Houston, Texas, is the largest city in the Lone Star State and the fourth largest city in the United States. Houston, popularly known as Space City, due to the obvious fact that it is home to the NASA headquarters, is about as diverse as a city can get. With a population of 2,257,926, Houston is home to people from all walks of life, with over 90 languages spoken in the area. Owing to its significance as a port city, the city gains additional diversity from the many trade opportunities it presents. Houston is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States with the average income of a household being $36,616. The weather in Houston is generally humid, with hot summers and temperate winters. To get through the hot summer days, people rely on air conditioning which is convenient, as Houston is also known as the Energy Capital of the World. Snowfall in the area is rare but has been known to occur. The cultural city of Houston hosts a great number of tourist sites and entertainment facilities. One of the main attractions is the Theater District, a 17 block entertainment multiplex, which has everything from cinemas and bars to plazas and parks. The historical edge of the city can be observed through famous landmarks and natural parks such as the Houston Zoo. Houston is also home to the NASA headquarters and the Space Center, where exhibits range from actual moon rocks to a space shuttle stimulator.
Houston, Texas is definitely a city that towers over the west. With its economic boom in 1973, because of the oil embargo of 1973, Houston has become one of the most affluent places in the United States. They didn't get there overnight, though. Today Houston has a population of an estimated 2,258,000 people, which makes them the 4th most populous city in the United States, behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Houston began its journey in April of 1836 when General Sam Houston's army won Texas' independence from Mexico in the Battle of San Jacinto. After this win, Texas became a Republic (its own country). Houston was founded by the Allen brothers in that same year. In 1837, Houston became the capital of the Republic of Texas. Houston held its standing as the capital until 1839 when Austin became the capital of the state.
In 1846, Texas lost its “Republic” status and became the 28the state within the United States. Then, the Civil War came along and Texas decided to secede from the Union in 1861 and it wasn't until March of 1870 that Texas reentered the Union. Oil was first discovered in Spindletop, Texas in 1901. Later discoveries of crude were found at Humble, in 1905 and at Goose Creek, in 1906. This spurred Houston into becoming the forerunner of oil production. In 1962, NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center moved into the city and, subsequently, in 1969, “Houston” was the first word said from the lunar surface. Houston has been host to Super Bowl XXXVIII, in 2004, and to refugees from Hurricane Katrina victims from New Orleans in 2005. Both were housed in the same stadium, Reliant Stadium.
Houston is a very diverse city that prides itself on living the Texas lifestyle. Only Texans can really appreciate what Texas means to a person. The nightlife, the green spaces and all of the amenities that any large city has makes Houston a very unique place to live. Houston has a very mild year-round climate that enables a person to go out and about on a regular basis. Its extensive park system is reminiscent of a small town downtown area where there are more trees than concrete. Houston has a rich history and is a city in one of the few Confederate States that did not suffer much destruction in the Civil War. Therefore, most of the grand mansions stand to this day. The architecture alone is a major tourist draw.
Houston enjoys a lower cost of living than most major cities within the United States, at about 10% below national average in 2010. There are plenty of apartments in Houston and its surrounding neighborhoods. The average apartment costs about $600 to $800 per month. Utilities will usually run about $100 per month. Gas prices are, as of August 2010, about $.18 below the national average. The gas prices are holding steady at $2.59 per gallon.
The unemployment rate stood at 8.8% as of June 2010, which is above Texas' rate of 8.5% but it is below the national average of 9.5%. Houston does have jobs available though. These include the service industry, especially in the tourist areas, the trade sector and the government. Oil companies provide many jobs in the region as well. There are opportunities for new employment within the technology and medical fields. Major employers that are always looking for workers include the Texas Medical Center, the Houston Research Center, and the Johnson Space Center.
If you are in the market for a job here, or most anywhere else for that matter, a good place to start is with Temporary agencies. Even if they don't have any permanent jobs available, you will be able to have some sort of work until you can apply and find a more permanent job. Of course, the more education you have, the more likely it will be to find a job that pays well. Houston, between June 2009 and June 2010, lost about 17,000 jobs and the job loss total from the current recession stands at about 92,500 jobs. Employment opportunities are beginning to rebound because a gain of about 42,000 jobs in the private sector has been created since January of 2010.
