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00:00Hey guys and welcome to Cool Vision. In this video we'll talk about Houston.
00:07It's located in southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico.
00:10Hey guys and welcome to Houston. This is the fourth largest city in the U.S. and the largest city in Texas.
00:15The population of the city is 2.4 million and it keeps growing. The city keeps expanding.
00:20So let's get to know the city, shall we?
00:22There are more than 7 million residents in the metropolitan area, making it the fifth largest metro area in the U.S.
00:28The city of Houston was founded by land investors in 1836 and incorporated as a city a year later.
00:34It was named after former general Sam Houston who was president of the Republic of Texas
00:39and had won Texas independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto.
00:43Let's see what makes it a great city today.
00:46Houston attracts sports fans, museum buffs, live music lovers, rodeo fans, college students and young professionals from a variety of industries.
00:54There are plenty of jobs. Employment opportunities center heavily around the oil and gas industries, healthcare and aerospace.
01:00The Houston metro area's gross domestic product in 2016 was $478 billion, making it the sixth largest in the U.S.
01:09There are lots of Fortune 500 companies based in Houston, including Phillips 66, Cisco and Conoco Phillips, and they keep coming.
01:16Hewlett Packard recently relocated as global headquarters from California to the greater Houston area.
01:22Port of Houston ranks the fifth in the U.S. in terms of cargo turnover,
01:26and Houston's proximity to the Gulf of Mexico allowed it to become a major player in international trade.
01:32Let's look at different parts of the city. Let's start with downtown Houston.
01:36It's a bustling business hub and has a vibrant theater scene.
01:40This is where you find the theater district with an active visual and performing arts scene.
01:44Large-scale sporting events and concerts take place at the Toyota Center, which is an indoor arena, home to the Houston Rockets of the NBA.
01:52Downtown is home to many international corporations and contains 50 million square feet of office space,
01:58and it is the workplace of 150,000 employees.
02:01It's the middle of the day and there's nobody in downtown. How's that?
02:05Today's Monday. It's supposed to be busy. Now you don't see any people in the streets. What's going on?
02:10It gets really hot in Houston, and so a lot of people will take the tunnels.
02:14The majority of these buildings are connected by a tunnel system.
02:17There's restaurants down there, barbershops, convenience stores, and people come down from the buildings,
02:24they go to their basement, and then they start walking, and you can walk for miles.
02:28This is a map of the downtown tunnel system. So right now we're at One Allen Center in the food court.
02:34Everything that's a dotted line are skywalks. They're above ground, above the street.
02:39Everything that's a solid line is a tunnel underneath the street, and they connect the basements.
02:46Sometimes the most direct way to a place is to just go on the surface and go down the street.
02:51But a lot of people want to avoid the heat or the bad weather, and they'll just take the tunnels.
02:57Also, it's the most diverse metropolitan area in Texas. Being so diverse, no wonder Houston has a lot of food choices.
03:03From Houston's legendary The Breakfast Club to Phoenicia, international food store where you can find anything from Mexican to Armenian cuisine.
03:10We're in this place called Phoenicia, and it has a lot of international food.
03:14Just to prove it, they got sunflower seeds from Russia. Lots of food choices.
03:20Houston is famous for its museum district, the city's cultural heart, home to many museums, galleries, and community spaces.
03:32Most famous of which is the Museum of Fine Arts, one of the largest art museums in the US, and the 12th largest art museum in the world, based on square feet of gallery space.
03:41The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 6,000 years of history, with approximately 70,000 works from six continents.
03:48At the southern end of the museum district, you will find one of Houston's oldest parks, Herman Park.
03:53It's a 445-acre urban park that was created on acreage, donated to the city by oil man and philanthropist, George H. Herman.
04:07The park features the Mary Gibson Jesse H. Jones reflection pool, numerous gardens including a Japanese garden, and McGovern Centennial Gardens, which is a great spot if you want to take some nice pictures.
04:19Besides that, you'll find the Houston Museum of Natural Science, picnic areas, golf courts, and McGovern Lake, an 8-acre recreational lake with pedal boats.
04:29And don't forget about the miniature railway. It will take you around the park, and it's pretty convenient.
04:34Hi, what's up?
04:36What's your name?
04:37Charlize.
04:38Where are you from?
04:39We are in Houston, Texas.
