Having moved to Austin last year, I appreciate some things about Houston that I totally took for granted living there. Mainly the food and the ridiculously cheap real estate. It's been shocking how much more expensive Austin is.
i come from my hometown of Houston. I feel lucky to have lived in three of the top 4 cities in this country. when I'm not in Houston and I hear inexperienced people talk about what they think they know about Texas from tv, news, and movies, I defend my hometown to no end. I do the same when people say the same thing about New York and California.
I felt Houston was more diverse than LA - at least in the the sense that people and neighborhoods weren't as segregated. My friends in Houston tended to be much more diverse, not just by race, but also by age and political persuasion, and other things that often separate people. I really like that. Trafic sucks, but drivers are generally polite. It softens a bad thing. Food, high and low, is pretty remarkable. What I don't like is the difficulty getting high quality produce on the cheap. My diet became much less healthy when I visited Houston Tasty but I gained a few pounds in two weeks. As a musician, venues are friendlier than what I am used to, and getting booked is not so hard. Rent / real estate costs are great, but balancing that with dependance on a car and the time spent on your butt driving offsets that, I think. But for me, I like the character of the town. It has a blue-collar vibe at heart that sets it apart from Austin or Dallas (or even Atlanta) and I find the people to be less smug & judgmental. I can't stand the heat in summer after living in milder climates, but I always miss that feeling of thunderstorms in summer. That just doesn't happen in places like Southern California or the Mediterranean. I'm a bit biased since I was born there and am a huge Houston sports fan - sports figures prominently in my identification with the town, so much that I always carry an ancient "Luv Ya Blue" towel with me on gigs for good luck, wherever I go in the world. So there's that!
Cheap. Diverse. Lots of jobs. Houston is projected to be the most diverse city in the US by 2020, IIRC.
It's home. And for you haters that were born here and love to talk **** about it, how about you just adopt a new ****ing hometown. We don't want to claim you either.
Since this is about why we love the city, I'll only mention the positive things. Ranked, in order. 1.) Unbelievably cheap housing 2.) Lack of winter 3.) Abundance of good cheap restaurants serving the food I like (Tex-Mex, BBQ, etc). 4.) Nice People 5.) Has professional sports teams with nice stadiums
Check the Blueshound's music calendar each week. All the best gigs are listed here.... http://theblueshound.com/musiccalendar.cfm
But I always thought part of being a Houstonian was hating on everything esp. the city of Houston. I never said I dont claim houston. In fact I go out of my way to defend Houston when ignorant fools from places like Milwaukee, Sacramento, Orange County, and Montana talk **** about Houston and Texas in general. New York smells bad, Many Cali folk tend to be hypersensitive douches, and Houston has crappy weather and large insects. Every area/city has their good and bad points. As a native Houstonian, I think I have the right to talk **** about the city.
It's an overused cliche, but the people here really are nicer than other big cities. Laid back, easy-going and unpretentious - just like me. I think the freeway system is very efficient. If there's no construction (I know, when is that?), you can pretty much get anywhere in the city in 30 minutes or less. Of course the food is awesome. You can get anything you want in pretty much any part of town. After a LONG wait, we actually have a pretty good football team again. All 3 sports stadiums are immaculate. Low real estate prices and no state income tax. Houston isn't a tourist attraction, but it's a great place to live and work. And Atlanta is a HOLE.
Referring to those who never have anything good to say about the city. There are parts I hate about it too. No place is perfect.
Have y'all checked out Houston It's Worth It? I've got one of their TShirts... http://www.houstonitsworthit.com/HIWI-the-because-of
Being able to ride my bike across the street to Memorial Park. Not having to have to leave the inner loop for anything. Living 10 minutes from virtually everything I wanna do. TEXMEX kam
I love almost everything about Houston. The food, entertainment, diversity in cultures, economy, museums, etc... What i do not agree on is the weather. Summers are like HELL and winters are like...don't remember because its been awhile since we actually had one. And of course this: Man, its been a long 16 years since.
I love the mix of different peoples and cultures, and not seeing cracker at every turn. I love the wide choice of food AND how truly spicy hot they can make it. I love the roads and the drivers. Really, people generally know to GTFO the way there. It's a beautiful ballet of steel and concrete. People are genuinely friendly there. I think it comes from living so close to the coast. Cost of living is super low.
