# Hipster cities



## Depet

First, let me introduce myself.
I'm a 30-yr old airline employee, new to skyscrapercity forum (someone you would call a hipster) who has travelled to over 100 countries during my life. Visited most major cities on all continents.

My top 5 cities ever visited (based on my own experience)
1. Paris, France
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Montreal, Canada
4. Portland, OR, USA
5. Helsinki, Finland


The top-5 Hipster cities, are
1. NYC, (Soho and Brooklyn) USA (home of the Hipster movement)
2. Portland, OR, USA (so organic, so cool, so eco-friendly)
3. Berlin, Germany (the hipster mecca of Europe)
4. Helsinki, Finland (a hipster heaven and very fashion forward, beats CPH and STO by a mile)
5. Seattle, WA, USA (home to the Grunge, Seattle WA, has now transformed into a hipster hotspot)


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## alexandru.mircea

You need to go to Amsterdam too. Also when in London don't miss the hipster suburbs, of whose existence you can remain completely unaware if you remain in the city centre. For Eastern-European hipster try Bucharest - different and smaller scale.


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## Depet

alexandru.mircea said:


> You need to go to Amsterdam too. Also when in London don't miss the hipster suburbs, of whose existence you can remain completely unaware if you remain in the city centre. For Eastern-European hipster try Bucharest - different and smaller scale.


I live in Amsterdam at the moment, and I love it here.
My husband is dutch and living in The NL it's difficult to rank my home. hno:


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## Depet

alexandru.mircea said:


> You need to go to Amsterdam too. Also when in London don't miss the hipster suburbs, of whose existence you can remain completely unaware if you remain in the city centre. For Eastern-European hipster try Bucharest - different and smaller scale.


I have visited Bucharest, and tbh it was a total shit-fest.


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## calaguyo

Ah sorry, define hipster city?


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## alexandru.mircea

Well the city may be more or less shit right now but in Bucharest the hipster phenomenon is authentic unlike anywhere else I've been to, in that it's a life style that is completely non-mainstream. If you don't know where to look, you won't see anything. But there are certain music venues, art galleries, bookstores, summer gardens etc. that draw the hipster life of the city, especially during special events that they host. Best times to visit Bucharest for the hipster life are:
- during the annual "Street Delivery" event, when a central neighbourhood is taken over for a weekend by the hipsters. 
- during the "White Night of the galleries" (there are bus tours which take you from gallery to gallery throughout the night). There was a similar white night of the cultural institutes but I don't know if it still exists.
- during one of Bucharest's two art biennales
Plus there are plenty of other non-regular events like mini-festivals or the very recent opening of a huge garage building on the main central boulevard as a venue for street art, which from what I saw it was amazing. The Street Delivery thing is spreading and just recently they took over one quai in the main railway station, hope that becomes regular too. And so on.

I adored Amsterdam and I think it's great to live in a city where the unconventional and the creative have become the norm, but in such environments being a hipster is not anymore being different and it's not a tough life decision (you're not going_ against_ something) - i.e. it's not really hipster. On the contrary, there's the danger of too much of wacky haircuts with assorted hats, beards, tight jeans and "vintage" bikes, when it becomes just an obnoxious wankfest.


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## CNB30

Ah, Soho, home to my favorite kinds of buildings, and people

anyway, richmond is known for being pretty hipster.


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## sebvill

I think most big cities have their hipster side. In Latin America Ive specially seen it in Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, Bogota and Mexico City.


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## Isek

Berlin, Berlin and yes of course Berlin. Other noteable Hipster cities in Europe: Amsterdam, Barcelona, London.


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## the spliff fairy

LONDON, the place has millions (though everyone conspicuously avoids the now overpriced, commercialised tourist centre). Dont forget the city gave birth to it all with its old Camden/ Portobello market cyberpunks and 70s vintage (now a complete tourist trap) and its 300,000 shoppers a day, plus underground club culture drawing in 500,000 punters a night, alongside Tokyo and it's myriad urban tribes and Harakuju teens back in the early 90s. Nowadays almost everyone of a certain age dresses hipster, whether theyre a high school kid or a shop worker. It all reached its peak back in 2008-09 when the biggest complaint from women's clothing and bloggers was all you could buy in every high street shop was generic 80s retro.

