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Sorry to bring up such a trivial topic but according to City Data and countless Forbes articles, you would think Houston is the hottest thing since the I-Phone. As a native Houstonian and recent transplant to LA, I have to say that before I came here I too was under the impression that LA would just be a bigger Houston but without the new spark Houston seemed to be carrying. As I found out after living here a year, the Houston hype is all well...hype. Seriously, I think it's a bubble. Houston had the luck of having a diverse economy to avoid the hardest hits of the recession and suddenly it's the paradise hidden gem of the US according to Forbes. Now everyone and their granny is moving there because they've been told it's the "new LA". Houstonians, especially hyping their city on these forums, insist that Houston is like LA, the new LA, taking over where LA stopped. I mean it's laughable.
First they keep posting pics of the Houston skyline and comparing it to DTLA and saying that it's bigger?? In what world? Sure pics of DTLA do not do the area justice because when you're actually close to DTLA you notice how massive the buildings are. Seriously DTLA's tallest buildings are comparable more to Chicago and Manhattan in scope and size. The downtown is denser and more highly populated. LA Live cannot compare to Houston Pavilion which is a mini-mart by comparison.
Second, this notion that LA and Houston are similar because of the structured similarities, meaning there is a downtown in the middle and sprawl that goes out into the burbs is ridiculous. Houston has so much more sprawl it makes LA look like Manhattan by comparison. LA is dense but it's buildings are low. It's literally a concrete jungle.
I do not want to go on. You guys get the point but why oh why are there so many threads comparing the two cities and countless articles hyping the town up as though it's catching up to LA? Not even close. All it has going for it is it has a way better economy. Nightlife I would say is a bit more fun in a rowdy let loose way but LA win hands down because of variety.
Your thoughts on this Houston obsession with LA. I mean why would a city that basically looks like a new Dallas be setting it's sights on tackling Los Angeles?
Most cities do this to put in some local chamber of commerce brochure...I think every city claims some "per capita" rating to put themselves on par with NYC & LA, even if it's via imagination. I don't think it's always believed though. Example...Kansas City generally is not like that, but Des Moines is.
The whole civic activism thing can be insufferable in its own right. You begin to feel like you're an outlier in this secret society where everything revolves around local politics, a Forbes ranking, and how special this city is, and if you don't agree you are a "hater".
Sorry to bring up such a trivial topic but according to City Data and countless Forbes articles, you would think Houston is the hottest thing since the I-Phone. As a native Houstonian and recent transplant to LA, I have to say that before I came here I too was under the impression that LA would just be a bigger Houston but without the new spark Houston seemed to be carrying. As I found out after living here a year, the Houston hype is all well...hype. Seriously, I think it's a bubble. Houston had the luck of having a diverse economy to avoid the hardest hits of the recession and suddenly it's the paradise hidden gem of the US according to Forbes. Now everyone and their granny is moving there because they've been told it's the "new LA". Houstonians, especially hyping their city on these forums, insist that Houston is like LA, the new LA, taking over where LA stopped. I mean it's laughable.
First they keep posting pics of the Houston skyline and comparing it to DTLA and saying that it's bigger?? In what world? Sure pics of DTLA do not do the area justice because when you're actually close to DTLA you notice how massive the buildings are. Seriously DTLA's tallest buildings are comparable more to Chicago and Manhattan in scope and size. The downtown is denser and more highly populated. LA Live cannot compare to Houston Pavilion which is a mini-mart by comparison.
Second, this notion that LA and Houston are similar because of the structured similarities, meaning there is a downtown in the middle and sprawl that goes out into the burbs is ridiculous. Houston has so much more sprawl it makes LA look like Manhattan by comparison. LA is dense but it's buildings are low. It's literally a concrete jungle.
I do not want to go on. You guys get the point but why oh why are there so many threads comparing the two cities and countless articles hyping the town up as though it's catching up to LA? Not even close. All it has going for it is it has a way better economy. Nightlife I would say is a bit more fun in a rowdy let loose way but LA win hands down because of variety.
