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 Did You Know ?
Some People call it:
Space City, H. Town, Bayou City, We called it Home!
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 is the largest city in Texas, the fourth largest in the
United States, and the second-largest economic area of the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
The city is the county seat of Harris County,the third most populous county in the country. A portion of southwest Houston extends into FortBend County and a small portion in the northeast extends into Montgomery County.
In 1900, Houston's population was about 45,000 making it the 85th largest city in the United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 1.9 million (though a July 1, 2004 U.S. Census estimate placed the city's population at morethan 2 million).
Houston is the main cultural and economic center of the Houston–SugarLand–Baytown MetropolitanArea, which is the seventh largest metropolitan area in the United Stateswith a population of about 5.2 million in ten counties.
Note: Hurricane Katrina evacuees have swelled the city proper's population past 2.5 million. It is unclear how that variable will fluctuate in the coming months.
 Each year more than38 million people zip in and out of Houston's two major airports.
Compared to the national average, and statistics showing Houstonians eat out more than any other city's population.
The only city in which eating out is cheaper than Houston is New Orleans Louisiana.
While here you can choose to indulge in one of the more than 11,000 restaurants ranging from award-winning and upscale to memorable deli shops.
Tourism
 Houston has a Theater District Known for the vibrancy of its visual and performing arts, Houston's theater district is ranked second in the country. Behind New York Cityin the amount of theater seats in a concentrated downtown area.
Houston is also one of only five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines (the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, and The Alley Theatre).
Houston widely recognized as the nation's third most important city for contemporary visual arts.
The city is a prime stop for touring companies from Broadway; concerts and shows, from The Rolling Stones to Cirque du Soleil; and exhibitions for a variety of interests, ranging from the nation's largest quilting show to auto, boat and home shows.
Adjacent to the Texas Medical Center is the Museum District, including Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Contemporary Arts Museum, The Menil Collection, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Houston is also home to several multicultural arts organizations.
More than 90 languages are spoken throughout the Houston area.
Space Center Houston is the official visitors’ center of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
Space Center Houston includes many interactive exhibits — including moon rocks and a shuttle simulator — in additionto special presentations that tell the story of NASA's manned
space flight program. It also features Texas’ largest IMAX theater.
 Houston's many parks include Hermann Park, which has a Zoo, a museumof natural science, and
a planetarium.
The civic center was replaced by the George R. Brown Convention Center, one of the nation's largest; and the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, home of the symphony orchestra.
Other tourist attractions include The Galleria, a huge enclosed shopping mall noted for its luxury stores andOld Market Square.
The San Jacinto battlefieldis in the nearby city of DeerPark.
The Port of Houston offers free, 90-minute cruises (except on Mondays and during September).
Less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico, Houston is close to sunny beaches, one of the nation's largest concentrations of pleasure boats, and tourist attractions such as the Kemah Boardwalkand Galveston Island.
 Energy Capital of the world
Houston is world renowned for its energy (particularly oil) and aeronautics industries and for its ship channel.
The Port of Houston is the sixth largest port in the world. It is the busiest port in the United States in foreign tonnage and second in overall tonnage.
Second only to New York City in Fortune 500headquarters, Houston is home to the TexasMedicalCenter— the world's largest and most important concentration of research and health care institutions.
Houston has much to offer, including the lowest cost of living and the least-expensive housing among 27 major U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1.7 million.
Houston was named a "Gamma World City" (Global City) by the
Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network(GaWC).
 Famous Houstonians
See:
List of famous people raised in Houston.
College & University
See:
List of colleges and universities.
Much of Houston is served by the Houston Community College System, which is one of the largestcommunity college systems in the United States.
Airports
Houston is served by George Bush Intercontinental Airportand
William P. Hobby Airport. Bush Intercontinental handles all of the
city's international traffic, while Hobby services shorter-haul routes.
Hobby is also the only airport in the city served by Southwest Airlines.
Bush Intercontinental is the hub airport for Continental Airlines,
which is headquartered in Houston.
Sports
Houston is home to the Houston Astros, Houston Texans, Houston Rockets, Houston Comets, and Houston Aeros, all of whom are playing in newstate-of-the-art stadiums.
Minute Maid Park(home of the Astros) and
Toyota Center(home of the Rockets, Comets and Aeros) are located Downtown,
contributing to an urban renaissance that has transformed Houston's center into
a day-and-night destination.
Rice Stadium, at Rice University, was the home to Super Bowl VIII, and Super Bowl XXXVIII was played at the Reliant Stadium in February 2004.
Other sports facilities in Houston are Hofheinz Pavilion, Reliant Astrodome, and Robertson Stadium.
Beginning in 2006, the Champ Car auto racing series will return to Houston for a yearly race.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License
It uses material from the Wikipedia Houston TexasArticle.
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