totheskies

And can we please stop referring to Montrose as Neartown? Please? The push has been successful in renaming Fourth Ward/Little Saigon to Midtown and the Galleria to Uptown, but c'mon, Montrose is the most established neighborhood name in the city. What's with this push to give Houston's neighborhoods Manhattan-styled names? At least in Manhattan, Uptown, Midtown and Downtown are geographically accurate. What's next, the Heights is SoHo and East End is Greenwich Village? We can call the Fifth Ward Queens and the Third Ward Brooklyn while we're at it. The possibilities are endless!

Agreed.... Midtown is accurate because it's in the MIDDLE of the two TOWNS (downtown and the Med Center). I think Neartown should be the East End because it's NEAR downtown. Montrose should STAY Montrose.

I wouldn't agree. I don't think he is blaming anyone, or trying to make something a race issue. He seems genuinely interested in preserving what he sees as cultural history; it happens to be black history. I understand his goal. But I'm surprised that he doesn't see how racist and exclusionary his own actions are.

There's history and historic preservation, and then there's broken down shacks and crack houses. Everything in Third Ward is not worth saving, and I don't think it's right to hoarde land in the interest of NIMBYism and call it preservation. Instead, what he should be fighting for is that these people get proper compensation for their land (as it is highly valuable) and that they have a say in how it's being redeveloped. If you want to save areas like Emancipation Park and the project rowhouses, fine. But I'm not going to complain if a developer sees a better use for a plot land than the current crack houses that are there now. This is Houston after all... it's not like some big developer is going to swoop in and buy every inch of the neighborhood... they're going to take small pieces (which has already begun). So the people need to decide what they feel is worth saving, and let some portions of their neighborhood move on to their next stage of life.

I took her out on a saturday night. It was quite packed. Not sure about the weekdays though...

I've wandered around there a bit... kinda dead at the beginning of the week, but Thursday-Sunday they do quite well.

BTW... Houston Pavilions is in the transportation business. They've partnered with the pedicabs agencies and the Electric car place to provide "quick shuttles" between HP, downtown and midtown. Since I have rehearsal almost every night at the Wortham, I get to encounter the shuttles quite frequently. I even met a few people that have actually "figured it out"... they parked on the rail line and rode it into downtown, had dinner at Guadalajara, and then saw a movie at the Angelika!! I've seen an HP shuttle or pedicab in the Theater district every single night.

Aww no fair... it's that DALLAS PAC!! AT&T didn't build it... they don't need no cred.

I've been on a run of making sandwiches at home lately... some sliced turkey, provolone, tomato, cilantro and guacamole all on country french bread. Ummm it's lunch time... gotta go.

In Montrose?? There's always demand for food alternatives... whether they be smoothies, crack or any combination of the two.

That vacant Blockbuster is getting on my last nerve. Why can't Taco Cabana move in there, or something else? This intersection is just too high-profile to go to waste like that with vacant storefronts.

I just submitted this to the Central Market website after finding out that they are the clear winner of the survey here...

Time for another Houston Store!!!!

Most distinguished members of the Central Market team.

I am writing to you to first say that I am a regular Central Market shopper, and that I profoundly enjoy your Houston store. The service is always amicable, and the food always fresh and delicious. However I do have a concern. Central Market only has one location in the Houston area, but I must assure you that we are ready for another one. I recently participated in a survey of Houstonianians on Houston Architecture website which asked residents to rank which grocery store they would prefer to see in or near downtown Houston. The answer came back as Central Market by a landslide (you can see the poll here http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/index.php?showtopic=17921&st=60) beating out other popular grocery chains like Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's by almost 2-to-1!!! That means that Houston loves you and wants another central Houston location.

The survey was asking specifically about downtown, and of course downtown land acquisition can be very expensive. But if you do choose to consider this venture, I highly recommend researching the Eas End area of Houston. It is right next to downtown, and quickly becoming a haven neighborhood for Houston's young professionals like myself. As a former warehouse district, there are plenty of convertible spaces and empty lots in the East End that are screaming to be developed, and could be purchased/leased at a rock bottom price (here's a link to EaDo-- the East Downtown Houston website http://www.eadohouston.com/).