Foods in Houston range from straight American down-home Southern cooking to Bosnian. The restaurants are that diverse. A few notable places include Azuma Sushi and Robata Bar-Rice Village, Café Pita and the Hobbit Café.
The Azuma Sushi and Robata Bar-Rice Village, on Kirby Drive, offers a combination of sushi and robata foods in a country and western meets Japanese style restaurant location. The food ranges from sushi and sashimi to delightfully chewy chicken gizzards. A favorite dish is the Azuma hot rock beef which gushes smoke when it is served. Also, make sure to try the banana tempura. The Café Pita is a premier Bosnian restaurant that offers fare of spiced ground beef, flattened bread and other Bosnian traditional dishes. The Hobbit Café actually has an outdoor deck to dine on that sits under a huge oak tree. The place is housed in a Tudor-style home that invites a person inside where there are many wall hangings, trinkets and furniture that will take you back to the forest. The food is definitely strong in vegetarian choices but the menu is just eclectic enough that you may not be able to get anything beef, but the food choices you make will still be good.
For those that want to be entertained by the arts, Houston has a varied selection of attractions to attend. There is the Museum of Fine Arts, the Rothko Chapel, the Museum of Medical Science, the Cullen Sculpture Garden, the Burke Planetarium and, of course, the Houston Ballet and the Houston Grand Opera, just to name a very few. The options are so many and so varied that there is even a legendary living bluesman, Little Joe Washington, who plays every Tuesday at the Boondocks.
The Houston Ballet was founded in 1969 and is the nation's largest ballet company. The company performs a wide variety of plays and ballets from the Nutcracker to Swan Lake to new ballets from some of the world's most prestigious choreographers. The corresponding ballet school, Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy has become a world renowned instruction institution. The ballet serves as cultural ambassador to the Houston area when it travels the world. The Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 and has grown from a small organization into a world renowned opera company. The Opera has a reputation for commissioning and producing new works and it is the only opera company that has won two Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. Their productions are broadcast nationally over the WFMT network.
Houston is a part of the biggest country and western state in the US, Texas. So, why not go and see some of the country and western attractions? In March of each year, Houston puts on its biggest show of the year, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It is ranked as the world's largest rodeo. It has been billed as being like the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras and the 4th of July all rolled into one. This three week long competition embodies all of what Texas has to offer. There are bull and bronc riding competitions and any manner of timed competitions that involves rope and livestock. These join with a world-class carnival, petting zoo, and acres of animal stock to make the Huston Livestock Show and Rodeo the best for action, entertainment and drama in the country.
Texas sightseeing tours are also available that will show you Houston, parts of Texas and the surrounding areas like you have never seen before. www.houston.com is a great place to go to look for one of these tours. One of the biggest tours available is for 8 days and 7 nights. The tour travels around Texas and you will meet real cowboys, visit Mission Control and watch the astronauts in training at NASA's Space Center. You'll go onto a former offshore drilling rig in Galveston and see the Alamo. This week long tour includes not just everything you could ever want to learn about Texas but everything about the heart of Texas. You will be immersed in the history, the beauty and the hardships of everyday life in the rugged Southwest.
Houston's nightlife begins at sundown and usually ends near daybreak. It depends on what you're doing. There are clubs, parties and generally always something to do in the sprawling metropolis that is Houston. The Hush Night Club is a 25,000 square foot super club that has a huge dance floor, VIP skyboxes and they even have TV's in every bathroom stall. The place shows off its energetic vibe by the 20 and 30-something crowd as well as the resident DJ's, the Platform dancers and special big-name guests like Ashanti.
On the more sedate side, Zimm's Martini and Wine Bar, at first glance, looks like more of a British Social Club than anything. The ambiance is sedate and the music is tasteful. Now, the Sambuca is a place for everyone. It has dining, with tables placed where you can actually hear your date, with, an unfortunate, two hour time limit on them. The food is nice with choices like blackened snapper or a platter of osso buco and polenta. The fare is not cheap though at a minimum of $17 per person. Decent live music is performed all weekend and, no, it isn't always jazz music that is performed.
