There are many nicknames for the city of Houston, the largest city in Texas and fourth-largest city in the United States. The city's nicknames reflect its geography, economy, multicultural population, and popular culture, including sports and music. They are often used by the media and in popular culture to reference the city.
Houston currently has one official nickname, "Space City", signifying the city's global importance to space exploration and historical role as a prominent center of activity by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Cities adopt official nicknames such as this one to establish a civic identity, promote civic pride, and build community unity. [1] Houston has had other nicknames in the past which have faded in common usage, going as far back as the 1870s.
The city has recently accumulated several unofficial nicknames from among sub-groups within the city, including several whose origins are in the local hip-hop subculture. The most recently added nickname is "The Big Heart", which refers to assistance given by Houston and its citizens to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and 2006.
Houston received its official nickname of "Space City" in 1967 because it is home to NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center. [2] [3]
NASA's center in Houston has its origins in the Space Task Group which directed its first crewed spaceflight program, Project Mercury. In 1961, it grew into a bigger organization as the Manned Spacecraft Center, and in 1962 moved into a newly built campus on land donated by Rice University. [4] It was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in honor of Texas U.S. Senator, Vice President, and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, the year Johnson died. As Senate Majority Leader, Johnson played a decisive role in passage of the legislation which created NASA in 1958. JSC contains the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, which coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States, and directed all Space Shuttle missions and activities aboard the International Space Station. [5] The visitor's center of JSC is Space Center Houston. [6]
Some of the first words transmitted by Neil Armstrong from the Moon, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed", are written in 15 languages on bronze plaques placed along the main entrance of Tranquility Park in downtown Houston. A replica of one of the footprints left on the Moon by Neil Armstrong is also on display inside the park. [7]
The 3-letter abbreviation for the city, taken from the acronym for Hobby Airport.
Houston is popularly known as "The Bayou City" [8] (and less frequently as "Baghdad on the Bayou") [9] because it is home to ten winding waterways that flow through the surrounding area. Buffalo Bayou is the main waterway flowing through the city and has a significant place in Texas history, not only due to the founding place of the City of Houston, but also because the final battle for Texas Independence was fought along its banks. [10] Other major bayous in the city include White Oak Bayou, Brays Bayou and Sims Bayou. [11]
Houston is "becoming the cultural capital of the South," according to Worth, which praised the city for its thriving arts, cultural, culinary and design scenes. [12]
"H-Town" is a widely popular modern nickname for Houston. [13] It is commonly used in reference to the city both locally and internationally, especially within the entertainment community. In addition, the H-Town Blues Festival is a music festival held each year in the city, [14] and the H-Town Arena Theatre has hosted a variety of performing artists from around the country since the 1970s. [15] H-Town (with the "H" standing for Houston) is also the name of an R&B and hip hop band from Houston that was formed in 1992. [16]
"Hustle Town", another popular local nickname for Houston, is often used to reference the city's significance as an international center of commerce, trade, and more recently, music, art, and a rapidly growing population center that 'never seems to rest'. Houston is sometimes compared to larger, older cities and pop-cultural centers, sometimes being referred to as the "New York' or 'L.A' of the South", and is the fourth largest city in the United States, in terms of population size. The term 'Hustle Town' was popularized by Houston rapper SPM, following the release of Hustle Town in 1998, which was followed with a rise in the usage of the term in hip-hop music and culture in the Houston scene. The term is also often used by sports teams, corporations, slogans, or groups in Houston, such as the Houston Astros, with the phrase "Welcome to Hustle Town", which can be seen painted on the south side of Minute Maid Park.
The nickname of "Clutch City" was given to the city of Houston after the Houston Rockets won the 1994 and 1995 NBA championships. The moniker was adopted in response to a front-page headline in the Houston Chronicle declaring Houston to be "Choke City". [17] It was revived in 2005, as the Houston Astros had a late-season rally to win the pennant and clinch their first-ever World Series appearance, and again in 2006, when the Houston Dynamo won the MLS Cup in their inaugural season. [18]
The Rockets' mascot, "Clutch the Bear", was named the 5th-most recognizable mascot in sports by USA Today in February 2005, and was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006. [19]
Crush City is a nickname that derived from the 2015 Houston Astros season. "Crush" is a reference to the high number of home runs delivered by the Houston Astros, as the team ended with the second most home runs in MLB.
