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Posted (edited)

f the haters. austin is about 1/4 the size of Houston. cute little town. please stop comparing the two

compare austin to citizens of similar size

 

 

Edited by tx 3 putt
Posted
5 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

If 99 had existed back their would have been a 1545 minute drive 

99 on the northwest side is fucked so bad with traffic they're about to expand it.

 

 

< 3 miles to daikin from here

Posted
On 8/6/2025 at 3:16 PM, Vegas64 said:

Is it my opinion? I mean, how else do you describe the guy walking around barefoot with no shirt and a ratty blanket wrapped around his body screaming at imagined spectres about the God knows what? There is one on every corner.

Typical OUsux fan?

Posted
On 8/6/2025 at 12:39 PM, Js1 said:

Go look at Denver for what a successful campaign to try and solve the issue looks like. 

Austin should try having weeks/months of below freezing temperatures 

Posted

Lifelong houstonian here. Its easily the worst big city in Texas. The older I get, the less and less I seem to like it. If it didnt have the diversity (its biggest strength), im not sure it would have much going for it.

 

Weather is worst of big cities in Texas. Flooding and hurricanes. Insane mosquitos. Very little in the way of keeping up history/culture. Prices are hilariously stupid for a city with a ton of land. People are also correct that Houston has the most polluted air of any city in Texas. Objectively ugliest big city in the state. IAH is meh. Thank god for hobby. Very little in the way of greenspace. Most aggy city in Texas. The suburbs and outlying towns are absolutely godawful. There is no Waxahachie/Georgetown/Boerne/Lockhart/NB/San Marcos/Granbury/Celina type in Houston. 
 

worst of all, while dallas has sterotypes of being rich snobs, houston is full of materialistic, lets-pave-over-everything, f150 mcmansion wannabe dreaming rednecks. The nice places are nice (river oaks, the villages, west u) but if I didnt live in the Heights, there is no fucking way I would live in spring branch or sugarland, or pasadena, or humble, or cypress, or spring, etc. The lack of zoning is a massive double edged sword.

 

rambling but fuck it, neg away

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Posted

You ain't that wrong. 

Dallas is full of 30k millionaires, leveraged out the ass to afford their luxury car and giant McMansion in "insert generic DFW suburb" here

Houston is full of the opposite - middle class professionals who cosplay as rednecks with their giant trucks that have never touched a dirt road and cowboy boots.  Thank the oil and gas industry for that part. 

It's hot, muggy, ugly, flat, the traffic is awful, mostly due to the sprawl and seemingly 24/7/365 construction, there's nothing to visit and it is indeed full of aggys.   Dallas has better mass transit (DART actually goes places) too. 

If I wasn't raised there and my family still live there, I'd never fucking go back.  But when I do, I gain 10 pounds just off BBQ/Tex Mex/Vietnamese/Indian alone.  So there's the upside. 

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Posted
23 minutes ago, Js1 said:

You ain't that wrong. 

Dallas is full of 30k millionaires, leveraged out the ass to afford their luxury car and giant McMansion in "insert generic DFW suburb" here

Houston is full of the opposite - middle class professionals who cosplay as rednecks with their giant trucks that have never touched a dirt road and cowboy boots.  Thank the oil and gas industry for that part. 

It's hot, muggy, ugly, flat, the traffic is awful, mostly due to the sprawl and seemingly 24/7/365 construction, there's nothing to visit and it is indeed full of aggys.   Dallas has better mass transit (DART actually goes places) too. 

If I wasn't raised there and my family still live there, I'd never fucking go back.  But when I do, I gain 10 pounds just off BBQ/Tex Mex/Vietnamese/Indian alone.  So there's the upside. 

Houston is a good place to live, make money, and to a degree raise a family. Of course that last one is dropping fast thanks to public education in all of Texas.

But most of your post is pretty fair. It's ugly, it's concrete, it's hot, and it's weather is a ball kick. I can't wait to see how installing a generac manages to not solve the problem of whatever the next disaster is going to be...I can't wait to get the fuck out of here when I retire for sure, and a huge driver of that is the weather. 

The only thing I quibble with is Nothing To Visit. Houston has great museums, and it has the best arts/theater area in the fucking country behind only New York and maybe Chicago, and not just the shit downtown there's great theaters all over Houston. NASA, a shitty ass beach, and most importantly fucking world class cuisine. 

