Chicago Addick living in Bermuda
Thursday 24 April 2008
  Houston, Texas Houstonians spend more time in their cars than their homes and perhaps then understandably spend more money on their car loan repayments than their mortgages! Houston sprawls for over 600 miles and is connected by a spaghetti of freeways and highways.

Two million people live in America's fourth biggest city that grew from wilderness to a booming economic centre. Only New York is home to more Fortune 500 company headquarters.

In 1901, a year after displaced Texans from coastal Galveston moved inland to Houston following a deadly hurricane, oil was discovered at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont. Much money was then invested in the ship canals and later into the formation of the Port of Houston, now the largest in foreign imports in the US, which includes nearly all European cars sold in this country.

In 1950 Texans found air conditioning, something that if it were to disappear tomorrow, then so would Houston. With air conditioning came an impetus for companies and employees to migrate from the cold manufacturing 'Rust Belt' states such as Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to the warm south. The energy sector grew and the space industry began with NASA's space centre being established in 1961. Now known as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the huge complex situated southeast of the city is also the base for the Mission Control Center that coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States.

In 1961 to commerate Houston's new space age the Astrodome opened, which was the first ever roofed stadium in the world. Sadly locals now call it the 'Lonely Dome' as it is rarely now used. There is talk of it being turned into a hotel as preservationists fight against calls for it to be demolished.

The Houston Astro's baseball team now play at Minute Maid Park, or the 'Juice Box' as fans call the 41,000-capacity stadium with a retractable roof which we saw wide open as we drove by on Friday evening as they entertained the Rockies. Minute Maid Park is actually wired for wi-fi, can you image how that would change blogging on the Addicks?

The countries 4th biggest city is well served by sports teams, sorry franchises. The Houston Texans are the NFL team, you may remember the Houston Oilers like I do, well they decamped to Tennessee in 1997, changing their name to the Titans. The beauty of franchises eh?

The very good Rockets are the basketball team with the amazing 7ft 6in Yao Ming and the Houston Dynamo's are the MLS soccer team and the defending champions incredibly winning the MLS Cup in both seasons since their formation. They average 18,000 playing at Robertson Stadium within the University of Houston campus.

Houston's sprawling landscape has mainly been allowed to happen because of the lack of zoning regulations. Therefore multiple districts have grown in different parts of the city, and with public transport being restricted to the odd bus (I saw one all weekend) and a light rail line that runs for 8 miles from the University of Houston to the business district Downtown, which is kind of an anomaly as there is more than one business district, SUV is king helping make Houston one of the most polluted cities in the US.

Downtown however has the largest assemblage of prominent companies and buildings including the JPMorgan Chase Tower, the 36th tallest building in the world (above). Many of the buildings are connected by an extensive network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks, air-conditioned of course!

We didn't spend a lot of time exploring the main districts, spending the majority of the weekend in the car, do what the locals do, see? Trouble with that is that I never really got a good feel of the place because you just don't see anyone.

One area we did get a perspective on was the Galleria, part of what is called Uptown. Uptown is the centre of Houston's shopping and where most of the hotels are situated. The Galleria is Texas' largest mall and contains 375 stores. Okay before I lose your attention....

On Sunday we drove out to Old Town Spring, half an hour north of Houston, which was a step back in time to a charming old Texas town known for it's antique shops. The place was packed with people travelling into Old Town Spring to witness the annual Texas Crawfish Festival. Live music, fried food, fairground rides and rodeo was what people were here for and of course crawfish. I'm not sure if you've ever eaten crawfish but they are shrimp-like creatures boiled and seasoned but a bugger to shell, messy and not exactly filling once you've swallowed one!

There certainly were some sights to behold at the Texas Crawfish Festival, the crawfish were certainly not the only crustaceans boiling in the midday sun. As I said in the car on the way back to civilisation, I'm reasonably well-travelled but I will never cease to be startled by the way some people live their lifes in parts of this vast country.

On Saturday we drove out to Montgomery, a tiny place (pop: 489) but the birthplace of the Lone Star Flag. We made a short stop for a malt shake in Huntsville and bizarrely watched a rugby match for a while before carrying on to Lake Conroe for lunch. It's a pretty lake, man made and running through the Piney Wood Forest about 60 miles from Houston. This area is a booming suburb and I'd imagine in a city known for it's grisly traffic, this part of the I45 Freeway is a busy road during the week but at least you have to pleasure to drive past the aptly named Addicks Humble (below).

Conversely the River Oaks neighbourhood is very walkable. A stroll around some of the residential streets will remind you, in case you'd forgotten, where all of that money goes after you've filled the car up. Ex-Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling was a resident of River Oaks, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the USA, but he now lives in a Minnesota prison.

River Oaks Country Club was hosting an ATP tournament the weekend we were there, and my mate blagged his way in amongst the stetsons.

There is lots of window shopping here and some of the cities best restaurants. We went to Mark's on Sunday night, and although my tuna was a bit overcooked, although a good deal tastier than a crawfish, the service and the 1920's renovated church in which the restaurant is set was fabulous.