The thing though is the hipster hoods where all the genuine artists and creatives congregate (now noticeable by their lack of clothing worship as before), are hotspots that change almost annually - so far everyone's deserted the centre as its become more commercial recently  -now home exclusively to tourists, businessmen and the very rich. Former cool, edgy neighbourhoods such as Soho, Shoreditch and Hoxton, once right at the heart or on its edge at least, have sold out with luxury condos rising named 'Avant Garde' or 'Canaletto', and a bevy of chainstores such as Topshop/man, River Island, Diesel, All Saints, Mango, Zara, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Superdry and the worst ... H&M. Though it's not reached the level of cheap n tawdry as Primark or worse, superbland as Gap, Next, Abercrombie & Fitch, Levis, Tokyo Laundry and Uniqlo... yet. These the kiss of death at which point the area becomes decidedly 'unfashionable'.

At the mo' it's all about Dalston, Hackney, Stoke Newington in the East and Peckham, Camberwell and Brixton in the south - but notably, increasingly further out. In turn these areas are being renewed and areas even further out like Bow, Deptford and Woolwich (zone 3 and 4 by now) are the only affordable places for students and the struggling creatives.

My London hipster threads - back when they were still in zone 2 at least (bear in mind pics are from 2009, so will be very dated, and the styles now generic looking - but you get the gist. Go through every page):


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=182135

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199494


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## the spliff fairy

This also touches upon the 'hipster' phenom that's died out recently, Europe-wise anyhoo as everything's 'hipster' now, and dare I say it - a cliche:

http://www.schoolvoorjournalistiek.com/europe/?p=3593

American Hipsters Beware
by Veronika Gorlova • September 20, 2011

A tall, slim, twenty-something blonde softly leans against the handle bars of her utility bicycle, and takes a swig from a cigarette.

An Aztec eternity scarf is draped around her porcelain neck, her blonde hair perched on the top of her head in a loose bun. As she crosses one leg over the other, you notice her mid-calf black biker boots clash with the blue shirt-dress that hangs loosely on her frame.

No, this is not an advertisement for Urban Outfitters. This scene does not take place at the heart of Tennessee’s Bonnaroo music festival, and the young woman does not live in Montreal, Canada.

This effortless hipster is native to Holland. Spotted outside of a café in downtown Utrecht, she belongs to a large group of young people immersed in the city’s alternative scene.

In fact, it is hard to go anywhere in Utrecht without running into a hipster. From cafés to grocery stores, from the old canal to the new canal, the flat Dutch city is overflowing with them. Yet, they all seem to blend into the European background. They fit in.

Unlike their counterparts in North America, these Dutch hipsters do not seem to belong to a counter-culture.

According to urban dictionary, hipsters are, “a subculture of men and women typically in their 20′s and 30′s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter”.

In North America, hipster has become more of a fad, and sparked some harsh criticism. Instead of independent thinking and true counter-culture most hipsters are associated with a stuck-up attitude and a lack of creativity. All religiously following the same fashion trends (Ray-Ban glasses, oxford shoes, ironic T-shirts etc.) and music styles.

Utrecht hipsters are refreshing because they are not pretending. Everyone owns a utility bicycle because it’s the easiest way to get around. Most fashion trends are known to originate in Europe. Dub step, a genre currently popular amongst hipsters, started in London, England.

One of my friends from Toronto, Canada said moving to Europe would be the final step in her hipster transformation, pointing out what most American hipsters like to be ignorant to. That they are a worn-out copy of the alternative scene that thrives and belongs in cities like Utrecht, NL


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## the spliff fairy

Dalston, East End back in the day, 2007-9 glory days:

















2007's short-lived nu-rave movement





















































https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=d...dAK&biw=1241&bih=584&sei=n1jXUbaCLeWq0AXA94BQ

... ^^^ but note, as you scroll down it gets more and more normal looking as time progresses eg ( now just a normal DJbar, not a freakshow):


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## the spliff fairy

Following earlier on.... the history of the hipster in London

2003, when London's Soho (the original btw) was the epicentre, and once the worlds largest entertainment district, a 24 hr zone busier at 4am than 4pm, with thousands on the streets (police figures at the time put it at 500,000 passing through the TCM-Soho-Piccadilly Triangle on any given night, and doubling to 1 million on the weekends). Since then it's fallen dramatically and caters now to out-of-towners:










































early 90s to 1995 London's Summer of Love - Portobello-Notting Hill (before THAT film came along) which saw in the worlds first vintage (as we know it) and vinyl markets, plus the massive club culture they sold to the world - 500,000 punters a night, 1 million XTC tabs necked each week, DJing became the UK's biggest leisure activity and hobby (after er, shopping) with 1 million professional DJs in the country:


Beware: offensive haircuts


























































































late 80s rave culture before it all got banned and moved into clubland:



























the fashions :s:


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## Manila-X

Metro Manila has it's own hipster / bohemian neighborhoods particular around Malate and some areas of Quezon City.