04:40Oh, you're a local.
04:41At Herman Park.
04:42Yes, we actually live in Baytown, and that's about 20, 30 minutes away.
04:46Oh, cool.
04:47Yep, to the east.
04:48What's your, tell me your favorite place in Houston?
04:50Um, well, this has become, yeah, this park. We come here like almost every Sunday, and this is just something we do as a family of four, my husband and my son, and we come out here, ride the train, we do the 30-minute paddle boat ride, and it's not as easy as it looks.
05:08It is like a full 30-minute workout.
05:10That's right.
05:11But we really enjoy it, because you can come here, have fun, and you don't have to spend a lot of money, so.
05:17The highlight of the park is Houston Zoo.
05:19It's a fantastic zoo, and one of the best that I've seen.
05:22It houses over 6,000 animals, and receives 2.1 million visitors each year, making it the second most visited zoo in the U.S.
05:31Kids will certainly enjoy feeding the giraffes.
05:34Houston is a green city, and it has 337 parks, like Buffalo Bayou Park.
05:44Buffalo Bayou Park is a 2.3-mile-long municipal park located along the banks of the Buffalo Bayou near downtown.
05:51We're enjoying our day in Buffalo Bayou Park, beautiful downtown skyline, and this is the bayou.
05:58What's the known for it?
06:00Floods.
06:01Floods.
06:02When we had the really big flood, if you can imagine, this was all underwater.
06:10Okay.
06:11Come to jog in Buffalo Bayou Park.
06:15It's a jewel in the middle of the city, with bike and running trails along the bayou.
06:20Memorial Park is another popular park, one of the largest urban parks in the U.S., 1,466 acres.
06:27We are in Memorial Park in Houston, and because we're in Houston, you can see things like this gun shell, you know, just in the middle of the park on the roadside.
06:37Wow.
06:38Bam, bam.
06:39It was opened in 1924.
06:41This park is very well maintained and clean.
06:43Well, I'm going for a jog in Memorial Park.
06:45There are lots of facilities to enjoy, like a golf course, bike paths, a pond, and even a driving range.
06:53Let's look at other parts of the city.
06:55Uptown.
06:56Uptown is a business district representing more than 11% of Houston's total office space and a major shopping area.
07:03It's also known as the Galleria, for the vast retail complex, with its mix of designer boutiques, chains and department stores, plus a year-round ice rink.
07:11Look at that.
07:13Have you seen the line to a Gucci store?
07:15Yeah.
07:16Well, there it is for you.
07:20There's a fantastic park in the neighborhood, Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park.
07:24It has a huge, semi-circular fountain.
07:26Definitely a fun spot to check out if you're in Houston.
07:29It's sheer size is a sight to see.
07:31I'm refreshing.
07:33Combine that with the mist coming from the water, and it's a serene experience.
07:38The surrounding courtyard is a wonderful place for a stroll.
07:45Another part of town is Midtown.
07:50It's known for its young crowds, bar and nightlife scene.
07:55Gentrification of the district started in the early 2000s, fueled by an influx of young residents and the development of a vibrant nightlife.
08:02Despite that, the district continues to face issues of crime, inadequate infrastructure, chronic homelessness and geographic disparities in public investment.
08:11Is Houston pretty bike friendly?
08:14They're trying to be.
08:15As you can see, we got the bike routes, but it's not everywhere.
08:18It's just kind of in random parts.
08:21The Galleria area, the Midtown area, downtown, and the Med Center are really good.
08:28How do you see the city changing over the years?
08:32I started seeing an influx because I did Uber every day, and so I saw an influx of new plates from Virginia, Illinois, California, New York.
08:43And then I started, you know, I had caught on some of the news articles that had came out on the Google article feed that Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos had all moved to Texas.
08:56Elon Musk, they say, is supposed to be building some sort of city on the outskirts by Pasadena.
09:02Bill Gates, he's been buying land from Austin down to Conroe area.
09:06They say he's been buying up a lot of farmland.
09:08With Bezos, his Amazon things have been popping up on corners just like McDonald's.
09:13I see a lot of things changing in between that time just in one year.
09:16So it's, and I like y'all.
09:18I never am on this side of the camera.
09:20I'm always behind the camera.
09:21Y'all are the first people I've actually done this for ever in 30 years, so I like y'all.
