Quite a few professional athletes call or have called Alice their home at some point, including Chris Brazzell of the New York Jets, Sonny Brown of the Houston Oilers, Marv Brown of the Detroit Lions and Bill Henry of the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox.
Alice is a city of about 19,000 people, situated in Jim Wells County, Texas. Established in 1988, the town originally was called Bandana -- then later, Kleberg. Finally it was named Alice after the daughter of Richard King, owner of the immense and successful King Ranch. The town was created thanks to the refusal of residents in nearby Collins to sell their land to the railroad companies -- the train was set up three miles away, and Bandana was born. Collins is now defunct. Oops.
Moving to Alice
Rental homes, studio apartments and mobile homes for rent are all available throughout Alice and in the surrounding Colonia neighborhood. Prices can be awkwardly nonsensical in relation to each other, but for the most part, homes are quite affordable whether you want to buy or rent. A studio apartment for rent in the city center is likely to be your cheapest option, while a mid-sized home in North Hilltop will probably be the most costly, month to month.
Neighborhoods in Alice
Although Alice doesn't rhyme with nice, it still certainly is. Check out the different neighborhoods in the city to get a feel for which area is best suited to your lifestyle.
City Center: The City Center is the most densely populated neighborhood in Alice, although it can still be described as suburban in nature. Hotels, restaurants, retail stores and a small green space can be found here.
East Buena Vista: East Buena Vista is a sparse neighborhood that includes a few homes and the Alice Municipal Golf Course.
Holshouser: This neighborhood encompasses a thin tract of land surrounding Highway 281, as well as a small portion of homes closer to the center of the city.
North Hilltop: Just south of the City Center lies North Hilltop, an area characterized by small and medium-sized houses, as well as a few apartment complexes.
Alice Acres Colonia: Alice Acres Colonia is an enormous, unusual neighborhood that is meant to contain the outlying houses and mobile homes that are not a direct part of the city of Alice.
Life in Alice
If you want to live here, you're going to need your own car -- or pickup truck, for that matter. Small rural towns weren't created with public transportation in mind, unless you count the original railways that came through them, and, well, you shouldn't count those. Get a car.
The City of Alice takes care of your water hookups, as well as garbage disposal. As for electricity, deregulation means that you have a few choices in a provider, including TXU Energy, Nueces Electric Co-Op and CenterPoint Energy; the latter provides natural gas as well. Time Warner Cable provides television access and Internet service to the area.
Like any small town along a highway, Alice has plenty of fast food restaurants centered on Highway 359. Are you a connoisseur of chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers? Good, you're in the right place. Alice has Whataburger, Dairy Queen, McDonald's, Dairy Burger, Star's Drive In and more! When the mood hits, there's also Chinese food at Asian Gourmet and Panda's Chinese Restaurant, or you could hit up Murphy's Grill or stop by Taqueria Jalisco or Sombrero for some Mexican.
There's no shortage of steakhouses and grilled chicken here! In fact, it's quite a blessing for residents of Alice that their town happens to be along a high-traffic route because most towns this size don't have nearly as many eateries, fried or otherwise. If take-out isn't your style, don't fret. You can do your grocery shopping at Walmart, H-E-B or Ralph's Food Store and show your new friends what fine dining really is!