Houston and Austin are the best cities in the nation

You're wrong because they're in Texas.

Houston has a fun gay scene. I'm there often for work (or was, before the current fuckery).

The Sunbelt.... yucky!

Houston? The size of the bugs alone is reason to avoid it. And the humidity. OP do you have a problem with frizzy hair? And it floods every time it rains. Air quality is among the worst in the nation. Hurricanes are a threat every summer. No. Just no.

Texans don’t always call it “The United States”… they say “that sketchy place outside Texas.”

I'm a Houston native and I like Houston well enough. I can confirm the OP is full of shit.

Chicago is slightly better in my opinion. The best public transit system in the country, full seasons, beautiful lakefront, a beach, actual traditional downtown, arts, culture, a great gayborhood, in addition to a number of gay-friendly bars around the city. Safe, tree-lined neighborhoods with "brownstones". Affordable housing, considering the size of the city. Pre-war apartments in their original layouts (!!!). Two major airports, sports teams if interested, tons of hot guys, and perfectly manicured suburbs right outside of the city if that's your preference or blue-collar suburbs. People in Chicago like to be outside like Texans so lots of street festivals and outdoor events. Also, Chicago is simply gorgeous.

I do not doubt that Houston and Austin have it going on. Both are great cities, actually some of the best in America! But Chicago offers a bit of everything which is why I think it's the best. This is subjective so I mean no offense.

Houston is a big loser even when it comes to a list of "best cities in Texas" making it downright laughable to be used anywhere near a list of "best cities in the nation". Horrible weather, traffic, pollution, roaches, crime, mosquitos, etc. and on and on...

A fan of Houston here. Long time NYer - but Houston does something different than a lot of other second tier cities. Diversity, food, immigration, lack-of-hardcore-TX-attitude, great cost of living, great airports and not as remote as most of TX. The only non-coastal city I have seriously considered.

Austin is an overhyped, hipster, boutique city. Pass.

I like Houston but best city? Its barely a city, quite low density. Very few parts of it are walkable.

I live in Houston and, no, OP. As others have said I like it well enough, cost of housing is reasonable and some fine eating but the it's hot as fuck in the summer and talk about urban sprawl.

Hell, no!

DALLAS is the best city in the WORLD!!!!!!!

#DallasPride

#DallasStrong

HOU and AUS has no zoning, plus for HOU, there is always flood, hurricane, or whatever disaster hanging out at your favorite watering hole.

If Mississippi/North Louisiana had a big city, it'd be Dallas. Full of racist white trash and big box churches.

Houston and Atlanta are basically the same. Sprawling development, basic gays, trashy fat people, ungodly humidity, hellacious summers, biblical droves of skeeters and roaches...need I go on?

Atlanta is far more racist and has less delicious food. Also, Houston has less evangelical trash.

R7 I agree with you about Chicago, people complain about the cold… But it’s only a few months of the year. I can’t imagine living in Texas…there’s no real center of anything it’s just brown suburbs everywhere

Yeah Houston>Atlanta.

But I'd rather live in Houston, Atlanta or Austin than Dallas. Never liked Dallas.

r15 What are basic gays?

Houstonians.

Austinites.

That's your answer, R19.

#DallasProud

Do Austin and Houston still have any bathhouses? If so, have they re-opened? Obviously with mask requirements and other precautions?

I was at the bathhouse on Fannin Street in Houston on my 1988 trip.

R21, did you go to Rich's? Heaven?

All I can do is laugh. Poor Texas. So much overconfidence.

"lack-of-hardcore-TX-attitude"

So I will assume that you have never actually visited Houston??

Have any of you guys ever been to downtown Houston? It's ugly as hell and lots of sketchy people roaming the streets at night. Most American cities don't have a beautiful centre like European cities but Houston is particularly ugly. I also stayed there in a "Boutique hotel" and there were gigantic cockroaches in every corner. I think they call them tree roaches. The owner of the hotel said there's nothing they can do about it bc there are too many and the building is old. Ugh.

My brother also lived in a Houston suburb for a while and his house had a great pool and outdoor space - which was basically useless after dark bc of mosquitoes attacking you all the time. The house needed something that covered the whole pool and sitting area like they do in Florida or Louisiana, but somehow they don't like this in Texas.

Austin has a great club and bar scene and a lot of great restaurants and houses around the lakes or Colorado river (they call it Lake Austin though). Life there is not too bad if you can afford a lakefront house and get your own boat. If I had to choose and had the money - Austin.

Choose Dallas!

Austin is full of rancid man buns, skinny jeans, and Duck Dynasty beards as the Official Uniform.

#DallasProud!

[quote] Chicago... the cold… But it’s only a few months of the year

Yes. November through May

But hey June, July, August, September and most of October are lovely.

R26: Rancid Man Buns!

R13 Austin has zoning - friend is on Planning and Zoning Commission.

Oh I'm sorry. Was somebody talking?

And what about me?

Texas just passed a law that states that Social Workers are allowed to deny service to gays - so no thanks to Texas, you know that discrimination is going to spread to housing, employment, etc.

R9 you don't think of Houston as a coastal city? It's right along the Gulf Coast (maybe you mean East Coast / West Coast). Downtown is something like 50 miles inland but the city overall includes the Port. The metro area includes Galveston (or at least I thought of it that way), Clear Lake area near NASA, etc.

It smells like a giant fertilizer plant.

R7, Chicago would be perfect, if not for the horrible winters and humid summers.

Best cocaine I ever had was in Houston. I enjoyed listening to Radiohead, that's how good it was.