And some former warehouses have been converted to a mixture of art galleries, designer boutiques, clubs, etc.

Here is one of Cubao Expo


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## city_thing

Melbourne is (and has been since Federation) the epicentre of counter culture and radicalism in Australia. The Communist Party was based here as were most trade unions. The spirit continues, which is why the streets are populated with hipsters. Plus there's a lot of universities in the inner city, and housing is much cheaper than Sydney.

When John Howard was Prime Minister, the country took a major swing to the right. So everyone that was left-wing and progressive moved to Melbourne, making it what it is today. A city full of crazy young people.


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## SydneyCity

Newcastle, Australia seems to be a hit with the hipsters, it was recently voted one of the top 5 hipster cities in the world.


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## MarkusErikssen

Stockholm really fits in the list of hipster cities.


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## Jaguar

I think all large cities have a hipster side. Buenos Aires is one of them. It is a global phenomenon, as has happened before with other cultures.

Creo que todas las grandes ciudades poseen un lado hipster. Buenos Aires es una de ellas. Es un fenómeno global, como ha pasado antes con otras culturas.


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## El Mariachi

Are hipsters people who think they are cool? In that case, they should be called assclowns.


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## Dimethyltryptamine

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Fitzroy, Melbourne

Mile End, Montreal

Shimokitazawa, Tokyo

Amsterdam-Noord, Amsterdam

El Raval, Barcelona

Hackney, London


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## Somnifor

If you define hipster as a creative/bohemian community that operates outside of traditional social norms I would say this is a short and possibly incomplete list of major cities that have large populations like that in the US:

Established:
Portland
Seattle
Minneapolis
New Orleans
LA*
Chicago*
New York*

On the rise:
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Richmond
Oakland

Declining due to gentrification/culture change:
San Francisco
Austin
Boston

*This isn't something that defines the city but exists because they are so large.


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## Somnifor

nm


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## zaphod

My only concern as a 25 year old looking for a good job is, does having a lot of other young people around represent more competition? Especially since hipsters often live in cities for their lifestyle, they will take jobs they are overqualified for. That would drive down wages even more. Then again it could be large amount of options that makes the population skew so young in the first place, so it could be a positive thing as well.


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## johnnypd

alexandru.mircea said:


> I adored Amsterdam and I think it's great to live in a city where the unconventional and the creative have become the norm, but in such environments being a hipster is not anymore being different and it's not a tough life decision (you're not going_ against_ something) - i.e. it's not really hipster. On the contrary, there's the danger of too much of wacky haircuts with assorted hats, beards, tight jeans and "vintage" bikes, when it becomes just an obnoxious wankfest.


That's exactly what hipsters are. 

I think your description of Bucharest sounds more like 90s style alternative, which is more substantial and less superficial than the hipster phenomenon. That was based more on counter-culture, living and thinking differently to the mainstream, and on being actually alienated or disenfranchised from mainstream society. much music from this time dealt with angst, self-hatred, isolation, depression etc - whereas hipster music has much less emotional affect, much less vulnerability, and is about empowerment, control, celebration and "coolness".

hipsters in the late 90s looked exactly the same as their alternative counterparts, but had a very different outlook. Whereas the alternative youth purposefully tried to avoid mainstream norms, hipsters try to shape them. it's also a pejorative term, and actual hipsters like to think they are nothing of the sort - but they are. hno:

They are the capitalist youth vanguard movement - co-opting, appropriating, and re-packaging obsolete or kitsch styles for the mainstream. Which is why there has to be a constant cycle of styles and products getting trendy, popular, then mainstream, at which point hipsters must disavow the style and move on to the next trend - keeping the cycle moving. London now has corporate coffee shops that look exactly like the independents and serve the same coffee, but which are owned by multi-national retailer Tesco. that's the hipster cycle in a a microcosm.

But thankfully the hipster is now largely dead as it was a cultural expression of an economic ideology that is now defunct. Kids who look like hipsters nowadays - hanging around Brick Lane on a weekend - are just normal, mainstream kids who shop at Topshop, H&M, Asos and so on.

