitors...but then again, I am not a disconnected visitor. I enjoy my mini-adventures around Houston rather than just visiting two or three chunky entertainment districts like other cities.

But certainly, visitors that are taken to places like Sam's Boat, British Arms and Concert Pub do enjoy them here. I am itching to check out Diablo Loco really soon on da Richmond Strip.

Midtown is actually walkable, from Post Square to Little Woodrow's to Pub Fiction to Glitter Karaoke. It's not laid out in some Sunset Strip style street or such. But I do like that open grid layout. Lots of people walking around actually, from place to place. Somehow, it feels like a different, Houston-style urban wonderland. It's not the predictably arranged linear layout of "strip" style streets of other cities (though we have streets like that such as lower Westheimer and Washington Ave)...yet Post Square does offer some of that with W. Gray. I like how some people will walk their dogs at night while other packs of people are going from bar to club.

I can park in some...safe neighborhood between Durham/Shepherd, a few blocks below, then simply walk to Washington Ave. My car is always there when I return. But Washington Ave still has a very busy sidewalk party scene west of Durham, albeit a demographically revised one. Those many bars there are certainly connected in that section of Washington Avenue.

[Lucky Clover]

Houston's fine with the number of options it has for entertainment. It has sports, it has a bar scene, it has clubs, it has a theater scene. For a city of it's size, there's really nothing needed at this point. Can it be improved? Most certainly. But it's not lacking entertainment options. A lot of people go down to Galveston too which is a fun thing to do, especially on weekends.

[LeavingDetroit]

Originally Posted by worldlyman

Midtown is actually walkable, from Post Square to Little Woodrow's to Pub Fiction to Glitter Karaoke. It's not laid out in some Sunset Strip style street or such. But I do like that open grid layout. Lots of people walking around actually, from place to place. Somehow, it feels like a different, Houston-style urban wonderland. It's not the predictably arranged linear layout of "strip" style streets of other cities (though we have streets like that such as lower Westheimer and Washington Ave)...yet Post Square does offer some of that with W. Gray. I like how some people will walk their dogs at night while other packs of people are going from bar to club..

I second that on Midtown's walkability. Yesterday I walked from my apt. to the dry cleaners, a tailor shop, CVS, and the grocery store. While I'm not into the bar scene, outside my window I hear plenty of people partaking of this type of nightlife.

[LeavingDetroit]

Originally Posted by jek74

Houston has an aquarium, it's called the Gulf of Mexico. Or do you guys want it enclosed in glass with a $30 admission charge with a 19 year old tour guide screaming at you to keep your hands off the glass.

Go to Monterey or another world class aquarium to see what you are missing.

[golferadam]

Houston Zoo and Children's museum are great. They've made some nice improvements to both in the six years I've been here.