Moving to Houston from Atlanta

[Big Dirty]

I think there is one overwhelming thing that makes Houston superior to Atlanta, and we should all know what that is.

[Vipor]

Originally Posted by bamba_boy

My uncle used to live in Atlanta and I've partied during the night and shopped during the day enough times to get a feel for Buckhead. There is really no exact equivalent as people said. I'll give you rundown on characteristics on the two closest bets - MidTown and Montrose. They are both wonderful neighborhoods, in my opinion, in that they are both adjacent each other and within the shadows of the scrapers of the downtown business district. It's rare in the US to be able to live in relatively (not perfectly) safe neighborhoods with long-term appreciating home values in such an inner city location. Hopefully this will help you pick depending on what floats your boat:

Montrose = some real old interestingly funky 20s and 30s single family 2-story homes. Mix in 21st century condos (usually small complexes maybe stacked 4-stories like brownstones back east). Totally eclectic mixture of old hippies, artsy-leaning professionals, very liberal, a few old derelict apartments with various street characters and a strong component alt-lifestyle/gay folk escaping small towns from all over Texas. If you're a liberal empty-nester couple or gay, it might be heaven, if your a fundamentalist Christian or Mormon trying to raise children attending the local public schools it might be h. e. double-hockey-sticks.

Midtown - much newer - basically a sketchy skid-rowish area magically being reborn (80% of the way there). More young professionals, lots and lots of new housing, clubs, and restaurants, the only train in Houston connects you up to downtown, the museum district, the NFL stadium, giant Texas Medical Center - you could be a doctor and never use your car. Doesn't have the counter-culture feel, probably a better fit for conservative or middle-of-the-roaders. Lots of nice Cheers type and Austin 6th Street type of neighborhood hangout bars mixed with live rock band places for straights.


Uptown is cool - wonderful shopping at the enormous Galleria, got to be the largest mall in the south - but it's really a separate "downtown", read somewhere there was more office spaces in its high rises than downtown Denver! It's 8-10 miles from the real central business district and not a trivial commute in prime rush hours (no problem if you don't mind leaving for work downtown a bit early). More upscale semi-suburban - kind of place hip, wealthy 50 year olds would like that works at Schlumberger in SugarLand - but not very edgey or close to the downtown cultural scene (ballet, symphony, sports, etc more accessable from Montrose or Midtown).

Wow!! Excellent summary bamba-boy. I'm over on the NW outskirts of the city, just lost my job and have been considering moving closer into the city and was wondering what parts would suit me. Your evaluations will definitely help me out. Sounds like midtown would be my cup of tea. Now, just have to find a suitable place which is affordable. Thanks again. :-)