With intense economic and social problems in the west young people who would have otherwise been hipsters are now once again becoming a bit more alternative and less superficial. As spliff fairy says, the styles, looks and attitudes in London's shabby suburbs are less intensely fashion-focused now and people are becoming more involved in substantive social and political movements, or like in Portland for example, helping start artisanal businesses. Overall I think we're seeing more organic, authentic styles coming back - rather than the superficial, exploitative hipster route of the 2000s.


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## alexandru.mircea

^ A good post but I diverge in that I won't go hard on the hipster phenomenon, which may now be shallow and superficial to a great extent, but...

First, I still like the idea of the hipster phenomenon in itself. A niche inside a niche, a subcurrent meant to confront the alternative culture as it was during the process of becoming mainstream (which soon completed). It meant creating a dresscode that seemed counter-intuitive even for the other alternatives (like dressing like ******** in the grunge days, or dressing in the '80s style when it was still considered horrific, in the late '90s / early noughties), being confrontational on tastes (to the alternative telling you he/she likes The Stone Roses, Nirvana, Blur, Radiohead, The White Stripes etc. you'd reply with those kind of bands that nowadays get 20-30 ratings for their albums on RateYourMusic) and it really envisioned a lifestyle that is truly different. 

Secondly yes it did itself eventually become mainstream and all the attire and the paraphernalia has become somewhat tiring, but it's still a phenomenon (even if more shallow and superficial now) that is centred around values that I approve of, such as educating one's tastes and developing one's personal style, reading good books in brick and mortar bookstores and listening to good music in disc shops and proper local venues, being creative and trying to preserve artisan culture, trying to be environmentally aware etc... Hey I love people to be mainstream and superficial around_ these_ values!* :lol: I never really understood all the hate, myself I preserve my scorn for other people such as those who want to prevent diversity happening, those who "troll" others' beliefs, those who will take pride (and action) that the women in their families will never in their lives do anything on their own etc. _Those_ are cultures and subcultures that I want rid off.  

* besides those who adhere only superficially to such values there are also those who aren't even aware of them, they just go for the hat+beard+bike combination because hey, that's what the girls seem to like. I'm not even taking these people into account, they always exist at the periphery of all cultural currents and movements. :lol: 

Coming back to cities, Bucharest hipsters are just that, hipsters, they have discovered the hipster lifestyle recently (I would say mid-noughties at best) when it was already a mainstream youth fashion and they want to emulate it as such, it just happens that in Bucharest they will be a minority in a very different environment (including their own age group, income or education group etc) which makes them much more genuinely alternative. 
I've just been to Marseille and was really impressed by it in terms of hipster culture, I found it very authentic in what is a place overwhelmingly un-comfortable non-typical city for a Western hipster. Basically a quintessential immigration hotspot, quite a lot of decay and rubbish, an agitated and tiring place, plus the scorching heat. But also (essentially) cheap and offering in terms of opportunities for creative people. Overall a very endearing place. There are quite a lot of artists living there and the cultural infrastructure is surprisingly developed (at least compared to the impression and expectation the city gives you at street level). The best place for the arty side is La Friche du Belle du Mai, a large former industrial site (tobacco factory) that was reconverted into an artistic colony, with about 70 permanent residences, exhibition spaces, concert venue, restaurant and bar, bookshop etc. Wonderful place, if based on a rough aesthetic. More in the city centre there's the other place I'd highlight, Cours Julien square, which hosts bookshops, music shops, associations etc. and a vast number of restaurants with great food. The alleys and lanes around it are filled with wonderful street-art. Ah and also thirdly there's Le Panier, the oldest neighbourhood, where the designer boutiques are and where the youngsters seem to prefer staying. I'll return with some pics.


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## isaidso

the spliff fairy said:


> LONDON.... Dont forget the city gave birth to it all with ......


What a pile of rubbish. Why are Brits so self-absorbed? Next they'll inform us all that they invented oxygen. If hipster means full of yourself, perhaps you did invent it. hno:


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## SE9

Anyway...

Stereotypically the East End (Shoreditch/Hoxton area):


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## Jonesy55

There is nothing more lame than people trying far too hard to be noticeably cool, making sure they don't hang out in districts that stopped being considered fashionable two weeks ago etc.


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## the spliff fairy

Do remember 'hipster' is a US moniker, since taken on by the internetz. In UK/ London epsecially 'hipster' didn't fit to anything, it's just the usual subculture crew going strong since the 80s, 'uglifying' themselves (the New Ugly) in fashion, whether theyre punk, romo, 70s retro in the mid nineties, or 80s retro from the late 90s onward. I remember the term 'hipster' all over the net sounding so anachronistic to it all.

