Rockov could not be reached for comment.

Luxury car sales are also slower in Houston than in other parts of the state and the country.
"If you're working for an energy company, you see all this stress around you, it might nick your purchase confidence, even if you are fairly high income," Earl Hesterberg, chief executive of Houston-based Group 1 Automotive Inc, told Reuters.

He said excess inventory was most acute for top line BMW and Mercedes-Benz models in Texas and Oklahoma.

In a nod to the downturn, Ouisie's Table, a River Oaks institution, is now offering its "Oil Barrel Bargain," a three course dinner for the price of a barrel of oil, now around $30.

To be sure, oil executives are not alone in feeling the pain. Many blue collar jobs in oilfield equipment production have disappeared. So have thousands of middle management jobs in oil exploration and production. A regular Uber customer is likely at some point to ride with a former energy industry professional.

"It pays for the mortgage," said Matthew Clemonds, who once did mapping for pipeline companies and now works for the ride-sharing company.

Job growth has slowed to a crawl from the breakneck pace of 100,000 a year during the oil boom; housing starts are down and subleasing of new office space is rising, according to government data and NAI Partners, a real estate consultancy.

But so far, owing to its diversity, the metropolitan economy has shown remarkable resilience, adding 20,000 jobs to just over 3 million last year.

For example, Houston is home to the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest cluster of hospitals, research facilities and affiliated universities, which says it employs 106,000.
In the energy sector, about $50 billion being invested in new petrochemical plants to take advantage of cheap supplies is helping offset upstream job losses.

"This is the best oil price downturn we have ever had," said Ted Jones, chief economist at Stewart Title Guaranty Company. "We still have more jobs than we have ever had in history."
Bill Gilmer, a University of Houston economist, says so far it has paid off to tough it out through oil's booms and busts and notes that ever since 1969 Houston has consistently ranked among the fastest growing U.S. cities.