good point, FFB. when people think of Houston's skyline, or any big city, even Los Angeles, they think "downtown" downtown in NYC is simply a direction pointing south, because the entire island of Manhattan qualifies as one big skyline, just massive... as far as cost, I still say it isn't as crazy expensive as most people say. if you are just a student or a bartender/waitress, you adjust your spending to fit your lifestyle. it's the Wall Street traders that have high rise condos and townhomes that are just outrageously expensive... there are tons of lower to middle class families who make their living just fine... they are the majority of New Yorkers, not the ritzy upper crust folks...
Best point by far. Wherever you feel most comfortable with is where you will probably end up. If it's Houston then you (the average joe) will be able to own your own vehicles and your own home. If it's NYC and your an average Joe... Well good luck being a lifetime renter.
I've lived in both places and had great times in both. NY - racism is equal but in different ways than in Houston. They are becoming more similar all the time though. Many racists in NY have no idea they are racist. Houston - racism is more overt, but not any more prevalent. NY - weather; The winters could be a pain, but more clothes isn't really hard to make up for the cold. The summers were the worst. The humidity was horrible. There was almost no breeze at all ever during the summers. What made it bad is that because of transportation you were forced to be exposed to it. If you drove you would still have to park a distance away from most locations. Many of the buildings were old and didn't have AC or the AC would be broken. If you took the buses or subways, it would be a mass of crowded sweaty folks. Houston - Storms, hurricanes, hot and humid. But it was easy to avoid it by being indoors, cars, or other places with AC. Milder winter NY - people; some really nice, some not so nice. Many have an inflated since of self importance of NY and an unfair stereotype of southerners, and Texans. But it's easy enough to avoid them or have fun giving them a hard time. It's easier to find more diverse people into more diverse activities and hobbies. The rudeness label generally comes from lack of customer service at almost any restaurant or business. People in Houston are generally very friendly with this kind of thing. The idea that it's more real might be OK in social settings but not with customer service. There is no excuse. Houston - People are generally really nice and on the whole more friendly. They also have more trouble understanding ideas or interests outside of the mainstream. It is harder to find people with more diverse interests and outlets for more diverse hobbies. It's not impossible but the communities with many hobbies are going to be smaller with less variety. NY - lifestyle; A wider variety of bars, music venues, comedy, theatre, and other hobbies or interests mentioned above. There are more 4 star restaurants, and a wider variety when choosing ethnic restaurants. Despite the all the hype, though NY restaurants are over rated. Yes there are plenty of great ones, but at the more casual restaurants don't have free refills, charge more, have smaller portions with less friendly service. Unless they are in your neighborhood they require much more effort to go to, and it is more of an event. There is no good tex-mex or bar-b-que period. You can find stuff that is passable, but nowhere near the quality you will get in Houston. The subways are a blessing because you don't have to worry about traffic or drinking and driving. They are a curse because late at night service is slow, and waiting in either really cold or really hot weather down in a tunnel sucks. They can also stink, and may put you into contact with both great and horrible people. It is cool to be able to catch up on reading while you are traveling. Houston - Friendly customer service, and more genuinely nice people. Hard to find a wide variety when it comes to ethnic restaurants, not as many 4 star restaurants. The city is way more convenient. It's much easier if you are in a hurry to grab some drive-thru and take it home. Grocery stores have much better produce, more variety in general, and are much larger. It is also easier to transport groceries and food. Without a car in NY you are limited to the amount of groceries you can get. The grocery stores there are tiny with a huge lack in variety of food, and just a pain in the ass to deal with. As far as transportation in Houston you are in your car able to control your climate, music, etc. NY- Cost of living; high Houston - reasonable.
who eats at the restaurants and drinks at these bars, and pays the salaries of the bartenders and waitresses? turnover is always pretty high in the restaurant world, but the number of places going under in NYC now is pretty staggering. i think life in NYC as we knew it is over, and it's not coming back fro a long long time, if ever.
it's crazy, California is literally going in the dumps, too, basso. everybody acts as if things are peachy, but the economic climate out here is downright scary...
I prefer NYC b/c the majority of people are polite and respectful. Most everybody in Manhattan/Brooklyn is very well educated when you compare them to folks in the South. I believe with increased education comes increased class. Yea, you will meet some obnoxious people, but generally I met more obnoxious people in Texas than I have in NYC. I also have found people nicer and easier to make friends with in NYC b/c most of the folks here aren't originally from NYC. In Houston, the majority of people have lived in the city their whole lives, and have the exact same group of friends they had whilst in high school. Thus people in Houston have no real motivation to go out of their way to expand their circle of friends. In NYC, most people aren't true Yankees, so thus they go out of their way to make friends because they have to. As for people not knowing anything about Houston..I would say its false from my personal viewpoint. I work in commodities, and Houston is known as one of the commodity trading capitals of not only America, but the world. The others are London, Dubai and Chicago in addition to NYC.
Thank you sir Point is, stereotyping is pointless, both Houston and NYC have their strong and weak points. I love them both for different reasons and would not give up any memory of either!
Believe it man. When I went to college in Atlanta (1996), tons of folks from NY, DC, Chi thought I rode horses to school and the like. No joke....
Sounds like you're exaggerating it a bit. http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/foreignborn.htm
That's funny. I find the exact opposite. Most of the people in Houston didn't grow up here, they just moved here for work.. There seems to be a lot of people from the poor parts of Asia(Pakistan, India, Vietnam, China, Filipinos). Of course, there are alot of people from New Orleans, too.
I was referring to non-native New Yorkers. (Meaning people from other states in the USA.) For me its quite difficult to meet someone in the city, especially Manhattan, that is originally from the NYC metro area. But in Houston it feels like most people grew up around the same area.
Well, from my link at least 1/3rd of the people in Houston already meet that description of not growing up in Houston. It's not hard to imagine that a good portion of the other non-foreign people are not from Houston. So I think a good estimate is at least half the people, if not more, in Houston didn't grow up here.
basso, I think just because you post a picture of Obama NOT SHOOTING the bird while trying to imply that he is doing that, doesn't mean you have a lack of class. That might be one classless act on your part, but it doesn't mean you have no class. Besides we don't know your education level.
Perhaps it also has something to do with NYC having a 100 year headstart on Houston as far as populations are concerned...
Oh yeah? Check out this stat from 2000. http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-South/Houston-Population-Profile.html And this is percentage of people born in state. The percentage of people born in the city of Houston will be even lower. And also, the percentage has definitely decreased due to: 1) More immigration from Mexico and South American countries 2) Better Houston economy than the rest of the country, so more people from other states/cities moving here
