Anyone live in Houston?

[Violinist]

Can anyone tell me what it's like to live in downtown Houston? I'm assuming you absolutely need a car?

 

[Jsoftz]

I live in Houston, and unless you pretty much never leave Downtown, you NEED a car. Public transportation is fairly useless/nonexistent here. You could ride the bus some or if you wanted to get to the Med Center/Reliant Park you could use Lightrail, but honestly Houston is a car town. Are you considering moving here?

 

[rnoldh]

I'm in Houston.

Welcome if you're moving here.

It would be possible to live in Downtown Houston without a car, but highly inadvisable.

I guess you could get away without a car during the week if you both live and work downtown.

But for weekends, evenings, and generally getting around, you will need a car.

I was raised right in NYC, but have lived in Houston for 30 years. The good news is that even though you are considering living in Downtown Houston right in the heart of things, it will be considerably less expensive than living in say, Manhattan in NYC! Really amazingly less costly.

As to living in Downtown Houston, it used to be pretty much deserted, but the city has done a great job of making Downtown a highly desirable and popular place for young professionals to live. All sorts of clubs, restaurants, and many things to do. All of this has happened in the last 15 years or so.

While Houston is not a pretty place to live, and the weather can be brutally hot and humid in the summer, I rate Houston as a wonderful place to live. That would be because of the economic opportunities, friendliness of the people, and the can do attitude.

I have never regretted moving here from NYC once! If you're not familiar with Houston, I think you will be very satisfied. If you are definitely moving here, feel free to PM me about specific recommendations as to areas to live, and any other tips that might make your move easier! I myself live near Downtown in an area called lower Washington, that was a slum 15 years ago. It is now pretty much completely gentrified and both rent and sale prices are quite affordable.

Good Luck!

 

[Jsoftz]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

I'm in Houston.

Welcome if you're moving here.

It would be possible to live in Downtown Houston without a car, but highly inadvisable.

I guess you could get away without a car during the week if you both live and work downtown.

But for weekends, evenings, and generally getting around, you will need a car.

I was raised right in NYC, but have lived in Houston for 30 years. The good news is that even though you are considering living in Downtown Houston right in the heart of things, it will be considerably less expensive than living in say, Manhattan in NYC! Really amazingly less costly.

As to living in Downtown Houston, it used to be pretty much deserted, but the city has done a great job of making Downtown a highly desirable and popular place for young professionals to live. All sorts of clubs, restaurants, and many things to do. All of this has happened in the last 15 years or so.

While Houston is not a pretty place to live, and the weather can be brutally hot and humid in the summer, I rate Houston as a wonderful place to live. That would be because of the economic opportunities, friendliness of the people, and the can do attitude.

I have never regretted moving here from NYC once! If you're not familiar with Houston, I think you will be very satisfied. If you are definitely moving here, feel free to PM me about specific recommendations as to areas to live, and any other tips that might make your move easier! I myself live near Downtown in an area called lower Washington, that was a slum 15 years ago. It is now pretty much completely gentrified and both rent and sale prices are quite affordable.

Good Luck!

Very sound advice! I've lived in Houston (actually a large suburb to the southwest) for my whole life of 21 years and I love it. I might want to move away once I graduate from the University of Houston just to experience something different, but i'm sure I will come ack. I'd also like to offer myself if you have any questions, just PM me and let me know.

..I'm actually hopefully moving into town soon because of my new job (if anyone knows any small business owners in the Houston area, let me know!) and am going to be looking for an apartment over the summer.

 

[raley]

I have lived in Houston for the past 3 years for school after growing up in small town Ohio. I really like it.

Even if you live downtown, you are still definitely going to want a car. The city is so huge and spread out that you will be missing out on a lot without a car. Same reason makes cabs a problem - to get anywhere it will cost you a fortune since it will be a bit of a drive to get there.

If you have any questions let me know - I'm beginning to become a bit of a foodie and have been reading a lot about Houston restaurants for the past 3-4 months, and am starting to get a decent knowledge base if you are interested. Other than that everyone else will probably have more relevant advice than me, but if you need a student's perspective ask away!

 

[Augustus Medici]

Houston's a great place with some nice architecture. I'm a big fan of mall-walking and sight-seeing, and the Houston Galleria can't be beat for consumer-watching. This is not to mention the absolutely beautiful women that populate Houston.

Just imagine Houston as the LA for Texas: it's got the poorest of the poor and the super rich, all in one geographical location. It's huge and sprawling, as is the Texas norm, but it's got something for everyone.

 

[Thomas]

Houston is definitely a car town. The buses are more commuter-based, and the lightrail is for those who speak to themselves. Oh, and nothing - I mean nothing - is close to anything at all. But - small businesses abound.

Congratulations from a fellow Coog.

 

[riveroaks]

Originally Posted by raley

I have lived in Houston for the past 3 years for school after growing up in small town Ohio. I really like it.

Even if you live downtown, you are still definitely going to want a car. The city is so huge and spread out that you will be missing out on a lot without a car. Same reason makes cabs a problem - to get anywhere it will cost you a fortune since it will be a bit of a drive to get there.

If you have any questions let me know - I'm beginning to become a bit of a foodie and have been reading a lot about Houston restaurants for the past 3-4 months, and am starting to get a decent knowledge base if you are interested. Other than that everyone else will probably have more relevant advice than me, but if you need a student's perspective ask away!

I'm interested in the restaurant recommendations!

 

[Violinist]

Thanks everyone. There's about a 50% chance that I will move to Houston, and I will definately PM those who offered advice, because I will need it.

Can someone tell me the range of weather from month to month?

Is it similar to Austin?