Your thoughts on this Houston obsession with LA. I mean why would a city that basically looks like a new Dallas be setting it's sights on tackling Los Angeles?
you seem to be the one obsessed with comparing the 2 cities.
Sorry to bring up such a trivial topic but according to City Data and countless Forbes articles, you would think Houston is the hottest thing since the I-Phone. As a native Houstonian and recent transplant to LA, I have to say that before I came here I too was under the impression that LA would just be a bigger Houston but without the new spark Houston seemed to be carrying. As I found out after living here a year, the Houston hype is all well...hype. Seriously, I think it's a bubble. Houston had the luck of having a diverse economy to avoid the hardest hits of the recession and suddenly it's the paradise hidden gem of the US according to Forbes. Now everyone and their granny is moving there because they've been told it's the "new LA". Houstonians, especially hyping their city on these forums, insist that Houston is like LA, the new LA, taking over where LA stopped. I mean it's laughable.
First they keep posting pics of the Houston skyline and comparing it to DTLA and saying that it's bigger?? In what world? Sure pics of DTLA do not do the area justice because when you're actually close to DTLA you notice how massive the buildings are. Seriously DTLA's tallest buildings are comparable more to Chicago and Manhattan in scope and size. The downtown is denser and more highly populated. LA Live cannot compare to Houston Pavilion which is a mini-mart by comparison.
Second, this notion that LA and Houston are similar because of the structured similarities, meaning there is a downtown in the middle and sprawl that goes out into the burbs is ridiculous. Houston has so much more sprawl it makes LA look like Manhattan by comparison. LA is dense but it's buildings are low. It's literally a concrete jungle.
I do not want to go on. You guys get the point but why oh why are there so many threads comparing the two cities and countless articles hyping the town up as though it's catching up to LA? Not even close. All it has going for it is it has a way better economy. Nightlife I would say is a bit more fun in a rowdy let loose way but LA win hands down because of variety.
Your thoughts on this Houston obsession with LA. I mean why would a city that basically looks like a new Dallas be setting it's sights on tackling Los Angeles?
Not following you here. Houston is pretty awesome. I have had friends from LA that say Houston looks similar to LA in a lot of spots and it does. Houston definitely doesn't sprawl more than LA and its urban area is second to Miami more most dense for the major ones in the South. I'm not sure how it is hype when Houston has had a 230% increase in jobs since the recession, so more jobs are there now than before the recession began. And I'm note sure what you mean about DTLA having taller buildings because only the US Bank Tower is taller than anything in Houston, and that is only by a less than twenty feet. Houston has ten buildings above 700ft, LA has eight. Where LA wins over Houston is more medium rise density, but no, Houston has taller towers.
And Houston may look like Dallas from the freeways, but I have lived in both dfw and houston and visited la many times. Let me tell you, drive along the surface streets and Houston resembles LA more. You've been spreading some misconceptions about Houston life tbh. I haven't noticed a lot of the stuff you've been saying.
Not following you here. Houston is pretty awesome. I have had friends from LA that say Houston looks similar to LA in a lot of spots and it does. Houston definitely doesn't sprawl more than LA and its urban area is second to Miami more most dense for the major ones in the South. I'm not sure how it is hype when Houston has had a 230% increase in jobs since the recession, so more jobs are there now than before the recession began. And I'm note sure what you mean about DTLA having taller buildings because only the US Bank Tower is taller than anything in Houston, and that is only by a less than twenty feet. Houston has ten buildings above 700ft, LA has eight. Where LA wins over Houston is more medium rise density, but no, Houston has taller towers.
And Houston may look like Dallas from the freeways, but I have lived in both dfw and houston and visited la many times. Let me tell you, drive along the surface streets and Houston resembles LA more. You've been spreading some misconceptions about Houston life tbh. I haven't noticed a lot of the stuff you've been saying.
