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NY Times - Houston


citykid09

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Take a look at this article.

hours.6.583.jpg

The Houston skyline.

December 16, 2005

36 Hours

Houston

By DAN HALPERN

THAT'S right - you're not from Texas. It's O.K. According to Lyle Lovett, Texas wants you anyway. On the other hand, however, there's long been little love returned for Houston, the state's biggest city and the nation's fourth largest. Houston doesn't have a clear-cut positive reputation, like Austin (the laid-back slacker capital), or even a good nickname, like Dallas (Big D). As far as most of the country is concerned, it's got Enron and robber baron oilmen and heavy people, all in a climate requiring enough air-conditioning to power a rocket ship to Neptune. But Houston also has extraordinary museums, an innovative alternative arts and hip-hop scene, a rapidly growing cache of upscale hotels and haute cuisine and the neighborliness to take in tens of thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. And, of course, it has rocket ships; that is, NASA's Johnson Space Center. In the end, maybe that's what makes Houston such an unusual and wonderful place - there are so many different Houstons to see.

Friday

6 p.m.

1) The Goode Ribs

Haute cuisine - sure, that's nice. But do what Texans who have been exiled to other parts of the country do when they return home: get yourself some barbecue as fast as you can. Make a stop at Goode Company Barbeque (5109 Kirby Drive, 713-522-2530), above, for some ribs and potato salad and jalape

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Take a look at this article.

Well, I only read the first paragraph and then posted it, I thought it would be good but I guess not really that good.

I LOVE that picture of Downtown. Can you imagine how much better it will look though after the Buffalo Bayou Project is completed?! That riverwalk would be pimpalicious and supersticious!!

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i don't know about anyone else, but I'm sick of the Air Conditioning whining, Enron booing, etc. I appreciate the nice writeup about particular hotels, restaurants, museums, etc, but the first paragraph really sucked.

Where are the N.Y. Times articles about how bad it is when its so cold in NY, Chicago, etc. that the heating costs alone could power a rocketship to Pluto?

The Enron references have to cease...It's old news.

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The Enron references have to cease...It's old news.

Buffalo is known for Love Canal from the 1970's.

Green Bay is known for the Packers winning the first Super Bowl back in the 60's.

Chicago is known for mobsters from almost 100 years ago.

Paris is known for a tower from the 19th century.

Egypt is known for emperors who died thousands of years ago.

It's Houston's new heritage. Better to be infamous for something, then not known for anything at all.

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On a somewhat related note (good media), ESPN has a new commercial out in it's "Without Sports" series. A Chinese cabdriver is driving down the road in Shanghai. The radio is playing Larry Gatlin's "Houston (means I'm one day closer to you)". The cabbie is singing along in horribly Chinese accented English. After a while, he stops at a light. As the light changes, a bus passes the cabbie with a HUGE picture of Yao on the side wearing his Houston jersey.

Watching a Chinese cabbie sing Larry Gatlin is priceless. I'll try to find a link.

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On a somewhat related note (good media), ESPN has a new commercial out in it's "Without Sports" series. A Chinese cabdriver is driving down the road in Shanghai. The radio is playing Larry Gatlin's "Houston (means I'm one day closer to you)". The cabbie is singing along in horribly Chinese accented English. After a while, he stops at a light. As the light changes, a bus passes the cabbie with a HUGE picture of Yao on the side wearing his Houston jersey.

Watching a Chinese cabbie sing Larry Gatlin is priceless. I'll try to find a link.

Funny.

When I was in Tokyo, I checked a few sporting goods stores trying to buy shirts for the local baseball teams. But the only teams they had were the American ones, including the Astros.

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Overall that article seems pretty positive. Good publicity for Houston. I can't get too bent out of shape about the first paragraph. After all, you just can't expect them to just say nice things all the time. We need to act like a big city and not take it to heart, or look for insults where none are intended.

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i thought the article was..."nice."

it did mentioned alot of neat, maybe not-so-well-known=favorites of houston (orange show, helios, chapultepec?!).

also, i think there could have been more mention of the history of the icon/bank jean-georges to show that very small historically savvy side of houston.

and as far as enron, well, it's true - one of houston's legacies is oil and corruption...bleh

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I read an article Dan Halpern did for the New Yorker about Kinky Friedman. He's a New York writer, but Texas seems to be part of his beat. This article looks like mostly anecdotal stuff he's accumulated over time and strung together for the Times. Not really insightful, but a good plug never hurts.

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  • The title was changed to NY Times - Houston

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