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Houston, Texas

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B&B, Hotels and Hostels in Houston, Texas

 

  
 

 

  

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Houston is a diverse and international city, in part because of its many academic institutions and strong biomedical, energy, manufacturing and aerospace industries. A port city, Houston also has large populations of immigrants from Mexico, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan and Vietnam. This influx of immigrants is partially responsible for Houston having a population younger than the national average.

Houston has two Chinatowns, as well as the third largest Vietnamese American population in the United States. Recent redevelopment of Midtown from run-down to upscale has increased property values and property taxes, but has also forced some Vietnamese-Americans into other areas of the city. The older downtown Chinatown is also disappearing.

About 90 languages are frequently spoken in the Houston area. Some neighbourhoods with high populations of Vietnamese and Chinese residents have Chinese and Vietnamese street signs in addition to English ones. Houston has the second highest South African population in the United States, after Miami, Florida. The city is also noted for its large Nigerian population, counting about 100,000 native Nigerians as residents.

 		  
     
   

The Hispanic population in Houston is increasing as more and more people from Latin American countries look for work in Houston — Houston has the third largest Hispanic population in the United States.

Houston is a popular gay destination and has the largest concentration of gay and lesbian (or LGBT) population in Texas and one of the largest in the country. The annual gay pride parade—one of the largest events in Houston—is held in June commemorating the struggle for gay liberation, gay rights, gay pride, and the Stonewall riots of the late 1960s in New York City. The event is held along Westheimer Road in the Montrose area. This area is also home to many gay establishments, such as restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and coffeehouses. A list of other popular gay and lesbian destinations world round has been included here

Aided by the popularity of the late hip-hop artist DJ Screw, Houston is known among youth, primarily in the South, as having its own distinctive style of hip-hop commonly known as screw music (referred to locally as simply "screw.") Many young Houstonians of all ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds in touch with local hip-hop culture may remember the advent of this form of Southern rap which began to take place around 1993, helping the city earn an appropriate nickname given by artists and fans: "Screwston."