First off, I do have to concede that Houston does have more taller buildings but I still think that DTLA is more massive than Downtown Houston. I cannot see for the life of me how Houston is more dense than LA.
And Trae the Truth, tell me how have I been spreadings misconceptions about life in Houston? Because I said that it can be pretty keeping up with the joneses, think it's a 2nd LA, and that many people are overhyping the cities greatness because of a the job growth? I still see it as a rival to Dallas, Atlanta and Miami, not LA or NYC like the Forbes mags are painting it.
Houston is not a bad city and I've praised it's pros on this forum many times; cheap cost of living, inner loop cosmopolitanism, more sociable atmoshphere, great job opportunities and diverse cuisine. Other than that I cannot see the main hype behind the Houston boosters on the Houston forum and how they really almost see it as a twin city to LA. The surface streets are smaller. I don't see what you mean. Westheimer vs Wilshire, you mean? Houston just does not look as grand and dense as LA.
Not following you here. Houston is pretty awesome. I have had friends from LA that say Houston looks similar to LA in a lot of spots and it does. Houston definitely doesn't sprawl more than LA...
Houston does sprawl more than Los Angeles. The city itself is much larger than Los Angeles, and the metro area is even larger.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trae713
...and its urban area is second to Miami more most dense for the major ones in the South.
This is sort of like winning the silver in the Special Olympics (sorry for the offensive analogy, couldn't think of a better one). By standard density, Los Angeles is the densest metro in the country, and by weighted density (the density an average resident lives at), it is number three behind NYC and the Bay Area (and barely behind the Bay).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trae713
I'm not sure how it is hype when Houston has had a 230% increase in jobs since the recession, so more jobs are there now than before the recession began. And I'm note sure what you mean about DTLA having taller buildings because only the US Bank Tower is taller than anything in Houston, and that is only by a less than twenty feet. Houston has ten buildings above 700ft, LA has eight. Where LA wins over Houston is more medium rise density, but no, Houston has taller towers.
Los Angeles is exponentially more dense than Houston. I'll take Los Angeles' medium-to-high densities over Houston's patchwork low-density mixed with scattered high-rise districts. The problem with Houston's high-rise areas is that they are totally scaled for the automobile with little to no thought for the pedestrian. The Galleria makes Century City look like Lower Manhattan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trae713
And Houston may look like Dallas from the freeways, but I have lived in both dfw and houston and visited la many times. Let me tell you, drive along the surface streets and Houston resembles LA more. You've been spreading some misconceptions about Houston life tbh. I haven't noticed a lot of the stuff you've been saying.
I've seen a handful of locations in Houston that look a little bit like Los Angeles. What areas in Houston look like Los Angeles, especially on the surface streets?
There's nothing wrong with Houston aspiring to grow in density like Los Angeles did in the middle of the century. But for now Houston seems to be a transitioning Southern / Sun Belt city while Los Angeles is a maturing West Coast city. Houston has way more in common with Dallas than it does with LA, and Los Angeles has way more in common with San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose than it does with Houston. In fact, I think Dallas has more in common with Los Angeles from a built-environment standpoint than Houston does.
The issue is that these nice walkable and fairly urban areas are pretty scatter-shot right now. I would imagine Houston is still building at a rapid pace so the Google Maps are probably out of date. Every year they build they will get more critical mass and soon these random walkable blocks will turn into a large contiguous walkable area.
The other issue (and major difference between Houston and LA) is that these infill areas are relatively tiny compared to the vast areas of Los Angeles that have become densely populated (to the level of Chicago / Philly / Boston / SF). Houston has a long way to go before it has large stretches of very urban development. Right now the only area in Houston that approaches Los Angeles-level population densities is Gulfton, which appears to mostly be project-like development: http://goo.gl/maps/x3JDi
Another thing Houston has going for it over Los Angeles - the streets are much more narrow. Some of Los Angeles' streets are just way over the top in how wide they are (looking at you Venice).
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