Houston

yah, go to Austin if Texas is a must. more human friendly.

u. houston has a good law school, but i doubt that that's why gareth is going ... and the bastards put me on their wait list when i applied years ago

supposed to be hot, humid, and one of the worst polluted American cities (thanks to Dubya, needless to say). also, houston has no municipal zoning laws so you could literally live next door to an office building or a garbage dump and there's not a helluva lot you can do about it

(I can't say Austin is that amazing either, but the weekend I was there was kinda tense and weird...)

http://www.norfolkwindmills.com/images/houston.jpg

i can't think of anything. and i live here. if you have a free afternoon, go to the menil collection and look at surrealism and the rothko chapel. they're free. then go to the house of pies and have a slice of pie. it's cheap. there's about 20,000 good restaurants.

def. rothko chapel maybe the orange show.

That'll never happen. Believe you me.

But no matter where you are, get some mexican food. It'll be better than you're used to, almost regardless of what you're used to. And drink some beer. Maybe get stuck in traffic and slap a cow in the ass. Then you're done.

Wrong state, son. But if you come to Houston by way of Lafayette, then yes, stop and suck some crawfish heads. You'll either love it or think it's the nasty mud food of the nasty mud folk.

ihttp://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2001/12/136381.jpg

It's one of the special bonus buildings in Sim City 3000!

Oh crap, sounds like Alex found out about our "No Killing Joke Ordinance" of 1999.

I'll be near City Hall. it sounds like it's not worth going too far? i won't have a car, most likely. is it easy to get cabs early evening? or is the trolley good enough?

The myth about the south that never seems to die. Most people in Houston are about as nice as most people anywhere else.

i am always shocked at how often people honk their car horns up north.

Anthony was otm above. Where are these William Norman Floyd houses? Are they the ones in the Menil's neighborhood?

Or drive up Hillcroft, if you're in the mood for something else. South of 59, it's Central American, all pupusas and gorditas. Drive north and you hit first Little Bombay, then Little Tehran, then Little Beirut, all of which are interspersed with random stuff like Mexican hip-hop clubs, Tejano gay bars, and a "Flying Pizza" joint straight outta the 1950s.

Or drive down Bissonnet west of the little enclave city of Bellaire. There you'll find African CD and Video shops run by Cote de Ivoirian women, the Moo Hive Honey Ice Cream Parlor, an outpost of Pollo Campero, and the Tat Dat Azz tattoo parlor. There's a little Havana down there, not to mention Colombians, Nigerians, Katrina Exiles, Salvadorans, Filipinos, Hondurans, Belizeans, etc.

No, the suburbs are not dull here. The far ring is; the inner ring, esp. on the SW side, is the immigrant city of the future.

I went to Smith & Wollensky recently and got their highly praised pork shank with applesauce and wanted to throw up afterwards. It was shit. The service was shit. Everything was shit. I would've faired better with IHOP.

If you're downtown then Zambuka (not sure if that's spelled correctly) is a lovely place. For sushi I love Koko's Yakatori on Richmond. Yum, yum. Houston's is always a good bet. It is comparable to Capital Grille but has a more local flavor.

Try Thelma's just east of downtown. You won't forget it.

http://american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/lone-star-rising

(Joel Kotkin alert)

saw dude at the Lyle Lovett show tonight wearing Goode Co t-shirt

he probably says it to all the audiences, but Lyle remarked that in his experience, New Yorkers make great Texans

reading old city/tourism threads kinda fascinating.

Houston living

I hear there's a store in Houston that has a HUGE selection of Bollywood/Indian flix. Anyone know the name?

i'm going in a couple of weeks, so bump more for convenience as it seems to be quite a thorough thread. no idea how much free time i'll have, the rothko chapel and menil collection are probably top of my list should i get enough time to myself, but is there anything which hasn't been covered here already?

http://kr3wdenim.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/lowlife025B-2.jpg

it's possible I could wind up visiting Houston, Austin and Phoenix next year. More far-flung outposts, I would depend on the kindness of drivers.

i'm going in a couple of weeks, so bump more for convenience as it seems to be quite a thorough thread. no idea how much free time i'll have, the rothko chapel and menil collection are probably top of my list should i get enough time to myself, but is there anything which hasn't been covered here already?

i have the day to myself in houston today. my plan is more or less the same as lex here - any more tips??

is the contemporary arts museum worth visiting?

The CAM is a large box with month-long exhibits. The Fine Arts Museum across the street is good, the De Menil collection a mile or so away is excellent, for permanent exhibits.

thx. rothko chapel & de menil were both great. loved some of the stuff in the surrealist exhibition.

stopped somewhere for lunch on the way back. they seemed to be doing bottomless cocktails and everyone was getting wasted despite the fact there was absolutely no way to get to this place without driving. i don't get this place!

driving back out west to my hotel i saw this lakewood church. man what the hell is that??

It's the largest (in membership) single site church in America, with 43,500 attending attending weekly sermons of prosperity theology. The building is a former basketball arena once known as The Summit.

http://lightingdesignalliance.com/project_images/lakewoodchurch002.jpg

I commuted by it daily and found it deeply repulsive.

