by Betsy Kortenhof Kumbalek '78
"Houston is, without a doubt, the weirdest, most entertaining city in Texas, consisting
as it does of subtropical forest, life in the fast lane, a layer of oil, cowboys and
spacemen."
-Texas Tourism Guide
WELCOME TO SPACE CITY! While our official nickname "Space City" refers to the Houston/Clear Lake City area's being home to NASA, it is also true that Houston is incredibly spacious and spread out. We're also called the Bayou City (that's by-oh, not by-you, as they say in Louisiana) because of the many bayous in the greater Houston area. What's a bayou, you ask? Some would say scenic waterway, others would say drainage ditch...you be the judge. Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, with a metro area population of 4.7 million. With so many interesting things to do here, is it any wonder that the first word said from the surface of the moon was "Houston"?
Apartments/housing: Check out newspapers, or
There are a multitude of choices for telephone, gas and electric service. Here are just a few links:
Newspapers
Houston Community Newspapers - Neighborhood/Area newspapers listing garage sales and local news. Click on the area you are interested in on the map and you'll be directed to one of 22 local papers.
Houston Chronicle - Conventional daily newspaper
Houston Press - Weekly alternative newspaper published Thursdays and available free at local stores and restaurants or online. Good for entertainment listings and well as viewpoints differing from the Chron.
Web Guides
"I feel safer on a racetrack than I do on Houston's freeways."
--Car racing legend A. J. Foyt
By Road: Driving in Houston can be challenging, and a car is a necessity because public mass transit is lacking. Our roads are constantly under construction and are seriously overburdened. Downtown Houston is laid out in a grid pattern, with alternating one-way streets. The city and surrounding area's main roads follow old cattle trail routes in the fashion of spokes on a wheel. The main interstates into town are I-45 (roughly north-south), I-59 (northeast-southwest), I-10 (east-west) and Hwy 290 (northwest). The city lies within the circle of I-610, which is called "the loop." Friends of mine swear that a Key Map of Harris County is a good investment even though a bit pricey at $35.95 (www.keymaps.com). I've gotten by with fold up gas station maps and Mapquest.
Downtown road construction updates and alternate routes
Very Important: Houston is mostly flat. If we get an unusually hard or prolonged rain, many areas flood, especially underpasses. The water comes up fast and recedes just as quickly. No matter how tempting it is, don't drive through high water just because the bubba ahead of you did in his Ford F250. It is very difficult to judge how deep the water actually is, and if you stall out, your car will never be the same.
Also important: Watch those school zones. The local police take them very seriously, and the fines are steep!
Mass Transit: (www.ridemetro.org) The big white, blue and red METRO buses are the most visible of our mass transit options. Park & Ride commuter service to downtown is available from various outlying places around the city and local service is also available. METRO's newest addition is a 7.5 mile light rail line that runs from downtown through Midtown, the Museum District, Medical Center, and Reliant Park, turning around at the South Fannin Park & Ride lot. This addition has spurred the development of an active nightlife downtown.
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
-Neil Armstrong
By Air: Houston Airport System
A few Houstonians have used NASA's rockets for air travel, but most of us use the two airports: George Bush Intercontinental Airport (the big one) and Hobby Airport (the little one). Intercontinental is located north of downtown, and Hobby is south.
Taxis are out the Ground Transportation doors on the baggage claim level of all four terminals at Intercontinental and at Curbzone 1 outside the baggage claim area on the lower level at Hobby. Like most large cities, Houston's taxis are expensive. Other options are Express Shuttle-USA buses, METRO public transportation buses, and hotel shuttle buses. New in 2003 is the Consolidated Car Rental facility at Intercontinental, where all car rental agencies are located. Look for the maroon and white Rental Car shuttle buses to the facility. Rental car booths are on the baggage claim level at Hobby.
There are lots of housing possibilities in the greater Houston area. Some of the pricing data is a bit dated, but the general information on this website remains the same.
One of Houston's great advantages is that the cost of housing is lower than most other large cities. Housing is more expensive inside the loop, but access is easier to entertainment, restaurants, and work. Midtown and some parts of The Heights are two more reasonably priced, close in neighborhoods that younger people are moving to. Some web links to information about Midtown, The Heights and others in town neighborhoods include:
Midtown, also visit www.houstonmidtown.com
The Heights, also visit www.houstonheights.org and www.homestore.com
Montrose is a centrally located, eclectic neighborhood. It was once a haven for starving artists, musicians and students, but recently the area has become a bit expensive.