09:28The Texas Medical Center is a 2.1 square mile medical district in South Central Houston.
09:34It's the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions that employs over 106,000 people,
09:41hosts 10 million patient encounters annually, and has a gross domestic product of $25 billion.
09:46Houston is known for its world-class medical institutions, like Memorial Hermann Health System,
09:52the largest non-for-profit health system in Southeast Texas that consists of 17 hospitals, 8 cancer centers,
09:593 heart and vascular institutes, and 27 sports medicine and rehabilitation centers.
10:04This is the Houston Astrodome.
10:06This used to be the primary sports venue for the Houston Astros and for the Houston Oilers.
10:12In the 2000s, both the baseball team and the football team said that this stadium no longer fulfilled their requirements,
10:22and the Astros built a new baseball stadium downtown.
10:26Texans were provided this stadium that holds about 72,000 people.
10:31Astrodome sits there totally empty now.
10:34This one's only used for American football.
10:36They have another stadium downtown strictly for baseball.
10:41It's called Minute Maid Park.
10:43What about rodeo?
10:44How often do they have rodeo here?
10:46The Houston Rodeo is an event that takes place at the end of February and the first of March every year.
10:52They have bull riding, horseback riding, where they ride bucking horses and the like.
10:58Houston is known for its space and science contributions.
11:01NASA's John Space Center is the home of mission control and astronaut training.
11:05Space Center Houston is a science museum that displays over 400 space artifacts,
11:10including the Mercury 9, Gemini 5 and Apollo 17 space capsules.
11:21Houston is home to dozens of universities and colleges including University of Houston,
11:25Sam Houston State University and several private institutions like Rice University,
11:30a private secular institution with a high level of research activity.
11:34How do people get around the city?
11:36The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, also known as Metro,
11:41provides public transportation in the form of buses, light rail and high occupancy vehicle lanes.
11:46Metro's local bus network services approximately 275,000 riders daily,
11:51with a fleet of over 1,200 buses.
11:54They also have a park and ride system.
11:56Public transportation is also represented by Metro Rail.
11:59It's a 22.7 mile light rail system with an annual ridership of about 19 million people.
12:05Though there have been efforts to expand it in recent years,
12:08the city's public transportation system is still underdeveloped compared to other major urban hubs.
12:13The primary mode of transportation is still the car, or rather a truck.
12:19There's HOV lanes for vehicles with two or more passengers, motorcycles or buses.
12:25Solo drivers have an option of paying the toll to use the lanes.
12:28Over 70% of people are driving solo.
12:31It used to be one Texan, one horse.
12:33Now it's one Texan, one car.
12:35The area is known for its sprawl.
12:38The city is a mess when it comes to city planning.
12:40Endless concrete superhighways and frantic traffic.
12:43Houston is the only major city in the U.S. without zoning laws.
12:47Houston's housing costs are among the lowest of the major U.S. metro areas.
12:52Median sale price of a single family home in Houston is $314,000,
12:57according to the Houston Association of Realtors.
13:00This is 19.4% lower than the national average.
13:03However, if you've got money to spend, there's no shortage of luxury homes.
13:08Take a look, for example, at River Oaks.
13:10It's one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Houston.
13:12It was established in the 1920s by brothers Will Hugg and Michael Hugg.
13:16This community became a well-publicized national model for community planning.
13:20Real estate values in this community range from $1 million to over $20 million.
13:25Houston has a very hot and humid climate.
13:28How do people get away from the heat? Let's ask them.
13:31What do you do to get away from the heat?
13:33Drink plenty of water.
13:34And jump in the pool.
13:35Jump in the pool.
13:36Stick to the shade.
13:38Plenty of watermelon.
13:40Go where there's air conditioning.
13:42And snow cones.
13:44And some days only go out at night.
13:46The city's no stranger to hurricanes and floods, and we got caught up in one of these.
13:51And this is what it looks like.
13:53Just outside the city, you can experience Texas history from the tallest monument column in the world.
13:58At 570 feet, the San Jacinto monument commemorates the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution.
14:05It's located about 16 miles east of downtown Houston.
14:09The monument is stopped with a 220-ton star.
14:12While you're there, you can also visit USS Texas BB-35.
14:17It's a museum ship and former United States Navy New York-class battleship.
