Houston as Tourist Destination (Dallas, Galveston: theatres, taxes, live in)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

• Downtown LA and its subdistricts
• Hollywood
• Koreatown
• Various enjoyable neighborhood districts (Melrose Ave., Los Feliz, Atwater Village, Silver Lake, Westwood, etc.)
• Downtown Long Beach
• Venice

And more I'm sure. Houston, Phoenix, etc. don't have anywhere near this prevalence of walkability. Heck in Houston, you rarely find on-street parking outside of the Downtown to TMC corridor.

Who goes downtown LA on a tourist trip? I've been there a number of times and never bothered with downtown.
Hollywood is a pretty small walkable area, nothing like you have in NYC, Boston, Philly, DC or even Chicago.
Westwood isn't particularly walkable. You have all the massive streets and very long blocks.
Rodeo is basically 3 or 4 blocks surrounded by lots of wide streets with little of interest on them.
And I've walked and run from Rodeo to Westwood. Not on anyone's top 10 list. Or top 100.
Venice and Santa Monica I buy.

Houston has Montrose and Rice Village. Then there's Galveston Island.

Have you actually tried to park in LA??? Its almost as big a headache as driving.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by bu2

Who goes downtown LA on a tourist trip? I've been there a number of times and never bothered with downtown.
Hollywood is a pretty small walkable area, nothing like you have in NYC, Boston, Philly, DC or even Chicago.
Westwood isn't particularly walkable. You have all the massive streets and very long blocks.
Rodeo is basically 3 or 4 blocks surrounded by lots of wide streets with little of interest on them.
And I've walked and run from Rodeo to Westwood. Not on anyone's top 10 list. Or top 100.
Venice and Santa Monica I buy.

Houston has Montrose and Rice Village. Then there's Galveston Island.

Have you actually tried to park in LA??? Its almost as big a headache as driving.

Westwood Village, not the office tower part of Westwood.

Look, is LA walkable like SF? No, but its streets, buildings and infrastructure all better accommodate the movement and safety of pedestrians than Houston's do.

Why shouldn't it be difficult to park in a big city? Parking spaces use up land that's more valuable for other things. Big cities that are easy to park in generally aren't worth visiting and usually have limited economic viability.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by bu2

Houston has Montrose and Rice Village. Then there's Galveston Island.

Galveston is not Houston, and you still have to get people there. Fort Worth isn't Dallas, either, but at least there's a rail connection between downtown and downtown. Shuttle services between Galveston and Houston mainly run out of the cruise terminal, and not to points of interest to anyone going there for a reason other than boarding a ship.

You go to the intersection of Montrose and Westheimer and you have

-a gas station
-a strip mall with parking in front
-a Smoothie King with a drive-thru
-a Mediterranean restaurant on the one corner with something actually on the street other than a bus stop

You have some other stretches of Westheimer that do a little better than that, and you have Rice Village and you have the Heights "downtown," you have these little places where we can go "okay, this isn't completely hostile to getting around without driving" and you have little way of getting anyone visiting without a car between any of them.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Galveston is not Houston, and you still have to get people there. Fort Worth isn't Dallas, either, but at least there's a rail connection between downtown and downtown. Shuttle services between Galveston and Houston mainly run out of the cruise terminal, and not to points of interest to anyone going there for a reason other than boarding a ship.

You go to the intersection of Montrose and Westheimer and you have

-a gas station
-a strip mall with parking in front
-a Smoothie King with a drive-thru
-a Mediterranean restaurant on the one corner with something actually on the street other than a bus stop

You have some other stretches of Westheimer that do a little better than that, and you have Rice Village and you have the Heights "downtown," you have these little places where we can go "okay, this isn't completely hostile to getting around without driving" and you have little way of getting anyone visiting without a car between any of them.

And while many things in Montrose are walking distance from each other, there's no guarantee that there will be a passable sidewalk or a safe thoroughfare crossing. In Rice Village, you're still wending your way through parked cars and looking for sidewalks.

[leastprime]

So what's to see in Houston? Thinking of making a trip.

[kemahkami]

Originally Posted by cavsfan137

I feel like I see what you're saying, and sort of agree halfway. It's one of those chicken or the egg type things though. As I mentioned, there are very walkable places (moreso, as a unit, than Los Angeles), that are far less popular as tourism destinations, and vice versa. I agree overall with LA being more urban than it gets credit for. But that still doesn't fully explain away places like Orlando and Atlanta that have roughly the same level of walkability as Houston does overall.