Please consider central Houston for your next store location. The results of the survey are clear--- we want you here!!!!!

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Does anyone else want to post something similar? Maybe we can get the company interested in a downtown location. Here's the link if you'd like to post... http://www.centralmarket.com/Company/Talk-To-Us.aspx

Dang it... I forgot to mention how Discovery Green has been a radical downtown success and is helping to bring more residents and potential shoppers to the area.

Regent Square is going to be very exciting for inner loop Houston. It'll be nice to finally have an area that is akin to the suburban lifestyle centers, and still relatively close to downtown. And yeah for Whole Foods!!! It'll be nice to see some activity in this area.

Nah, the neighborhoods zoned to Bellaire HS already claim that title. Large single-family homes, manicured lawns, good schools, low crime, vicious police enforcement and low taxes in the City of Bellaire, and prices high enough to chase off the riff raff. That's not to say that Reagan HS couldn't one day also be appealing for families, but it's got a long ways to go. By the time it is, you may not recognize the Heights for what it was.

Austin High is getting better, but has a LONNNNNG way to go. I think at this point, Eastwood is a better option for young couples and families with very young children.

All this talk of bike paths aside, I lost a friend earlier this year to a major accident. She was crushed while riding her bike. I don't think any grade separation or more clearly designated paths would have prevented the accident, as the fault for it is more clearly in the mentality of Houston's urban assault road warriors who drive everywhere and have zero concern for what occurs outside the shatter-proof glass that insulates them. Most Houston drivers are so unconcerned about who they share the road with it would be laughable if it wasn't so inherently tragic. We can have all the watersports and bike trails and other outdoor activities as cities like San Francisco, but until our drivers begin to pay attention to the giant death machine they're operating and the way it interacts with the rest of the world, we'll continue to have poo flung on us by these second-rate rags. I happen to know a few bike messengers who work downtown, and they routinely have tales of driver misbehavior, some of it reckless and some purely meanspirited. Attitudes have to change before Houston becomes a true outdoors city.

Yes... this is Houston's biggest problem in regards to biking. Our drivers have "owned" the road for so long that they don't even think to pay attention to anything else around them. At least being educated to drive in Arkansas, I got exposed to lots of narrow two-lane roads in wooded areas, which meant that I was constantly on the lookout for deer and other wildlife to be running out in front of me. I feel that it made me a more conscious driver and I keep that in mind as I drive around Houston as well. As a biker, I still say that there's nof better way to experience this city... all the little things that you catch on a bike that if you were just whizzing past in a car you'd never see. But it's kinda hard to enjoy it when you're constantly watching for bad drivers. They're looking down, talking on cell phones, texting, eating in the car, reaching behind the seats, all while their vehicle is going at least 10 miles over the speed limit. That little badly-painted strip on the side of some roads (and this is of course assuming that you can even ride on it with all of the nails, broken glass, slippery fluids that have been pushed into the lane) just doesn't offer very much protection. Hate to say it, but I often finding myself riding with my flashing lights on during the day just in the hopes that a driver will see me. So it's great that the city is in a massive expansion of it's bike network, but we need to be educating (and punishing) our drivers so that accidents like what happened to Leigh won't happen again.

Bewtween Dumble and the tracks things get squirrely and are chopped up a lot. I believe the area right around Jackson Jr High south of Polk is called Eastlawn. A little east yet of that is called Dissen Heights. North of Polk and east of Dumble, I've heard there are 2 or 3 little subdivisions. Something called Eastwood Oaks, and other names I'm not sure of. They're marked on the HCAD facet maps.

This is where I live... Eastlawn (and I've been thinking it was Eastwood this whole time lol). A good neighborhood, but with some "spotty" areas. There are lots of homes that could be spectacular with a little TLC here. I've been driving around in the Heights lately to compare the two areas. They are eerily similar, but sometimes I think that Greater Eastwood has more potential than the Heights. We need to take the time and get the city to come in and fix our sidewalks (and add sidewalks to some streets with surprisingly heavy foot traffic like HENNINGER), trim any remaining hedges and trees that Hurricane Ike didn't get to, and take care of the parks. Other than that, we are greatful for these subdivisions because they were very well-planned to be walkable, family-friendly and are ripe for some new development. BTW, would those of you going to the meeting please mention some of this stuff. I wish I could be there, but I have opera rehearsal tonight.

