Houston is known for many things: oil, NASA, urban sprawl and business-friendly policies. But the Texas city deserves to be known for something else: coolness. The Bayou City may not be the first place you associate with being hip or trendy. But Houston has something many other major cities don’t: jobs. With the local economy humming through the recession, Houston enjoyed 2.6% job growth last year, and nearly 50,000 Americans flocked there in response — particularly young professionals. In fact, the median age of a Houston resident is a youthful 33. The result? Over the past decade, the dreary corporate cityscape — pictured above — has been quietly transforming. Stylish housing developments have popped up downtown, restaurants have taken up residence in former factories and art galleries like the Station Museum have been inhabiting warehouses. Combine that with a strong theater scene, world-class museums and a multicultural, zoning-free mashup of a streetscape and you have the recipe for the No. 1 spot on Forbes’ list of America’s Coolest Cities To Live. link
somebody from Houston (property owner?) has nekkid pictures of Mr. Forbes. This is the second list in a month or two that they've put Htown at the top of.
First was coolest city, this was hippest city. I'll bet the CEO of Forbes has a hot secretary from Houston....and she is doing stellar work under the desk for him! :grin:
One thing Houston has going over any other city in the US is cost of housing. A house you can get over here for $500K is going to cost you at 3-5 times as much in most of the other hip cities.
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I love Houston, lived here my for all of my 25 glory-hole years. Washington, Mid-Town, Rice Village, etc are all cool, but everytime I go to Austin I am reminded how much "hipper" Austin is. If the question was "better" then I can argue Houston for being a great all-around city, but just talking "hip," hard to argue for Houston.
Yahoo just republished it with a slightly different title. http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/07/26/houston-tops-our-list-of-americas-coolest-cities-to-live/