dbigtex56 Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 It's easy to forget that the area we call 'the Montrose' is an amalgamation of early 20th century subdivisions, the beginnings of Houston's suburban sprawl. Change has been constant. Montrose is now considered to be one of the most (if not the most) urban neighborhoods in Houston. Most of the mansions on Montrose Boulevard are long gone. In the 60's, Montrose became a haven for hippies and artists; in the 70's, it became the epicenter of Houston's gay community. In the 80's, drugs, runaways and prostitution became rampant. And starting in the early 90's, it has become increasingly mainstream, with rents and new construction going up at dizzying rates. Not everyone is pleased with Montrose's newfound popularity. The people who made Montrose a unique, charming neighborhood are rapidly being priced out of the market. Businesses that have existed for years suddenly find themselves under attack by people who chose to buy a new townhome next door. New development is taking away on-street parking, while creating more demand for parking spaces. Hundred-year-old trees are felled, and quaint bungalows razed. And a sense of community that took years to establish is dwindling.Can Montrose be saved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 You would think that normally, growing popularity would be a good thing. The problem is, the people fueling the growth are newcomers who don't understand the neighborhood, and developers who don't care. The neighborhood itself should be able to control its own future. The neighborhood next to UT in Austin is a lot like Montrose - eclectic, a mixture of old cottages with new highrises, with all sorts of alternative-type stores. They are currently working on a zoning change that will raise the height limit of the neighborhood and require new highrises to have ground floor commercial property. There will also be strict rules on walkways and trees. The goal is to create an urban, pedestrian environment, and I have no doubt they'll succeed. Houston could succeed easily too. It isn't rocket science. It's just good government. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 You would think that normally, growing popularity would be a good thing. The problem is, the people fueling the growth are newcomers who don't understand the neighborhood, and developers who don't care. The neighborhood itself should be able to control its own future. The neighborhood next to UT in Austin is a lot like Montrose - eclectic, a mixture of old cottages with new highrises, with all sorts of alternative-type stores. They are currently working on a zoning change that will raise the height limit of the neighborhood and require new highrises to have ground floor commercial property. There will also be strict rules on walkways and trees. The goal is to create an urban, pedestrian environment, and I have no doubt they'll succeed. Houston could succeed easily too. It isn't rocket science. It's just good government.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>You can say that, but isn't it no zoning that built Montrose into what we are trying to save today? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 maybe we should convert to zoning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 maybe we should convert to zoning?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think Houston has become what is it to not zoning. The city should just put some ordinences on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmancuso Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 i dig montrose and will be relocating there after i finish my master's degree in december. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincoRanch-HoustonResident Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Ill be finishing my masters degree in December, but instead I'll just stay in the Katy area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmancuso Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Ill be finishing my masters degree in December, but instead I'll just stay in the Katy area.katy is not bad (particularly cinco ranch) and the only downside about it is the commute into town for work. btw, what school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 :Stands Up: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Montrose is actually a nice place. It just needs to be redeveloped right, and they need to keep the eccentric flavor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citykid09 Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Is all of Westheimer in side of 610 considerd Montrose? Because I went that way on accident last time I was in Houston and it looked very exciting and urban. I saw a shopping area called Hilland Village I keep riding and there was lots of on street shopping and on street resturants it was very nice. After a while I saw the downtown skyline. It was all amazing! I never new that, that area of Houston exzisted. Why is it keeped such a secret? Are there more areas like this? If not there needs to be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
templehouston Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 I've lived in Montrose since I escaped from Memorial. Except for a period of time in San Francisco during the dotcom boom and one brief foray to the Galleria area, Montrose has been my home for over 30 years. Lower Westheimer in the early 70s was a pleasant street lined with antique stores and restaurants. The increase in crime and prostitution (catering to outsiders -- gay men don't frequent transvestite hookers) caused a severe decline in the area. The oil bust of the 80s caused many gay men to leave Houston in a search for jobs. Apartment complexes lost tenants and turned to the undocumented to fill vacancies. Car theft increased exponentially. High school kids from the suburbs created gridlock on Westheimer on weekend nights and all summer long. During that time a criminal masquerading as a real investor and developer started a string of fires that gutted Lower Westheimer while he collected the insurance proceeds. (He's dead now.) The traffic gridlock and the demise of the restaurants cut down on the foot traffic and, except for the transvestite prostitutes, crime decreased. At some point in the late 80s and early 90s, some developers discovered that they could make a killing by leveling fourplexes and putting in multiple three-story townhomes. That change caused a loss of the 20-somethings and an influx of the affluent who had formerly lived in the suburbs. An incidental result of this development was that the area now floods fairly regularly because they paved over the yards that had absorbed the rain water. Anyway, these new residents, complete with walls and gates, do not want to live in a neighborhood that is not like the suburbs they know. Zoning is not going to change their attitudes. In fact, if past history teaches anything, they would use zoning to force out "undesirable" businesses and neighbors. It's too bad they couldn't all live in West University Place. But then, Montrose wouldn't be as hot a housing market as it could be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Well, there could be regulations instead of zoning, or else mild zoning. There's a lot of possibilities. It would give Montrose a way to keep out the walls and gates, to save the trees and the old houses, to make sure the major boulevards are walkable, to ensure ground level retail in the spate of high rises that could be landing on Montrose Blvd. soon, to put the parking lots behind the buildings instead of in front of them, to save old buildings from high rise developers' sights, to keep gas stations out of potentially nice intersections, and to limit disasters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeightsGuy Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 My outlook on Montrose has gotten a lot better lately. I don't have numbers to back myself up, but my gut tells me the era of knocking down Montrose has for the most part played out since the real money-making is over for the developers.What's left is not so bad after all. There is a lot more people squeezed into it, but that's not such a bad thing IMO. We are nowhere near critical mass inside the loop, and I would rather see the inner-loop go skyward than see the outer-loop spread out even further.In the end, the townhomes will patina a little bit, the 20-30 somethings in the still abundant apartments will make enough when they're 40 to buy