It has always been an oddity to me that the fourth largest city in America wasn’t all that popular.
At best when I told out of towners that I lived in Houston they would get this blank expression on their faces as they tried to come up with something to associate with the name. “That town with the Astrodome right or NASA?” At worst they might say “Ugh, George Bush! How can you stand living there?!”
When I was growing up I described Houston as a modern factory town for modern factory workers with shiny office buildings instead of factories and dockers and button down shirts instead of overalls.
It’s not a showy city. It’s not right on the coast with big beaches, or nestled in lofty snow-covered peaks. Movie stars don’t live here, and it doesn’t have the cachet of a New York or Chicago or the cool of an Austin or Seattle. But it is a livable city.
I have lived here for 35 years and have watched it grow and take on a patina of cool over decades. I remember very well how some of the most sought after and trendiest places to live in used to be crime ridden pest holes. Downtown was once eerie and silent after dark. But now it’s full of activity and people actually live there. We have actual places to go and things to do and see now! We have music venues, museums, old distinguished universities, international quarters, and more stadiums than we know what to do with.
Recently Houston has been gathering recognition and accolades in the press and going by in migration numbers coming from across the US and overseas it seems we are finally on the brink of achieving true coolness. These new immigrants will bring their own contributions and if anything accelerate the coolness process.
To be totally honest here, I once considered leaving Houston. I was disenchanted. My life plans were that one day I would retire and sell out and leave for “some place interesting”. But now? I don’t know. It certainly bears a rethink. In the meantime I will enjoy my little bayou city. I will appreciate what I have, and I will stand up for her whenever someone bad mouths her.
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