Neartown is an area located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States and is one of the city's major cultural areas. Neartown is roughly bounded by U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, Bagby Street on the east, and Shepherd Drive to the west. Neartown neighborhoods include Montrose, Courtlandt Place, Winlow Place, Hyde Park, Cherryhurst, and First Montrose Commons.[1]
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Neartown is considered one of the eccentric and demographically diverse areas of Houston. In recent decades, the area hosts a significant community of young adults, gay men and lesbians, punk rockers, artists, as well as a vibrant thrift, vintage, and second-hand shopping area.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Neartown was known for its Bohemian flavor—this would spawn both the Westheimer Colony Art Festival in 1971 and the subsequent street fair in 1973, which would become known as the Westheimer Street Festival. Starting in the 1990s , the area has become increasingly gentrified with a trend towards remodeled and new homes, high rents, upmarket boutiques and restaurants.
Neartown has many of Houston's oldest neighborhoods. The Neartown Association began in 1963.[2] Thorne Dreyer and Al Reinert of Texas Monthly said that Neartown's history "wound a tortuous course from Silk Stocking and Low Rent and back again."[3]
Houston's urban real estate boom starting in the 1990s transformed Neartown and significantly increased property values. The area around the intersection of Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer Road went from being a place of abandoned buildings, sexually-oriented businesses, and low rent; to a neighborhood of yuppies and new condominium construction. Inner Loop neighborhoods are a prime market for redevelopment increasing the median home price to $230,200 in 2005.
A majority of townhouses were built in the Midtown area east of Neartown. Before the Westheimer Street Festival's demise in the early 2000s, some Neartown residents voiced concerns about the festival affecting their quality of life, ranging from street parking to traffic gridlock.
From the United States Census 2000 demographics, about one-quarter of the residents are homeowners. Three quarters are renters including many students from the University of Houston, Rice University, and the University of Saint Thomas, and employees working at the Texas Medical Center, Downtown Houston, and Greenway Plaza. The area is ethnically diverse, with primarily Latinos, Filipinos, and Whites living in the area.
The City of Houston's Planning Department refers to the Neartown area as a mixed-use community which serves as a model for other neighborhoods to follow. Since the 1990s gentrification, the demographics of renters have changed. Due to higher rents, musicians and artists are increasingly being replaced with yuppies and professionals (attorneys, educators, medical professionals). Other Houston neighborhoods, such as Meyerland, Westbury, and Second Ward (east of Downtown Houston) have become popular for the artistic and gay and lesbian communities as Neartown became more expensive. Twenty-three working artists resided in Neartown during 2006, according to a Houston Chronicle survey.
According to the Neartown Association, the area's character is often likened to the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City.[2]
Thorne Dreyer and Al Reinert of Texas Monthly described Neartown (they referred to it as Montrose) as "the strangest neighborhood east of the Pecos" and "the strangest neighborhood in Texas" in 1973.[5] Dreyer and Reinert said that Neartown, at various times, was "a haven for Prohibition honkey-tonks, antique stores, wealthy socialites, motorcycle gangs, gays, harmless eccentrics and a broad array of exiles, writers, artists and musicians." The two also said that Neartown "nourished Houston's creativity" since the time when O. Henry was employed at the Houston Post.[3] Writing in Cite Magazine in 2010, Thorne Dreyer called the Montrose "a uniquely Houston kind of Bohemia, a mad mix made possible by the city's no-holds-barred, laissez faire form of growth."