Second hand clothes stalls sourced from around the world 1982, Camden Market 











(16 of these stalls later morphing into the fashion label Red or Dead). 











short-lived New Romantics movement 1979-81. They were all about sourcing clothes from other times/ places and using shock effect - ending up worshipping fashion.


































1985 - Taboo club scene 

















Leigh Bowery and his creations - the face and costume of the bizarro scene starting in 1984




























Then the rest is history - the subculture fashions went into rave/ acid house by the late 80s, and started to enter popular culture. It was all about self style and creating your own looks, and ultimately, movements fueled by psychedelic new drugs such as ecstasy. The louder, the better:

Ravers, 1987 -89
























It was followed by a flowering of different styles across the board in myriad urban tribes - 70s retro, nu age, military, cyberpunk/ club kids all by the mid 90s (sold by the vast Portobello and Camden markets), then 80s and 50s retro by the late 90s (Spitalfields and Brick Lane markets). It was all about Found Items, recycling and making your own. At the same time the birth of the superclubs from dirty warehouse nights (pictured) marked the change to mass appeal. Working class kids saved up for the collection of British promoters colonising a boring family resort called Ibiza, and labels such as Cream and Ministry of Sound began selling abroad:










^^By 1995 subculture had grown into the *mainstream* for many of the young, not just isolated movements. Over 100,000 people were visiting Camden market daily making it the city's largest 'attraction' shortly followed by Portobello's second hand clothes stalls. Half a million people were clubbing in London a night at it's height, necking 1 million XTC tabs each week. -Despite all the crime, ugliness and poverty London started gaining the moniker of the 'coolest city', due to the influx and huge numbers of creatives (Young British Artists or YBA's moving the global scene to the city), DJing becoming the country's number 1 hobby and leisure activity, with a million professionals operating in the country and the world's first university courses. It was all about mixing n matching, and ethnic clothing, lifestyle and ideas - tribalism. I remember making the decision to dress as my race and national costume, as 'self-style' (that and walking down the street after school in my dad's chocolate 70s suit and bright turquoise shirt). Cringe-worthy now. This was the mid nineties - the height of Indian face piercings, Jamaican dreads and Chinese tattoos.

















By 1997 New Labour were using 'Cool Britannia' as a political brand - the beginning of the end. The impoverished East End became the largest concentration of artists in the world, who began daubing the place in their street art, while Soho, the old sex district, started seeing 500,000 partiers a night, and doubling on weekends.



































The hipster moniker that came by the Millennium didnt really make sense - 'being 'hipster' was just another subculture already happening, and already mainstream. The only real difference being 'hipster' these days and from the subcultures before is that people are more middle / upper class and creative class too. The 90s movements tended to be working class, but the romos and bizarros stand out in the 80s for being more akin to today's followers. Today, going by fashions - everyone young dresses like a hipster and all the High Street chains sell that clothing whether it's 90s or 40s retro - they dont need to be a sound artist, or shop in second hand stores, or have a passion for Korean New wave cinema. They're not 'hipsters, theyre 'the young'.

UK's biggest high street chainstores for the young - cheap, fashionable and a turnover of style every month thanks to student designers. The saturation of the UK market - popularly known as 'Treasure Island' among multinationals - in fast-change youth clothing (read: hipster clothing), for men alone is about the same as all the Gap's (which would definitely not be included in that category), Macy's, and Apple stores combined in the US. If including the 4 most fashionable young female chains it would far outrank Burger King or 7-11 in the US in number of equivalent stores (read: a hipster store for every 4,152 teenagers/ 20 something's).


The ubiquitous men's stores on every high street:

http://www.topman.com/en/tmuk/categ...55&parent_categoryId=207169&categoryId=207183

http://www.riverisland.com/men (try and pick the UK site)

In short after all this progression 'hipsters' are fully mainstream, and at saturation point for the young.

Of course all this differs from the subcultures elsewhere eg the 80s hillbillies and '90s cyber-fruits in Tokyo.


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## Black Box

And then there are the other hipsters..... Yupsters. Seattle is still full of hipsters, of which more are yupster than hippiester hipsters. They are working professionals who climb the corporate ladder in style. Some website described a yupster as someone who has jeans that cost more than their iPod and coffee that costs more than their t-shirt. Of course this is just an analogy, but it makes some sense. Ten or fifteen years ago, Williamsburg would have been just hipster, but it's yupster now. Bushwick is hipster, but it's more hippiester. San Francisco, yupster. Portland, hippiester. All hipsters, but different kinds of hipsters.