"Magnolia City" is one of the earliest of Houston's many nicknames. The Texas World, a newspaper first published in 1900, is said to have labeled Houston "the Magnolia City", [20] but the nickname had been in use among the locals since the 1870s. [21] Areas of east Houston, particularly Harrisburg and Magnolia Park, were once natural Magnolia forests that were wiped out by urban sprawl by the 1920s. The nickname is still sometimes used in media stories about the city. [20]
The nickname "Capital of the Sunbelt" (also "Golden Buckle on the Sun Belt") [22] appeared during the boomtown years when the city experienced rapid growth. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] In the late 1970s, Houston was experiencing a population increase, as people from Rust Belt states moved en masse into Texas. [28] The new residents mostly came for the numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, resulting from the Arab Oil Embargo. [29]
The "Big Heart" is a nickname Houston earned in 2005–06 among many of the storm victims from Louisiana and other affected areas who sought refuge there in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. [30] Angelo Edwards, vice chair of the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association, said, "No other city really provided the resources and assistance Houston has." [30]
Houston housed, fed and mended more than 150,000 survivors in an effort that won acclaim throughout the United States, mounting what is believed to be the biggest shelter operation in the country's history, including Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH)-like mega-clinics that took on problems ranging from emergency care to eyeglass prescriptions. [30]
"This has been a real success story", said Houston Mayor Bill White. "So many Houstonians stepped up to help our neighbors from Louisiana. It was humbling, and it showed the world the big heart and the incredible talent of our city." [31]
The "City of Lean" nickname (also "Lean City") refers to the enjoyment of codeine-laced cough syrup, sometimes called purple drank, that has been popular in Houston and is associated with some rap artists. [32] [33] Houston rap artist Big Moe used this nickname for the title of his 2000 album City of Syrup , whose cover featured an image of purple ooze being poured over the Houston skyline. [34]
"Houstone" is generally used to refer to members of the Texas prison gang "Tango Blast". However, "Houstone" is also used amongst them to claim Houston as their city as a form of identification.
Coined by food writer John T. Edge in Oxford American: [35] "... a name that combines the city's embrace of the variety and splendor of the foods from our immigrant communities and our penchant for crossing the lines and boundaries between not only different cuisines but between high-dollar and low-brow fare." [36]
"Ozone City" is a more recent nickname used in Punk, Alternative, and art circles. Its exact origins are unknown, but likely in reference to Houston's high Ozone count and air pollution. [37]
"Screwston" is a popular modern nickname for the city of Houston. [38] It is widely known by fans of local hip-hop artist DJ Screw and his style of music, known as "chopped and screwed". [39]
Houston is considered by many to be "The Energy Capital of the World," [40] because the city is home to more than 5,000 energy-related firms. [41] The city is a leading domestic and international center for virtually every segment of the oil and gas industry—exploration, production, transmission, marketing, service, supply, offshore drilling, and technology. [42] [43]
Houston dominates U.S. oil and gas exploration and production and is unrivaled in the American energy industry. [44] It is home to more than 3,600 energy-related establishments. Houston is also home to 13 of the nation's 20 largest natural gas transmission companies, 600 exploration and production firms and more than 170 pipeline operators. [42] [43] Houston also hosts the annual Offshore Technology Conference which is the world's largest energy-related trade show.[ citation needed ]
Houston is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat and largest city of Harris County; as well as the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth. With a population of 2,314,157 in 2023, Houston is the fourth-most populous city in the United States after New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the sixth-most populous city in North America. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle.
Pasadena is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Harris County. It is part of the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 151,950, making it the twentieth most populous city in Texas and the second most populous in Harris County. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of Galveston, who named the area after Pasadena, California, because of the perceived lush vegetation.
Baytown is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Harris and Chambers counties. Located in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, it lies on the northern side of the Galveston Bay complex near the outlets of the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou. It is the sixth-largest city within this metropolitan area and seventh largest community. Major highways serving the city include State Highway 99, State Highway 146 and Interstate 10. At the 2020 U.S. census, Baytown had a population of 83,701, and it had an estimated population of 84,324 in 2022.
Katy is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in the Greater Katy area, itself forming the western part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Homes and businesses may have Katy postal addresses without being in the City of Katy. The city of Katy is approximately centered at the tripoint of Harris, Fort Bend, and Waller counties. Katy had a population of 21,894 at the 2020 U.S. census, up from 14,102 in 2010.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas, where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late US president and Texas native, Lyndon B. Johnson, by an act of the United States Senate on February 19, 1973.
The city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas was founded in 1837 after Augustus and John Allen had acquired land to establish a new town at the junction of Buffalo and White Oak bayous in 1836. Houston served as the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas. Meanwhile, the town developed as a regional transportation and commercial hub. Houston was part of an independent nation until 1846 when the United States formally annexed Texas. Railroad development began in the late 1850s but ceased during the American Civil War. Houston served the Confederacy as a regional military logistics center. The population increased during the war and blockade runners used the town as a center for their operations.
Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The 1.84-square-mile (4.8 km2) district, enclosed by the aforementioned highways, contains the original townsite of Houston at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, a point known as Allen's Landing. Downtown has been the city's preeminent commercial district since its founding in 1836.
