Houston and Dallas questions

[Kevin Slater]

I'm considering a working trip to Houston and Dallas, but have never been to either and have a few basic questions.

 

What time of year should I aim for, or more to the point, when should I avoid?

 

Where should I stay in each? I tend to like hotels in the fag areas (e.g. Dupont in DC and downtown Philly). I assume I'll need a car in each city if that factors into where I stay.

 

Or should I scrap Dallas and hit Austin instead? Though I suspect Dallas is a bigger market.

 

Any pointers are appreciated. Thanks.

 

Kevin Slater

[MindThe Gap]

>I tend to like hotels in the fag

>areas (e.g. Dupont in DC and downtown Philly).

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I find your remarks highly offensive and disrespectful. Identifying urban areas where gay men live, work and play as "fag areas" is continuing a mindset of hatred that has no place in society today. I don't care if you're gay or not, your choice of words makes my stomach churn. x(

[jasoncarter_dfw]

Well here's my two cents

 

Dallas - The Oak Lawn area is where most of the gay related things are located. There are plenty of hotels in all price ranges close by. Check out the Market Center area for hotels.

 

Houston - I usually stay in the Galleria area, but sometimes I find good deals in the 59/Hillcroft area. The gay area in Houston is called Montrose. I'm a little fuzzy on the directions because I haven't been out in Houston in a while, but if you want to email me I can look up some addresses for you to mapquest.

 

Austin - Party downtown, but as far as business, don't stay there. I stay in North Austin and find it has been much more convenient for my clients to see me there as opposed to going downtown, finding parking, etc...The gay clubs, with exception of Charlie's, are located in the 4th and Congress area.

 

Feel free to email me if you ever have any more TX questions!

 

- Jason Carter - Dallas, TX

- [email protected]

- (972) 365-0120

 

 

>I'm considering a working trip to Houston and Dallas, but

>have never been to either and have a few basic questions.

>

>What time of year should I aim for, or more to the point, when

>should I avoid?

>

>Where should I stay in each? I tend to like hotels in the fag

>areas (e.g. Dupont in DC and downtown Philly). I assume I'll

>need a car in each city if that factors into where I stay.

>

>Or should I scrap Dallas and hit Austin instead? Though I

>suspect Dallas is a bigger market.

>

>Any pointers are appreciated. Thanks.

>

>Kevin Slater

[BigD]

Kevin,

Jason did a good job of describing the cities and gay areas. By the way, I usually call it the queer area, which would obviously be just as offesnive to some(I choose to celebrate the words that have been used to hurt us in the past because they have helped bring us to where we are). One thing Jason failed to mention is our weather. THis is a perfect time of the year - mild. But whatever you do don't come to Dallas in August.

Our summers are intolerable. And even worse in Houston. Hot and humid! As for customers. I have lived in both Houston and Dallas. In days past, Houston had street hustlers and bars. Today, the interenet seems to be the way to go. Dallas has more advertised escorts than Houston; is that a way to measure business? I don't know. I live in Dallas and hire regularly.

Enjoy!

BigD

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

'Fag' areas?

 

Not exactly the best way to start off an ad campaign for an upcoming business trip...

 

Jason hit it on the head. I'd stick to Dallas and Houston. Austin is a wasteland. San Antonio has GREAT hourly potential, but not much else in terms of developed gay culture or nightlife. You've got to remember that the Alamo City sells itself as not only a tourist destination, but as a conventioneers city as well.

 

I get literally 50-75 emails a week from guys who are passing through SA with different conventions. While they aren't usually my type of meetings, if you're looking for something quick and productive, San Antonio serves well.

 

 

 

BN

[+ Tom Isern]

I always said that I would die happy if I never visited Texas. No loss. But several years ago I decided to stop off in Houston on my way to San Francisco from New Orleans. It was a whim. I should have listened to my gut.

 

Houston is beyond the shadow of a doubt America's ugliest and most boring city. It is hot, wet, flat, and dismal. The downtown rolls up at 5 p.m. and is an utter ghost town on weekends. There is a gay area--I thankfully have forgotten its name--for it's about as attractive as the rest of the place. Avoid Houston like the plague.

[willatwork37]

Thanks for the comments Tom. Please be advised that we in Texas would prefer that you stay North of the Mason-Dixon line and East of the Mississippi.

 

Texas, including Houston, has a great deal of beauty, culture and heritage. Sadly, some people just don't want to see or experience it.

[Guest zipperzone]

It's hard to imagine a city as rich as Houston being as bad as you say.

[jasoncarter_dfw]

I'm going to follow my wise mother's advice and keep my mouth shut!

 

- Jason Carter - Dallas, TX

- [email protected]

- (972) 365-0120

 

>I always said that I would die happy if I never visited

>Texas. No loss. But several years ago I decided to stop off

>in Houston on my way to San Francisco from New Orleans. It

>was a whim. I should have listened to my gut.

>

>Houston is beyond the shadow of a doubt America's ugliest and

>most boring city. It is hot, wet, flat, and dismal. The

>downtown rolls up at 5 p.m. and is an utter ghost town on

>weekends. There is a gay area--I thankfully have forgotten

>its name--for it's about as attractive as the rest of the

>place. Avoid Houston like the plague.