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## kevi

isaidso said:


> What a pile of rubbish. Why are Brits so self-absorbed? Next they'll inform us all that they invented oxygen. If hipster means full of yourself, perhaps you did invent it. hno:
> 
> *World's 1st Baseball Game: June 4th, 1838, Beachville, Ontario, Canada
> North America's Oldest Pro Football Teams: Toronto Argonauts (1873) and Hamilton Tiger Cats (1869)*




True. Although not as self-absorbed as a Canadian who with every post finds it necessary to imply that Canada was the birthplace of the quintessential American sports of football and baseball.
:banana:


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## CNB30

Black Box said:


> And then there are the other hipsters..... Yupsters. Seattle is still full of hipsters, of which more are yupster than hippiester hipsters. They are working professionals who climb the corporate ladder in style. Some website described a yupster as someone who has jeans that cost more than their iPod and coffee that costs more than their t-shirt. Of course this is just an analogy, but it makes some sense. Ten or fifteen years ago, Williamsburg would have been just hipster, but it's yupster now. Bushwick is hipster, but it's more hippiester. San Francisco, yupster. Portland, hippiester. All hipsters, but different kinds of hipsters.


Soho is probably about as yupster as it gets, hipster culture with $8 dollar coffee, and $3 million dollar lofts.


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## andwiz

Bogota, Colombia has some "hipster" neighbourhoods as well, like La Candelaria, Usaquen, Chapinero and La Macarena.


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## andwiz

More of Bogota.


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## andwiz

And these are the last ones of Bogota, just because here, pubs are very "hip".


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## diablo234

Somnifor said:


> If you define hipster as a creative/bohemian community that operates outside of traditional social norms I would say this is a short and possibly incomplete list of major cities that have large populations like that in the US:
> 
> Established:
> Portland
> Minneapolis
> New Orleans
> LA*
> Chicago*
> 
> On the rise:
> Philadelphia
> Pittsburgh
> Richmond
> 
> Declining due to gentrification/culture change:
> New York
> San Francisco
> Seattle
> Austin
> Boston
> 
> *In both cases this isn't something that defines the city but exists because they are so large.


I would say Austin's hipster scene isn't declining, it is just moving into places such as East Austin and other neighborhoods which are less gentrified.


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## Romashka01

*Street Fashion in Kyiv *(Ukraine)


















































































































































































http://modotopia.blogspot.com​


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## tongue_tied_danny

The whole hipster thing is laughable these days. Generic as ****.

I was in Warsaw last week and had a few beers in the Nowy Swiat Pavillions. This is Warsaw's hipster central. There was no individuality on display. They could have been in whatever East London or East Berlin neighbourhood that happens to be cool this week.

Big Tattoos? Check
Piercings? Check
Fixed Gear bikes? Check
Graffiti? Check
Stickers stuck to lamposts? Check
Nose in the air because you think you're hot shit? Check.

It kinda saddens me just how cliched and superficial the counterculture has become.


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## mckeenan

> The whole hipster thing is laughable these days. Generic as ****.


Have in mind that any social phenomenon of this kind, involving actitude, dressing and apparel, would end spreading certain styling, behavioural patterns or ideas across the whole society (thus, becoming mainsteam). That don't means that all the movement is superficial. I have seen a lot of criticism on hipster movement/culture in other forums, and i can't hardly figure out why the hell so many people find them so annoying. I thinks there's a kind of generational misconception and disagreement. They don't cause any trouble, and, even in the most superficial conception of the thing, they add colour and a lively touch to the cities they live in.


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## andwiz

Hipsters of Bogota, Colombia.


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## The Polwoman

In my city (Tilburg), there is not really a big concentration, though the city centre as a whole is a hipster location, the houses are relatively cheap, there are lots of restaurants and not so much chain stores as in other cities while located in between other cities. The Spoorzone at this moment is a location of many events since it offers much temporary spaces to prevent them becoming more derelict.

But for a bigger hipster scene Rotterdam is the place to be for sure. Sure I remind you about the many kluswoningen (cheap homes in developing neighbourhoods) and the vibrance of the city as a whole that develops into a well-known tourist spot. At that time the "problem district (as was once noted by politician Vogelaar)" of Rotterdam-Zuid might become the hipster hotspot of our country.


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## isaidso

The more hipsters the bigger the douche bag factor. As soon as they 'discover' an area, it's time to head somewhere else.


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## Svartmetall

Isaidso, I agree with you almost 100% on that... We're infested here, and it's definitely time to head elsewhere!