Adjacent to the community is the River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston's first shopping center, located in the Neartown community, east of River Oaks.[6] Constructed in 1927 and designed by architect Hugh Prather, the center, originally known as River Oaks Community Center, was one of the nation's first automobile-oriented retail centers. Its design, with arcs of retail space on either side of West Gray Avenue, was considered a model for future development.[4][7][8] Portions of the historic shopping center were demolished in September 2007 to redevelop the site for bookstore and a parking garage. As of 2008, Landmark Theatres operates the River Oaks Theatre, an "arthouse" theater, located in the center. The theater is the last historic movie theater in Houston that is still being used as it was originally designed.[9]
As of 2006, according to some children in the Neartown area, as reported by the Houston Chronicle, Crazy Crew has around 100 members and is made up of mostly Hispanics. No girls are allowed in the gang. Crazy Crew is a family affair with the low income residents in the Neartown, with brothers and uncles together. The group is known for minor crimes. The "boundaries" of the gang are, as of 2006, roughly Richmond Avenue, West Alabama Street, Mandell Street, and South Shepherd Street. On June 6, 2006, Crazy Crew gained notoriety when a girl associated with Crazy Crew members, 16-year old (at the time) Ashley Paige Benton, killed a 15-year old boy named Gabriel Granillo in the Ervan Chew Park in Neartown.[10] Granillo, who associated with a group of MS-13 members, died after Benton stabbed him with a knife. The altercation began at Lamar High School. After police forced the gangs members to leave, the members drove to Ervan Chew Park through stop signs and red traffic lights.[10][11][12][13]
According to "Greñas," a member of a group calling itself "MS-13" testifying at Benton's trial, his friends did not fear Crazy Crew because his members did not believe that Crazy Crew was a "real" gang; his friends referred to Crazy Crew as "little kids from Lamar." Benton was a student at Lamar since April 17 of that year, before the stabbing.[14][15]
Neartown is southwest of Downtown Houston.[3] The Neartown Association area is roughly bounded by U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, Bagby Street on the east, and Shepherd Drive to the west. Neartown neighborhoods include Montrose, Courtlandt Place, Winlow Place, Hyde Park, Cherryhurst. and First Montrose Commons.[4] According to the Neartown Association, the area's character is often likened to the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. The Neartown neighborhood at Van Buren Street was the Houston Press "Best Hidden Neighborhood" in 2002.[16]
In 1973 Neartown had what Thorne Dreyer and Al Reinert of the Texas Monthly described as "old buildings ranging all the way from Victorian Epic to Ramshackle Plywood." During that era locals disputed the community's boundaries. Thorne Dreyer and Al Reinert of Texas Monthly described Neartown as "that kind of neighborhood: people either want in or out of it." In 1973 the two said "generally speaking" that the boundaries would be Shepherd Drive, Smith Street, U.S. Route 59 (Southwest Freeway), and West Gray. The area consists of 7.5 square miles (19 km2) and, in 1973, had around 30,000 residents. Dreyer and Reinert said "The spatial boundaries are relatively easy to determine—Exxon makes maps that help with those—it's the spiritual borders that are hard to fix."[3]
At that time the "Westheimer Strip" was a commercial area along Westheimer Road. Dreyer and Reinert said that Neartown became "identified" with a group of European-style restaurants and sidewalk cafés along five blocks of that strip; many of the restaurants were housed in renovated pre-World War I houses. The two said that the establishments are giving Neartown the title "Houston's Left Bank" "not altogether deservedly." They added that the restaurants and "an electric assortment of" antique stores, boutiques, specialty shops, "and the like" give the Westheimer commercial avenue "a little cosmopolitan flash to an otherwise languid Boomtown." Non-Americans started the sidewalk café phenomenon in Neartown.[3]
The community is within the Houston Police Department's Central Patrol Division,[17] headquartered at 61 Riesner.[18] The Neartown Storefront Station is located at 802 Westheimer.[18] The City of Houston purchased the building used for the storefront with federal community development funds. By September 20, 1990 the Neartown Business Alliance spent around $4,000 per year to maintain the storefront.[19]
Houston Fire Department Fire Station 16 serves the area. The fire station is in Fire District 6.[20] The station opened at the intersection of Westheimer Road and Yupon in 1928. The station moved to the intersection of Richmond and Dunlavy in 1979.[21]
City Council District D covers Neartown.[22] As of 2008 Wanda Adams represents the district.[23]
Harris County Precinct One, as of 2008 headed by El Franco Lee, serves Neartown. The county operates the Neartown Office at 1413 Westheimer Road.[24]
A portion of Neartown is located in District 134 of the Texas House of Representatives. As of 2008 Ellen Cohen represents the district.[25] A portion of Neartown is located in District 147 of the Texas House of Representatives. As of 2008, Garnet F. Coleman represents the district.[26] Neartown is located in District 13 of the Texas Senate.[27] As of 2008 its representative is Rodney Ellis.
