"The Heights" Houston

Monter et descendre en voiture le long du Heights Boulevard ; histoire de ne pas quitter Houston sur une mauvaise impression.

Le quartier a été planifié par un entrepreneur privé comme un ensemble résidentiel et paysager dès 1891. Comme le Coral Gables de Miami ou le quartier de Royal Oaks à Houston, le temps et un double principe de sédimentation urbaine et végétale a fait son oeuvre.
Quartier pauvre dans les années 1970, le quartier est aujourd'hui en cours de gentrification. Les maisons sont plus demandées et les prix montent.
Sous les frondaisons, dans le silence de ce quartier arboré, Houston cesse soudain d'être une caricature d'elle-même.



Extrait de la notice wikipédia
"Houston Heights (often referred to simply as "The Heights") is a community located in northwest-central Houston, Texas (USA). "The Heights" is often referred to colloquially to describe a larger collection of neighborhoods adjacent to and including the actual Houston Heights. However, Houston Heights has its own history, distinct from Norhill and Woodland Heights.
[...]
By 1891 millionaire Oscar Martin Carter and a group of investors established the Omaha and South Texas Land Company. The company purchased 1,756 acres (7.11 km2) of land and established infrastructure, including alleys, parks, schools, streets and utilities. When Houston Heights was founded, it was a streetcar suburb of Houston which attracted people who did not wish to live in the dense city. It had its own municipality until the City of Houston annexed the Heights in 1919.
After World War II industrial interests moved into the Houston Heights. Marilyn Bardsley of Crime Library stated that the Houston Heights became "decrepit" and "tired" after World War II.In the 1970s the Houston Heights was considered to be a low income area of the city.
 [...]
Since the 1990s, and similar to other parts of Houston inside the 610 Loop, the Heights has experienced gentrification, a process ongoing to this day, as young highly-paid professionals (many of whom work in Downtown Houston) have flocked to the area, purchasing and renovating some of the historic homes (and demolishing some of them to build newer, upscale housing, much to the dismay of neighborhood preservationists)."