DFW resident and I’ve always been envious of H-Town, even when I lived there briefly in ‘01. Better airport, better drivers, better vibe, classier women...Someone please correct me if I’m wrong LOL
I lived in Dallas for a few years, and I agree with everything you said... except the drivers. Houston freeway driving is one of the most stressful things a human being can endure. It’s always either a parking lot, or a Mad Max movie come to life. Road rage is out of control in Houston. It was bad in DFW too, but not quite as bad as Houston.
House of Ayala - Yep. I used to have a reverse commute. I lived in Montrose and worked in Sugarland. It took me an hour in either direction, and it was pure hell. So much time wasted just sitting in a car. I really don’t understand why an expanded rail network to the suburbs keeps getting voted down. I guess some people just really enjoy sitting in traffic. That’s one area where DFW has us beat. At least in the metroplex they have rail service to the suburbs.
House of Ayala - One other thing though... I think Greater Houston’s stubbornness in expanding the rail lines beyond the inner loop has actually been a big catalyst in the inner loop (and Uptown/Galleria) becoming more dense. Most of the people who work in and near downtown (the ones who hate long commutes) have more of an incentive to live inside the loop for this very reason. The average population density in most inner-loop neighborhoods is something like 8,000 ppsm (people per square mile), whereas the average density in most suburban neighborhoods is more like 3,000 ppsm... and the inner loop is getting more dense every year. Some neighborhoods, like Midtown, Hyde Park, Museum Park, and Rice Military have average densities closer to 10,000 ppsm or above. If Houston continues to grow at the rate it has been, I would have to think that by roughly 2030 we’ll be seeing density levels (in the inner city) at East Coast levels. Let’s just hope that public transit keeps up with the inherent demands that will bring.
I grew up in Houston. It's a lot more heavier populated now. Making traffic a beast to commute by car. I also lived in DFW for 5years it's a amazing City. More space to breathe for me in the DFW. But traffic is similar. At least they have trains in Dallas though that runs to different parts of the city. Houston needs that instead of one in downtown. I believe they will expand their train system in the near future though. But if I had to choose a city I will choose between the two. I would choose Dallas-Fort Worth metro plex. their women are one-of-a-kind and they have their own style 💯
love it. beautiful footage of the ever changing downtown skyline ! Can't wait to see what it looks like when all the latest skyscrapers have transformed the skyline once again. Thank you for posting this wonderful video.
I still wish they would have built the Bank of the Southwest tower that came *SOOO* close to being built in the center of downtown in 1983 (It was cancelled last minute due to the sharp decline in oil prices at the time which brought about Houston’s “great recession” of the mid to late 80’s). It was going to be as tall as the Empire State Building (1,350 feet), and would have had the classic spire design. It really would have made Houston’s downtown skyline that much more iconic... but alas it wasn’t to be.
de Martin - Yes, as long as that tower was built in the right part of downtown and had a tasteful design. The Bank of the Southwest Tower was going to be built on the block just East of One Shell Plaza, pretty much as a centerpiece for all of the downtown skyline. It’s the perfect location to frame the skyline. Plus, it would have had the classic spire design. I’ve seen artist’s renderings of what it was going to look like, and damn... it would have been ideal.
Cost of living is great for now, but it’s getting increasingly more expensive. At least it is in the inner city. Also, Houston has some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Home insurance rates are also well above average. Especially after all the recent flooding.
Nice footage. I just wish you would have shown more of the Med Center, which is always most impressive when viewed from the air. There was only one very brief little blip of it, towards the end. Also missing was Greenway Plaza and Upper Kirby, which is also a rapidly developing area. I can't believe how big the Uptown-Galleria area has gotten. It almost looks like a 2nd downtown now, though not as dense.
agreed, because of Houstons lax zoning laws, there are mini downtown density type of buildings. The Medical Center and Uptown are perfect examples. And dare I say the Energy corridor has its own lil skyline developing. Houston has business districts all over the place. the Med Center I think has the most impressive.
Blankerism - I think some of that can be attributed to the lack of zoning, but Los Angeles is laid out in a very similar way, with multiple skylines scattered around the city, and L.A. is zoned. I’m old enough to remember when they started building the first tall office buildings in Greenway Plaza, as well as the Galleria-Post Oak area (or what they’re calling ‘Uptown’ now), and at the time there were huge plots of open, undeveloped land in those areas that weren’t scheduled for any kind of residential development. Especially Galleria-Post Oak, which was still basically just rural farmland in the early 60’s (hard to imagine now, but it really was). It just made more sense to put up new office towers in those areas, since downtown was hemmed in by mostly residential areas at the time. I think the no-zoning thing may have factored a bit into that, or at least it allowed construction to go ahead with little or no obstruction... but it probably would have happened anyway even if the city did have zoning laws.
