FYI - The Galleria in Dallas is much smaller than the one in Houston Austin's fun for the weekends when the weather is warm, but they lack jobs, good restaurants, good shopping and pro sports. It's a AAA town.
In regards to safety, there are very few really dangerous areas of town. Austin definitely has a right and wrong side of the tracks. The track being I35. If you stay west of it, you really can't go wrong except for small pockets of South Austin.
Houston is much more liberal than most people think. Ever drive around inside the loop around election time? Don't let the Bush bumper stickers fool you. All those people live in the suburbs.
Austin > Houston About 100% of the people who have moved to Austin from Houston agree. You can rebuild downtown houston all you want. it still has no personality. Sure, there are hippies in Atown, but so what, you can find other people too. Barton Springs, Hill Country, REAL Lakes. People ARE MUCH FRIENDLIER in Austin. Crime rate is lower. I'll give houston the benefits of much better asian food selection, but austin is building a new chinatown on lamar (so its getting better). Also, the work. I paid my dues in the Oil/Gas industry. Most boring work ever.
they have good restaurants (just smaller selection). Houston has better Asian food. Longhorns = National Champions Longhorns = real fans, not just a bunch of corporate yuppies that show up to the Rockets games and have no clue who Vernon Maxwell and Otis Thrope are Austin , no hurricanes, mass flooding, tornadoes There's plenty of shopping, plus San Marcos Outlet mall they are almost done with some big toll roads to help the traffic. but if you dont use i35, traffic is easy. i've lived in Houston 3 times as long as I've lived in Austin. Austin is still by far the better place to live. I'll go to Houston for some Rocket games and for some food, but I'll never move back to houston, even if i get paid twice my salary.
I think Houston is more liberal than most outsiders think, but I was born and raised in Houston and lived in Austin for several years during college. Austin was much more liberal. It wasn't even close.
Right on Baqui. I've been living in Austin for 5 years now and I love it because of the outdoors stuff available. In the daytime in Houston, your only options are going shopping or going to museums. But in Austin, you have Barton Creek, Town Lake, Sculpture Falls, Lake Travis, etc...There just seems to be more stuff to do, especially if you have a dog. BTW, you're not speaking of Latitude are you? If so, don't give away my secret spot. forchette- If you like doing things outdoors, you will probably like Austin a whole lot better. But like others have posted, the job market is signficantly smaller thus a lot harder. The shopping isn't that great, even though they have many more ecletic type stores (my girlfriend loves that stuff).
I lived in Austin for 15 years and unless you are next to campus or downtown, Austin is pretty redneck.
tinman- Is there anyway I can get more info. on this? The only knock on Austin IMO is lack of sport jobs (what I studied at UT) and the fact that there is only one real chinese restaraunt. Where on Lamar is it going to be? Completion date?
even though houston has 10x more gentlemen's clubs than austin, austin's club has a more fun vibe. people are happy and the girls are cooler and less 'business like'. you can even hang out with the girls when they are not working... they hang out at this bar called glass all the time. i have no idea where i got this info.
Haha, dude, I was talking about Latitude! Getting liquored up there off $2 jaeger bombs and hitting up the better joints saves a ton of money. Which brings up another point. In Austin, almost all bars are within a few blocks of each other. In Houston, you don't have that option at all. While we're on the subject of scenery, Hamilton Poole and Pedernales Falls are pretty nice too. There has been some job growth here lately, but just not en masse like you see in other large cities.
It's more of a large Chinese-style shopping complex, and it's located on North Lamar, just south of Braker. It's nearing completion now.
i never understood why "hippies" are bad. the true ones don't hurt anyone. they have a connection to the beauty of nature (which is partly why austin has a great park/conservation mentality). they know good music and support the arts. being a "hippie" and being financially or culturally successful aren't mutually exclusive. in fact, GSD&M and National Instruments are great places to work that are in the total-rewards school of compensation. pay won't be killer, but you'll enjoy work a lot more than being forced into the movie "office space" every day of your life.
