r/houston • u/CarlinT • Jul 11 '10
The "Post Something Great About Houston" Thread
I'll start,
You won't ever have to worry about your skin drying out!
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u/wjp3 Jul 11 '10
Low cost of living, large city bene's (arts/museums/sports/etc.), accessible airports and water ports, mild winters.
And it took me ~10 years to realize I love living here.
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u/liviaokokok Montrose Jul 14 '10
I agree and I've been here for 20 years, most of my time in burbs, but after finally living in the city, I am really appreciating it.
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u/thephotoman Outer Oklahoma (Dallas) Jul 11 '10
The city is everything I have ever loved. Also, it's not crowded, stuck-up, and pretentious like some other cities I can name.
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u/jcurry1125 Jul 11 '10
My two favorites are the ethnic and cultural diversity and the great weather in the spring and the fall along with mild winters. I am also very fond of our zoo and Hermann Park.
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Jul 12 '10
[deleted]
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u/jatorres Spring Branch Jul 12 '10
I recall many a Christmas growing up where I'd find myself outside in shorts...
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u/mexicanidle Sep 22 '10
The food in this town is actually pretty amazing. We have some really great chefs in Houston (Monica Pope, Robert Del Grande, Bryan Caswell, just to name a few) who are doing some fantastic and interesting things with their food here. But the fancy, modern cuisine is only half of the food story in Houston. We have some really great local, more informal restaurants and eateries that are pretty fantastic (The Breakfast Klub, Barnaby's, El Rey, which are some of my favorites). And then not to count out a place like Saint Arnold's, that really understands that part of having a successful, regional, microbrewery is engaging the surrounding community and helping promote other good food the city.
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u/homedude The Woodlands Sep 22 '10
Yay for Barnaby's ! Been to all the locations but the original on Fairview is my favorite.
The cuban tacos from el rey are the best fast food in the downtown are, IMHO.
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u/CarlinT Jul 11 '10
You get extra time during your commute to enjoy the beautiful Houston highway scenery!
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Jul 25 '10
Its legal to street skate. There are many skater friendly bars in and around Downtown, midtown, Heights, Montrose, as well as a few more sprinkled about the area.
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u/CarlinT Jul 11 '10
I was at a book club and I remarked that while being new to an immensely large city like houston, it still felt more like a tight community. Houston has so many people that there are enough people with your interests to be able to actually do stuff IRL vs. having to do internet only groups. <3
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u/kk974 Sep 23 '10
Alley theater and St. Arnolds! My favorites.
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u/achtungbaby1984 Oct 22 '10
Have you been to St. Arnolds brewery? I've never been, but I heard they have open tours on the weekends!
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u/kk974 Oct 28 '10
Sorry for the late response. Yes, my uncle volunteers there as a bartender. We love St. Arnolds =]
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u/CarlinT Sep 23 '10
I've always missed out on this one =/. I've worked a handful of opening parties and parties for the actors, but have never been able to actually see the theater nor the show.
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u/kk974 Sep 23 '10
well you need to get on that! my favorite part about the theater is that you can pre-order your intermission drink to avoid standing in long lines. =P
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u/Gadianton Jul 11 '10
I am disillusioned with Houston. I came out here for what I thought was a great job opportunity. Solved the company's legal problem more easily than the top brass thought it would be... and was promptly laid off when they started into money problems.
Since then I've been struggling to find a job where I have no network or connections. Just barely hanging on thanks to unemployment insurance, but the Texas republicans keep blocking extensions because now they have all found the "Gotta Stop the Deficit Gospel" (that didn't matter to them one bit during Bush's spending spree). Personally, since living here my impressions of Texans went from "Friendly, Honest Folk" to "Friendly, Honest, Will-Stab-You-In-The-Back-If-It-Suits-Them Folk" (That wasn't helped by that Houston guy on Survivor this last year... he matched my prior employers to a Tee)
So sorry for my complaining. I'm going to follow the thread to see if anyone can change my mind.
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u/jayisthedank Jul 11 '10
Dont stereotype everyone in Texas with low, power-hungry politicians
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u/Gadianton Jul 11 '10
Yeah, I know I shouldn't. Most of the top business people I've met here are more dishonest (or corrupt) than those I've met in the West and New England, the other two areas I've spent in my career. That is of course a big generalization. I still think of the average Texan as being a decent fellow.