Houston has always been known for its classy, wonderful and dynamic shopping experience. There are strange places to shop and there are known places to shop but, all in all, Houston embodies a shopping experience like no other.
The Chocolate Bar on West Alabama Street is packed with novelties, cell phones, hand tools, cars and such, that are created and carved out of rich chocolate. You can actually look through a window at the back of the store and see how the chocolate is concocted and prepared. But, the best and most attracting area of the whole Bar is the ice cream cooler with marvelous made-on-site ice creams that all utilize different types of homemade chocolate. There is also a traditional candy counter and there's even a stunning “pizza” that's so realistic it looks exactly like an authentic pizza but it is made entirely out of multicolored chocolate.
The Party Boy, on Studemont Street, is a one stop shopping source. It has everything in any way associated with holidays, parties, costumes and much more. There are over 1,000 costumes for sale and another 30,000 for rent. Regular shopping encompasses boutiques like Tootsies, which is Houston's version of Fred Segal, Muse, which is a girlie boutique with a great blend of feminine dresses and some of the best accessories around, and Dimensions on Westheimer, who acts as a boutique but offers the same selection as a department store.
Houston hosts a multitude of spas, salons, health clubs and even many trails and parks to walk for exercise. The number of spas available in Houston, though, seems to make them a very popular destination for relaxation.
Norris of Houston Salon and Day Spa on Post Oak Blvd. offers facials, nail and waxing services, body treatments and massages. It was started in 1959 by Norris Womak who is a 3rd generation barber who has transformed barbering in Texas. The Touch of Red Salon is located in Houston's Montrose-Midtown area. The salon is housed in an historical home from 1921 and is located in the heart of the art district. They provide services on foiling, minking and marbleizing and they use only quality ingredients. Herbana Natural Concepts Spa is located in the Clear Lake area and they feature treatments and massages for all ages. They emphasize healing of both the body and the mind, including aromatherapy and ancient Asian healing therapies. They also offer full-service manicures, massage and waxing. They will also come to you. They have a mobile spa team that will go to homes, offices and to parties.
Houston, Texas is home to the Texas football team that just built a state-of-the-art stadium named Reliant and the Astros, Houston's baseball team that plays at Minute Maid Park. Houston is also home to Beyonce Knowles, ZZ Top, and Brian Ching. While staying in Houston the Magnolia Hotel is a luxurious accommodation with large rooms, spa, and indoor swimming pool, located five blocks from Minute Maid Park. After a day of shopping at the Houston Galleria mall that is three city blocks in length and four stories high and equipped with an ice skating rink, you can find a relaxing evening at the St. Regis Hotel located a block away. If downtown stays are not what you are looking for, there are plenty of bed and breakfasts for you to choose from. Sara's Bed and Breakfast Inn is an elegant Victorian home located in the Heights District, or there is always the quaint and wonderful Robin's Nest to enjoy your stay in Texas. Besides the many sporting events that Houston has to offer there are a variety of sights to see: The Museum of Natural Science which includes an Imax theatre, The Houston Zoo, Museum of Fine Arts, the Water Wall, shopping at the Galleria, Bayou Bend Gardens, Herman Park, and the Miller Outdoor Theatre, to name a few. Houston has a very active nightlife, with bars and live music and dancing. Texas is known for its eclectic culture, and you will find artists mingling with Cowboys, Vegetarian restaurants next to BBQ “joints,” and even Republicans mingling amongst liberals.
For Houston itself, there are a large number of school systems working within the city limits. They number seventeen, in fact. There are also a number of charter schools within the system and about three hundred private schools, which are from various religious and secular viewpoints. It also boasts over sixty colleges, universities and other degree-granting institutions with a grand enrollment record of more than three hundred and sixty thousand students altogether.