Clear Lake, or the Clear Lake Area, is a region in parts of Harris and Galveston County in Texas, United States. It is part of the Galveston Bay Area, which itself is a section of the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. The area is geographically characterized by the bodies of water in it and around it, including Clear Lake, Taylor Lake, Clear Creek, and Galveston Bay.
The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instructor of the university and former head football coach, John R. Bender after one of his former teams, Washington State later adopted the mascot and nickname. The teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of the Big 12 Conference.
The Memorial area of Houston, Texas is located west of Downtown, northwest of Uptown, and south of Spring Branch. The Memorial Super Neighborhood, as defined by the City of Houston, is bounded by Buffalo Bayou to the south, Barker Reservoir to the west, Westview to the north, and the Memorial Villages, a contiguous group of independent municipalities, to the east.
Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes in terms of barometric pressure ever recorded, Rita was the seventeenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season. It was also the earliest-forming 17th named storm in the Atlantic until Tropical Storm Rene in 2020. Rita formed near The Bahamas from a tropical wave on September 18, 2005 that originally developed off the coast of West Africa. It moved westward, and after passing through the Florida Straits, Rita entered an environment of abnormally warm waters. Moving west-northwest, it rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 180 mph (285 km/h), achieving Category 5 status on September 21. However, it weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana, between Sabine Pass, Texas and Holly Beach, Louisiana, with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Rapidly weakening over land, Rita degenerated into a large low-pressure area over the lower Mississippi Valley by September 26th.
Kenneth Doniell Moore, better known by his stage name Big Moe, was an American rapper from Houston, Texas.
Hermann Park is a 445-acre (180-hectare) urban park in Houston, Texas, situated at the southern end of the Museum District. The park is located immediately north of the Texas Medical Center and Brays Bayou, east of Rice University, and slightly west of the Third Ward. Hermann Park is home to numerous cultural institutions including the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Hermann Park Golf Course, which became one of the first desegregated public golf courses in the United States in 1954. The park also features the Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool, numerous gardens, picnic areas, and McGovern Lake, an 8-acre (32,000 m2) recreational lake.
Allen's Landing is the officially recognized birthplace of the city of Houston, Texas, United States, the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States. Located in Downtown Houston between the Main Street and Fannin Street viaducts, the landing encompasses the southern bank of Buffalo Bayou, the city's principal river, at its confluence with White Oak Bayou, a major tributary. Allen's Landing is located south of the University of Houston–Downtown Commerce Street Building.
The economy ofHouston is based primarily on the energy industry, particularly oil. However, health care, biomedical research, and aerospace also constitute large sectors. In 2021, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was 537 U.S. dollars billion, the fourth-largest of any metro area in the United States. The Houston metropolitan area comprises the largest concentration of petrochemical manufacturing in the world, including for synthetic rubber, insecticides, and fertilizers. It is the world's leading center for oilfield equipment construction, with the city of Houston home to more than 3,000 energy-related businesses, including many of the top oil and gas exploration and production firms and petroleum pipeline operators. As of 2011, 23 companies on the Fortune 500 list have their headquarters in, or around, Houston.
Houston is a multicultural city with a thriving international community supported by the third largest concentration of consular offices in the United States, representing 86 nations. In addition to historical Southeast Texas culture, Houston became the fourth-most populous city in the United States. Officially, Houston is nicknamed the "Space City" as it is home to NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, where Mission Control Center is located. "Houston" was the first word spoken on the Moon. Many locals refer to Houston as "Bayou City." Other nicknames include "H-Town", "Clutch City", and "Magnolia City".
Lean or purple drank is a polysubstance drink used as a recreational drug. It is prepared by mixing prescription-grade cough or cold syrup containing an opioid drug and an anti-histamine drug with a soft drink and sometimes hard candy. The beverage originated in Houston as early as the 1960s and is popular in hip hop culture, especially within the Southern United States. Codeine/promethazine syrup is usually used to make lean, but other syrups are also used.
The climate of Houston is classified as a humid subtropical climate, with tropical influences. August normally ranks as the warmest month at an average temperature of 95 °F (35 °C) and January the coldest month at an average temperature of 63 °F (17 °C).
The Galveston Bay Area, also known as Bay Area Houston or simply the Bay Area, is a region that surrounds the Galveston Bay estuary of Southeast Texas in the United States, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. Normally the term refers to the mainland communities around the bay and excludes Galveston as well as most of Houston.
Armand Bayou Nature Center is an urban preserve located in Pasadena and southeast Houston between the Johnson Space Center and the Bayport Industrial District. The 2,500-acre (10 km2) nature center is the largest urban wilderness preserve in the United States.
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