14:22It was launched in 1912 and commissioned in 1914.
14:26In World War II, Texas courted war convoys across the Atlantic,
14:30shelled Axis-held beaches for the North African Campaign and the Normandy landings, among other things.
14:35It was decommissioned in 1948.
14:37Now it's a museum ship.
14:38A great thing about living in Houston is that just an hour away is an island city of Galveston.
14:46It's located on the Gulf Coast connected to the mainland by several bridges.
14:50Galveston is a popular place for surfers, swimmers and party people.
14:54There's lots of different beaches and resort properties.
14:56They look something like this.
14:58How much is a house like that?
15:00In 2022, they range from $450,000 to $1 million.
15:05The Galveston Bay area has some of the best attractions in the state,
15:10including Moody Gardens, giant glass pyramids that house sharks, monkeys and other animals.
15:15And Schlitterbahn water park.
15:17The city was nearly wiped out by the Galveston hurricane of 1900.
15:21But it was rebuilt and today it has some of the most beautiful restored Victorian homes.
15:26Seawall Boulevard runs along the Gulf Coast waterfront for 10 miles.
15:31Now originally this promenade, which is now more than 10 miles long, was built to protect the city from hurricanes
15:37because there was a really bad hurricane in the year 1900, which pretty much destroyed all the city and almost 12,000 people died.
15:45So they built this wonderful promenade and right now it's a resort town and people from Houston and other cities as far as San Antonio come here to have a good time.
15:53Galveston Island historic pleasure pier is lined with 15 rides, one roller coaster and some restaurants.
16:00It's very family friendly and it's just $20 for an all day ride pass.
16:04The beaches are clean and well maintained, but the water is murky, so don't expect it to be like Florida because it's not.
16:10The city has a special laid back vibe. Let's see what it's like.
16:27Where you guys from?
16:28San Antonio, Texas. Yeah, we've been here for three days already.
16:32Wow.
16:33What's your favorite thing to do here?
16:36Just drive around and you know, that's it.
16:39That's right.
16:40Yeah.
16:45But Galveston is more than just a beach.
16:47If you walk around, you'll find some great art galleries and street musicians.
16:51Let me show you the kind of atmosphere the city's got.
16:54We really got lucky because this weekend they're having Galveston Art Gallery weekend
16:59and it happens only every six weeks.
17:02So we'll get a chance to look at some pieces of art.
17:06Not that I'm a big connoisseur, but still it's really nice.
17:09You want to say hi? And this is the artist.
17:12Hello.
17:13Hello.
17:14Welcome from Galveston.
17:15Thanks so much.
17:16Our sunny little sandbar.
17:18We love it here.
17:19It's very nice.
17:20It's very convenient that you can go on a cruise right from the port
17:24of Galveston.
17:25The Kemah Boardwalk is a 60-acre, Texas A&M.
17:30It's very convenient that you can go on a cruise right from the port of Galveston.
17:37The Kemah Boardwalk is a 60-acre, Texas Gulf Coast theme park filled with excited entertainment
17:44located less than 30 minutes south of Houston.
17:46The Boardwalk is built entirely along the shores of Galveston Bay and Clear Lake.
17:50There's a number of restaurants, fun rides for all ages, midway games, attractions, a chartered yacht, a 400-slip marina and multiple shops.
17:57You can get a coffee and walk around to watch the sailboats.
18:00Is Houston a safe city?
18:02Not really.
18:03Not really.
18:04Not really.
18:05The Kemah Boardwalk is a 60-acre, Texas Gulf Coast theme park filled with excited entertainment
18:08located less than 30 minutes south of Houston.
18:10The Boardwalk is built entirely along the shores of Galveston Bay and Clear Lake.
18:13There's a number of restaurants, fun rides for all ages, midway games, attractions, a charter yacht, a 400-slip marina and multiple shops.
18:18Is Houston a safe city?
18:19Not really.
18:20Depending on the neighborhood, crime can be a major issue.
18:23When it comes to intentional homicide rate, it's 11.8 murders per 100,000 people.
18:29So it's almost twice safer than Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit.
18:32But it's still pretty concerning.
18:34Remember the Galleria Mall we mentioned earlier?
18:36Well, let's look at the reviews under it.
18:38It seems like it's not very safe.
18:41So, let's sum it up.
