Our Town
Lauren Anderson, Robert Mosbacher, Sr., and other local celebrities share what they love about Houston.
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I JUST ENJOY THE PEOPLE overall. When I first moved to Houston twenty years ago, people told me that, and I didn't know what they were talking about. And now, since I've lived here twenty plus years, I really notice that when I visit other cities, the people just aren't as friendly. And the pace, I think, is nice. The one thing about Houston that is really amazing is the music. Particularly, I love chamber music. Between groups like DaCamera of Houston, which does really innovative programming, and the Shepherd School at Rice University, you can go almost any day of the week. This is hard to believe, but most of it is free. In other words, if you are starving for culture, you just haven't looked. It's really everywhere. And that's just the music. You have the museums, all the visual arts, the theaters downtown. I went to the Shepherd School of Music one Sunday afternoon and saw these incredible players with only about 120 other people in a small recital hall. It was embarrassing that it was free. I just walked in, sat down, and said, "This is unbelievable." I think sometimes people from other cities, maybe outside of Texas, think that it's just cactus and cowboys down here. Then you tell them about all the things going on that are available to everyone. I think it's fascinating that the arts don't exist for just a small circle of privileged people, but for everyone. I think that's special.
Robert Del Grande is an owner and chef of Cafe Annie.
I LOVE OLD HOUSTON AND the trees. The other thing I really love about Houston is the culture. Houston has amazing museums and theater and ballet and opera. I'm new to the city, I haven't even lived in Houston a year yet, so I'm just finding my way. Houston is very welcoming, amazingly so. I'm still finding out about it. I think it's entrepreneurial, encouraging of new ideas. People are more ready to say yes, rather than no, to a new idea. I'm really impressed with it as a city.
Actress Lois Chiles was born in Houston and grew up in Alice.
FIRST OF ALL, THIS IS an entrepreneurial city. It's a place where people do compete and sometimes win. So it is entrepreneurial. It's an energetic city. But energy doesn't amount to anything unless you're also questing after something. And this is a questing city, also. It is a city that has risen to the occasion. It is not cowed by adversity. It is an inclusive city. It accepts newcomers—like me and others—into the fold readily. But it is inclusive in a sense that it is a city that is trying to show how to make a multiethnic community work—that is Anglos, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. And while we are not perfect, everybody is trying to make it work. The next to last one might make some people snicker, smug people from New England might snicker, but Houston is cosmopolitan. Not in the Old World, European sense, or even in the New England sense, but in a twenty-first century, internationalist sense, because it's a city where people in science and arts and business are energized by working across diverse cultures. And finally it's a giving community. This is a community that is incredibly active in a philanthropic sense, even in today's economy, in which the wherewithal is limited compared with three years ago. These are the things that I like about Houston, and they come to mind fairly readily.
Malcolm Gillis is the president of Rice University.
I'VE LIVED IN HOUSTON FOR three and a half years, and it is by far the friendliest place I have ever lived. It is an open city; people are warm to newcomers. I've lived in Dallas, St. Louis, São Paulo, and Hong Kong. I spent a long time in Dallas, and the differences between Houston and Dallas are pretty dramatic. People are polite here every place you go. They are friendly and polite and kind. Another thing that I really like about Houston is its tremendous diversity, which is a wonderful strength. I love Houston. It is entrepreneurial and it has this wonderful can-do spirit. If Houston has a problem, Houston is going to fix it.
Deborah Cannon is the chairman-elect of the Greater Houston Partnership board of directors.
THE THING I LIKE THE most about Houston is that though it is a big city, no doubt about that, it's got a real small-town attitude. The people are laid-back. It's not cosmopolitan like some other big Texas cities. It has an old cowtown feel to it. That's really what I like about Houston. The baseball fans are generally pretty good. Texas is a football state, first and foremost, but as long as the team is winning and playing well, the fans are generally pretty supportive. People in Texas like to see winners, and you've got to win to bring people to the games. I just really enjoy living here.
Lance Berkman is an outfielder for the Houston Astros.
I CONSIDER MYSELF FORTUNATE TO have lived and worked in Houston for the past thirty years, just about my entire professional life. I'm forever grateful that back in the early seventies, Houston Grand Opera was willing to take a chance on naming a 27-year-old former singer and business school graduate as its second general director. I have chosen to stay in Houston because the possibilities for growth and change —and that ever-present sure-let's-go-for-it attitude —offered me a better opportunity to contribute to the operatic art form than I thought possible elsewhere.
I have found Houston to be remarkably convenient, relaxed, and congenial. Theaters, museums, concerts, and restaurants are better than in all but three or four other American cities. Corporations and foundations do a wonderful job of charitable giving, making possible magnificent medical, educational, and cultural facilities. Houstonians support charitable fundraisers to an unequalled extent.
Living inside the loop, I am ten minutes away from work, the performing arts, museums, world-class restaurants, and some of the finest medical facilities known to man. And forty minutes away is Galveston Bay, with an atmosphere a world apart.
David Gockley is the general director of the Houston Grand Opera.
IT'S THE SPIRIT THAT I love, and the versatility of the city. Houston has everything, from the opera to the rodeo and from a great port to all kinds of things. But I guess what I love most about the city is that it gave me a chance. I came from a family that was not an important family, not a rich family, it was a good family. And Houston gave me a chance through hard work and ability to become a great trial lawyer. So that is what I love about Houston. I have lived here all my life. I graduated from Lamar High School, went to Rice for my undergraduate degree, and then went to the University of Houston for law school. I've been here my whole life, and I love the place and I love the people. I love the spirit. It is a can-do city, we-will-not-quit city, we-see-a-problem-we-will-find-some-way-to-solve-it city. The oil industry went into the toilet in the eighties, and everyone thought it wasn't going to come back. Houston simply diversified and became a major international trading city. It developed a medical center that is so renowned people come from other countries for treatment. Houston has a great spirit. That's what I love about my city. The winters are great. So the summers are too hot and sweltering, but I prefer that to freezing winters and having to put chains on my tires.
The people here are friendly. It's not like being in New York City. You can stop a stranger on the street and ask for help and that person will probably help even though there is nothing in it for him. I just think it's the best. As far as history, this was the first capital of Texas. It was named after General Sam Houston, who helped create Texas. It's had colorful characters throughout the years, all the way from Glen McCarthy, the great wildcatter, to Jesse Jones, who Franklin Delano Roosevelt selected to be the Secretary of Treasury. I can give example after example of somebody from Houston who did something spectacular. We went to the moon from NASA. And the people are tolerant and they treat each other with fairness. There has never been any extreme racial conflict in Houston because we've always found a way to accommodate the likes and interests of everybody. In some ways Houston is a conservative place, but it's a tolerant place. It's not the right wing of the Republican party. It's the moderate Republicans and the conservative Democrats who run this city. They set the tone. There is a lot to be proud about Houston, but my favorite part about Houston is that it allowed a little kid, me, who had no real hope or opportunity, through a good education and hard work, to go to the top of my profession. That's pretty amazing. There are not many places in the world that will let you do that. It's a great thing.
John O'Quinn is the state's best-known plaintiffs lawyer. He grew up in Houston.
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