Brewzerr Would you agree that the Uptown name just isn’t catching on or being used much? I always hear people refer to the entire neighborhood as “The Galleria”. I kinda like that. It’s a different neighborhood name. Unique. I wonder why the city doesn’t just embrace that moniker.
de Martin - What I have noticed is that newer and younger Houston residents refer to that area as ‘Uptown’, but older natives like me still call it ‘Galleria’ or ‘Post Oak’. It’s a generational thing, and a native/transplant thing. There are other examples too. When I was growing up, the area now referred to commonly as ‘Museum Park’ (The area East of S. Main, West of 288, North of Hermann Park, and South of 59) was called ‘Binz’. Now you never hear that. Also, there was never an ‘Upper Kirby’ before the 90’s. Midtown was called ‘Little Saigon’ for a while, and what they’re now calling ‘EaDo’ was once the city’s old Chinatown. Houston is a city that is constantly changing. Neighborhoods change names, and get made over into something completely different than what they were before. I know that for me personally, I will never call any part of Houston ‘Uptown’... but I accept the fact that’s what many, many people are likely to keep calling it now and in the future. Once those people get old, it will probably be called something else.
nice! love it. I'm a new drone operator here in Houston, and i didn't know you can fly in some of these places, I have been to scared to go fly. this video gives me more "balls" to fly in more open places.
I’ve lived in both Houston and Los Angeles, and there are definitely a lot of undeniable similarities. Houston has always reminded me of a smaller version of L.A., only without the mountains and beaches. Traffic is comparable in both cities.
@@Brewzerr I guess, if you included Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Mailbu, etc.. why not Galveston and/or Far East Houston . However, you are correct about mountains 😉
tucanphos - I did include Galveston. That’s really the only part of metro Houston that actually touches the ocean. The far Eastern city limits don’t quite make it to the bay. A few suburbs do, like Kemah, Seabrook, and La Porte, but it’s just not a true ‘beach’ to me if it’s not on the ocean. As far as L.A. goes, Venice, Playa Del Rey, Dockweiler Beach, San Pedro, and Pacific Palisades all directly touch the ocean, and are all part of the city-proper of Los Angeles.
Franjo Kristof - “dull” is subjective, so I won’t question that, but how do you figure it’s “outdated”? I mean, aside from public transportation that is, which is without a doubt about 30 years behind in Houston.
I'm British and I find these sort of videos so fascinating of American cities! It's so interesting to see how American cities are built so differently to European cities, everything is so big, from the buildings and the roads, super cool! I remember the first time I went to America and went to the downtown areas thinking that's where all the good places would be to go eat, shop etc but tended to just be offices and nothing much else. This is in contrast to most 'downtown' areas of Europe where you go to work, live, eat and play so I was quite surprised by the difference in that respect. I hear American downtown areas are changing more to become places to live as well now?
Downtown Houston used to be a ghost town at night, not that long ago. That’s changing now. More people are living downtown than ever before, and they’re building new high rises all the time. It still has a long way to go to catch up to certain other major cities’ downtowns, but it is (finally) moving in that direction.
Yeah, I’d say more L.A. than Chicago. Like, much more. Houston is laid out very similar to Los Angeles. If Houston had hills, mountains, and beaches it would basically be a small-scale version of L.A. Not that Houston is ‘small’ in any way... but it’s still half the size that L.A. is.
RB Colbert - Yeah, Houston covers a ridiculous amount of area. Over 600 square miles. That’s too much area imo. Too much of it is suburbs. I always wished Houston would scale back to roughly half that area and just include the parts that are more urban (inner loop, uptown/galleria area, most of southwest). Give the rest to places like Spring, Katy, Cypress, Pearland, etc.
Someone should do more shots of the medical center with the downtown in the background, and the galleria with downtown included in the shot, because it’s hard to get a feel for how big Houston Is until you see all that in person because no one shows pics or videos from those angles I feel. You had a couple near the middle end to ur credit
Please do one with all the skyline districts around 10 total including GREENSPOINT and the Woodlands show the world How MODERN the Energy Capital, Medical Capital and Space city really is founded by two New Yorkers
@@Brewzerr The Allen brothers... a bunch of swindlers that ripped off Northerners with lies about rolling hills and beautiful weather. What a bunch of scumbags.
