worldlyman Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 People and TIME (or was that Newsweek, no I believe it's TIME) magazines, if you look at their periodical information from about the early 1990s, used to have their bureaus in HOUSTON.Now, their bureaus are located in, yawn, Austin.Houston is so much more massive and economically important than Austin, I believe. Shouldn't those factors be more important for where magazines have their bureaus based?Austin's popularity can no doubt be the factor for the moves. But for all intents and purposes, it's almost like moving from Los Angeles to Sacramento just because the considerably smaller capital city got so much superfluous hype going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeebus Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Austin's popularity can no doubt be the factor for the moves. But for all intents and purposes, it's almost like moving from Los Angeles to Sacramento just because the considerably smaller capital city got so much superfluous hype going.I don't think you can use LA & Sacramento as a comparison to Houston & Austin. If anything, they would be the opposite: LA is to Austin as Sacramento is to Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ V Lawrence Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 I don't think you can use LA & Sacramento as a comparison to Houston & Austin. If anything, they would be the opposite: LA is to Austin as Sacramento is to Houston. Okay, let's compare: LA: big city that's home to lots of celebs. Sacremento: State Capital, smaller city. LA: Many different areas with different personalities to them Sacremento: A city known to have one consistant personality as a city LA: pop over 3 million Sacremento: pop 407,018 LA: many universities in and around the area Sacremento: has one main campus (California State) Now let's look at Houston and Austin Houston: big city that's home to lots of celebs Austin: State Capital, smaller city Houston: Many different areas with different personalities to them Austin: A city known to have one consistant personality as a city Houston: pop almost 2 million Austin: population 656,562 Houston: many universities in and around the area Austin: has one main major campus (UT) Um, how exactly is LA more like Austin and Sacremento more like Houston. That's kinda offensive, dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeebus Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 LA = CelebritiesAustin = CelebritiesLA = ArtsyAustin = ArstyLA = Music Austin = MusicLA = FilmAustin = FilmLA = MarqueeAustin = MarqueeLA = Destination CityAustin = Destination CityLA = Top Tier SchoolsAustin = Top Tier SchoolLA = LiberalAustin = LiberalThe only three things Austin & Sacramento have in common are scenery, size, and capitals. Otherwise its:Sac= Where?Houston = Where?Sac= What's to do there?Houston = What's to do there?Don't pretend to be blindly biased just because you're from here. Destiny's Child, Paul Wall & the Texan's don't equal LA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 It makes sense. They moved to Austin to cover GWB. If anything happened in Houston, they could just drive down. Be surprised that they have any Texas presence beyond Dallas. I know as recently as 2003 the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune all had people in Houston. I don't know if they still do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldlyman Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 (edited) LA = CelebritiesAustin = CelebritiesLA = ArtsyAustin = ArstyLA = Music Austin = MusicLA = FilmAustin = FilmLA = MarqueeAustin = MarqueeLA = Destination CityAustin = Destination CityLA = Top Tier SchoolsAustin = Top Tier SchoolLA = LiberalAustin = LiberalThe only three things Austin & Sacramento have in common are scenery, size, and capitals. Otherwise its:Sac= Where?Houston = Where?Sac= What's to do there?Houston = What's to do there?Don't pretend to be blindly biased just because you're from here. Destiny's Child, Paul Wall & the Texan's don't equal LA."What's to do there" in Houston?Austin cannot match Houston in terms of the higher end arts. Period. H-town has about the 4th largest arts community in the nation. Austin has nothing on the Theater District. Houston on the other hand, with an overall metro population 1/3 of L.A.'s, has more than half as many theater companies as L.A. (113 to 210), and half as many major dance companies as L.A. (2 to 4).The Houston area has the third largest boating marina in the USA. Even if Houston's flat, it does have access to the wide open body of water like the Gulf and access to majestic forests like the Woodlands.Houston is the magnet for NEW INTERNATIONAL residents, not Austin (so we can scratch off "Where"). Where is Austin's Chinatown(s)? Where is Austin's Little Korea? Where's Austin's Little Saigon(s)? Where is Austin's Little India? Hmm. People from San Antonio drive to Houston when they need some mushipan at the Japanese grocery store Nippan Daido...or from Corpus Christi to the Indonesian restaurant Yanti when they need some rendang spicy beef (I've actually seen people saying this at these establishments)...so why don't they go to Austin?Houston has a great museum district. One of the best three according to some nationwide museum associations. Is Austin known for that?Houston has a far more diverse food scene than Austin. John Mariani, a well-respected food critic who's written in magazines like Esquire, calls Houston about the 6th best restaurant city in the USA. Austin can't come near that. Not even