Houston hosts many private schools for higher learning. Their focuses range from liberal arts, to Tier one research. Its two private liberal art schools are Houston Baptist University and the University of St. Thomas. It also boasts a couple of Law schools, such as University of Houston Law Center - obviously a part of the University of Houston, and the other being that of the South Texas College of Law, which holds claim as being the oldest in Houston and the main center for teaching law.
The University of Houston is perhaps the largest and most well-known within Houston. It is the largest in the system, and the third largest in Texas itself, boasting over thirty-eight thousand students at a time. Founded in 1927, the University of Houston is well-known for its varied degrees it offers. Offering three hundred and twenty programs for various degrees: one hundred and twenty for a bachelor's, one hundred and thirty-nine for a master's, fifty-four for research and even three professional degrees for law, optometry, and pharmacy. It is obviously a research school and holds over forty different research centers within its campus for biomedical engineering, economics, education, virtual technology and others. The University of Houston also has its own various theatrical performances for concerts, lectures, and athletic events between schools. It also has athletics programs, such as its main basketball and football teams.
Transportation in Houston, unlike so many other large cities, is mainly conducted via private car. With a large expanse of highways and freeways, those with private cars find themselves with plenty of mobility and ways to get around. Considering that more than seventy-one percent of the residents of Houston prefer driving to work themselves, it seems that congestion really is not that much of an issue as it is in cities like Los Angeles and New York City. Its freeways and highways are made up of a series of loops in the roads that allow turns and twists to different parts of the system, ensuring that one can find their way to their location, and also allows for multiple different ways to get there, which cuts down on the congestion.
For public transportation, there is the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or just METRO, in the form of buses, light rails and even lift vans. Its rail track is still relatively new, as it only began in 2004 and still does not connect to many of the suburbs. People in the suburbs must rely on private cars or the buses and lift vans. However, there is also an Amtrak system that provides service to Houston, and a train station in the North side of the city.
Houston also has air transportation, for those wanting to travel to and from the city. Its primary airport is the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, which is the eighth-busiest airport within the United States, and one of the quickest in terms of growing airports in the country. The George Bush Intercontinental Airport has also been regarded as one of the best airports, earning various accolades over the years. It is also known as the 'port of entry' when it comes to international travelers, as it welcomes many flights and passengers from outside of the country.
Houston is divided into Management Districts which are responsible for the promotion and development of the district. They encourage and maintain employment, commerce, transportation, housing, tourism, recreation, art, entertainment, economic development, safety, and the public welfare in their areas. These are broken down into: Baybrook, Buffalo Bayou, East Downtown, Fall Creek, Greater East End, Greater Northside, Greater Southeast, Greenspoint, Houston Downtown, Midtown, Near Northwest, Spring Branch and Westchase.
General legal matters are administrated by the Municipal Court Judges and Associate Judges whose legal enforcement is supported by the Houston Police Department and the Police Advisory Committee. General wellbeing of the city is managed by the Houston Clean City Commission and the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority. Personal wellbeing matters are handled by the Health Benefits Advisory Committee and the Health Facilities Development Corporation. Citizens can rely on the Houston Housing Authority and the Houston Housing Finance Corporation, which provide and maintain affordable, quality accommodation throughout the city. For development and property matters relating to business, the Houston Industrial Development Corporation is the authority to consult. Personal business and work based issues can be dealt with by the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Board and the Employee Productivity Program (EPP). See www.houstontx.gov for more information.
The Area Planning Advisory Council and the Building Standards Commission ensure both commercial and residential areas and buildings meet city standards. Other development matters, more specific to the environment and preservation issues, are handled by the City Hall Preservation Committee, the Houston Parks Board and the City Park Redevelopment Authority (CPRA). The CPRA´s work is closely linked to the Houston Zoo Development Corporation both of which promote tourism for the city. Cultural centers are managed by the Houston Arts Alliance, the Miller Theatre Advisory Board and the Houston READ Commission, the latter of which also serves as an educational and literary authority. These issues are also managed by the Higher Education Finance Corporation and the Houston Library Board. Transport networks are controlled, although not exclusively, by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), www.ridemetro.org, and the Gulf Coast Rail District.
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