It is important to understand that while those attractions are indeed clustered, a fair number of those are not especially easy to get to sans car. It certainly is more urban, but not necessarily sans car.

Any sprawling, auto-centric place and/or small city that also happens to have vibrant tourist appeal, rest assured, will have such activity concentrated in specific nodes of high interest, vibrancy, and walkability, while also managing to encapsulate all that the visitor would need.

So with Orlando, for instance, the bulk of tourism focuses specifically on the many anchored theme park complexes. Thus, the rest of the city doesn't matter much from the visitor's perspective, so far those theme parks have the lively fun and festivity they desire. It's a similar situation with Las Vegas and the Strip.

Los Angeles, although not as walkable as other cities, still features more than enough density and vibrancy, especially in areas of interest, to leave people enriched and wanting to come back for more. But nevertheless, as I've mentioned to a previous poster, the sprawl is indeed one of the chief complaints tourists do have when visiting LA, especially in comparison to other mega-cities.

As for Atlanta, I don't think I've seen that city to be noted as particularly tourist-friendly. But, between MARTA heavy rail, the BeltLine, and Midtown/Downtown/Five Points, I wouldn't doubt that a visiting tourist would at least have an easier time accessing Atlanta's amenities compared to Houston.

Granted, Houston's is indoor-but I feel like that is to be expected, as the climate in Houston just isn't as ideal for year round outdoor retail in Houston as it is in LA.

Climate seems understandable at first, but closer inspection reveals that it tends to be more of an excuse. After all, there's plenty of outdoor shopping even out in the desert of Dubai, far hotter and even more humid than Houston year-round.

[Spade]

Notice this about Los Angeles. They understand that there must be more options and more efficient ways to get around a city. They understand that they can highway their way out of problems. Which is why they are doing extensive expansions on their mass transit systems. In the long run, this will make the area become even more dense and will help connect the attractions even more. But again, Los Angeles has so many attractions coupled with great year round weather and location that it gets a pass. Houston is not blessed with this.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ScrappyJoe

Climate seems understandable at first, but closer inspection reveals that it tends to be more of an excuse. After all, there's plenty of outdoor shopping even out in the desert of Dubai, far hotter and even more humid than Houston year-round.

To be perfectly blunt, many folks (suburbanites) like malls because they're allowed some element of visitor control - namely, keeping out the homeless / panhandlers and "miscreants." For example, I've heard there's lots of folks who are not inclined to visit SF again because of this issue, after they've experienced it once.

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by ScrappyJoe

As for Atlanta, I don't think I've seen that city to be noted as particularly tourist-friendly. But, between MARTA heavy rail, the BeltLine, and Midtown/Downtown/Five Points, I wouldn't doubt that a visiting tourist would at least have an easier time accessing Atlanta's amenities compared to Houston.

Atlanta also has their tourist attractions in walking distance from each other. Something Houston lacks in it's downtown. Georgia Aquarium/Coca-Cola/Human and Civil Rights Museum/Centennial Olympic Park/CNN/Skyview Atlanta/Horse and Carriage rides/State Farm stadium all in walking distance from each other. Those sights bring in a gang of tourist. Plus you got Martin Luther King Jr. historical national park/ Botanical Garden in close proximity to each other. Along with the choice of Marta.

Atlanta is just as congested if not more than Houston but they do have centralized tourist attractions. Plus it helps that Atlanta is a popular fixture in media so that peaks people's interest in visiting the city.

Houston has a ton of amenities that tourist would like but they need to have a centralized location with world class attractions that can interest people outside of Texas. CNN/Coca-Cola/Civil Rights/Martin Luther King Jr. are known all over the planet. Houston doesn't have any global icon/brands or historical icons that people would want to visit.

I honestly think Houston should revamp Buffalo Bayou in DT Houston and make the areas around that the centralized location for tourism. Build something that's unique to the country not just Texas. And get rid of that "Aquarium" downtown and build a world class one. Start there.

[mkwensky]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

I honestly think Houston should revamp Buffalo Bayou in DT Houston and make the areas around that the centralized location for tourism. Build something that's unique to the country not just Texas. And get rid of that "Aquarium" downtown and build a world class one. Start there.

I wouldn't invest in that until DT survived a couple more hurricanes. Also riverwalks aren't that unique anymore. Even Oklahoma City has one. It would be nice if they can pull it off though.