my current city San Diego can either.The Houston nightlife scene has more locales than Austin, which is only good if you like the same old blues/rock stuff all down the same 6th Street, generally in the downtown environs. At least in Houston, we've got different scopes and areas, Rice Village, Midtown, the Montrose, downtown, etc. Even Westheimer has all sorts of goodies in-between 610 and Highway 6. Houston can be sophisticated yet it can be casual. Austin hides behind faux-artsiness. Houston manifests all sorts of genuine eccentricity with everything from Orange Shows, Beer Can Houses, bi-annual Street Fests, Night Gay Parades, Art Car Shows, Project Row and what not. Houston can be widely hip-hop or it can be South Beach stylish...in sophomoric Austin, I haven't seen it the times I've been there. I do give credit for 6th Street being a much friendlier party district than Tampa's similar Ybor City though.Houston also has roughly 920 bars, compared to about 970 for Los Angeles (unbelievable but true). Houston's actual city limits has about 100 Starbucks (for shame) to about 65 in L.A.'s city proper. Where does Austin come up on this factoid?Austin, an obviously over-rated/hyped small city, is still a wannabee city in respect to Houston, a true cosmopolitan city of world importance that is under-rated in terms of media hyperbole.It's just sad that Austin is nationally portrayed as "the Texas city" when it's realistically no better than third fiddle in the state. And this obsession with celebrities is kinda sad in general. But some still live in Houston or have returned such as ZZ Top, King's X, Jaclyn Smith, Kenny Smith, Robert Horry, Sam Cassell...others such as Clint Black/Lisa Hartman have their own personal events there from time to time.Houston has the same big city amenities as Los Angeles in terms of eating, partying, palatial cinemas, most arts, international ambience and shopping. The only things really missing in Houston is stuff like Disneyland and Hollywood Sidewalks...stuff I don't really need in my usual entertainment anyway. Edited February 25, 2006 by worldlyman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Good post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeebus Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Good post.I agree. I feel the same about Houston. The difference is that no one from other parts of the country knows all this stuff about us, much less cares. Thats reality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelvetJ Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 (edited) Good post.Was it? I found it reaching and empty. With Houston owning the title of 4th largest city in the country, should we really expect anything less than what worldlyman posted? IMO, he should have been able to post a whole lot more.Come on, someone is going to compare the L.A. celebrity scene with Houston by naming King's X, Sam Cassel, Robert Horry and Kenny Smith? Naw, you can't do that.And 3rd largest boating marina yeah, that you have to drive almost 40 miles to get to.Another thing is, by the time you get to some of Houston's amenities, you could have driven from Austin to San Antonio, so you may as well add San Antonio's attractions along with Austins when comparing to Houston.I will be the first to tell you Austin is overrated, but Houston is far more overrated in the eyes of too many of it's own citizens.Lastly, from experience, believe me when I say Austin is NOT a wannabe city in comparison to Houston. It has been my experience that there is nothing about Houston that most Austinites want or are jealous of. In fact I've been told they rarely even think about Houston, let alone want to be like it. Edited February 27, 2006 by VelvetJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Was it? I found it reaching and empty. With Houston owning the title of 4th largest city in the country, should we really expect anything less than what worldlyman posted? IMO, he should have been able to post a whole lot more.Come on, someone is going to compare the L.A. celebrity scene with Houston by naming King's X, Sam Cassel, Robert Horry and Kenny Smith? Naw, you can't do that. And 3rd largest boating marina yeah, that you have to drive almost 40 miles to get to. Another thing is, by the time you get to some of Houston's amenities, you could have driven from Austin to San Antonio, so you may as well add San Antonio's attractions along with Austins when comparing to Houston. I will be the first to tell you Austin is overrated, but Houston is far more overrated in the eyes of too many of it's own citizens. Lastly, from experience, believe me when I say Austin is NOT a wannabe city in comparison to Houston. It has been my experience that there is nothing about Houston that most Austinites want or are jealous of. In fact I've been told they rarely even think about Houston, let alone want to be like it. ooh, sounds like someones a little defensive. Since your so up on how overrated Houston is, why don't you enlighten us on what we could do to meet your criteria of what would make us worthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelvetJ Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 ^ I've actually done that a lot Gary, so I suppose you will just have to do a search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 ^I've actually done that a lot Gary, so I suppose you will just have to do a search. No thanks. After reading your initial post I can see your biased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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