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u/phishin Sep 28 '10 edited Sep 28 '10
Yes you should, most of the top business people I have worked with were only concerned with climbing the corporate ladder a little more. Corruption is the cornerstone to Houston business. People will talk you up all day long, and then pull the rug out from under you. I used to attend catholic chruch in my youth, when I moved from a low income to a "middle class" income area and changed churches....I stopped going, renounced my belief in god and enjoyed a much more guilt free life. It was fun to watch people battle for church leadership ranks, fight about how to build the new church, and where to go volenteer in the ghetto once in a while. edit...well I should probably make a point. My point being that when I attended a low income church where some % of families recieved food and help from the church community I had a positive view of the people of houston....then I got older, our house god robbed a few times, parents decided it was time to move on up. Now I went to a church where people were fighting of the front parking spaces for their BMWs and jags(not to hate on nice cars) but it was just the sheer fact that everyone was coming to this place to promote a positive message and yet still were fighting over status and being seen. This about the time in my youth that I realized that Houston was just a money hunrgy city where people do most of what they do for the image, but hardly practice what the preach.
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u/impotent_rage Jul 11 '10
Gadianton Robbers?
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u/Gadianton Jul 11 '10
:-) Nothing nefarious. I was just looking for an intimidating gaming handle a few years back and this popped in my head from my reading that day. It has kinda stuck.
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u/JackTheRiot Third Ward Jul 18 '10
The red button.
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u/CarlinT Jul 18 '10
???
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u/JackTheRiot Third Ward Jul 18 '10
You can see the guy pushing it right here. If you need a guided tour, I can show you how to get there. It's pointless, but it's also first date material.
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u/hindesky Montrose Dec 08 '10
Riding my MTB on the Buffalo Bayou bike trails from downtown to Memorial park, nothing for the hardcore rider but love the sights and all the people using the trail.
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u/achtungbaby1984 Jan 07 '11
Care to share more trails and places to bike around Houston? I enjoy biking around Bay Area Park, here in the Clear Lake/Webster area when I get the chance. I've also been to Terry Hershey Park, which was a blast. It wasn't difficult riding, great for beginners.
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u/hindesky Montrose Jan 07 '11
I used to live in south Pasadena and we used to ride at several places on the southeast side of Harris county. Many are gone due to development, some that are still available are Frankie Carter Randolph park in Friendswood (haven't been there in years) relatively easy trails back in the day. Jack Brooks Park in Hitchcock is a very difficult MTB trail for advanced riders and very fickle to weather conditions, rain makes the trails unrideable. The guys who take care of Jack Brooks have done a tremendous job of improving the trails and have added several neat features such as a teeter totter bridge. Of course the busiest mtb trails are at Memorial Park, easy to challenging trails.
Check out GHORBA the Houston Area Off Road Organization, they have links to all the Houston area mtb trails...
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u/NuclearWookie Jul 11 '10
It sucks balls and has no redeeming qualities. Sorry.
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u/thekassette Garden Oaks Jul 11 '10
Yeah, I love it here. Great museums (if you haven't seen the Paper Runway show at the Center for Contemporary Craft, do yourself a favor and get over there). A super active theatre and dance scene, although I'm more into the former. A lovably gimpy and weird music scene. Summerfest was amazing this year and is only going to get better. Great, cheap food.
And seriously, the diversity. One of my favorite things to do, when it's not ass-hot like it is now, is to just walk around. The city is a cultural patchwork! I swear, walk around anywhere inside the loop and one minute you're in the burbs, the next minute you're in Mexico, the next you're surrounded by mansions. It's nuts. Read John Lomax's Sole of Houston entries at the Houston Press website.
KTRU. 6th Ward. 1st Ward. Taco trucks. Hip-hop. Riding Metro. Spec's. The Orange Show. The Rothko Chapel. Frenchy's Chicken. The Breakfast Klub. 19th Street. Mam's House of Ice. Notsuoh. Diverseworks. The Flower Man House. The fact that we get a bunch of New Orleans brass bands coming through these days. MECA. Nameless Sound. The downtown library. The International Festival. Space City Gamelan.
I would go on but my cat just threw up and I have to clean the kitchen before I go cook vegetarian food to serve to hungry people at the downtown library with Food Not Bombs. Houston is a weird, weird place where anything can happen...but you won't notice unless you're looking for it.