Houston is the cultural capital of the South

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On any given day in Houston, you’ll find Jonathan Delgado peddling happiness from his two Popston carts on the campus of the Museum of Fine Arts. As visitors stroll through the Isamu Noguchi-designed Cullen Sculpture Garden, enjoy free concerts in the plaza or snap selfies from the rooftop garden of the Glassell School of Art—all areas that were recently redone as part of the museum’s historic $450 million expansion—Delgado helps brighten their day with colorful, all-natural popsicles that draw from his childhood memories of making fresh juices with his grandmother in El Salvador. In honor of his location at the museum (an opportunity he credits with “changing [his] life”), Delgado’s seasonal treats pay tribute to current exhibits and artwork: a chocolate-dipped-banana pudding and Nilla wafer concoction inspired by Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Column sculpture, for example, or a passion fruit-guava-mango-kiwi treat in honor of this year’s Van Gogh retrospective. This intersection of arts, culture, cuisine and design is at the heart of what’s driving Houston these days and what’s elevating its profile on the international stage. Now the fourth-largest city in the U.S. and on track to become the third largest by the late 2020s with a diverse population of more than 2.3 million that might surprise outsiders—the south Texas metropolis feels like it’s coming into its own, finding its voice and expanding beyond its oil and gas roots. With growth in fields such as medical research, healthcare and tech, an influx of international travelers and new residents, and a dynamic culinary scene—just ask the James Beard Foundation, which announced its finalists from Houston this year—H-Town is enjoying what many locals are touting as its Golden Era.

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