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Houston teen's tweet to save her father's bakery goes viral

Trinidad Garza had no idea what his daughter's tweet would do for his business.

Courtesy photo

The power of social media is drumming up lots of work for a longtime bakery owner. His daughter was worried about her father's business, so she went online asking for people to stop by the bakery.

La Casa Bakery and Cafe didn't flood from Harvey, but it cut back on customers. Owner Trinidad Garza was about to sell it, ending the dream of having his own business.

Two days ago, Jackie Garza posted a video of her father preparing pan dulce from scratch, and an appeal.

"My dad has a little panaderia," she wrote. "He's been thinking about closing but I can't let that happen. Spread the word. One retweet could bring in a potential customer."

Trinidad Garza is in his early seventies, and he's been baking since he was 12 years old. He immigrated to the U.S. decades ago, and worked for years in the refrigeration industry. Two years ago, he opened La Casa Bakery and Cafe on Hogan Street, just north of downtown.

"He told my mom he was thinking about selling, and he even had an offer," said Jackie. "I begged him not to sell, to wait for me to get through college and then make me a part owner."

"I know all the hard work my parents put into this. They work from early in the morning until late at night, even though we close at 5 pm," Jackie said. "The quality of the food and the authenticity of it is amazing."

What broke her heart is when her father had to throw out the bread and cookies he spent hours preparing, because there weren't enough customers to buy them.

Jackie is an 18-year-old senior at Heights High School, who plans to major in business and restaurant management in college. Social media is second nature to her, and she decided to see if she could save her restaurant through Twitter. The one retweet she requested became 60,000 in less than 48 hours and it continues to grow, and by this afternoon, she said the post had 4 million impressions.

"I've had messages from Japan, Australia, and Europe," she said.

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city-news-roundup desserts

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

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