Houston Tops Our List Of America's Coolest Cities

[snooper2]

Houston is known for many things: Oil, NASA, urban sprawl and business-friendly policies. But the Texas city deserves to be known for something else: coolness.

The Bayou City may not be the first place you associate with being hip or trendy. But Houston has something many other major cities don’t: jobs. With the local economy humming through the recession, Houston enjoyed 2.6% job growth last year and nearly 50,000 Americans flocked there in response — particularly young professionals. In fact, the median age of a Houston resident is a youthful 33.

The result? Over the past decade, the dreary corporate cityscape has been quietly transforming. Stylish housing developments have popped up downtown, restaurants have taken up residence in former factories and art galleries like the Station Museum have been inhabiting warehouses.

Combine that with a strong theater scene, world-class museums and a multicultural, zoning-free mashup of a streetscape and you have the recipe for the No. 1 spot on Forbes’ list of America’s Coolest Cities To Live.

Behind the Numbers (Dallas got #4)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/07/26/houston-tops-our-list-of-americas-coolest-cities-to-live/

[tk2kewl]

1. forbes has no concept of cool

if you are talking about what's cool and need to include webster's definition of the word you already failed.

that list is total crap if you ask me.

[snooper2]

3. based on economy, age, diversity, entertainment, people moving there, sports, restaurants (no chains

what else do you want to add in?

Some people think their quaint little 12,000 person town is the definition of cool....

[tk2kewl]

4. find me anyone cool that would rather live in houston or san diego rather than

new york, chicago or boston

i am not convinced

[snooper2]

7. Well DC is second and LA is third

O'Hare is reason enough not to live in Chicago LOL

I think Boston is pretty cool but who wants to spend all their money for housing in NYC? That is "not cool"

[tk2kewl]

10. i am partial to nyc and the northeast in general

that's my bias.

DC is out because it's DC

and a main criteria for me besides a liberal but not overly pc atmosphere is walkable neighborhoods and good public transportation

[Tom Ripley]

9. I would definitely choose San Diego over those three cities

I'm already cool, why do I need to be cold?

[tk2kewl]

12. i found san diego to be a bit sterile

and definitely too much military and too many republicans

i also like seasons, i think they're cool

but maybe it points out that cool is certainly relative and forbes is probably among the least qualified to judge

[texanwitch]

2. Really.

I live in Houston, born here.

Austin is better, Houston is boring.

Nothing is said about flooding, all that cement and developements cause water runoff.

There is really no planning.

[LisaL]

5. Shouldn't it be one of America's hottests cities? It's hot as hell there.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

6. Beats the hell outta Dallas.

Traffic in Houston and Dallas, both cities, is horrible.

That said, Houston is far cooler than Dallas will ever think about being.

Dallas is a bunch of right wing paper shufflers. I believe President Kennedy was warned about going to Dallas and that it was dangerous. I believe Adlai Stevenson may have said something to him. The John Birch Society was quite active there. They placed an ad in The Dallas Morning News the day that President Kennedy arrived, saying that the President should be arrested for treason.

http://www.orwelltoday.com/jfkjbsdallasad.shtml

[snooper2]

8. Well, at least we can see the Dallas skyline from the highway

LOL



Hey honey you see that cloud over there?

Oh yeah, that's just Houston

[Safetykitten]

11. Forbes. Really?

[Blue_In_AK]

13. I spent my high school and college years in Houston,

and Pasadena/South Houston, and I've been back one time since (for my 40th high school reunion in 2004), but I will not be returning. I have no positive feelings at all towards Texas in general and Houston, in particular. I realize this is very subjective, and some people might love the place, but I just won't go there. When my husband wants to go visit his brother in Texas now, I send him alone. I found at my reunion that the most interesting and liberal of my old classmates had moved from Texas long ago, as I did in 1968 when I graduated from college.

Maybe the younger people in Texas now are "cool," but a lot of the older ones definitely are not. My husband is continually defriending high school classmates because they're such hateful racists and post such utter crap. I don't like to associate with people like that, which is why I'm not accompanying my hubby to his 45th HS reunion this year. He spent most of his life in Texas (where we met almost 50 years ago), so he's probably more prepared to deal with that kind of "small talk" than I am. (For those who don't know, my husband and I dated in 1963, broke up and reunited in 2000. We've been married nine years now. Note that he's in Alaska, I'm not in Texas. )

Anyway, no offense to good Texans here at DU (and I know there are many of you).