[kjun]

>Texas, including Houston, has a great deal of beauty, culture

>and heritage.

 

You've got to be kidding. The only culture in Texas is agriculture!}(

 

Only exception is Austin. A great place!

 

the Cajun

[kjun]

I, also, would keep my mouth shut if my mother was from Texas.

 

the Cajun

[+ ArVaGuy]

I have a strong Austin bias as being the only city in Texas worth visiting or living in for that matter. However, I would suggest that if you visit Dallas you should make it a point to visit one major tourist attraction in downtown.

 

The Book Depository Museum is IMO the best educational experience related to the Kennedy assassination I have ever visited. From there you can visit the Grassy Knoll and form your own opinion if it was a nut with a gun or a conspiracy.

 

(And speaking of nuts and conspiracies, there's a private "museum" a block away called - wait for it - The Conspiracy Theory Museum. This place is an absolute hoot if you can get past the nuttiness.)

[Bilbo]

Houston has a rich and varied culture.

Our Museum of Fine Arts regularly gets exhibits which just don't make it to much of the rest of the country. For example, they now are showing the treasures from MOMA, one of only about four cities to do that. It's getting to where our Museum of Natural Sciences exhibits, also interesting, are so often things that you think might better belong over at the MFAH that one wonders if MFAH didn't expand enough when they doubled their space a few years back.

We have a very healthy musical life. One of the major stops for touring bands is just North of the city, and a smaller one is right in the middle of it. Plus bars for almost any kind of music that you might want. Zydeco was actually born here.

We have an opera company. It's in such fine condition that its AD was swiped by San Francisco.

We have a symphony, and an opera and ballet - a large mostly traditional ballet and a fairly new, but strong more contemporary one, as well as a month each year which focuses on dance, another one that focuses on photography. National hqs for things like numismatics and watercolors.

We have three groups that only do musicals. Two mainly do tours anymore, but the other one is all local. And then there's a production of The Trailer Park Musical which has been so successful that they've had to take it open ended and its still going strong about nine months into its run. So much so that that theater and the gay theater which regularly has done their shows there have been having to scramble for other places for their regular productions.

Other theater is so varied it could make many people's heads spin. Everything from very avaunt garde to old and tired, and all stops in between.

And years ago, when I was interviewing someone for one of the gay newspapers - all gone now in print, though some survive online - surprised me when he said one of the things he liked best about our city was all of the trees. I hadn't noticed up to then that we had so many, but gosh darned if he wasn't right. Trees all over the dang place.

[edjames]

Unfortunately I've spent a lot of time in both Houston and Dallas. I can't say either city is on my list of American favorites. Perhaps it's because they tend to be family oriented cities and suburbs, or perhaps they are the epitome of Middle America.

 

I traveled extensively in and out of Houston on business. I always stayed in the downtown area and yes, they do indeed roll up the streets after 5 PM. Everyone is in their cars and out of the area at that time. There are some good restaurants in the downtown area and some nice hotels. I always stayed at a small boutique hotel called the Lancaster, but it does not meet everyone's taste and style. I've also stayed at the Marriott and the Intercontinental. I did go to the bars on one trip and found they were all located on the same block, so you could just walk from one to another. You do need a car if you’re in Houston; it's a big sprawling city. Same is true in Dallas. The downtown is deserted at night although there are some restaurants available, like The Palm. As Ben mentioned SA is a big convention town and I thought the River Walk was a nice nighttime diversion. There was only one dumpy bar with a shady clientele in the downtown area when I was there.

 

Weather. Forget summer in Texas...PERIOD! I had to go to a family wedding in August in Dallas in August and it was 103 degrees at 7 PM! Houston is even worse, hot and very humid. Co-workers took us to Lake Kemah for dinner one night and I was eaten alive by some of the biggest bugs I had ever seen, so yes, it is true that they grow 'em bigger in Texas.

 

Again, forgive me if this offends our Texas brethren but it's the land of George Bush and the home of the right-wing evangelicals...trust me, I know. I am ashamed that I have relatives down there!

 

Surely there must be somewhere else you'd rather visit.

 

 

ED

[buckguy]

I used to go to Texas fairly often. If you like Atlanta (which I happily left least year), you'll probably like Houston and Dallas. Dallas has more cultural stuff--plus several small museums and a nice botanical garden in nearby Fort Worth. For someone who likes urban places, both cities tend to seem carbound and filled with generic stuff. Dallas has a new convention center, so it may be a good place to do business.

 

Oak Lawn (the gay ghetto in Dallas) is a relatively compact, walkable area. There are quite a few restaurants. The one hotel I remember was an old high end place. The Market Square area is drivable from Oak Lawn, but it's nothing but chain hotels with some some chain restaurants nearby.