The fancy restaurant piece I agree with somewhat. Houston has lots of the 4 and 5-star places, and lots of fun niche restaurants like Fogo de Chao and Churrasco's. Austin is better known for more home-grown spots like Salt Lick, County Line BBQ, Guero's, and the Oasis.
which chinese restuarant is that? T&S Seafood? here's the article: http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2005/04/04/story7.html?t=printable Retail complex aimed at Austin's growing Asian population Austin Business Journal - April 1, 2005 by Mary Alice Kaspar Austin Business Journal Staff A 180,000-square-foot retail center is about to pop up in North Austin. But in contrast to the many "big box"-anchored blocks that line major intersections throughout the region, this center features anything but a generic theme. Austin developer Tan International Group is introducing an Asian-themed center to Austin called Chinatown Center. The center will be at 10901 N. Lamar Blvd., near Kramer Lane. A groundbreaking ceremony took place March 30. The center will feature a 68,000-square-foot Asian grocery store called My Thanh Oriental Market, which now operates in roughly 15,000 square feet at 7601 N. Lamar. The store is owned and run by Tom Lee, father-in-law of Alexander Tan, who is chairman of Tan International Group. Tan says it was essential to study the market before proceeding with a center dedicated to the needs of Asian clientele -- from banking and mobile phone services to five or six restaurants. Groceries, jewelry, gifts and others wares in the various stores will come from countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand and India, he says. Tan says many Asians who live in Austin travel to bigger cities, such as Dallas and Houston, to do weekend shopping. He hopes his center changes that pattern by offering convenience. The center's 30-acre site leaves room for a future phase or expansion, although Tan declines to discuss that option. Research found a concentration of roughly 30,000 Asians in Northeast Austin in the area around the planned center, says Jim Wittliff, president of Land Answers Inc. Wittliff's company helped Tan International obtain zoning and entitlements from the City of Austin. Tan says the center is 100 percent preleased -- a rarity for a project that just broke ground. "That tells you something about the Asian community" and market demand, Wittliff says. He says the center will "generate a significant amount of redevelopment" in an area needing an economic boost. Wittliff describes the building's Asian-influenced architecture as "a little bit out of the norm." For instance, "a big Chinese gate" will soar above the bus stop on the property, he says. The center is coming along at a time when Austin's Asian population and U.S. retail sales of Asian foods both are on the rise. Total U.S. retail sales of Asian foods rose by 27.3 percent from 2000 to 2004, driven by a growing Asian-American population and increasingly sophisticated American palates, according to a new report from Rockville, Md.-based Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com.
Thanks gucci, I bet all the UT interns take up the jobs too. I like the idea of having more options like Austin seems to have, best of all worlds...
the oasis is a fun place with amazing scenery that Houston can't touch.. the food sucks tho. Lets not forget ZTejas, Rudy's, and Uchi. The real estate market is too hot in austin now. i cant find a frickin condo thats affordable!
2004 Election Results Harris County George W. Bush 54.75% John F. Kerry 44.56% Travis County George W. Bush 41.95% John F. Kerry 55.95% Like I said Houston may not be as conservative as outsiders think, but there is no way that it is more liberal than Austin.
5 minutes worth of research on teh Internets yields this info: - According to Kiplinger's, Austin is #5 on the list of "50 Smart Places to Live". Houston is not on the list. - Austin is #58 on the list of The Milken Institute's "Best Performing Cities for 2005". Houston is #129. - Austin is listed as the #3 city for business and career, according to a 2005 Forbes report. Houston is #13. - According to Reader's Digest, Austin is the 8th cleanest metropolitan city in the U.S. Houston is 41st. - Austin is the 173rd best city, according to Inc. magazine. Houston is #193.
The first one sounds like Dallas...uh, the second, well, maybe its the hippy in everyone...I still don't think I could do the hairy pits, unless she's french and very hot... You'r observation of Houston is accurate...i'm not sure if the Dallas Galleria is bigger, but I've only been to eat at the one here and its been so long since I've been to the one in Houston...I use to remember people saying that you don't instantly fall in love with Houston, but once you're there awhile, you don't want to leave...