I figured it was a former hospital by the looks of it.

People drive everywhere in Houston all the time whether wasted or not. It is the driving-est city I have ever experienced (note: I have not experienced L.A.). Also the only city in Texass where I regularly stop for drive-thru margaritas. I heart Triple Shot Tuesdays!!!

(I figured Lakewood was a former hospital from the outside, that is)

I knew Houston was a little fucked up since it has NO ZONING LAWS, but I didn't realize how ridiculous it got in some places.

For example, see this nice little residential neighborhood with townhomes and sidewalks? Great place for a CREMATORIUM.

http://i.imgur.com/160lnGH.jpg

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At least when you have parties here, your guests won't have to park on the street.

http://i.imgur.com/jiXQRLq.jpg

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Plenty of parking here, for at least the first 4/5's of your car.

http://i.imgur.com/3FTt9pv.png

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Maybe you're looking for something within walking distance of all the shops....

http://i.imgur.com/Q7UpfUp.jpg

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Imagine a backyard where every day there's a solar eclipse!

http://i.imgur.com/p4c89S7.jpg

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You only thought Dillard's sold everything.

http://i.imgur.com/GjH7AEp.jpg

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And I had to doublecheck, but no, this isn't a screengrab from that Woody Allen movie.

http://i.imgur.com/hbSDlfL.jpg

reasons why limited government is bad, part #27548

i can't stop laughing at ZONE D'EROTICA tho, the d' really classes it up

I just realized the name of that place rubs the lack of urban planning in the city's face.

hahaha, Zone D'Erotica is even more hilarious when you know they plunked one right next to the Galleria, one of the most upscale retail areas in the city.

i've changed my mind, limited government is good again

Tbf, I'm pretty sure that crematorium was there before those apartments.

Fun Fact: The Zone D'Erotica building started out as a Roy Rogers burger stand way back when. These days I think it's a Houston 420 shop, although I haven't looked in that direction the last several times I was in the neighborhood.

Didn't Zone D'Erotica come after the Houston 420 at the Galleria location? I admit I... zone it out and don't really notice anymore. It's just that hilarious prurient retailer next to 610 at the Galleria. It's like all the Planet Ks in Austin, you don't notice them until you need to get your bong fixed.

As of February 2017, still Zone D'Erotica, per Streetview. It was there dating back to the mid-90s (at least), if memory serves.

Going to Houston for a quick weekend at beginning of June for baseball. Also Looking for Vietnamese, African, Creole/Cajun, and barbecue food ideas.

rent a car so you can drive to all the good restaurants, which mostly live in strip malls in the vast suburbs ringing the city.

yeah a vehicle is a must-have in Houston

preferably an F150 pickup

So we had a great time in Houston and ate Indian, Ghanaian, African-American Barbecue, Mexican and went to an Astros game, a tour of their stadium, a zydeco & more accordions concert, museums, art car museum and stuff. At a free outdoor funky folk art park we started talking to someone else who was there checking it out. He was a writer for GQ and his article proclaiming Houston the capital of southern cool is now out:

https://www.gq.com/story/houston-restaurants-capital-of-southern-cool

What were some of the restaurants you liked? I need to get to know Houston better.

As others spelled out above, Houston is sprawling and restaurants are spread out in strip malls and neighborhoods all over. We liked the below (Anthony Bourdain featured Himalaya and Burns Original BBQ on his Houston episode)

Afrikiko restaurant- Ghanaian place

Gorditas Aquascalientes -Mexican

La Guadalupana Cafe and Bakery- Mexican

Himalaya Restaurant- Indian and Pakistani

Burns Original Barbeque - African-American

I was a fan of Himalaya when I lived in SW Houston. At the time, the general recommendation was to let the 60-something proprietor pick out what he wanted you to eat. The pilaf dishes were huge.

At the time, I would have also called out Caracal (Mexican seafood), Mai's (midtown Vietnamese), Blue Nile (best Ethiopian I've had in 4 cities, not incl. DC), Star Pizza (Chicago style pizza).

Should I ever mend bridges with my mother, I'll drag her to Afrikiko, that sounds fun.

When I was in Houston a little while back, I ran into writer Joe Nick Patoski at a zydeco and Cajun show at a park. He told me he was going to southern soul bar the Silver Slipper. He didn't mention they had live music, just the jukebox. I didn't go. I should have.

http://www.texashighways.com/culture-lifestyle/item/9051-experience-one-of-the-best-live-music-scenes-in-texas-at-houston-s-silver-slipper

Pour One Out....

https://abc13.com/society/zone-derotica-in-galleria-area-to-be-replaced-with-velvet-taco/5329982/

https://i.imgur.com/sYAi983.jpg

Ha! Was just coming here to post that a taco place is opening up where the Galleria Zone D'Erotica was, only to see that the news was broke here by me upthread almost two years ago.

WE GOT 50 CENT

I Love NY, but i live in Houston now i’ll explain later.🚦Green Light Gang 💣BOOM💥 pic.twitter.com/z6FAkAYwB4

— 50cent (@50cent) May 4, 2021

did he buy the Astrodome and move into it?

Possibly! Would make as much sense as any other plans for it.