18:44Houston has a booming job market, low cost of living and sunny weather all year round.
18:48It's a great choice for building a life and raising a family.
18:51However, it's extreme heat, vulnerability to hurricanes, crime stats and legendary long commutes can be turn offs.
18:58For some, the hot and humid summers are a worthwhile trade off for Houston's pleasant winter weather.
19:03In Houston, we're staying with our friends Phil and Svetlana.
19:07Do you guys want a short tour of my friend's house?
19:09Let's do it.
19:10Hey guys, we're in Houston and we're staying with our friends Phil and Svetlana.
19:14And I want you to give a tour, a short tour of the house.
19:17So, let's walk inside.
19:22This was a spacious living room with a nice TV.
19:25But we were staying upstairs.
19:27Wonderful.
19:28Let's go upstairs.
19:31Okay, we were staying in a different room.
19:33But that one's not very tidy right now.
19:35So, we're going to show you this one.
19:36This is all of Svetlana's work here.
19:46She likes to keep up with all these.
19:48Have all these baskets along the fence here and have flowers in it and make it kind of be homey.
19:53Oh yeah, look at that.
19:55We got a grill.
19:57Yeah, this is our little retreat away from the rest of civilization back here.
20:03Looking at Houston from 1998 to up to this date, how much has it changed?
20:08I think people that have been away from this place for 20 years, they come back and say,
20:12Oh my God.
20:13Because there's more high-rises downtown.
20:16There's more interstates.
20:18It's the same interstates, but they've been widened from like two lanes to like six lanes on each side.
20:26It's amazing how many California license plates you see now.
20:29Oh wow.
20:30I mean, people are leaving these places to where there's high taxes, especially high taxes.
20:37Texas doesn't have an income tax.
20:40Most of the other states have an income tax.
20:43Where Texas mostly, they get, the state gets its revenue from sales tax and from property taxes.
20:49Right.
20:50So depending on how much you want to spend for a house determines how much taxes you're going to pay.
20:57So if you've got a million dollar home here, you're going to pay every year 3% of that.
21:04What are some of your favorite things to do here?
21:07I mean, I like to go bicycling a lot.
21:08It's not too far from here, about five miles.
21:10You can put your bicycle on your car or put it in the back of your truck.
21:17And there's like a paved trail that runs like 30 miles down San Jacinto River, like a nature trail.
21:25And you can go ride your bike without having to fight cars and people jog out there.
21:30But like I was telling you earlier, it's hard to jog here because it's just so bloody hot.
21:35Yeah.
21:36And at least when you're bicycling, there's always a breeze blowing by you.
21:40Right.
21:41It cools you down.
21:42Cools you down.
21:43So how bad is this heat and humidity during like August and July?
21:48It's pretty bad.
21:49I mean, September is usually the worst month because it's like, oh, we've made it through
21:56July and August.
21:57It's almost over.
21:58But September just drags on and it just stays with the heat.
22:03And we really don't get a break from the heat till probably the second week of October.
22:08Okay.
22:09And then winters here are pretty nice.
22:12I mean, the company I used to work for, we had offices in Minnesota and back in my hometown
22:20in Louisiana and then offices here in Houston.
22:24And always the best golfers were ones that were from Houston because they could play year
22:29round.
22:30Okay.
22:31In Louisiana, they pretty much played year round also, but they weren't as good.
22:35And the people in Minnesota were awful because they, you know, there was only like four or
22:40five months a year that they could go out and play golf.
22:43That's right.
22:44You have a nice house.
22:45Oh, well.
22:46We enjoy staying with you guys.
22:47Yeah.
22:48We're glad you guys came.
22:49And like I said, it was a lot of fun having a lot of energy around the house.
22:54Okay.
22:55Okay.
22:56Thanks for watching guys.
22:57And let me know what you think about Houston.
22:58I'll see you in my next video.
22:59I'll see you in my next video.
23:03I'll see you in my next video.
23:04I'll see you in my next video.
23:05I'll see you in my next video.
23:06I'll see you next time.
23:08Don't think the pain is all you're on
23:14So heart to heart and mind to mind
23:19Just make me love you one more time
23:22Just hold me in your arms again
23:25Dream about the little band
23:28Heart to heart and mind to mind
23:31Just make me love you one more time
23:34Just hold me in your arms again
23:37Dream about the little band
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