Is Texas quintessentially “Southwestern”

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Quixote

I also find Arizona a lot more Anglo and Midwest-influenced

Modern tract homes in both states are bland. My house is "territorial" which is a rather uniquely Southwestern style different from the pueblo style and very popular in Arizona as well as New Mexico and West Texas.

[kingkirbythe....]

Texas is the confluence of all (south,west,mexico,midwest,southwest) those regions.

[strongbad635]

Texas is one of the most difficult states to pin down to a region, because it lies at the confluence of several different places both geographically and culturally.

The eastern parts of Texas are strikingly similar to Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, definitely a Mid-South feeling to them. The landscape, the climate, the architecture, the speech patterns. Very Mid-South.

The Panhandle and North Texas are more aligned with the Great Plains. Many people I know down here think Dallas/Ft. Worth has more in common with Kansas City or Tulsa than it does with other parts of Texas.

In the far western reaches of the state the climate is more arid, the landscape more rugged, and the vistas are reminiscent of old Western films. El Paso is literally closer to Los Angeles than it is to Houston, and the feel of that city is nothing like the Deep South or Great Plains.

The Gulf Coast is also quite different than the rest of the state and more reminiscent of Florida than any other type of place. Houston's climate is warmer than Jacksonville but cooler than Orlando. Corpus Christi reminds me of Tampa in a lot of ways. South Padre, being a Spring Break epicenter, is very Florida-like.

The central part of the state is unique to Texas and unlike anywhere else I've seen. Perhaps there are parts of north-central Mexico that echo this area geographically, with the rolling hills, transition from humid subtropical to semi-arid climate, winding rivers.

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by Crawford

West Texas is basically New Mexico. El Paso is closer to LA than to Dallas.

But obviously the vast majority of where Texans actually live (Dallas-Houston-SA-Austin) has a totally different, transitional feel. IMO Texas starts to feel like the SW cowboy stereotype when the grasslands turn to semi-arid scrubland (so west of Abeline and San Angelo, more or less). And, as others have mentioned, North TX feels like OK and East TX feels like the South.

I agree with this take. Just to clarify though, El Paso is not closer to LA than to Dallas.

[JManc]

There's nothing about Texas that really reminds me of other states or regions; Houston is southern but has such a large Hispanic population that other cities don't. Likewise with Dallas with its association with Oklahoma and so on. Central TX always was distinct while West TX is still very southwestern but still uniquely Texas.

[destroycreate]

I just did a cross country road trip. 2 days of it was spent through Texas alone. While Houston and East TX felt and looked very southern, about an hour before arriving to Austin, there was a notable shift. Being there and then driving through Hill Country all the way to El Paso, all of that for sure felt Southwestern through and through to me.

I've been to Dallas as well and that to me did feel extremely Southwestern as well.

[iheartthed]

Dallas feels "western" to me, as does Austin. I think the better analogy for the Florida discussion is whether California is "southwestern".

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by Crawford

West Texas is basically New Mexico. El Paso is closer to LA than to Dallas.

But obviously the vast majority of where Texans actually live (Dallas-Houston-SA-Austin) has a totally different, transitional feel. IMO Texas starts to feel like the SW cowboy stereotype when the grasslands turn to semi-arid scrubland (so west of Abeline and San Angelo, more or less). And, as others have mentioned, North TX feels like OK and East TX feels like the South.

I beg your pardon, but "Fort Worth is where the West Begins!". Many in Fort Worth feel that Dallas is where the east kind of peters out. At least that's how it used to be when I was growing up there in the 1950s. https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php...st_begins_and/

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by strongbad635

Texas is one of the most difficult states to pin down to a region, because it lies at the confluence of several different places both geographically and culturally.

The eastern parts of Texas are strikingly similar to Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, definitely a Mid-South feeling to them. The landscape, the climate, the architecture, the speech patterns. Very Mid-South.

The Panhandle and North Texas are more aligned with the Great Plains. Many people I know down here think Dallas/Ft. Worth has more in common with Kansas City or Tulsa than it does with other parts of Texas.

In the far western reaches of the state the climate is more arid, the landscape more rugged, and the vistas are reminiscent of old Western films. El Paso is literally closer to Los Angeles than it is to Houston, and the feel of that city is nothing like the Depp South or Great Plains.

