Welcome to Houston, Texas!

Houston-guide.com  - visitors information on attractions, restaurants, dining, shopping, entertainment and the arts in Houston and the Gulf coast of Texas

Your rewards for moving to Houston are greater than you imagine. They extend beyond your virtually unlimited choice of neighborhoods, schools and local amenities. They also involve a hard to define sense of "place" that takes time to process or appreciate fully. It is very special. From a more objective viewpoint, Houston ranks among the top all-around U.S. cities, according to the latest Places Rated Almanac, scores highly in other surveys, and has become the nation’s fourth largest city (after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago).

Innovation and Excellence

Establishment of Houston began in 1836 on what is now named the Buffalo Bayou. In 1914 the sleepy bayou became the Houston Ship Channel. The port of Houston is now number seven in the world in total and foreign tonnage.

Even before then the city was reaching out for the new. In 1882, just 46 years after it was founded, this was the first city after New York to bring electricity to its citizens.

Hermann Hospital was built in the woods south of town in 1925 and attracted more health facilities. Today the Texas Medical Center is the largest by any measuring stick, in acreage (nearly 800), employees (53,000) or in its sheer volume of facilities (19.7 million sq.ft.). But most important are the breakthrough medical miracles it as produced in unparalleled quantity.

Public schools in a myriad of independent school districts, as well as private secondary schools, are well-funded and carpet the landscape.

Speaking of excellence, Houston’s sporting life needs no hyped-up adjectives. Basketball here gets the job done. The Rockets are two-time NBA champions. The Houston Comets initiated the WNBA by becoming its first national champs. The Astros with all-star and championship players make baseball a citywide excitement in their new downtown stadium, Minute Maid Park.  The Houston Aeros hocky club brought home the Turner cup for winning the Championship of the International Hockey League.  And of course we have our NFL team, the Houston Texans - who play in the state of the art Reliant Stadium!

Sam Houston Race Park and its fabulous facilities bring excitement to town with thundering hooves.  Big time auto racing came to Houston in 1998 - major CART races are held each fall for Indianapolis-class cars in the streets of downtown.  Top fuel dragsters stretch their limits during the season.  And a new NASCAR track is under construction to the south of Houston with stock cars racing up to 200 mph!

If you're a runner you might want to start getting in shape for next winter's Houston Marathon.  Houston simply shuts down for the Sunday morning event that draws participants from all over the planet.

Don’t chuck your ice skates just because you are coming south; there is ample ice, even if it isn’t on a lake. Don’t forget that Olympic world champion Tara Lipinski is from Sugar Land.

Houston, The Eagle Has Landed

That simple sentence still holds the power to send chills through those who remember the first communication from the moon. Houstonians take deep pride in the men and women who broke the bonds of earth - NASA and its astronauts - just down the road at Clear Lake. Among its many nicknames, Houston will forever be Space City. NASA is a must-see site of historic proportions - the place where man conquered the last frontier.

Beyond Spindletop

While timber, cotton and real estate gave the city an early boost, the Spindletop gusher introduced America to a new age. Houston became the world center for petroleum refining and petrochemical processing and never relinquished its hold. Even after the national recession in the 1980's, when oil was hit hardest, Houston revived and wisely spread its wings into a diversified economy. It now maintains an employment level as high as the days before the downturn - with a healthier and more secure business climate.

Food Fest

One of the newcomer’s big surprises is restaurants; they’re everywhere. Houstonians eat out all the time. The nation’s food critics have swarmed here in amazement at the volume of superior dining offered.

A Carpet of Residents

In most cases, but not all, prices are driven by proximity to downtown, as well as neighborhoods. Houston offers a wide range of housing from inner city lofts to midtown palaces to established suburbs to planned communities. Among all these, home owners can choose dwellings to fit needs, wants and pocketbooks.

Growing Out, Growing In

Houston expands vigorously, with planned community developments such as The Woodlands (the first and most successful such project in America), Kingwood, Copperfield, Cinco Ranch,  Champions, Summerwood and several others. These self-sustaining enclaves on the city’s perimeter and beyond provide a level of outward-bound freedom with good city access.

Established, separate communities are attractive to many, where old houses are renewed or new houses replace the old. If you wish to park the boat at your own dock you can sail around the world from Clear Lake, on Galveston Bay. If fresh water and dense trees are preferable there are developments around Lake Conroe, Lake Houston and several other inland bodies.

Many Houstonians enjoy water view, prompting developers to create their own lakes. Southwest of the city in Sugar Land, for example, with its ever-growing subdivisions and planned communities like New Territory, houses seem to be on either lakes, golf courses or greenbelts.  The west side Royal Oaks Country Club features homes up to $3,000,000 and was built around a golf course developed by golf master Fred Couples.

Closer in, the delightful small city of Bellaire, on the 610 West Loop, has been completely surrounded by the city and good neighborhoods, such as Meyerland. One of the area’s oldest neighborhoods, the Heights, has rapidly undergone a transition with bigger houses replacing old cottages, just north of midtown.

Premier Addresses

The same razing-rebuilding habits apply along the 20-odd miles of Memorial Drive, which forms a spine linking downtown to some of the most spectacular homes in Houston. Many of the highest per-capita-income families in the country reside in Memorial villages.

River Oaks, however, has long been first among equals in established, luxury neighborhoods. With quick access to the downtown business district - less than five minutes - and its tree-filled silence, this haven of palaces is a favorite of movers and shakers. It is also a traditional tourist attraction.

Tanglewood is a continuation of affluent residences beyond River Oaks and is experiencing a new generation of luxury dwellings that replace post-World War II houses. Tanglewood is quite near the Galleria area, known as Uptown. In the last 20 years Uptown’s commercial construction has equalled that of many cities and encompasses a majority of Houston’s luxury retail stores.

West University and Southside Place, two incorporated communities, and Southampton, all surrounded by midtown, have found huge popularity among medical center professionals and businessmen officing downtown who like the short hop to work and can afford the luxury of their tree-lined streets. These areas’ popularity has prompted many to either remodel or raze houses for new construction of substantially larger dwellings.

Other neighborhoods around the medical center, such as the Braeswood area, have also been reestablished as targets for the affluent. Nearby, too, is the Museum District and the palatial, older Broadacres section known as North and South Boulevards.

Condominiums have for years been a steady staple, especially upper-end residential choices. Some of the most luxurious are encased in highrises and are concentrated around the River Oaks and Uptown areas, with others scattered throughout the city’s west and northwest.

For Urban Lovers

Want to be really close-in? You can walk to the baseball field on the old Union Station grounds, the main city library, your favorite club, the Theater District - and your downtown office if you are a diehard urbanite or simply dislike commutes.

Numerous high-ceiling lofts, luxury condominiums and apartments are in-town and the surrounding neartown areas of Montrose and the Heights. These include old buildings and new. 

Most American cities experience flight from downtown, beginning in the 60's, and Houston was not different. But a few years ago with private efforts and city government support, downtown renewal become more than a dream.

Ryan Hicks
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors
14201 Memorial Drive 
Houston, TX 77079

office (281) 920-6820
cell phone (832) 524-0398

Email: rhicks@cbunited.com