Heights vs. Rice Military vs. Hyde Park (Houston, Dallas: townhouses, neighborhoods)

[kamryn419]

Thinking about an urban move now that my nest is empty. I am considering Heights, Rice Military/Washington Corridor and Hyde Park (really zip 77019) based on convenience of location, however I haven’t spent a considerable amount of time in these areas. Could be either a townhome or single family/detached home, not sure yet. I am interested in having good access to bars, restaurants & cultural events. I’m in my 40s so I won’t be hitting any clubs lol. Just wonder what people think about these areas regarding safety, convenience, walkability, age of residents and vibe. Thanks!

[airdrawndagger]

13 year resident of Rice Military here. My thoughts:

- You can find some older detached homes in RM, but townhouses that have been built over the past decade or so are much more common. I think these options are more or less price-equivalent to buy (300 to 500+).

- Bar scene: fairly relaxed during the weekdays and evening hours. Much more active on the weekends between 10pm and 2am. From what I can tell, the crowd appears to be primarily composed of people in their late 20s, early 30s, and slightly clubby. Can't comment too much more as I do not frequent the bars during this time (I'm way too old for that...)

- Restaurants: good variety as you'd expect pretty much anywhere in Houston. Too many options to list here, really.

- Cultural events: nothing to note directly in the neighborhood, but close to many cultural activities/spots if desired.

- Safety: I've always felt safe here. Car break-in's can occur if valuables are left on display. Occasionally there will be drunken brawls that sprawl out onto Washington in the early hours of the morning. A surprising amount of drag racing occurs on Washington given the poor street quality and abundance of stoplights. Overall, fairly safe by Houston standards.

- Convenience: Excellent. Centrally located and adjacent to Memorial Park. One of the biggest draws, in my opinion.

- Walkability: Mediocre to poor. Some residential streets have sidewalks while others do not. Oftentimes, sidewalks will disappear midway down the same street. Streets are fairly narrow and cars can park on one side, leaving little space for pedestrians.

- Age of residents: Fairly even distribution of young professionals, families, and older folks like me.

- Vibe: Classic Houston - laid back, diverse, unpretentious.

[chris_ut]

Hyde Park is great for walkability, the streets have decent tree shade and are fairly quiet and so many lizards in the bushes that scamper around as you walk through. Can walk down to the places on Westheimer like the dunlavy and empire cafe or north to river oaks shopping center. Considered living there but I cant deal with all the stairs in a townhouse. The area just south of Dallas is deed restricted to 2 story single family but out of my budget.

[LadyMill00]

The Heights. The hike and bike trail makes the neighborhood very pedestrian friendly and I know there is a huge push to make it even safer for pedestrians and cyclists. There are SO many restaurants in the area and cool shopping areas (19th street, Heights Mercantile, M-K-T which is opening in 2020). I find the Heights to be much more residential than Rice Military area. The streets are narrow in the Heights (not everywhere) but not as narrow as in Rice Military. Annual events like White Linen Night in the Heights and Lights in the Heights are pretty popular and I don't really see this going on in other neighborhoods. Heights is pretty safe but lots of car theft in the area....shocking to see how many people leave valuables in their vehicles!


I've been a Heights resident for the last 10 years and just moved out because we needed a more family/school friendly neighborhood. It's a great place to live though!

[clutchcity]

How do these compare to Montrose?