The Gulf Coast is also quite different than the rest of the state and more reminiscent of Florida than any other type of place. Houston's climate is warmer than Jacksonville but cooler than Orlando. Corpus Christi reminds me of Tampa in a lot of ways. South Padre, being a Spring Break epicenter, is very Florida-like.

The central part of the state is unique to Texas and unlike anywhere else I've seen. Perhaps there are parts of north-central Mexico that echo this area geographically, with the rolling hills, transition from humid subtropical to semi-arid climate, winding rivers.

Not exactly. According to Google, LA is 802 miles from El Paso. Houston is 746.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Dallas feels "western" to me, as does Austin. I think the better analogy for the Florida discussion is whether California is "southwestern".

It depends. Some of California is easily southwest, mostly in the desert areas though.
I feel you leave the southwest around Redlands or something.
Everything looks greener and denser than the rest of the southwest once you get into the LA metro outskirts.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Dallas feels "western" to me, as does Austin. I think the better analogy for the Florida discussion is whether California is "southwestern".

California is also a big state that encompasses many geographies. You can't pin down states like Texas and California.

DFW feels more great plains with cowboy mythos (or western).

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

California is also a big state that encompasses many geographies. You can't pin down states like Texas and California.

DFW feels more great plains with cowboy mythos (or western).

Northern California is interesting, because what is 49er culture if not "western"? OTOH, today's San Francisco doesn't feel "western" like Vegas or Reno might. It doesn't even seem to have a culture that is remarkably different from that of the average big American city. Southern California doesn't feel "western" as much along the coast, but inland it seems very prevalent. But that might be because of the desert.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Northern California is interesting, because what is 49er culture if not "western"? OTOH, today's San Francisco doesn't feel "western" like Vegas or Reno might. It doesn't even seem to have a culture that is remarkably different from that of the average big American city. Southern California doesn't feel "western" as much along the coast, but inland it seems very prevalent. But that might be because of the desert.

There's cowboy riding across an open plain "western" and snowcapped mountains and big forests "western". Northern California seems more like the latter with "frontier mythos", along with Oregon and Washington.

[10023]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

No

South central is its own thing

Texas and Oklahoma should be one state

Texahoma

Texas should probably be 4 states.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by Quixote

New Mexico has a stronger Native American (Navajo and Pueblo) heritage, and is home to two of the three ancient Pueblo civilization UNESCO World Heritage Sites (the other is in Colorado). Pueblo-style architecture can be found throughout Albuquerque and, of course, Santa Fe; Arizonan residential architecture tends to be more generic American (a lot more single-story ranch). I also find Arizona a lot more Anglo and Midwest-influenced, while New Mexican culture is still driven in part by Spanish-Americans.

Most Navajos are In Arizona then there is a completely different less well known tribe (notable person Ira Hayes)in the southern part of the state that's nearly as large and of course the Apaches. Geronimo and his war was mostly in Arizona.

I watched the Navajo senate vote their president out of office for corruption at an Arizona state lecture hall.

The city of Phoenix still uses water infrastructure built by the hohokam and there is even evidence of an Aztec style ball court.

I would agree that New Mexico has more of the Spanish colonial influence but I think you are incorrect about which state has more Native American heritage.

[Quixote]

^ And it's the former that shouldn't be conflated with "southwestern." DFW lies within two official state-defined ecoregions: Texas Backland Prairies and Cross Timbers, neither of which have any of the natural features that define the southwestern landscape. The humid subtropical climate is also a decidedly southern characteristic.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Not exactly. According to Google, LA is 802 miles from El Paso. Houston is 746.

Is that on the road or as the crow flies?

[JManc]

Dallas doesn't feel western at all. Fort Worth does but Dallas still has a southern vibe.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

No

South central is its own thing

Texas and Oklahoma should be one state

Texahoma

I'll move to Mexico and drink the water before I'd go for that.

[Crawford]

Dallas doesn't feel remotely Western to me. Again, to me, like Oklahoma, just much more urban and cosmopolitan. Probably the most similar largish metro would be Kansas City.

OK, and North TX are Great Plains with Southern influences.