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## anaida

Dresden is becoming now what Berlin was in the 80s-90s. Awesome city, hipster in a good way. Also, have you heard about Wrocław? Polish city, loads of techno and alternative music, hipster cafes, vegan food, paradise, and not overcrowded. It's also close to Zieleniec, cool ski resort.


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## tongue_tied_danny

anaida said:


> Dresden is becoming now what Berlin was in the 80s-90s. Awesome city, hipster in a good way. Also, have you heard about Wrocław? Polish city, loads of techno and alternative music, hipster cafes, vegan food, paradise, and not overcrowded. It's also close to Zieleniec, cool ski resort.


I always thought Torun was the Polish hipster's city of choice...


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## Balkanada

Too many people here are confusing the word yuppie with hipster

Yuppie: young professional whose obsession with material goods is child-like. These people tend to be more mainstream as far as style and the media they consume goes. They go to upscale bars and restaurants, live in brand new condos in glass highrises in their city's CBD, they are highly indebted because they just must have this year's Mercedes CLA or Tesla Model S. Since many of these people work in IT, they tend to naturally be more technology forward. Uber for example just became popular in like the last year, but yuppies have been using it for years (startups like these start out in operation in city centres, which is where they live)

Hipsters: they tend to care less about material goods and more about arts and culture. The way they dress is alternative and edgy, but the style does have a regional variety. Like in US cities hipsters look like lumberjacks while in Berlin/Amsterdam the hipsters have a lot more of a flashy style. These people hang out at places that quench their thirst for everything obscure, like Nepalese restaurants and microbreweries that serve sriracha-flavoured craft beer. They're snobby, especially when it comes to the arts, and complain about everything thinking that that's a normal state of mind (I mean, come on, open up Vice and you'll see what I mean)

People confuse the two because they're both young people that dwell in urban areas, and a fusion between the two is not uncommon. That being said, you can go to any major city in the world and you'll find a hipster scene of some sort. The beauty of cities is how you can find so many niches that there's no way you can't fit in. It's just a matter of which city is more hipster than anything, and I would say Berlin, Copenhagen and Amsterdam excel at that


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## alexandru.mircea

^ good post, that's a key distinction you are making, but in fairness it has to be said that for a long while now there has been a bastardisation of the two categories. Most people now, when they referr to hipsters, they don't actually think of the original "alternative" poeple that hipsters were, but are thinking of poseur yuppies, who take up a few of the exteriour signs (beard, funny hat / accessory, bycicle) but who are just shells, with no interiour life, no actual authentic strive anywhere.


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## geoking66

How has no one mentioned Toronto? It's probably the most hipster city in North America.


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## samlinhchi

home to my favorite kinds of buildings, and people

anyway, richmond is known for being pretty hipster.


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## erbse

*Berlin* wins the hipster contest by miles.


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## Manolo_B2

IMO it's: 
- New York City
- Berlin
- San Francisco
- Copenhagen
- Barcelona

..don't know exactly about South America and Asia


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## soremi

Cracow in Poland


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## Balkanada

geoking66 said:


> How has no one mentioned Toronto? It's probably the most hipster city in North America.


I wouldn't say so. Toronto, especially nowadays with the rise of Drake and The Weeknd, is more known for being an "urban/hip-hop" culture kind of city. Really, like every big city it's diverse and there are hipsters in this city along with people of any other subculture you can think of, but if I was a hipster I would not consider Toronto my mecca, because the hipster culture here really isn't that strong


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## hateman

I'm surprised that LA hasn't been mentioned. Go to Silver Lake or Echo Park, go anywhere with young people, and you'll notice that LA residents have either absorbed the most acute examples of what people label "hipster," or have strongly embraced the superficial hallmarks of it. 

In my experience most hipsters in major cities are not urbanites, they're people who are dressing and acting for the part of an urban fantasy. LA to begin with is a suburban sprawl, so it's suburbanites play-acting like urbanites in a giant suburb.


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## OtAkAw

Karl Lagerfeld just staged the first Chanel fashion show in Latin America to Havana, that's gonna make people curious about the city.


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## rayvs99

Hipster is just a fad and will go away like other subcultures.so save your money for college.