Everyone just bitches about there being nothing in Houston because you have to fucking DRIVE to get to everything. But it's there, and it's worth visiting. It's just bad for tourists to visit. Locals can enjoy it, however. But there's no arguing from me that it's a better place to live than it is to visit. 

Posted

Like you said, if it's bad for tourists, that means there isn't anything absolutely worthwhile to visit.  As a whole, there's 1 or 2 good things but not enough to make it a world-class tourism spot. 

But the museums and theater district are definitely great things to do for locals.  Not doubting that, they were fun to enjoy.  Even the occasional trip to NASA.

Fuck Galveston in the goat ass though.  Disgusting. 

Posted

I have no problems finding green space within the loop, and most are biking distance. Others are no longer than a 10 minute drive.

Are you going to go on a hike? No, other than some Memorial Park trails
Nice lakes? No

I don't mid Galveston at all. Was there a couple of weeks ago and the water was pretty clear that day. The Strand is nice.


 

 

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Posted
48 minutes ago, Js1 said:

If I wasn't raised there and my family still live there, I'd never fucking go back. 

THIS

I have family there

I have clients there

Otherwise, I wouldn't go back.

"Oh you live in Austin, you don't know" 

I lived in Houston for decades... and over time is slowly wore on me.  The more I traveled, the more I realized that the parts of Houston I liked felt like other cities, not Houston.  Yes, food scene is amazing... museums kick ass.  I have a chub for the Mies Van Der Rohe MFAH and the museum district in general... I love Herman Park but that's not enough.

Posted
19 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Like you said, if it's bad for tourists, that means there isn't anything absolutely worthwhile to visit.  As a whole, there's 1 or 2 good things but not enough to make it a world-class tourism spot. 

But the museums and theater district are definitely great things to do for locals.  Not doubting that, they were fun to enjoy.  Even the occasional trip to NASA.

Fuck Galveston in the goat ass though.  Disgusting. 

You specifically said "there's nothing TO visit." Which is horseshit. There's a ton of things to visit. This is categorically different from you now moving the goal posts to say "worthwhile to visit" or "world-class tourism spot." Yeah, because things elsewhere are grouped together easily and there are dozens of other cities where you can get more bang for your buck. That is not the same thing to say as "there's nothing to visit." I drove through New Mexico this summer. There's a lot of things TO visit. But getting to them fucking sucks balls and is a drive. 

Move the goalposts back to where you had them at the start, chooch. 

 

Posted
17 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Houston is a good place to live, make money, and to a degree raise a family. Of course that last one is dropping fast thanks to public education in all of Texas.

But most of your post is pretty fair. It's ugly, it's concrete, it's hot, and it's weather is a ball kick. I can't wait to see how installing a generac manages to not solve the problem of whatever the next disaster is going to be...I can't wait to get the fuck out of here when I retire for sure, and a huge driver of that is the weather. 

The only thing I quibble with is Nothing To Visit. Houston has great museums, and it has the best arts/theater area in the fucking country behind only New York and maybe Chicago, and not just the shit downtown there's great theaters all over Houston. NASA, a shitty ass beach, and most importantly fucking world class cuisine. 

Everyone just bitches about there being nothing in Houston because you have to fucking DRIVE to get to everything. But it's there, and it's worth visiting. It's just bad for tourists to visit. Locals can enjoy it, however. But there's no arguing from me that it's a better place to live than it is to visit. 

To me, the Arts and great food (quality and diversity) are unmatched. I miss the Houston Ballet, the Alley Theater for plays, and art at the Menil, MFA and many galleries in the area. When I lived in Houston off Alabama and Shepard, I spent way too much time at the Museum district, West U, and wasting the weekend days away on the lawns of the Menil and Rothko Chapel. If I had to move back to Houston, I'd live in that area and never go outside 610. 

I have family in the Houston burbs. We still make it a point to visit the Museum district when we visit them. Museums and lunch/dinner at Goode Co Seafood on Westpark/Kirby is a great day in Houston.

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Posted
1 minute ago, crash_davis said:

To me, the Arts and great food (quality and diversity) are unmatched. I miss the Houston Ballet, the Alley Theater for plays, and art at the Menil, MFA and many galleries in the area. When I lived in Houston off Alabama and Shepard, I spent way too much time at the Museum district, West U, and wasting the weekend days away on the lawns of the Menil and Rothko Chapel. If I had to move back to Houston, I'd live in that area and never go outside 610. 

I have family in the Houston burbs. We still make it a point to visit the Museum district when we visit them. Museums and lunch/dinner at Goode Co Seafood on Westpark/Kirby is a great day in Houston.

