HarryMoto

From tam's previous posts on the dallas site, my impression is that ATL's downtown is further along in terms of urban redevelopment than either Houston or Dallas. But I don't know ATL that well to comment much but I do like the whole Midtown area which I guess would correspond to Uptown in Dallas and Houston.

Here's more about the Port and what it might mean for Dallas' southern sector: http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2006-...ws/schutze.html

I like Albuquerque but you can add it to the list of no-skyline cities too.

Of course, the NorthPark idolatry is nothing compared to what is probably going to happen when Victory Park is unveiled this summer. Though when Houston Pavilions opens next year (?), and if it's half as cool as promised, I'm sure you guys will all be (rightfully) Space City high-fiving and proclaiming "yeah, that's right, we bad" and "H-town, represent" to anyone who'll listen. What comes around goes around. (FWIW, I do think Pavilions is going to be a great addition to downtown Houston).

I think you mean against, right? Austin voted 65% or so against Prop. 2 which amended the state constitution to define marriage.

Thanks for the all the suggestions. I'll be down there this weekend, staying at the Magnolia Hotel, and eating myself into a stupor.

Are there more than two? Great. The more, the merrier.

In a couple of weeks, I'm coming down to Houston from Dallas (don't hate on me yet!) for my first visit to the city since moving to Texas nearly two years ago. Being a lover of Asian food, I'm especially interested in exploring the two Chinatowns and the Little India areas since Houston has the largest Asian population in the state. So, if anyone has suggestions for any particular restaurants or attractions in these areas, I'm all ears or, since this is an Internet bulletin board, eyes. It's hard to find a good guide book to Houston and those that exist seem to deal with Chinatown in a sentence or paragraph and that's it. Of course, I'm also open to any non-Asian suggestions as well, especially anything new that might have popped up (like light rail and weekend downtown nightlife) since I was last there about four years ago for a brief visit where I didn't even get a chance to check out the Chinatowns.

Outside of the Bay Area and much of metro L.A., California is pretty conservative. It's just that the large populations of L.A. and the Bay Area tend to dominate. But remember this is the state of Ronald Reagan, Pete Wilson, and very conservative congressmen like Dana Rohrabacher and Robert Dornan. Orange County (including the cities of Garden Grove and Orange, which were on the most conservative list), Kern County (Bakersfield), San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, etc. all tend to veer Republican. Even parts of the wider metro L.A. area (Simi Valley, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, Antelope Valley, the Inland Empire of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties) either lean Republican or have a large Republican minority. It's only in the Bay Area where Republicans are as hard to find as ice in the Sahara. Having lived in both LA and Dallas, I'd guess California conservatives (like those in the mountain and far west in general) may be slightly more libertarian and less evangelical than their Texas counterparts -- offering more support for, say, medical marijuana and gay marriage, which would explain Schwarzenegger's success.

No doubt Dallas has its racial problems but compared to the last place I lived, Miami (which has had 2 two major race riots in the last 15 years or so and seems far more segregated), it doesn't seem so bad. I guess it just depends what you're comparing it to. I haven't spent much time in Houston. Is it that much different from Dallas?

I don't know Montrose well at all so I can't make a comparison but I think you'll see a major transformation in Oak Lawn over the next 5-10 years. It's already started as property values rise in nearby areas like Uptown and the demand for in-town living continues to grow. New condos have recently opened or are going up throughout the area. This is going to put the squeeze on the older apartments in Oak Lawn, especially the ones that are eyesores. Sites like intownliving.com and (I think) dallasintown.com are just two examples of local real estate agents who are betting on an upscale future for Oak Lawn. On top of that, there's been a recent refurbishment of some of the businesses along Cedar Springs. With the huge Victory Project opening downtown and the increasing cosmopolitan feel of McKinney Avenue in Uptown, that dynamic is bound to spread to neighboring areas like Oak Lawn. Just give it time.