Houston Montrose, Dallas Oaklawn vs. City of Austin (neighborhoods, college)

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by coog78

Much has been made by Austinites about how funky, weird, and unique their city is. To those of us that live in big cities like Houston or Dallas, we have one neighborhood/district that can go toe to toe with the entire city of Austin for diversity, gay population, culture, and restaurant scene. While Houston and Dallas are both international cities and Austin is a college town. Let's put your entire town of pretentious pseudo-liberals up against our citys' funky, highly liberal, yet laidback and unpretentious neighborhoods.

Keep what weird?

I see your point. Unfortunately, Montrose and Oakland are great little neighborhoods, but still in Houston and Dallas. Can't get around that.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by coog78

Much has been made by Austinites about how funky, weird, and unique their city is. To those of us that live in big cities like Houston or Dallas, we have one neighborhood/district that can go toe to toe with the entire city of Austin for diversity, gay population, culture, and restaurant scene. While Houston and Dallas are both international cities and Austin is a college town. Let's put your entire town of pretentious pseudo-liberals up against our citys' funky, highly liberal, yet laidback and unpretentious neighborhoods.

Keep what weird?

If you're not careful, you're going to start to attract all of the migrating Californians and North Easterners to your favorite neighborhoods to drive up the prices. This will drive all of the funky unpretentiousness out that you take so much pride in. The more you post about these areas, the more transplants you'll have researching those areas (especially in the Austin forum).

(I'm mainly joking, but there could be some truth in there. And yes, I'm from California)

[coog78]

Originally Posted by mark311

If you're not careful, you're going to start to attract all of the migrating Californians and North Easterners to your favorite neighborhoods to drive up the prices. This will drive all of the funky unpretentiousness out that you take so much pride in. The more you post about these areas, the more transplants you'll have researching those areas (especially in the Austin forum).

(I'm mainly joking, but there could be some truth in there. And yes, I'm from California)

Crap, that's a good point. The prices have been rising pretty consistently and we do have a lot of Northeasterners, not as much from Cali. I really don't mind my neighbors (direct neighbors) from India, Ukraine, Korea, and Germany. But good point, a Californian moving in just ruins the neighborhood. I don't know how many times I can hear "like" or "oh my god" in one day without going crazy (did I forget "right on"?). And although I realize I-10 is in California also, it is NOT referred to as "the 10" in the rest of America.

These neighborhoods are horrible. Austin rocks, and is the only place in Texas any Californian should live in.

[love roses]

Yay, thanks for saying that...not. Let's tell them El Paso is the place to be J/K !

[TexasHorseLady]

The thing that impresses me about Oak Lawn is that I had first lived there in '69. Was a pretty quiet place. Some pilots and stewardesses. Cedar Springs was the thru fare from downtown to Love Field.

Moved to Houston for a coupla decades, lived in Montrose a while, then back to Oak Lawn. Well, the airport people had gone but hanging at the clubs it was still 'pilots and stewardesses'

I lived in Oak Lawn in the late 1960's, and again in 1972. And have visited off and on over the years, but more off than on of late. Clearly it was not the same Oak Lawn that you lived in in 1969, unless it got a LOT quieter and more sedate in those few years between 1968 and 1972, which seems unlikely. I didn't know one single stewardess or pilot during the time I lived there - it was all hippies and gays and musicians and such. Clearly we ran in a VERY different crowd.

When I start hearing people in Austin saying how great it is here because it's like Rice Village, Montrose or Oak Lawn, I'd say you have a point. Right now, it is always the other way around -- your post being a case in point. If Montrose and Oaklawn are so great, why do you feel the need to come in here and try and "take on" Austin? Just enjoy the neighborhhoods you like. They are all good.

Very well said and to the point.

[coog78]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

The thing that impresses me about Oak Lawn is that I had first lived there in '69. Was a pretty quiet place. Some pilots and stewardesses. Cedar Springs was the thru fare from downtown to Love Field.

Moved to Houston for a coupla decades, lived in Montrose a while, then back to Oak Lawn. Well, the airport people had gone but hanging at the clubs it was still 'pilots and stewardesses'

I lived in Oak Lawn in the late 1960's, and again in 1972. And have visited off and on over the years, but more off than on of late. Clearly it was not the same Oak Lawn that you lived in in 1969, unless it got a LOT quieter and more sedate in those few years between 1968 and 1972, which seems unlikely. I didn't know one single stewardess or pilot during the time I lived there - it was all hippies and gays and musicians and such. Clearly we ran in a VERY different crowd.

When I start hearing people in Austin saying how great it is here because it's like Rice Village, Montrose or Oak Lawn, I'd say you have a point. Right now, it is always the other way around -- your post being a case in point. If Montrose and Oaklawn are so great, why do you feel the need to come in here and try and "take on" Austin? Just enjoy the neighborhhoods you like. They are all good.

Very well said and to the point.

Again, the point of the post was to rationalize the posts of Austin "taking on" Houston or Dallas, when a neighborhood from the big cities speaks for itself. Comparing Austin to Houston or Dallas is like comparing Madison, WI to Chicago.

[TexasHorseLady]

So what's the point? Why would you even want to? What do you get out of it?

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by coog78

Again, the point of the post was to rationalize the posts of Austin "taking on" Houston or Dallas, when a neighborhood from the big cities speaks for itself. Comparing Austin to Houston or Dallas is like comparing Madison, WI to Chicago.

There are no such posts. You won't find people in Austin "taking on" any of those DFW or Houston 'hoods.. instead, it's people like you that seem to have an inferiority complex and must come and whine about how everyone loves Austin more... yes, it's tiresome, but we deal with it and usually compliment the neighborhoods of Dallas or Houston. They are great neighborhoods. Sorry you aren't getting the love you want for them, but that doesn't mean they stink. We can agree they are good places.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by atxcio

There are no such posts. You won't find people in Austin "taking on" any of those DFW or Houston 'hoods.. instead, it's people like you that seem to have an inferiority complex and must come and whine about how everyone loves Austin more... yes, it's tiresome, but we deal with it and usually compliment the neighborhoods of Dallas or Houston. They are great neighborhoods. Sorry you aren't getting the love you want for them, but that doesn't mean they stink. We can agree they are good places.

I haven't seen any, if there are. (Of course, I'm not everywhere on City-Data, even if it seems that way to some sometimes.)

I do see a lot of posts about how great Austin is, but why wouldn't someone rave about a place that they love? Doesn't mean, as said, that other places aren't good, just that Austinites love their city. Why does that bother folks so much? (I see the same attitude towards Texans who love their state, when what puzzles me is why folks from other states don't feel the same and talk the same about the place that THEY are from.)

[mark311]

Originally Posted by coog78

The prices have been rising pretty consistently and we do have a lot of Northeasterners, not as much from Cali.

That surprises me. The Montrose/Midtown area is far from a secret, especially with out of state investors. A friend of mine from California owns an apartment complex in Montrose/Midtown and plans to buy more. I agree that a lot of it is a bargain compared to Real Estate in certain parts of Austin. I do wish that I could afford to invest there.

The extreme growth areas like The Woodlands are continuing to bring more money into the Houston area. I agree with you though, not only is Montrose a great area, but it could be one of the better investment areas in the Nation right now. Rental property still looks very inexpensive there.