 

[Augustus Medici]

Originally Posted by Violinist

Thanks everyone. There's about a 50% chance that I will move to Houston, and I will definately PM those who offered advice, because I will need it.

Can someone tell me the range of weather from month to month?

Is it similar to Austin?

Oh no, it is not similar to Austin at all. Houston is much more humid than Austin and is notorious for having soft water. Forget about snow and cold weather in general; it is typical Texas weather in that the winters will be chilly at times, but not bad at all. The summers will be insane.

You'll want to talk to Kent Wang too, as he has lived in both cities for quite some time now.

 

[Jsoftz]

Originally Posted by Violinist

Thanks everyone. There's about a 50% chance that I will move to Houston, and I will definately PM those who offered advice, because I will need it.

Can someone tell me the range of weather from month to month?

Is it similar to Austin?

No, not really. The most obvious difference is the hills and the lack thereof. Austin is a very hilly town with changes in elevation.. sounds basic but Houston is as flat as... well, it's very flat. Not as pretty. Also, if you're into the indy music/live music bar scene it is much more prevalent in Austin. That said, i'd still live in Houston over Austin any day of the week, much more business opportunity, much better city.

Range of temps.. well, Houston and Texas at large is noted for its wild temperature shifts. While we rarely go below freezing, the past couple weeks we've had quite chilly/windy weekends. This is naturally followed by upper 80s with high humidity, then a dry day, then a violent storm. Thus is life in Houston. However I would not move here if you love the cold and snow, you'll get none of it here. I would also avoid it if you find high heat and humidity intolerable as the summer is pretty much straight through hot and muggy.

And for restaurant recommendations.. just got back from Ruggles tonight on Westheimer and Montrose. It's a pretty good place, also near there I ate at Maria Selma's. They're a pretty decent mexican place.

 

[raley]

As for restaurant recs, here are a few websites to get you started:

http://www.quoz.com/ - Blog about food in Houston, this guy has visited a wide variety of places, and it is especially good for China Town recommendations.

http://www.foodinhouston.blogspot.com/ - My favorite, another blog. This guy is a great writer and has the cash to visit a lot of the fine dining spots around the city. Also very good for Mexican recommendations.

http://blogs.chron.com/cookstour/ - this is the food writer for the Houston Chronicle's blog. Her regular reviews are quite good, but this covers a little more ground.

http://www.houstonpress.com - there are a lot of reviews here as well, check Robb Walsh in particular - he is a great food writer.


As for my own personal favorites - I have a few. For burgers try Lankford's Grocery (real hole in the wall, cash only, lunch only) and Christian's Tailgate which is a bar on Bagby. It is open all day and has 5$ pitchers from 2-7 Mon-Sat.

For Mexican, I really like Pico's Mex Mex on Bellaire. Try the mole, there is a green and a black version, it is a more authentic dish than your usual tex-mex fare.

For Italian (cheap) go to La Dolce Vita on Westheimer. Best pizza in the city, bar none, and some great pasta dishes as well. For Italian (expensive) and one of the best fine dining spots in the city, go to Da Marco, run by the same person, also on Westheimer. Expect to pay about 60$ a head though without alcohol.

If you have any other specific requests let me know, as I've read pretty much everything I can find on the net about Houston restaurants, and will probably know if any of those sites have covered them. Otherwise check out those sites and start trying new places, it is really fun.

 

[riveroaks]

Just saw on the news that Houston was ranked the 6th best place to eat by Forbes magazine.

The rankings were:
NYC
Chicago
Los Angeles
San Francisco
New Orleans
Houston

Thanks for the recommendations!

 

[aybojs]

I've lived in in Houston for over 10 years and currently reside in downtown Houston. In theory I could actually pull off a car-less existence quite easily because I work a block away from my apartment, and the nearest grocery store is accessible on the Metro Rail. However, if you actually want to do anything interesting, you definitely need a car.

Now, unless you're in my situation and can save a significant amount of money and time avoiding traffic for work (which was a huge deal for me), I will warn you that downtown Houston sucks. The rent, while much more affordable than downtown prices in a comparable city, is still vastly overpriced for the area (I pay as much for a one room studio as most people pay for large two bedroom apartments). There is little-no presence of retail stores or daily services in the area, and outside of the weekday lunch hours, friday/saturday nights, and events (e.g. Astros games at Minute Maid Park, Rockets games and concerts at the Toyota Center), downtown basically shuts down and is a complete ghost town. I guess you can wander around a few nigh-empty bars or something, but for the most part, downtown dies outside of the hours. My guess is that people here much prefer living in the suburbs or in other parts of town, and just come to downtown to work and proceed to get the hell out of there. Downtown is basically viewed as an ongoing problem for the city that never gets solved, no matter how many dollars they throw at it trying to get people there at all times.

We have a pretty good food scene, as some others have commented, though you won't find any of it downtown. If you even find a place that is open outside peak hours, chances are it will be an extremely expensive white tablecloth place, which is obviously excessive for a quick meal. During the daytime, it's easy to find good places to walk to for lunch downtown, but you'll definitely want a car otherwise.

Now just because downtown here is super lame doesn't mean the whole city is. There are a bunch of different districts here that each have their own culture and personality, and you can have a completely different experience by going out to, say, Midtown one night and Rice Village the next. The selection of restaurants and bars is, though at times overrated by residents, very solid, and you should be able to find something to fit your tastes no matter what you're looking for.

 

[javyn]

lai lai's dumpling house on bellaire

kasra persian grill on westheimer

both good.

My guess is that people here much prefer living in the suburbs or in other parts of town, and just come to downtown to work and proceed to get the hell out of there.

That is very true.

I prefer midtown over downtown. And the galleria area is a disaster now because of roadwork.