How did a girl from Harlingen become Houston's hostess with the mostest? Sweetie, Becca Cason Thrash has always been the life of the party.

We wanted to see what the real lives of real people looked like, so we knocked on doors at random from Pasadena to Sharpstown. We said, "Please." They said, "Cheese." Here's what we came back with.

When I moved to Houston two years ago, I was expecting little in the way of Hispanic culture. Who knew it was such a good city for Latinos—better, even, than San Antonio?

So says Rusty Hardin, Houston’s defense attorney of the moment—the latest in a long line of courtroom heroes guilty of premeditated flamboyance and charisma in the first degree.

And not just any mall. The Marq*E Entertainment Center is a marvel of marketing: a teen-friendly hangout where kids from all over the city flock to shop, flirt, skateboard, and otherwise act their age.

The Bank of America Center and 24 other things I love about Houston.

Some people look at Houston and see only rough edges. Peter Marzio, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, sees a brash upstart that should be proud of its cultural riches.

How the new editor of the Houston Chronicle is trying to turn the page on the paper's past.

Houston, we don't have a problem.

Birders and their allies want to preserve the vanishing grassland of the farm and ranch country west of Houston, but time is running out.

Who will succeed Brown as the mayor of Houston? He'll probably be black or Hispanic, but he could be White.

Serving three of Houston's immigrant cuisines—Indian, Japanese, or Vietnamese—these restaurants put culinary adventure on the menu.

Sheila Jackson Lee can take the heat (but not pulled pork).

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is put under the microscope.

Tackling the ins and outs of Reliant Stadium.

My West University Place.