Trendysomething in SoMo

Giga Pets and Tea Party caps: Houston's hipster future Part II

The hermit crab: the future hipster's best friend.
Gotta get a Giga Pet!
Cheers to blue collar culture!

Hipsters are a fickle lot, making it difficult to foresee just where their tastes will shift from moment to moment. To close out CultureMap's January editorial series, Imagine Houston's Future, I would like to proffer additional examples (or heady advice) for trends that will take root in the decades to come.

Tajik Yogurt

Greek yogurt has had its moment (as a general rule, if an ingredient appears on an episode of Sandra Lee or on the menu at Panera, it's over). And while Bulgarian yogurt may be currently enjoying a renaissance, it's shelf life is limited. Up next: Tajik yogurt.

It's more obscure, and we'll probably get a good deal on Tajik exports assuming it's acquired as part of an Inner Asia imperialist campaign.

Hipsters Icing Hipsters

The bro trend that spread like wildfire during the summer of 2010 will eventually be picked up (ironically) by the cool kids. The sickening sweetness of Smirnoff Ice will be overlooked as a concession to a quick buzz and easy route to shunning demode bro culture.

Bud Light

Hipsters may sip Pabst Blue Ribbon with a straw today, but the blue collar appeal of Bud Light is hard to resist. Also, it ranks higher on "drinkability" than Smirnoff Ice.

Tea Party Paraphernalia

In the future, Tea Party bandanas will trump the trucker hat of yore. What will (hopefully) be an obsolete political movement will now be fodder for fashion. Relatedly, Sarah Palin-style glasses may also appear on hipster mugs.

Hermit Crabs

You may recall that obscure, small, city-dwelling mammals are currently all the rage, but in the future, decapod crustaceans will win the hearts of hipsters. Chalk it up to their childhood nostalgic appeal and cheap dietary needs.

UH Downtown

The University of Houston branch is slated for a rebranding, so expect scenesters to suddenly flock to this most urbane of local universities. The hipster freshman class will brag about their proximity to vaguely authentic falafel and the exciting buzz of downtown in comparison to the sleepy, leafy campus of the Third Ward.

Graffiti Mobiles

The baby boomers had VW buses, and Generation Z will have Graffiti Mobiles. Assumedly, at that point the vehicles will have wiped out all of the city's evil graffiti, leaving the cars up for grabs.

Giga pets

I personally tried revitalizing interest in Tamagotchis in 2004 and 2009, to no avail. Perhaps it's best to pursue the black sheep of the digital animal kingdom.

Bonus points if you can score a vintage Komputer Koala or Floppy Frog.

Mechanical Engineering

It may be hard to envision now, but we'll see mechanical engineering classes at UH Downtown packed with hipsters looking for respectable degrees. Gaining the skills to maintain a vintage Graffiti Mobile is just another perk.

Analog Books

If subculture legitimacy is currently defined by the ability to collect a cadre of vinyl records, then in the future, paper books will become the must-have collector's item. Start stocking up now on copies of books by Kurt Vonegut and musings by Michel Foucault.

Editor's note: Don't miss the first installment of Steven Thomson's hipster future predictions.

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are you happy?

Houston continues sad streak as one of the 'unhappiest' U.S. cities

Photo by Damaris Martin on Unsplash

Even with a poor ranking, you still shouldn't ask us to "smile more."

A new nationwide study analyzing the happiest cities in America has determined Houston is slightly happier than it was last year, but it still appears to be one of the unhappiest U.S. cities in 2026.

Houston currently ranks as the 128th happiest U.S. city. Last year, it was No. 151.

WalletHub determined the happiest cities in America based on 29 relevant metrics based on "positive-psychology research" across three main categories: emotional and physical wellbeing, income and employment, and community and environment. As with most WalletHub studies, it compared the 182 most populous U.S. cities.

Fremont, California claimed the top spot as the happiest city nationwide for another year. Bismark, North Dakota and Scottsdale, Arizona, respectfully, rounded out the top three.

Here's how WalletHub ranked Houston across the three key dimensions:

No. 107 – Emotional and physical wellbeing
No. 148 – Income and employment
No. 158 – Community and environment

Despite its low ranking, Houstonians are working hard to improve their city's quality of life year after year, whether its through opening new restaurants, inviting Houston-born stars to perform at the rodeo, or having a strong job market. We also have some of the best museums, a diverse culinary scene, and iconic institutions like the Johnson Space Center. And considering that people keep moving here, Houston must be happier than other places.

Having a good job and a fun social life can qualify as factors that measure happiness, but WalletHub separately emphasized that making more money doesn't necessarily mean "more" happiness.

"For decades, researchers have explored the science of happiness and identified several core factors, including mental well-being, physical health, strong social ties, job satisfaction, and financial stability," the report said. "Still, income has its limits — studies show that earning more than $75,000 a year does not lead to greater happiness."

Elsewhere in Texas
The Dallas suburb Plano and its residents' happiness far outshines the rest of Texas, according to WalletHub. Plano ranked as the 16th happiest U.S. city, and the No. 1 happiest statewide. Austin was the only other Texas city to rank among the top 50, landing in the No. 39 spot.

This is how other Texas cities ranked in the report:

No. 70 – Irving
No. 92 – Garland
No. 106 – Grand Prairie
No. 111 – Dallas
No. 113 – Fort Worth
No. 119 – Arlington
No. 135 – Lubbock
No. 137 – El Paso
No. 140 – Laredo
No. 143 – Amarillo
No. 150 – Brownsville
No. 154 – San Antonio
No. 155 – Corpus Christi

reports san antonio wallethub