I'm part of the Houston Pavilions 100 days of Escapades club. They sent me an email with the date, and a free pass to check out Pete's Dueling Piano Bar.

Went by Lucky Strikes today and it they had a light crew there working on the place. it does seem like it has away to go, but they are making progress....They painted the outside, you can see the bar and lounge coming together, and they've made some progress on the lanes.

If and when this thing opens it will be packed.

Lucky Strike's official opening date is October 8th.

Niche, I know you're one of the East side's biggest cheerleaders, and I know for better or worse depending on one's perspective, the area is changing.

For all those that live there, or plan on living in that part of town - Do you have kids? Do you plan on having kids? Austin High, while certainly not at the bottom of HISD, isn't exactly at the top of the city rankings either. It's roughly the 5th ranked HISD school, though its in the middle of the pack as far as all area districts are concerned.

Do you plan on living there long enough to have your kids attend Austin. Do you expect Austin to move up in the rankings as the area gets even more gentrified?

Do you send or plan to send your kids to a magnet or private school ? Do you intend to move to a better district in the future if you think it would better serve your kids educational interests?

How much did educational zoning, for middle and elementary schools as well, played a part in choosing to move to your current location?

Austin High and Jackson middle are getting better. I live on Jefferson very close to Austin High, and have helped out the marching band there. It's a good group of kids. Just watch for the school to improve vastly over the next 5 years.

I have to say I love the East End, and I think the neighborhood has character. The location is ideal (especially for someone like me that works at UofH and downtown), and the price is still reasonable. The area's retail landscape needs improvement that's for sure, but it's coming along. I STILL think that places like Kombat Kroger are really what's holding the area back, but hopefully the 2010 census will reveal these changes and motivate more businesses to move into the area.

Runner Up.

I thought surely someone would have said "under dog" by now.

I for one am glad for forumers that aren't "in love" with Houston. This city (like any place) has a lot of bullcrap that needs improvement, and I think we do ourselves a disservice if we just sit back and accept everything for what it is. I actually like Houston, but I refuse to say that it's perfect and acquiese to every situation that I encounter here. Thankfully, we are in a period of upward mobility, especially on the transportation and densification/ urban walkability fronts. I live in the East End, and everyday I get to marvel at the massive construction of additional bike trails that are going up here, as well as the (painfully slow!) progress of the East End rail line.

I'm from Arkansas, and have lived in D/FW, Kansas City, Western Michigan and here. I liked the other places just fine, but Houston has been the best fit city for me so far. I guess I'm a weirdo... UofH was my first choice for graduate school over UNT, LSU and Indiana. UNT actually offered me the best scholarship package and it is a more prestigious music school than UofH. But it didn't have that "spark" to it that I found in UofH. This experience of course shaped my view on the city as a whole.

So to answer the OP's question, I live in Houston b/c I like it. I like the fact that the city is constantly growing, changing and redefining itself. I like that Houstonians are very open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. I like the fact that in Houston, success is still a quantitative measurement instead of always qualitative. It's great that one can arrive in this city with virtually nothing, and be given a chance to make life work... seemingly regardless of who they know or how well they're supposed to fit in. These are the things I love about Houston... the intrinsics.

It's also a very exciting time to be living here... all of the awesome changes coming to places like the inner loop, the reformation of our transit system, the thriving and expanding artistic communities with their continual support of the contemporary, "weird" and non-traditional, the creation of new skylines like Memorial City, and the hopeless anticipation of what lies ahead. Houston is a powerful and very spirited place. Whether one loves or detests, it always seems to invoke a strong reaction. Basically, I'm a mobile guy... if I get a decent offer in another place, I'll definitely consider it. But for now, I'm happy with Houston, and will always have a wealth of great memories here.

This is such a silly survey. They must mean stressful as in the "general attitude" of the people, not stressful as in the typical things that happen to you in a day. If it were that, I'm sure Houston would be in the top 10, but around here, we seem to let a lot of that stuff roll off of our backs.

