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So I'll be heading to Houston for 3 weeks for some training next year. I'll be taking my girlfriend and just want to make sure she stays safe on her own during the days while I'm in class. Can any Houston goons give me the low-down on the neighbourhoods to avoid? Which are the good ones? At this stage I'd say we will be staying near the airport as that is where the training center is (zip. 77032 so I think that puts it in Aldine? your suburb shapes never make any sense to me) Do we need to travel into the CBD to enjoy Houston? What's the best way to get around? Any info about Houston at all is also welcome. We are heading over in January so if there is something special around then we would be interested too.
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Oct 16, 2014 05:49
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 12:01 |
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Unfortunately this map is quite accurate: green is safe, yellow is usually OK but not always, green is safe, red is safe. Honestly it's not like your girlfriend is going to be walking around, so everywhere is fine with a car, just don't walk around the area east of 45 and within 610 at night.  A better / higher res version is here: http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer
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Oct 16, 2014 10:09
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Thanks for that. It's a pretty sad map though. Looks like we are a million miles from anywhere up near the airport too so having a car is probably a must. Can you please elaborate what you mean by 45 and 610? I'm from Australia and don't understand the reference. BrassRoots fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Oct 16, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2014 12:14
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BrassRoots posted:Thanks for that. It's a pretty sad map though. Looks like we are a million miles from anywhere up near the airport too so having a car is probably a must. Sorry, 45 and 610 are two of the highways. Red is 610 (the loop) and 45 is the north south in yellow. Green is the nicer areas that I would recommend for a tourist, red is murdersville (but great fried chicken and cajun food). I lived in Houston four years and I think I went to east Houston literally zero times. except the area directly in downtown. I avoided the suburbs as much as possible, though spent a fair amount of time in Sugar Land, the land of endless strip malls, brick houses, and soul-sapping boredom. And yeah will 100% need a car. There are two airports, but I'm guessing you're near Bush? It's like a $40 taxi ride each way.  It's a sad map but unfortunately basically every US city can be summarized in the same way: blue is usually not safe, while red, green, or mixed colors are (almost always) safe. Yellow is unpredictable but in Houston is generally fine (AFAIK which is not that well). The full country infographic is here: http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer (defaults to NYC, but you can navigate anywhere)
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Oct 16, 2014 15:24
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PS: Houston is one of the better racially-integrated cities in the United States. 
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Oct 16, 2014 15:29
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BrassRoots posted:So I'll be heading to Houston for 3 weeks for some training next year. I'll be taking my girlfriend and just want to make sure she stays safe on her own during the days while I'm in class. Here's something you need to be prepared for, and it really sets the tone for a lot of other questions: Houston is loving huge. As a point of comparison, Sydney is roughly 35 miles/55 kilometers wide from the termination of the M4 at Leonay to the water's edge at Bondi Beach. Houston is 65 miles/98 kilometers wide and almost 70 miles from north to south. Virtually all of it is sprawling city with five different central business districts with skyscraper buildings in them because Houston has no zoning laws meaning you can build anything anywhere. As such, you will absolutely need a car because public transit is almost completely dogshit. There are a few minor exceptions but given that you're out near the airport (Houston has two, that zip code is near the larger one to the north, Bush Intercontinental Airport) but it is folly to expect to rely on public transit. Get a car and plan on sitting in traffic a lot. There are some unsafe areas in Houston, but you can find information online about most of that. Another important note is weather. I grew up in the Houston area and loathe its weather, being outrageously hot and incredibly humid most of the year. Pray that you're coming in January or February and not in July or August...or really anytime between April and November. That said, while you may sweat your balls off, you'll eat well. Houston has an amazing food culture and you can find quality restaurants with food from every corner of the world. Do your research and you should be fine.
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Oct 16, 2014 21:37
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This is really good info. Thanks guys. Probably like most cities I doubt there are very many "attractions" in the bad areas too, so we probably won't have a reason to go there.
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Oct 16, 2014 22:04
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Backstory: I used to travel to Houston once a month for about two years. My duties took my primarily to Spring (around where you'll be working) and southeast Houston, Pearland, etc. First, you absolutely need to rent a car, as others have stated. If you're concerned about your girlfriend having things to do during the day while you're at work, you could probably get a decent rate on an extended-period hotel (Extended Stay America, Homewood Suites) near the Texas Medical Center. It's just south of downtown (hell, it looks its own central business district — one of, like, three in Houston) and near museums, Rice Village, etc. Hell, there's even a light rail, albeit limited in scale/function. That said, I wouldn't envy your commute up north to the area around IAH. Otherwise, there are a plethora of similar hotels up there. I would recommend staying somewhere along FM 1960 in lieu of along I-45, which would be a relatively easy commute for you. It's an endless strip mall, but there are plenty of places to eat and drink, chain or otherwise.
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Oct 17, 2014 18:03
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Thanks mate, but it's all organized by my company so I have zero choice in where I stay. My girlfriend also decided not to come because we need all the extra money we have for our upcoming wedding. Oh well, it was a nice idea but practicalities got in the way. With that being the case I'll probably just hang around the hotel area during the week and then maybe rent a car on the weekends to head to the malls and the space center.
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Oct 18, 2014 13:25
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 12:01 |
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She'll probably have a better opinion of America if she doesn't have to spend three weeks in Houston  As for shopping, well, the Galleria is one of the largest malls on the continent. And The Woodlands — a weird planned community up near where you'll be — is pretty much based around a mall.
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Oct 18, 2014 21:33
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