Yeah, Menil is awesome.  I love that area - I saw they just closed down Bistro Menil which I really liked.  Bummer.  https://www.papercitymag.com/restaurants/bistro-menil-restaurant-closing-houston-chef-greg-martin/

Re: tourists visiting Houston... when I talk to people/clients who visit from out of the country they tend to do three things in Houston:

1. Eat

2. Shop

3. Go to JSC

I don't think they ever tell me about visiting museums.  If they go to Galveston, they certainly have opinions.

Posted
9 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

To me, the Arts and great food (quality and diversity) are unmatched. I miss the Houston Ballet, the Alley Theater for plays, and art at the Menil, MFA and many galleries in the area. When I lived in Houston off Alabama and Shepard, I spent way too much time at the Museum district, West U, and wasting the weekend days away on the lawns of the Menil and Rothko Chapel. If I had to move back to Houston, I'd live in that area and never go outside 610. 

I have family in the Houston burbs. We still make it a point to visit the Museum district when we visit them. Museums and lunch/dinner at Goode Co Seafood on Westpark/Kirby is a great day in Houston.

Agree. And this hits close to home as I had Goode Company Campechana on Wed at lunch. 

The burbs aren't Houston. 

5 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Yeah, Menil is awesome.  I love that area - I saw they just closed down Bistro Menil which I really liked.  Bummer.  https://www.papercitymag.com/restaurants/bistro-menil-restaurant-closing-houston-chef-greg-martin/

Re: tourists visiting Houston... when I talk to people/clients who visit from out of the country they tend to do three things in Houston:

1. Eat

2. Shop

3. Go to JSC

I don't think they ever tell me about visiting museums.  If they go to Galveston, they certainly have opinions.

That sounds like a them problem, sir. 

Posted

People’s needs and values change. My brother and sister-in-law live 15 minutes away from Minute Maid. I hope they never move. It’s a great place to crash when I go back to visit family, and I love the area. I’m in Leander/CP area now to be close to work (commuting in the Bay Area has traumatized me to never have a more than 30-minute commute again), and my next move, if it’s not back to Austin, is out of state at this point. 

Posted
1 minute ago, YChang said:

People’s needs and values change. My brother and sister-in-law live 15 minutes away from Minute Maid. I hope they never move. It’s a great place to crash when I go back to visit family, and I love the area. I’m in Leander/CP area now to be close to work (commuting in the Bay Area has traumatized me to never have a more than 30-minute commute again), and my next move, if it’s not back to Austin, is out of state at this point. 

Ha. I have friends all over Houston, and family in the Woodlands, and I'm glad my wife and I are on the same page; we don't need square footage nearly as much as we need a 20 minute or less commute to our jobs every day. I just don't know how the hell people do it. 

I'm going to push as subtly as I can for my kid to go to college out of state. 

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Posted

The fact that we need to argue about whether there is/isnt anything to do in houston kinda answers the question. The museums are good but there are only two i would consider best in the state: mfah and natural science. The rest are either mid or are super niche to the point of lacking critical mass for acclaim or tourism.

 

The food scene is fantastic though, but austin coming quickly for that crown

Posted
3 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

The fact that we need to argue about whether there is/isnt anything to do in houston kinda answers the question. The museums are good but there are only two i would consider best in the state: mfah and natural science. The rest are either mid or are super niche to the point of lacking critical mass for acclaim or tourism.

 

The food scene is fantastic though, but austin coming quickly for that crown

You're moving the goalposts too. There's a fuck ton to DO, but it's hard to match it up compared to a Boston or New York or Chicago to warrant a VISIT over other places. There's plenty of shit TO DO. And that works for Locals. Less so for people to visit to have to drive 30 minutes everywhere to see the Next Thing. Being an attractive Tourist Destination isn't the same thing as THINGS TO DO. 

Austin has great food, but I'm not sure they're going to be able to take the crown from Houston as long as our Vietnamese and Indian continue to really be huge and vibrant on the food front. But that's just IMO. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, GreenspointTexas said:

The fact that we need to argue about whether there is/isnt anything to do in houston kinda answers the question. The museums are good but there are only two i would consider best in the state: mfah and natural science. The rest are either mid or are super niche to the point of lacking critical mass for acclaim or tourism.

 

The food scene is fantastic though, but austin coming quickly for that crown

The Menil has one of the best collections of modern art that most museums would kill for. Also the surrounding area has some amazing galleries which showcase current artists and their works. If you area only going to the MFA, you are missing out on a ton of other great art.