The back of the car is not the best way to judge a city but there is no other way in this huge patchwork quilt of locales which all conspire to make this spirited oil-fired city a melange of industry, architecture, shopping and space each connected by a myriad of big, big roads. 
|



<< Home
About Me
After living in Chicago for four and a half years, I moved to the beautiful if bewildering island of Bermuda in July 2008. This blog is about being an exiled and depressed Charlton Athletic fan and whatever else the day brings.
CAFC Links
  • Charlton Athletic FC
  • CAFC Player
  • Forever Charlton
  • CAFC Picks
  • CASC
  • City Addicks
  • Community Trust
  • Fans Forum
  • Charlton Life
  • / forum
  • Charlton Scrapbook
  • Addicks Downunder Forum
  • Fellow Addick Blogs
  • Addicks Diary
  • Doctor Kish
  • New York Addick
  • All Quiet in the East Stand
  • SE3 Addick
  • Jakartass
  • Charlton Athletic Online
  • Views from an Iberian Valley
  • Charlton North Downs
  • Blackheath Addicted
  • Drinking During the Game
  • Kings Hill Addick
  • A Red Divided
  • Deepest Darkest
  • All in a Day
  • Johnny73
  • Confidential Rick
  • Charlton Casual
  • Many Miles....
  • Croydon Addick
  • Stickleback
  • And Nothing Else Matters
  • Out in the rain
  • Hungry Ted
  • Bermuda - all 21 square miles of it
  • The Royal Gazette
  • Weather forecast
  • Discover Bermuda
  • Bermuda National Trust
  • Bernews.com
  • Bermuda Blogroll
  • Bermuda Shorts
  • Jen in Bermuda
  • Daily London fix
  • Diamond Geezer
  • Onionbagblog
  • 853
  • The Cabbies Capital
  • A piece of my heart still in Chicago
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Chicago Bears
  • Chicago Blackhawks
  • Chicago White Sox
  • Chicago Cubs
  • Chicago Fire
  • My Chicago stuff
  • Andersonville
  • Bucktown
  • Chinatown
  • Evanston
  • Gold Coast
  • Greektown & Little Italy
  • Lincoln Park
  • Lincoln Square
  • The Magnificent Mile
  • Old Town
  • Oak Park
  • River North
  • Roscoe Village
  • South Loop
  • Streeterville
  • Ukrainian Village
  • Wicker Park
  • Wrigleyville
  • Ten things to do with a child
  • My Bermuda exploring
  • Paget Parish
  • Southampton Parish
  • Town of St George
  • Ten things to do with a child
  • Travelogue
  • Atlanta
  • Bahamas
  • Beachy Head
  • Beaver Creek, Colorado
  • Bermuda
  • Buenos Aires
  • Californian Hwy 1
  • Charleston
  • Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Dubai
  • Eastbourne
  • Ft Lauderdale, Florida
  • Grand Canyon
  • Hiroshima
  • Honolulu
  • Houston, Texas
  • Kohler, Wisconsin
  • Kyoto
  • Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
  • Las Vegas
  • Lille, France
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico
  • Miami Beach
  • Mt Fuji & Hakone, Japan
  • Munich
  • New Orleans
  • New York
  • Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Oman
  • Orlando
  • Palm Springs & Joshua Natl Park
  • Park City, Utah
  • Reykjavik
  • Route 66 and Hoover Dam
  • San Francisco
  • San Diego
  • Santa Fe
  • Saugatuck, Michigan
  • Sedona, Arizona
  • Sonoma & Napa Valley
  • St Petersburg, FL
  • Taos, New Mexico
  • Tokyo
  • Uruguay
  • Washington DC
  • The good old days?
  • The men in charge Parts I
  • / II / III / IV / V
  • Carlisle (a) 1986
  • Luton (a) 1989
  • Sunderland (h) 1975
  • Stoke City (a) 1994
  • Crystal Palarse (a) 2000
  • Norwich City (h) 1987
  • Coventry City (a) 2001
  • Barnsley (h) 1985
  • Bristol City (a) 1994
  • West Brom (a) 1995
  • Hull City (h) 1976
  • Burnley (h) 1978
  • Nottingham Forest (a) 1989
  • Sheffield Wednesday (h) 1986
  • Ipswich Town (a) 1981
  • Birmingham City (a) 1993
  • Hereford United (a) 1989
  • Interesting stuff
  • We're not on the telly much but who is?
  • Football Pyramid
  • Football Ground Guide
  • The Political Economy of Football
  • The Fiver
  • London 2012
  • TV Cream
  • Nice cup of tea and a sit down
  • Banksy
  • www.flickr.com
    This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from ChicagoAddick. Make your own badge here.
    And not so interesting
    Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com Powered by Blogger
    EMail me
    ChicagoAddick@Gmail.com
    Follow me on Twitter
  • ChicagoAddick
  • CAFC on Twitter
  • Archives
    June 2004 / July 2004 / August 2004 / September 2004 / October 2004 / November 2004 / December 2004 / January 2005 / February 2005 / March 2005 / April 2005 / May 2005 / June 2005 / July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / March 2006 / April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 / September 2007 / October 2007 / November 2007 / December 2007 / January 2008 / February 2008 / March 2008 / April 2008 / May 2008 / June 2008 / July 2008 / August 2008 / September 2008 / October 2008 / November 2008 / December 2008 / January 2009 / February 2009 / March 2009 / April 2009 / May 2009 / June 2009 / July 2009 / August 2009 / September 2009 / October 2009 / November 2009 / December 2009 / January 2010 / February 2010 / March 2010 / April 2010 / May 2010 / June 2010 / July 2010 / August 2010 /