Downtown, a ghost town after business hours in years past, is becoming a very exciting place to live if you can afford it. Historic buildings are being converted into lofts and older apartments renovated.
Bellaire is partially inside the
loop and partially outside, in the southwest quadrant.
Also visit: www.city-data.com
West University
is a very pricey, but very nice area south and west of downtown. The current trend in
West U is buying "tear downs" and rebuilding new homes.
Also visit: www.city-data.com
The Rice University area also can be quite expensive, but there are options for lower priced, student type housing. It's a great area close to the Medical Center.
Outside the loop is considered suburban, but many areas feel just as urban as inside the loop. A unique (and bizarre) feature of Houston is that there is no zoning as far as land use is concerned. There are pastures full of livestock adjacent to upscale housing developments in what feels like the middle of town. Most subdivisions have extremely powerful homeowners associations and restrictive deed covenants that afford the same protections as formal zoning. There has been a building boom in recent years, so apartments outside the loop are plentiful. Some areas outside the loop are:
The Woodlands - master planned community - far north; also visit www.city-data.com
Kingwood - another master planned community - far northeast
Champions - FM 1960/Hwy 249 area near Willowbrook Mall - northwest
The following are some of the small towns that have been swallowed by Houston:
Grocery stores:
Randall's
HEB
Kroger
Natural foods:
Whole Foods
Central Market
Specialty & International foods:
Eatzi's
Fiesta
Rice Epicurean Market
Also for shopping is the quaint town of Old Town Spring just north of Houston off I-45
"I think Texans have more fun than the rest of the world."
-Choreographer Tommy Tune
Houston Museum of Natural Science
- Burke Baker Planetarium
- IMAX Theatre
Municipal Golf Course
Other Golf Courses
Fun Weekend Getaways:
Galveston
Texas Hill Country
Texas Parks & Wildlife (state parks)
Museums
Go to Houston Museum District for links to the following:
Some not-so-run-of-the-mill museums:
Go to www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org for a list of even more area museums.
Houston's restaurants are second to none. As you might expect, the Mexican food is fantastic and abundant, and the quality of the many other types of cuisine is just as good. Check out this menu guide if you want to have a look at a menu before you go out.
Downtown is rapidly becoming a place to go at night. The Richmond strip/Westheimer area also has a lively night scene. Check out the Houston Press for club listings. Personal favorites are Anderson Fair and McGonigel's Mucky Duck for live music in a small setting. Also amusing is Radio Music Theatre, a live comedy show that defies explanation. You simply must see it.
Houston has not one, not two, but three brand new professional sports venues: Reliant Stadium opened in 2002 for football, Minute Maid Park (which was originally called Enron Field, but we all know what happened with that) opened in 2000 for baseball, and the Toyota Center opened in 2003 for basketball and ice hockey. We hosted Superbowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004, and the baseball All Star game will be played here on July 13, 2004.
Some potentially hazardous and just plain weird things you may not have encountered before:
Fire ants - Don't mess with ant hills (or ant piles, as people call them here). The ants will swarm aggressively and the bites hurt like you know what.
Armadillos - A slow moving road hazard mostly seen not moving at all with four feet pointing up.
Poisonous snakes - We have copperheads, coral snakes, and rattlesnakes that come out after heavy rains.
Poisonous spiders - Black widow and brown recluse spiders like to live in pool skimmers and woodpiles, respectively.
Tree pollen - March brings a rain of pine tree pollen that dusts everything greenish yellow for several days. It's messy, but harmless, unless you have allergies.
Tree roaches - These look like 2" long cockroaches. They live mostly outside, but do get inside occasionally. Avoid smashing on wall...you'll have to repaint. Better to try to shoo them back outside.
Love bugs - harmless but weird flying insects that appear en masse around May and September. You'll recognize them immediately: they look like flying conjoined twins.
See Jo Howarth Noonan's Tips for Living in the South for Atlanta. It's much the same here in Houston, but with more twang and less drawl!