Category Archives: Astrodome

The Rodeo and the new Houston

March 9, 2015 5:50 PM , Leave a Comment ,

Houston has been struggling hard for the last few years to shed its “hick” and “cowboy” labels and take its place as a cosmopolitan city that it is and as a nexus for several different cultures to mix and mingle.  Yet at its core it still retains some of that wild west persona.

This becomes extremely evident at the end of February and in early March when the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo takes place.  The Rodeo was and is a celebration of Houston’s agricultural and ranching ties.  A throwback to the days when cattle trails wound their way up and down the state and more people worked in and around Houston in the cattle and livestock industries.

For generations, Houston kids could go downtown with their families and watch goggle eyed as the cowboys rode in a parade in their western finery and marching bands played and all manner of floats and displays rolled past.  They could then go to the Rodeo and look at the animals and talk to the cowboys and just take in the country culture.

Eventually music acts were added to the Rodeo.  Some of the music isn’t even country music and truthfully the musical acts are now a big part of the Rodeo.  In fact for some that’s all that the Rodeo represents to them.  I think without the music the Rodeo itself would have been much diminished and would not be having record crowds.

As it stands now the Rodeo is an integral part of the Houston experience.  Something that can really be only found here.  I think that it’s a positive for Houston.  As much as I would like to see Houston “grow up” and become more worldly, to have more culture, to be thought of as a first rung city (and it is, I admit it we’ve done amazing things in the last 20 years), I still want it to retain some of its own character.

I don’t want us to become a clone of one of the eastern cities, or another Los Angeles.  I want us to become our own city.  Incorporate the best aspects of other cities, add in the valuable contributions of our large immigrant populations from all over the world, but retain something of what Houston was.

If we can do all those things we can build a city that people will want to come and see, a city that others will want to emulate.  Part of that process is embracing events like the Rodeo and helping it flourish.  Events like this give us something special and point to as uniquely Houstonian.

Posted in: activities, Astrodome, culture, current events, Houston, life in general

despising the old

November 6, 2013 7:52 PM , Leave a Comment ,

Houston is a city that is supposedly over 175 years old but that’s not really the truth.  For a long time it lingered stuck as a small town.  The humidity, the heat, the mosquitoes didn’t encourage people to come and settle here.  That is until the advent of the air conditioner, the interstate highway system and the space program.  All these gave Houston the impetus to grow.

Consequently we don’t really have the layers upon layers of history and old architecture that most cities do.  Take Chicago for example.  Founded only 4 years earlier than Houston but it grew at a steady pace since its start.  Building up layers and layers of history and memorable architecture.  It now boasts great architecture and a larger population than Houston.

We have little history to spare.  So you’ll pardon me when I get a little hot under the collar when some people decide not to save one of the few landmarks that this town has to offer.

Of course I’m talking about the Astrodome.  The so-called 8th wonder of the world.  Not the prettiest of buildings, specially now that it’s been allowed to decay, but certainly iconic of the city.  The first of the domed stadiums, it was copied and recopied around the world.

I remember for a long time that Houstonians have complained that they aren’t taken seriously as a big city.  We have a slight inferiority complex sometimes when compared to our more suave neighbors like LA. or Chicago, or New York.  We have none of the memorable landmarks that these cities have.  All we have are strip malls, parking lots, and miles and miles of cookie cutter suburbs.

The thing is that you don’t build up a reputation by bulldozing the old.  You care for the old, the damaged, you celebrate it.  I remember last year that opponents of the Dome pointed out how even the New York Yankees stadium had been bulldozed.  The thing is though that New York still has literally dozens of other landmarks to brag about.  We don’t.

So now the Dome will be bulldozed and in its place will probably be added more parking for the stadium next door.  Perhaps this then is our legacy to the future.  The city of parking lots, strip malls, and nondescript prefab housing.  We will be the model for the future cities of the world.  Bland, dull, interchangeable.

Posted in: Astrodome, Houston