Why do (real) New Yorkers pronounce “Houston Street” as “how-ston?” I once got lost in Manhattan years ago, when I couldn’t find “Howston Street.”
Cause ya aint in Texas
Its pronounced How Ston- In da Bronx we have a Ave named Mosholu called Marsh a loo or Mu shoo la - nobody said it would be easy 
:Shrug:
It’s the same reason Worcestor is pronounced “wooster.”
I’ve had at least five people come up to me and ask where “Hyoo-stuhn” street is. Amusing to no end.
As I recall, it’s a Dutch word, rather than Sam Houston’s name. I’ve got a New York trivia book here somewhere – if I find any more specific info, I will post again.
Memo to self: never post without checking sources first:
from http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/features/WABC_lifehere_020901nyc101.html
"And once and for all, Houston Street is not a mispronunciation of Houston, TX, and in fact it has nothing to do with the state of Texas. It was named for a Georgian Delegate to the Continental Congress by the name of Samuel Houston.
About whom I can find nothing on Google.
Actually, all Daffy Duck fans know that Worchestershire is pronounced “wooster-shister-shester-shire.”
Yoicks! And awayyyyy! **
FWIW, my mother’s maiden name is Houston. They are from Delaware. They pronounce their name how-ston, and claim Sam as a distant relative.
I seem to recall in school that the “ou” sound is generally pronounced “ow”.
I think the relevant question is why does everybody else pronounce it “hyoo -ston”, after all you don’t live in a “hyoos” does ya?
Tinker
And if not for the fame of Houston, TX, the “How-Ston” pronunciation would seem to be the most logical.
Think “pound”, “found”, “ground”, “mound”, “sound”.
On the other side, you have “You”, “through” (and that doesn’t really even match).
I thought it was the three stooges.
How does that explain General Zod’s search for “Planet Hoostun” in Superman II?
(I figured if Daffy Duck could intrude in this GQ, then so could I.)
And that is precisely why the Georgia county of Houston is pronounced HOW-stun.
A couple of years ago the NY Times answered the question in its Q&A column (Sunday “The City” section). The Houston for whom the street is named pronounced it “Howston,” and Mr. Houston of the City Of fame pronounced it “Hyuston.” There was a suggestion that the latter, more French pronunciation was more common in the West (or what passed for the West in late 18th C.), but that was all - the writer could find no real reason for the difference.
That kind of namby-pamby non-answer is exactly what you get when amateurs try to muscle in on Cecil’s territory.
<----passing a SDMB coffee mug over to Cervaise for using the phrase " namby pamby " appropriately, and as a slam.
I bow before thee… 
That’s easy! It’s because he heard the astronauts on the moon calling Houston to say “we’ve got a problem here!”
Back when I worked for a chain of bookstores, we had a new stupidvisor, originally from California, move into the Detroit region. He always referred to Houghton-Mifflin as Hooten-Mifflin, but then went on to talk about the twin town of “Hooten-Hancock” Michigan. In Michigan, the city of Houghton is “HOE ton” (and we had always called the publisher “HOE ton-MIFF lin”). I never did find out whether he was right about the publisher, but we generally gave him grief about mispronouncing the city’s name.
Actually, the relevant question is why did it come to be spelled Houston. I blame typical English, or in this case Scottish, inconsistency. As to the pronunciation, I refer you to the The Gazetteer of Scotland, by Rev. John Wilson, 1882
People, people. I’m disappointed. I leave the board for a day and you can’t handle a simple question like this one on your own. [smilie here]
delphica got it wrong. The Georgia delegate for whom Houston Street was named was William Houstoun, not Samuel. “Houston” is a spelling corruption of his original name.
Why did he get a street in NYC named for him? He married the landowner’s (Nicholas Bayard III) daughter, that’s why.
You’re right to pronounce the town and the publisher the same. The company is named after Henry Oscar Houghton