into the neighborhood, and the Montrose will continue to be the center of the Houston cultural universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citykid09 Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Westheimer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citykid09 Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 What if the Montrose/Westheimer area looked like this? Could it? Will it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestGrayGuy Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 Citykid:Nice avatar.And to answer your question, no Montrose will never look like the French quarter looking down towards the central business district. Let me explain why. The French Quarter has an incredible density because the city of New Orleans started there. Thats the only place there was to build when New Orleans started. Consequently, they crammed buildings along the river. Necessity breeds density in this case. Houston is a different case all together.The biggest obstacle to density in Houston is the amount of land available that the city has to expand to. Citykid:It's a shame that you never knew the inner loop neighborhoods of Houston existed. I wonder how many others in Texas think of Houston as freeways and strip centers with no cultural center. I have been accused of being an inner loop snob. I am fortunate enough to live and work inside the loop. There are times when I don't leave the loop for weeks. My friends and I call this OTL (outside the Loop). The heart and soul of Houston is with the confines of 610. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeightsGuy Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 Citykid,You were wondering about Montrose boundries......I think the official boundries are pretty small (just like the Heights), but I have always thought of the general boundries as roughly 59 and shepheard north to allen parkway, east to taft, south to westheimer, east to spur 527, west to 59, back to shepheard.Others may have a tighter radius, but that's what I've always thought when thinking Montrose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceCity Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 The inner loop does have character. I'm not a fan of suburbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 Citykid,You were wondering about Montrose boundries......I think the official boundries are pretty small (just like the Heights), but I have always thought of the general boundries as roughly 59 and shepheard north to allen parkway, east to taft, south to westheimer, east to spur 527, west to 59, back to shepheard.Others may have a tighter radius, but that's what I've always thought when thinking Montrose.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think of the General "Montrose" area, between the American General Center, and Hermann Park. Sometimes the flare is still the same... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citykid09 Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 I still think this is possible, with developers like Post Properties Look what they did for midtown. (just found out about that too!) Cousin moved down from New York and lives there! Houston is so much more than what people see on freeways! People need to take the time to look at a city before they judge it! I also went up to the Champion Forest Area. Very, Very, Very, Nice! With all the mansions in the tall pine tree forest it is very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 Well, as long as POST does not do all of the properties- the quality isnt too good...Post isnt the best mixed use developer, either. If anything, I would prefer several different developers mixing stuff up for the neighborhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 Funny thing is, they now have Museum District signs on Montrose on the North side of 59.Since when is that considered the Museum District? Does the MD run to Alabama? Maybe becuase of the Menil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeightsGuy Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 I'll concede parts of my boundries with good arguments (River Oaks shopping center comes to mind, maybe Westmoreland (they're a little uppity back there anyway)), but no way will I ever consider the corner of Richmond/Montrose part of the Museum District, sign or no sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted September 1, 2004 Author Share Posted September 1, 2004 Wish I could cite a source, but it's my understanding that the Museum District extends all the way to Hawthorne St. on the north. The district was established sometime after I got uppity and moved to Westmoreland in '85 , and I remember the newspaper article - was surprised that it encompassed such a large area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceCity Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 Well, as long as POST does not do all of the properties- the quality isnt too good...Post isnt the best mixed use developer, either. If anything, I would prefer several different developers mixing stuff up for the neighborhood.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Post does have a lot of good urban designs. The exterior architects are great, but the interiors are surprisingly bad (for the rent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted September 4, 2004 Share Posted September 4, 2004 Wish I could cite a source, but it's my understanding that the Museum District extends all the way to Hawthorne St. on the north. The district was established sometime after I got uppity and moved to Westmoreland in '85 , and I remember the newspaper article - was surprised that it encompassed such a large area. They came up with Museum District boundaries by finding all the museums and drawing a line to include as many as possible. At one point there was some museum or other near Allen Parkway, so the district was stretched to include that. All in all, it's pretty arbitrary and meaningless. It's not a really a neighborhood like the Montrose is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debmartin Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 "I saw a shopping area called Hilland Village I keep riding and there was lots of on street shopping and on street resturants it was very nice. After a while I saw the downtown skyline. It was all amazing! I never new that, that area of Houston exzisted. Why is it keeped such a secret?" (quote, citykid09) highland village was updated but has been around for a long time. its kind of a well kept secret for "upscale" shopping but is totally decked out at christmas with holiday decorations and looks lovely. i cannot recall anytime that highland village was even remotely assoicated with the motrose area - they represent two totally different poles of houston society.debmartin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largeTEXAS Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 Westheimer <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Lower Westheimer, though messy, has a certain early 20th century charm to it. Totally different from the type of urban developments created in New Orleans - totally different era. Now, downtown has potential of becomming a great urban paradise like the French Quarter. We obviously don't have as many old structures as New Orleans, but the scale is similar. So, support downtown, it might start to look and feel much more ecclectic and hip in the coming years. We too could have our version of the French Quarter (only better, hopefully). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 highland village was updated but has been around for a long time. its kind of a well kept secret for "upscale" shopping but is totally decked out at christmas with holiday decorations and looks lovely.Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how Highland Village is always the first shopping center in Houston to put up Christmas decorations and last to take them down? Usually by Halloween they're all lit up and some years it's almost February 1 before they get them down. I know this year I was traveling for work much of January and February and I remember coming home between trips the second week of February and driving by and seeing the big red bows still on top of the buildings.But they are great decorations and give the place a great holiday atmosphere. I just think they could be a little more prompt in taking them down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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