R25 - the giant cockroaches of Houston are legendary - although you will see them infesting almost every building throughout Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and many other Gulf states. Basically, they are rampant in areas of the South that never freeze and they love humidity and water sources (oddly even salt water doesn't seem to deter them). You can look up the Latin name, but they are officially named the American Cockroach (also called "palmetto bugs" in Florida and "water bugs" in Texas). Hideous huge flying roaches - I can't stand them. They are most often equated as being a huge pest in Florida, but I have never seen them larger than ones I have encountered in Houston - fast moving roaches the size of mice.

Chicago does not have beaches. You can dump truckloads of filthy sand beside a lake, but that does not a beach make.

OP - you don't get out much do you?

The temerity to make this post is just so typical Texan. Nobody loves Texas but Texans - no one is impressed.

R29, dear, then tell your friend to stop wasting my friend's tax dollars and get to work pronto. Last time I was there, there were many shabby looking home chilling next to fancy, high rise building, very tacky. This would never fly in DAL.

[quote] Very few parts of it are walkable

For the this is the most important criterion for judging a city.

Metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles and Houston may have a lot to offer, but they're vast sprawling areas where a car is a necessity.

As R7 mentioned, good public transit is essential to the making of a great city. Look at world-class cities such as London, Tokyo, and Paris. All have stellar transit systems.

Neither Houston nor Austin has even one downtown department store, not to mention a vibrant downtown retail district. The premier shopping area in Houston is the Galleria, a hermetically sealed, self-enclosed shopping mall well outside the downtown core, where 99% of local patrons arrive by car.

My votes for best US cities are New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, and maybe Seattle.

Houston here and we call them palmetto bugs too. I've never heard anyone except transplants call them water bugs. They live in trees and especially love palms so I suppose that's where they got their name name from. I scream like a girl when I see one in my house and frantically search for anything to spray it with. Windex, Fabreze, anything. Disgusting to squash with a shoe.

R40 Foley's shut down their big downtown store years ago and people were pissed. All the workers like to go down there on their lunch hours and it was like a NY type store with the big holiday display windows. Foley's was taken over by Macy's and Macy's has gone down hill.

R21 Houston still has "Club Houston." I don't know if it's currently open, but I had a lot of fun there a couple of years ago. It's very big, lots of races/types, and nice workers. Oh I miss those days.

I live in Houston.

It’s NOT a pretty town. There is mold & algae on every surface, and the locals are so used to it, they don’t see it or do anything about it.

I will move, one day.

I think Houston's downtown skyline is stunning. The downtown area used to be a dead zone after business hours but is much more lively now with old buildings converted to lofts being occupied by younger professionals and more restaurants and clubs with walking distance of said lofts.

I would dearly love to retire somewhere down near Big Bend. Marfa or Terlingua area but too many celebrities have driven up real estate and land prices but right now Houston is my preferred TX city. Some of the smaller coastal towns like Port Aransas are nice too.

[quote] Foley's was taken over by Macy's and Macy's has gone down hill.

Macy’s also took over other iconic stores: Marshall Fields in Chicago is another example. Their clock downtown was a landmark.

And for what?

Macy’s became/is pretty awful now.

Likely they will crash and burn during the pandemic.

My friends had their dream home built down in Aransas County, r46. They love it down there. Mind, he is a big fisherman, and she is just plain dickmatized. They had the home built to withstand high wind, so they've survived the recent hurricanes, although some of their live oaks haven't. So many trees went down in Aransas County after Harvey that they had trouble finding someone to come cut up the trees for firewood.

CHICAGO Comment: r47, hate on Macy's all you want, but if they didn't buy up those old department brands those buildings would either be office space or torn down. Marshall Fields wasn't going to survive through the 2000s on its own, it was also owned by Target's parent company by the time Macy's took over. It hadn't been the same since it went public (so I read).

Marshall Fields store (The Loop) isn't the same under Macy's management, but they have kept the general look of the building in-tact and pre-COVID The Walnut Room was still operating. Talk about old fashion delights. I'm mad I didn't make an effort to eat there when I had the chance. It's not going to be the glory days of the 50s and 60s, but as a Millennial, I appreciate the fact that I can at least see these old department stores that my parents and grandparents raved about.

When Macy's inevitably closes the MF store in the Loop, we know that the only thing left as a reminder of its clothing history will be the clocks. Let's give Macy's some credit for keeping these shopping cathedrals alive a bit longer. Amazon and online shopping is killing all of these places. Now I make it a point to skip Water Tower Place (a hideous Macys on the Magnificent Mile) and go to Marshall Fields.

Ok, back to Texas.

I have lived in most of the major cities (NY, LA, SF, PDX, SEA, PHX and Houston) and do have to say that Houston was one of my favorites (tied with Portland). Wonderful architecture, I loved how green and lush it was with all the live oak trees with Spanish moss growing from them. The bayous were interesting and it was surreal to be living in the 4th largest city in the country and seeing alligators and turtles and frogs. It was like living in the jungle. Great museums. The no zoning adds to the ambience. The underground pedestrian tunnels all over downtown were interesting. Only 45 minutes to Galveston which is a very cool town on its own. I liked the people in Houston as well. If it were not for the hurricanes and global warming I would consider moving back there.

Lived in a lot of cities - and like Houston too. Interesting AND affordable. More than pretty much anyplace else down South, I can live there. Debating retirement there - great hospitals and medical care as well as affordable in-home care if necessary. Access to dental care and meds in Mexico as well.

I was a Texas hater too - until I spent 6 months in Houston. It’s surprisingly non-Texas stereotype in many ways - though it has lots of TX classics like no zoning, evangelicals, cowboys and loud/big stuff.