 

I've spent less time around Montrose (Houston's gay ghetto), but it seemed more car-oriented than Oak Lawn. Austin definitely is more funky than either Dallas or Houston, but it's a also car bound and has horrible traffic. The downtown area is on an easier scale than the rest of the city and there are good, fairly reasonable restaurants there and close-by. San Antonio has more character than Houston or Dallas. It has many theme parks and seems pretty family oriented in terms of tourism. I was there for a conference last summer and did not get the sense of it being a big convention town, not like classic convention cities like Atlanta. The riverwalk is nice and the more neglected parts of the downtown area are quite interesting as are the missions.

[Bilbo]

Standing on the balcony of the Board room of the Alley Theater (Did I remember to mention they won the very first Tony for regional theater?) here in Houston and looking Southwest, one is greeted by a line of bunches - bunches of skyscrapers separated from each other by valleys of lower building. This vista goes on for miles and can evoke many of the same emotional responses a looking at an very andled (Would oblique be the right word?) view of the Rockies. Which brings home the truth that the word downtown has a very different meaning here, because we have so many of them, not just one. I myself usually go to bed at about 9:30 any more, unless I have a client, but I truely doubt if all of them roll up their sidewalks when I go to bed. We're a very laid back place, and have trouble even getting excited about ourselves, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing going on here.

Unless you do make the mistake of going outside a lot in August. We all totally agree on that. But the main parking for our theater district is underground and links without going outside to most of our larger theaters. And during the day there are underground walks to much of downtown.

[Lookin]

> he said one of the things he liked best about our city was all of the trees . . .

 

 

I remember that too. I visited a friend in Houston in the early '70's, and had never seen such a green city. It was a boom time then, and there were modern glass buildings rising straight out of the trees - very pretty.

[jasoncarter_dfw]

Kevin:

 

No matter what you decide, the Texas Escort Association welcomes you with open arms ;-)

 

- Jason Carter - Dallas, TX

- [email protected]

- (972) 365-0120

 

>I'm considering a working trip to Houston and Dallas, but

>have never been to either and have a few basic questions.

>

>What time of year should I aim for, or more to the point, when

>should I avoid?

>

>Where should I stay in each? I tend to like hotels in the fag

>areas (e.g. Dupont in DC and downtown Philly). I assume I'll

>need a car in each city if that factors into where I stay.

>

>Or should I scrap Dallas and hit Austin instead? Though I

>suspect Dallas is a bigger market.

>

>Any pointers are appreciated. Thanks.

>

>Kevin Slater

[RM]

Someone from Houston once told me the only two months with good weather are March and October. Not sure if that's true, but the weather was nice in March when I was there a few years ago.

[RockHard]

RE: A hypocrite fool.

 

"Houston is beyond the shadow of a doubt America's ugliest and most boring city. There is a gay area--I thankfully have forgotten its name--for it's about as attractive as the rest of the place."

 

The next time some loud mouth, honkie-asshole, prick-escort reprimands me for insulting members of this board, I have this little ditty to throw back into the gutless, spineless, hypocritical bonehead's face.

 

Will it matter? Will the vain bitch shut her trap and disappear? Probably not, because the dick-for-brains, honkie-asshole, prick-escort is a silly fool who LOVES walking around with one foot shoved down his throat while his head is shoved up his ass. He'd probably make more money if he took his acrobat act to Cirque du Soleil.

 

ps Oh, and btw, I'm not for Texas much, either. :-)

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

The TEA strikes again

 

 

BN

[JoeyBryant]

I wanted to bring up this old thread. But since I enjoyed the replies so much, think it deserves a revive.

 

Anyhow...down here in Houston myself for my 4th time. All the other times I came last year and the end of 2008 were questionable. The 1st and 2nd time I didn't find myself to be busy here at all, but I only stayed a day or 2 each time. And the 3rd time I didnt work at all, just came with my former BF on vacation for a day.

 

Well this week, I decided that I'll give it a '3rd times a charm' visit and I was surprised that things here turned out well the day I arrived.

 

However, I still have to say its just not busy enough. A city of over 2 million people, I would expect my phone to be ringing off the table. But I've noticed places like Chicago were equally quiet. I had the similar issue when I placed ads the other times I visited Houston. Sometimes it'd be 2 weeks in advanced and still nothing.

 

Im really hoping to get out of Texas soon. I never found this place to be nearly as busy as South Florida was. Sometimes, all I had to do was go on gay.com and I had good clients. But once they started changing the layout, less people started logging on.

 

Houston and Dallas has alot of good clients, but I think the 'scene' is a bit racist to people who don't look like them. I can probably say that about all of Texas. I knew this guy in Miami who was from Houston (my friend's sugardaddy) and he was so racist. He was 'repulsive' but yet he'd make openly racist jokes to me. People sweep it under the rug here, but once you get to know them, it all comes to light.

 

Eventually I just want to get out of this country...I know America is not the only place in the world to work and I know of people overseas who do very well. I just feel most of these cities here are so used to seeing the same thing, that its just not as exciting. I really dont feel Im living up to my true potential here in Texas.

[+ purplekow]

Joey, I agree with you, this is a pretty amusing thread. Some members responding were acerbic, denigrating and downright nasty. We need a bit of that now and again. The sweetness of Greatness, for example, is an example of the best in human compassion but it tends to make for dull reading. Variety is indeed the spice of life.