Houston, Texas | Imamother

nylon

Mon, Aug 25 2008, 10:41 pm

What I know - there are 2 Orthodox areas, neither very black hat AFAIK. One is Meyerland, at the SW corner of the 610 loop. There are a few shuls there, I know of 2 MO ones. The area is nice and overall very Jewish, frum and not. Most of this area is zoned to Bellaire HS which is one of the best high schools in Houston ISD--even though you won't be sending there, this is important as it pushes up prices.

The other is in Fondren Southwest, near YI of Houston (also Chabad and Sephardic shuls). This is an area where you have to be careful. The area immediately surrounding the shul is fine, but parts of it have a crime problem, particularly some of the apartment complexes on Fondren. It's a little further out, closer to the beltway. The YI website is very informative. My understanding is that it's the frummer area but even so nothing like what you'd see in New York or LA.

The important things to know about Houston: it is VERY sprawling, the traffic is bad and you have to drive everywhere. The nice new subdivisions you may have heard of are out in places like Sugar Land and The Woodlands--nowhere near the Jewish areas which are older. Housing is very cheap, though especially in Meyerland there are teardowns which are pricier. Houston does not have zoning laws and this means that everything is mixed up and you will drive past some very not-tzniusdik places! If you're coming from up north, the weather will be very tough. I've been to Houston in July and I couldn't breathe. It is hot, humid, and polluted. But, winter is barely noticeable.

Last edited by nylon on Tue, Aug 26 2008, 3:00 pm; edited 1 time in total