The community is located within Texas's 7th congressional district.[28] As of 2008 the representative is John Culberson. The United States Postal Service operates two post offices, the University Post Office at 1319 Richmond Avenue and the River Oaks Station Post Office at 1900 West Gray Street, in Neartown.[4][29][30] The River Oaks post office sits on a 109,159 square feet (10,141.2 m2) property with a gross building area of 18,098 square feet (1,681.4 m2). In January 2009 the USPS announced that it will put the River Oaks Post Office property up for sale.[31] In October of that year the USPS announced that it, for now, will not sell the River Oaks post office.[32]
The headquarters of Baker Hughes is in the America Tower at the American General Center.[4][33] Service Corporation International has its headquarters in Neartown.[4][34]
On July 1, 1983 Continental Airlines's headquarters were located at the America Tower in the Neartown area of Houston, and would remain there until the relocation to Continental Center I in Downtown Houston, announced by the airline in 1997, that occurred in stages in 1998 and 1999.[35][36][37][38][39]
The studios of KHOU-TV are located along Allen Parkway in Neartown.[4][40]
Neartown is home to the University of Saint Thomas.
Neartown is also close to Rice University, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the University of Houston, Texas Southern University, Houston Community College Central, and University of Houston–Downtown.
Pupils in Neartown are in the Houston Independent School District.[4] Neartown is divided among Trustee District IV, represented by Paula M. Harris as of 2008, Trustee District V, represented by Dianne Johnson as of 2008, and Trustee District VIII, represented by Diana Dávila as of 2008.[41]
Gregory-Lincoln Education Center (in the Fourth Ward),[42] MacGregor Elementary School,[43] Poe Elementary School (in Boulevard Oaks),[44] Wharton Elementary School (in Neartown),[45] and Wilson Elementary School (in Neartown) serve separate sections of Neartown.[46]
Pupils in Neartown reside within the boundaries of three middle-school attendance areas.Lanier Middle School (in Neartown), Ryan Middle School (in the Third Ward), and Gregory-Lincoln Education Center serve separate sections of Neartown.[47][48][49] All Neartown area pupils are zoned to Lamar High School in Upper Kirby.[50] High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet high school, is in Montrose.
For a period, Montrose Elementary School was in the Montrose area in Neartown.[51] Southmore Elementary School opened in 1921, Wilson in 1925, Lanier in 1926, Poe in 1928, and Wharton in 1929. Southmore was renamed MacGregor Elementary School in 1930 and Lamar opened in 1937. Ryan opened in 1958 after Yates High School moved to a new campus. Gregory-Lincoln opened in 1966, and Gregory-Lincoln's current facility opened in 2007.[2][52] Before the start of the 2009–2010 school year J. Will Jones, which formerly served a section of Neartown,[53] was consolidated into Blackshear Elementary School, a campus in the Third Ward.[54][55] During its final year of enrollment J. Will Jones had more students than Blackshear. Many J. Will Jones parents referred to Blackshear as "that prison school" and said that they will not send their children to Blackshear.[56]
The area also houses the Annunciation Orthodox School (a K-8 private school).
The Kinkaid School was located in the Neartown area until 1957 when the school moved to Piney Point Village. [1]
The administrative offices of the Houston Public Library are located in the Marston Building in Neartown.[4][57][58] The City of Houston spent $1.3 million to renovate the Marston Building to accommodate HPL staff.[59] The administration moved to the building after the Central Library was scheduled to close in 2006.[57]
The Eleanor K. Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library of Houston Public Library is at 4100 Montrose Boulevard.[60]
The Houston Chronicle is the area regional newspaper.
The River Oaks Examiner is a local newspaper distributed in the community [2].
Legacy Community Health Services [3]
Montrose Counseling Center [4]
Ervan Chew Park, a fenced-in, approximately 9,000-square-foot (840 m2) park, is located at 4502 Dunlavy Street.[61] The park (originally Herbert D. Dunlavy Park) was acquired by the City of Houston in 1945. In February 2000 the park was renamed for Ervan Chew, a Chinese-American Eagle Scout who grew up in the area and won the Silver Beaver Award, which was delivered by Ronald Reagan, in 1986; Chew died at age 42 in January 1999.[62] Chew Park has a basketball half court, small soccer (football) field, a dog park and a baseball diamond. Ervan Chew Park has little league games and dog parties.[63] The Neartown Little League, located in Neartown, holds its games at Chew Park.[63][64] Chew Park was the first park to let dogs run without leashes in a special zone. The Friends of Ervan Chew Park funded the dog zone, which was dedicated in May 2004.[61]
In 2006 the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center was moved from the Houston Department of Health and Human Services to the Houston Parks and Recreation Department. It became the West Gray Adaptive Recreation Center.[65]