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Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Austin has great food, but I'm not sure they're going to be able to take the crown from Houston as long as our Vietnamese and Indian continue to really be huge and vibrant on the food front. But that's just IMO. 

If it ain’t fusion, vast majority of Asian food in Austin is just fine or downright mediocre. With the exception of in my opinion of sushi omakases. 

Edited by YChang
Posted
23 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

To me, the Arts and great food (quality and diversity) are unmatched. I miss the Houston Ballet, the Alley Theater for plays, and art at the Menil, MFA and many galleries in the area. When I lived in Houston off Alabama and Shepard, I spent way too much time at the Museum district, West U, and wasting the weekend days away on the lawns of the Menil and Rothko Chapel. If I had to move back to Houston, I'd live in that area and never go outside 610. 

I have family in the Houston burbs. We still make it a point to visit the Museum district when we visit them. Museums and lunch/dinner at Goode Co Seafood on Westpark/Kirby is a great day in Houston.

Spent a lot of time in the Rice Village area as a kid because my cousins lived on Bolsover just off Greenbriar.  
 

All these years later, my daughter lives in that area. She and her family can walk to everything they need except a big grocery store.  And she hates dealing with the crowds at Whole Paycheck or HEB so she has her groceries delivered. 
 

Staying at her place is great.  Hey, let’s go get Asian/Seafood/burgers/Indian/Israeli bakery food!  No problem.  It’s 3-4 block to all of it. 
 

So many good food options in Houston.  She likes several places down along Hillcroft.  

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Posted
1 minute ago, YChang said:

If it ain’t fusion, vast majority of Asian food in Austin sucks. With the exception of in my opinion of sushi omakases. 

Austin food sucks. Most of the restaurants try to be Instagram worthy, which is to say they insist upon themselves. All are overpriced and most are mediocre at best in quality.

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Posted
Austin food sucks. Most of the restaurants try to be Instagram worthy, which is to say they insist upon themselves. All are overpriced and most are mediocre at best in quality.

This…the Austin restaurant scene has surged, but largely in all the wrong ways. We add 10 douchetastic overpriced Instagram joints for every 1 real-deal good new place. That said, believe it or not, the burb corridors are adding Houston-like quality and diversity. REAL Asian places, Georgian, Persian, all kinds of stuff…up 183, towards RR, etc.
But also, don’t underestimate how much deeper Houston is when it comes to the arts. My wife grew up following ballet in Houston. When we moved to Austin, we ended up going to the ballet some years later. It was like watching AA ball after growing up watching MLB quality. Houston has it going on.
Posted
Just now, Brisketexan said:


This…the Austin restaurant scene has surged, but largely in all the wrong ways. We add 10 douchetastic overpriced Instagram joints for every 1 real-deal good new place. That said, believe it or not, the burb corridors are adding Houston-like quality and diversity. REAL Asian places, Georgian, Persian, all kinds of stuff…up 183, towards RR, etc.
But also, don’t underestimate how much deeper Houston is when it comes to the arts. My wife grew up following ballet in Houston. When we moved to Austin, we ended up going to the ballet some years later. It was like watching AA ball after growing up watching MLB quality. Houston has it going on.

Houston ballet is world renowned. It's not ABT or NYC but it has the 4th largest budget in the US. I knew a young lady who danced there. She trained in NYC. 

Also if you haven't done so, the Alley Theater is great for watching plays. It's not Broadway but it's the best live theater in Texas.

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Posted
Houston ballet is world renowned. It's not ABT or NYC but it has the 4th largest budget in the US. I knew a young lady who danced there. She trained in NYC. 
Also if you haven't done so, the Alley Theater is great for watching plays. It's not Broadway but it's the best live theater in Texas.

Agree. I grew up going to the Alley, saw amazing productions.
Posted

I grew up there (suburbs holla) and never knew any different. It was fine.  Everyone complained about the humidity but I thought that's just how summertime feels.  

I haven't lived there in years and, having traveled all over, realize now it's a pretty grimy shithole. Every time I go back, I'm reminded of that.  I actually prefer DFW.  

Astros fan for life though.  

Posted

When someone says there's nothing to do in Houston, I'm always curious what they want. I roll my eyes if their complaint has something to do with unchangeable factors (heat, world class beach, lake, or mountains/snow.) 