If the article were written this week, I'm sure San Francisco would be near the top of the list too.

Wow... Very random. I love the pic with the ships that appear to be cruising through the weeds, and the pink cadillac.

Thanks a bunch. Yeah, I love the ship channel. It's why I still try to get over to Brady's Landing every once in a while for lunch.

So I'm not really riding my bike again yet, but still am managing to get to work without the car... I didn't even buy a parking pass this year for UofH. It's a 1.3 mile walk to the Eastwood transit center from my house, so I just hoof it there, and take the UH shuttle in to work. It's fine in the mornings... barely long enough to break a sweat. Afternoons however, that walk home is a total mess.

I've also started my work in downtown again, which is after my daytime work hours, and goes most nights from 7pm-10pm. I'm going to do Metro after work and just take is downtown... which leaves me getting home by either the 36 Lawndale or 40 Telephone. Thankfully, they both run late enough to ge me home after the rehearsals. Even when it cools off, I'm probably not going to take my bike just because I'd be riding home really late, and I don't want to leave my bike out unattended for that long.

Eastwood is an awesome neighborhood, but we need more grocery options. Combat Kroger just doesn't suffice.

I couldn't care less which one comes to the Midtown area (if either one ever does), but I DO care about the design of the store. Midtown is now too small of an area to be able to put something like a typical Target or Wal-Mart in. We don't need another sea of surface parking and traffic hazards in Midtown. So if they want to build in that area, they're going to have to design an "urban store" that has a decent parking garage (preferably with some additional retail space) and incorporates some semblance of walkability. In Midtown you have to deal with pedestrians, so the store will need to keep them in mind.

I call this the "Twin cities" view

I'm amazed that they haven't raised the crane level yet. What's the hold-up????

An atrocious, idiotic street-level interaction followed by a really good one. How NOT to do it right v. how to do it right.

Yep... sounds like pure H-O-U-S-T-O-N

I just got back from visiting briefly with some friends and their friends in Austin. I concur. That city is rife with self-absorbed preppy brats festooned in mass-produced 'counterculture' and 'irony' manufactured in Malaysia and then marketed and sold to them by Banana Republic, a subsidiary of Gap, Inc.

At one point they (got high and) were browsing the internet for absurd photos with purportedly-funny captions and by chance came across a series of photos depicting fictional things that happen when you divide a number by zero; one of them was an image of the Inversion house that was on Montrose. They thought it was photoshopped and were unwilling to believe me at first when I explained that it was public art in Houston. We ended up having to Google it.

What makes the opinion leaders within Houston cool is that we decide to do things because we want to, not because we think that it's what others would like for us to do. As individuals, we engage in an unabashed pursuit of epicurian hedonism and yet maintain relative tolerance to others doing the same.

These are generalities, of course. I do not claim that they apply to all residents of either city, categorically.

I agree with this assessment 100%.... Instead of "Keep Austin Weird" we should be saying "Make Houston normal".

But again I don't believe that being unique and being isolated have to go hand-in-hand. Some people are just cut out for living in Houston... most people just aren't, and those are the ones that raise hell when they have to come here. I'm never sorry to see them leave.

There are others who just don't have enough information about the city, and base their opinions entirely on the BAD impressions of others. My education in Arkansas was actually quite good... it wasn't that I had never heard of Houston, it's just that the whole state of Arkansas is in the DALLAS sphere of influence. It's the only city that matters to them, and Texas south of Dallas (except for UT and the occasional vacation on the Riverwalk) may as well not exist. And if it does, people had a bad impression of it which they immediately conveyed to me. "Houston?? yuck it's too hot... I'd rather go to the big city like Dallas" (this quote is likely coming from someone who had never been to Houston anyway, b/c Houston would never be thought of as small in comparison to Dallas).

Houston doesn't have to change its attitude, but the city could stand to show people a little more of it... just like Niche said, no one would have ever believed that a place as "cool" or "weird" as Inversion would exist in a place like Houston, because Houston is supposed to be boring. The city is full of surprises.

dp