Houston has some value benefits. Weather & Climate! Yes it's humid, but it's tolerable once you live there & for most of the year! But Galveston & the Gulf is cooler & has a breeze. The winter snow & ice storms that haunt DFW, are seldom events in Houston! In summer the intense severe thunderstorms tend to stay north of Houston. The severe weather in DFW gets very hectic, with large hail & tornados! Hurricanes can occasionally visit Houston, it's a 5 to 10 year event! So I like Houston better! The traffic is not as bad as L.A. Metro, Chicago, & NYC. But there's lots of cars! My best advise is to accept the traffic & vary your routes & time of day! Alternate routes & the feeder road system in Texas will help you! Freeways may not always be best routes?
@@Brewzerr But still tho, in Fulshear ( a neighborhood in Houston) is becoming dirtier year by year due to population growth, it was cleaner few years ago and now I see trash lying around on roadsides.
@@shamikbera9617 - Fulshear is a brand-new, outer ring exurb that was just a small rural town until very recently, so of course with all the recent growth it's going to appear dirtier and more congested. I was talking about the actual city of Houston, which is much cleaner today than it was in the 70's, 80's, and 90's.
Great video, though I feel like the music was a bit cheesy and didn't really suit. I ended up muting it and had 'ODESZA - How Did I Get Here (Extended Mix)' playing in the background instead. Try it out, makes the video 100% more atmospheric.
They couldn't even if they wanted to. Because of the flooding and rising ocean levels and The amount of money it'll Take. So far Dallas is the only city in Texas with a Subway.
according to the FAA, that only applies if it's flying for work related material. I wasn't sure of it but I just checked their website just to make sure.
@@neiandresamuels5428 Houston ? Yea I guess. it is kinda walkable. Not like LA or NY. Why you think traffic is the worst here. Downtown you’ll see some ppl walk not much tho. Downtown construction is getting crazy tho
some day, when the walls are built, places like these will become huge cages, and the walls of which i speak are already in construction, between Mexico and EEUU.
Houston seems to have a glut of empty office space with all these for lease signs everywhere you look. And the same with Dallas. Why do they keep building new towers, when they can't seem to fill the ones they already have?
Clorox Bleach - You’re probably right about the city-proper passing up Chicago by 2030, but I doubt Greater Houston will ever pass up Greater Chicagoland any time soon. Even though the city of Chicago is shrinking, it’s suburbs are still growing. There are almost 10 million people in Greater Chicagoland, and there’s 7 million in Greater Houston. Not that it really matters. Houston is already a huge city. I almost wish Houston would scale back it’s land area to just the inner loop, and maybe Uptown and the part of Southwest that’s inside the beltway, and let places like Katy, Sugarland, Pearland, Friendswood, and Spring keep the more suburban areas. That would knock the city’s population down considerably, but 600 square miles is just a ridiculous amount of space.
@@sirob1193 PS. My "safe space" is curbing weak little trolls like you. Oh, and for the record... that's not downtown at 1.12. It's Uptown/Galleria, a good 7 miles West of downtown. Shows what you know, you clueless dimwit.
You spend Too much time Shit talking and No time making an argument to support your statement on How Houston and Atlanta are totally different. Thats a sign of weakness and lack of intellectual fodder. If this is your defense mechanism then You definitely belong in Your small little safe space for tiny balls that you carry. Stick to your music..
A mediocre footage. Could have been better had you highlighted the San Jacinto Monument..jeesh. For that matter, why do so many scarcely point out Houston great features. Perhaps had I not lived her for 50 years, most would tend to believe Houston was only hot/humid, mosquitoes, and racists.
Ok, the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes are a very real thing in Houston, but why do people think Houston is a ‘racist’ city? It was recently ranked as being the nation’s most ethnically diverse city, and is well known for being much more integrated than other big cities. Sure, Houston has experienced it’s share of racial tensions over the years, but that’s hardly something that’s unique to Houston. Every big city has these problems. Houston is no worse for racism than New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago (especially Chicago). I know that in the past, and I’m talking like 40+ years ago... Houston had a big problem with the police being extremely racist, but ever since the 80’s it hasn’t been anywhere near as much of an issue. I think this reputation for racism is a bit outdated.
That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. There's not many things that Chicago has that Houston doesn't offer. On top of that Houston's a lot more diverse