One complaint that I have is most likely in other cities as well: secondary market pricing for concerts. Bigger names should book multiple nights when they're playing a <20K arena in a metro of 7m. I understand not booking NRG for multiple nights but Toyota or other arenas are different. I don't mind spending more than face but damn $300 per ticket for events especially if it appeals to the 40+ crowd.

Not that I spend that much time outside in the summer, but I don't experience any mosquito issues in central Houston. Or maybe I just grew up on the Texas coast where the county pumped deadly insecticides all summer to make it bearable outside. Perhaps I measure today vs that.

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, GreenspointTexas said:

The food scene is fantastic though, but austin coming quickly for that crown

Not going to agree with you there.  Austin food is better than it used to be.  Leaps and bounds better than it used to be.   But it has a long way to go to catch Houston.  Now, I'm lazy and don't want to go too far so I know I'm missing out on places further north but I've had some damn good pho up north of 183 and great Persian closer to Anderson Lane and 183 but its not the same set up as Houston.  Austin definitely kills it when it comes to food trucks but I will kill to find a truck like this close to me in Austin - https://share.google/7vmRMoUzFC4gbgkEo 

Edited by texasdago
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Posted
1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

Houston ballet is world renowned. It's not ABT or NYC but it has the 4th largest budget in the US. I knew a young lady who danced there. She trained in NYC. 

Also if you haven't done so, the Alley Theater is great for watching plays. It's not Broadway but it's the best live theater in Texas.

lewis black first tried his hand at being a playwright. he thought he'd broken through when he made the Alley, which he described as AAA level. the play bombed, so on opening night he found himself at a bar, in houston, on open mic night, and just started riffing. the rest is history.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, elfenix said:

as is the case in pretty much every city in america.

Whataboutism. 

They control Houston and the city just takes it to a new level.  Always has.  Ashby/Langley is a great example

Posted
18 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

f the haters. austin is about 1/4 the size of Houston. cute little town. please stop comparing the two

compare austin to citizens of similar size

 

 

Commentary like this ain't common outside of Texas.  Size ain't everything (regarding cities anyway)

Posted
3 minutes ago, Laguna said:

You can find great food anywhere nowadays. That in itself is not really a big argument for any major city. 

The difference is breadth and depth.  Shit, there's one 4-block stretch of Hillcroft (pretty sure it's Hillcroft) where food from 30+ different countries is represented.  That's just a single 4-block stretch of a single street, in a big-ass cities with hundreds of such stretches all over.  Austin still struggles to keep more than one decent dim sum (not fancified dim sum, authentic dim sum) joint open, as just one example.

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Posted
3 hours ago, elfenix said:

lewis black first tried his hand at being a playwright. he thought he'd broken through when he made the Alley, which he described as AAA level. the play bombed, so on opening night he found himself at a bar, in houston, on open mic night, and just started riffing. the rest is history.

I asked ChatGPT 5.0 about what you said:

Quote

 

That’s a great anecdote, but it’s a bit muddled. Here's what actually happened:

Lewis Black’s early career was deeply rooted in theater—not Houston. After earning his MFA from Yale, he became playwright-in-residence and associate artistic director at the West Bank Café Downstairs Theatre Bar in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, during the 1980s. There, he produced hundreds of one-act plays (including early works by Aaron Sorkin and Alan Ball) and often introduced his own plays with fiery commentary. WikipediaWWNOThe New Yorker

One of his theatrical projects was the musical The Czar of Rock & Roll, with book by Lewis Black and music/lyrics by Rusty Magee. That show premiered at Houston’s Alley Theatre—but it wasn’t a bombing play like “The Alley,” and there’s no record of him improvising stand-up in a Houston bar on opening night. Wikipedia+1

So while the story you shared matches the "feel" of a raucous comedy origin tale, the actual historical path doesn’t include that Houston open-mic moment. Instead, Lewis Black’s break into stand-up came more gradually—transitioning from theater in New York to opening for his own shows and eventually moving fully into stand-up, culminating in his iconic "Back in Black" segments on The Daily Show.

 

 

Posted

I’m not walking into this shit brown Galveston water debate. Austin is an awesome place to go school. I assume we all enjoyed our time at UT. I couldn’t code so I moved to Houston after school. Houston is tolerable. HLSR, pro teams, and a strong drinking culture help you pass the time.

Posted
6 hours ago, Vegas64 said:

I asked ChatGPT 5.0 about what you said:

 

this is literally what he said at his show at the post a few months back. so go fuck yourself.

images.jpeg.57eb6fe2ebe2ca9f45a8703cf8bc3a30.jpeg

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