woolie Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 The cities we're discussing were all built out, to their city limits, before the mass adoption of automobiles. After that, the US had a public policy aneurysm and forgot how to make livable cities for most of the 20th century. Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Las Vegas reflect it the most. While this mode has some advantages, one of the disadvantages is a real lack of walkable character that make them awful places to visit as a tourist who wants a vacation without the complications of driving in a unfamiliar city. Some of this can be remedied by a good fixed, frequent transit system. Fortunately, even though Houston is very auto oriented, most interesting things are relatively close to each other -- 6 miles from DT to Uptown, 3 miles from DT to TMC, 2 miles from DT to Museum District -- and are pretty easy to link up with an LRT system. The University Line and Uptown Lines would be massive improvements to making Houston friendlier to tourists. I'd also love to see a fast interurban Houston-Galveston train sometime, but that's a little more fanciful than eventual completion of our LRT system.I also think Houston is doing better than Dallas at organically increasing density. And I think Atlanta might be flawed in ways that are difficult to fix -- outside of the small downtown street grid, it's pure suburbia in every direction right out of the gate, with limited arterial streets. I had a flight out of Atlanta at night just a few days ago that had a long, slow arc around the city at takeoff. It's really striking how quickly the density decreases to nothing.Dallas and Atlanta also both lack the diversity and cosmopolitan character of Houston. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marmer Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 The cities we're discussing were all built out, to their city limits, before the mass adoption of automobiles. After that, the US had a public policy aneurysm and forgot how to make livable cities for most of the 20th century. Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Las Vegas reflect it the most. While this mode has some advantages, one of the disadvantages is a real lack of walkable character that make them awful places to visit as a tourist who wants a vacation without the complications of driving in a unfamiliar city.Mass adoption of automobiles but also the mass adoption of air conditioning probably had a huge effect on the postwar development of the cities you mentioned. And I'm not sure that I would use Las Vegas as an example of a city where tourism doesn't work well. That's about all they have there. I submit that 85+ degree temperatures has more to do with a lack of walkable character than anything having to do with a car. Some of this can be remedied by a good fixed, frequent transit system. Fortunately, even though Houston is very auto oriented, most interesting things are relatively close to each other -- 6 miles from DT to Uptown, 3 miles from DT to TMC, 2 miles from DT to Museum District -- and are pretty easy to link up with an LRT system. The University Line and Uptown Lines would be massive improvements to making Houston friendlier to tourists. I'd also love to see a fast interurban Houston-Galveston train sometime, but that's a little more fanciful than eventual completion of our LRT system. Again, walking and carrying stuff is hard. Especially if you have kids or if it's raining, etc. etc. The problem that the Houston-Galveston train ran into in the '90s (besides crappy, slow track) is that you wind up on the wrong side of the island with no car. Getting to the beach is a hassle. If all you want to do is go to the Strand, then I guess it's OK, but seriously, it's way easier to drive there.Anecdotes don't equal data, of course, but the last time my family was in Chicago, we were there as tourists. I think we can fairly safely agree that Chicago is a legitimate tourist destination. My wife, being kind of a greenie, was very excited about the possibility of taking commuter rail and the El to get around. We stayed in a northern suburb hotel and tried to work out ways to get where we were going using mass transit. We were very disappointed to see that it was a lot faster and a lot cheaper to drive, even with parking costs. Pretty much everywhere. And, by the way, if you were to ask me what the coolest thing about Chicago is and what I would go there to see, very high on my list would be historic architecture. The stuff that Houston seems to happily throw away. The best city I've been to for tourist-friendly mass transit is probably Washington DC. Maybe New York, but taxis are still easier. That's just a car you don't have to park yourself.I also think Houston is doing better than Dallas at organically increasing density. And I think Atlanta might be flawed in ways that are difficult to fix -- outside of the small downtown street grid, it's pure suburbia in every direction right out of the gate, with limited arterial streets. I had a flight out of Atlanta at night just a few days ago that had a long, slow arc around the city at takeoff. It's really striking how quickly the density decreases to nothing.Dallas and Atlanta also both lack the diversity and cosmopolitan character of Houston.Density has nothing at all to do with tourism. In fact, it can easily make drawing tourists harder if it's too hard to get near your attractions. I would argue that if you don't already have something with real historical significance that is going to draw tourists (USS Constitution, Liberty Bell, certain famous museums) then you are better served putting your attractions out where there's plenty of cheap land and parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Are there any other ideas on what we can do to make Houston more touristy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pleak Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Are there any other ideas on what we can do to make Houston more touristy?Put kiosks on every other corner of downtown selling t-shirts with Mayor Parker's picture on it saying "My (fill-in-the-blank-with-relative-not-close-enough-to-buy-you-anything-nice) went to Houston and all they bought me was this lousy shirt"That should be sufficiently touristy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 This ad so lame it practically makes my eyeballs bleed. The logic here is similar to wearing a tee-shirt made up to say “I’m really a very cool person” in the expectation that people will then come up to you and say “I see by your shirt that you are very cool. Will you be my friend?” One would have to be fairly delusional to believe that this communicates anything other than that Houston must be extremely insecure in its identity. I wouldn’t think that the truly funky among us feel compelled to advertise the fact, much less using such an inane typeface.And what is with parking the Art Car in front of the St Regis hotel? Are readers supposed to infer that those funkified Houstonians stay at five-star hotels? If anything, the crowd at the St Regis is probably fairly funk-free, almost by definition.My guess is that the people who believe that this actually constitutes effective image building are precisely the same crowd that thinks dubbing an area “Eado” is a good idea; that funkiness can somehow be magically conjured up by marketing gimmicks.I came back to look at this stupid ad and I threw up again. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Are there any other ideas on what we can do to make Houston more touristy?sell tickets for astrodome tours, being that it's the world's largest airconditioned dilapidated structure, the tickets would sell themselves, and we would let people take as many photos as they want, encouraging flash photography, as this will only help to degrade the structure that much faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Put kiosks on every other corner of downtown selling t-shirts with Mayor Parker's picture on it saying "My (fill-in-the-blank-with-relative-not-close-enough-to-buy-you-anything-nice) went to Houston and all they bought me was this lousy shirt"That should be sufficiently touristy.actually.....I think the idea of trading on Mayor Parker's persona as 21st century-fun-loving-openly-gay-mayor might have some legs, if done correctly. Did any of you see last week how she was clearly loving that photo op with the roller derby?This isn't necessarily related to the mayor, but Houston's obvious tourism niche that we could be doing a lot more to develop is gay-friendly travel. Emphasis on the food scene, secondarily boutique hotels, top-flight arts and museums, shopping. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Houston these days (at least on the high end of the food chain) seems very tolerant. With great value for the travel dollar to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Did y'all notice how she and her partner were simultaneously riding a giant motorized banana in the art car parade? This was done in public! That should've merited some Daily Show action, right there. I even went so far as to look for a way to submit the photo to Jon Stewart, but couldn't find a way to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Niche- That photo was my FB status for well over a month. I loved that she rode in a banana. I knew Annise way back in the 80s when I was doing some PFlag speakers bureaus. Trust me, while she doesn't appear "hip" she knew full well what she was stepping into. She scored some bonus points in my book... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Niche- That photo was my FB status for well over a month. I loved that she rode in a banana. I knew Annise way back in the 80s when I was doing some PFlag speakers bureaus. Trust me, while she doesn't appear "hip" she knew full well what she was stepping into. She scored some bonus points in my book...Mine too. ...both Facebook and for the bonus points, actually. There was no way that she would've been blind to the joke, and I respect any politician that is willing to troll the majority of their own constituency. That was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolie Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I once took a photo once that was posted on one of The Daily Show blogs. I don't know if you can submit things directly, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Houston: Our Dyke Mayor Rides Bananas, What Does Your Do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 lmao. i dont mean to bring up any off topic discussions in this thread, but it seemed like the best place for this given the title.has anyone ever seen or heard of WonderWorks? its a fantastic little touristy operation of fun and games with hands on learning/education mixed in, mainly geared towards kids but i had a great time when i went (i was probably 23 at the time). the elevated/multi level ropes course is loads of fun, though since then ive started to see ropes courses in more locations, like Moody Gardens.http://www.wonderworksonline.com/ WonderWorks bills itself as an amusement park for the mind, featuring over 150 interactive exhibits. It’s 55,000 square feet of fun for the whole family… And don’t forget to stick around for Terry Evanswoods’ thrilling magic show, sure to delight the mind and play tricks on the eyes. Take your time and enjoy WonderWorks for all it’s worth. It’s a go-at-your-own-pace attraction where you can try out every single exhibit as many times as you want! Get your fill of each of the exhibits while you’re there, there are no limits. It’s a great place for families looking to keep their kids enthralled and entertained for hours! On average, people can spend two hours just going through all the exhibits once. Feel hurricane winds, the shaking of what an earthquake feels like, flip upside-down on a bicycle-like contraption, see how hard you can throw a baseball, design a own virtual roller coaster and then ride it, try laying on a bed of nails, and more! WonderWorks is a must-stop in Pigeon Forge, TN. A word to the wise, it can get crowded, so pick a good time to go when you do. Try early mornings or late after dinner. I would avoid Fridays and Saturdays unless you’re prepared to deal with an influx of people. A few more tips: Wonder Works coupons and discount tickets can be found on their website. Don’t eat anything too heavy beforehand. There are rides that spin and flip, so try to eat after you go on any of the rides. There are a lot of photo opportunities at WonderWorks (bed of nails, spacesuit), so pack your camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryDierker Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Tourism board unveils aggressive agenda for drawing visitorshttp://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/economy/article/Tourism-board-unveils-aggressive-agenda-for-6229965.php Can't access the article but am curious. Anybody know what the aggressive agenda is exactly? edit: google finally let me read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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