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## rayvs99

Depet said:


> First, let me introduce myself.
> I'm a 30-yr old airline employee, new to skyscrapercity forum (someone you would call a hipster) who has travelled to over 100 countries during my life. Visited most major cities on all continents.
> 
> My top 5 cities ever visited (based on my own experience)
> 1. Paris, France
> 2. Melbourne, Australia
> 3. Montreal, Canada
> 4. Portland, OR, USA
> 5. Helsinki, Finland
> 
> 
> The top-5 Hipster cities, are
> 1. NYC, (Soho and Brooklyn) USA (home of the Hipster movement)
> QUOTE]
> 
> Williamsburg Brooklyn to be specific also has a high concentration for NYC


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## Marsupalami

You guys haven't ever travelled to South Africa have you?

Though I kinda think the Hipster thing - especially the beards, and the f**king hashtagging everything- is a bit over the top...

No urban, cool vibes culture has been as all embracing to South Africa's multiracial, cosmopolitan, urban young and creative types than hipsterdom.

Not only is it helping young South Africans express themselves artistically and creatively, thus being very entrepreneurial when we have high unemployment, it is rehabilitating our ailing city centres and unifying a new generation beyond old racial based stereotypes!


*Cape Town *

Don't even get me started on Cape Town! - lets just say its like San Fransisco.
Go onto Instgram and type in #capetown and you will get 4.5 million images of beautiful, counter-culture hipster millennials of all colours in awesome places doing awesome stuff and loving life.

*
Johannesburg:*

IMG_9008 by Sheriss, on Flickr
Braamfontein Precinct, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa by South African Tourism, on Flickr
hats by _Maganna, on Flickr
Painted Building by Vaughanoblapski!, on Flickr
Kazy Usclef by Vaughanoblapski!, on Flickr
Maboneng by Ellomennopee (Tempest van Schaik), on Flickr
Sundowners? by Paul Jorgensen, on Flickr
MA MA MA by Antonella AfricanSoul, on Flickr
Hei Cafe by Derek Smith, on Flickr
Arts on Main by Charlie Hindhaugh, on Flickr
Milkbar by Derek Smith, on Flickr
On a roof by Babak Fakhamzadeh, on Flickr
Maboneng street district13 by Randall Langenhoven, on Flickr


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## Darryl

*Leipzig*

I hear/read that Leipzig is quickly becoming the #2 of Germany for hipsters.


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## Marsupalami

# that totes makes sense omg


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## rohmerin

Malasaña, La Latina and Lavapiés in Madrid. 
Colonia Roma in Mexico City, yes it's that in Cuarón's movie. 
Gracia and Borne in Barcelona. 
Palermo Soho in Buenos Aires.


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## Tsurumi

I think one of the most hipster cities I've been to is Minneapolis. It is truly hipster without the pretense of trying to be hipster or of declaring itself a hipster city. 

No one ever actively tried to show how hipster they were or advertise it, but everywhere I went in Minneapolis there were art galleries, live theater, coffeehouses with live music, cafes where you tell the staff how much you want to pay, left-wing bookstores, small community radio stations, and the best May Day parade I've ever seen. There was this cool cafe called "Hard Times" which is a national treasure and I hope it's still there. I think people there are unaware that they could possibly be defined as "hipster" because it was so organic to the place. 

To me, Minneapolis is hipster without needing the branding of "hipster city'.


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## Somnifor

Minneapolis has been a bohemian city for a long time. It is big enough that it can create its own culture and not be insular, but is far away enough from the rest of America that it sort of just stews in its own juices and has built its own style and identity. Its isolation also means that it tends to fly under the radar in the US and by extension the rest of the world.

People here don't follow bohemian styles because it is something they saw on the internet. It is because they were raised by people like that in neighborhoods that were like that, or they grew up elsewhere in the upper Midwest where they were influenced by what was going on in Minneapolis. When hipsterism became a thing 15 to 20 years ago it was built on ideas and styles that were already deeply rooted in Minneapolis, so people here didn't think there was anything special about it.


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## gabrielbabb

MEXICO CITY
Roma and Condesa neighbourhoods which are right next to each other, fit perfectly in this category


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## Tsurumi

Somnifor said:


> Minneapolis has been a bohemian city for a long time. It is big enough that it can create its own culture and not be insular, but is far away enough from the rest of America that it sort of just stews in its own juices and has built its own style and identity. Its isolation also means that it tends to fly under the radar in the US and by extension the rest of the world.
> 
> People here don't follow bohemian styles because it is something they saw on the internet. It is because they were raised by people like that in neighborhoods that were like that, or they grew up elsewhere in the upper Midwest where they were influenced by what was going on in Minneapolis. When hipsterism became a thing 15 to 20 years ago it was built on ideas and styles that were already deeply rooted in Minneapolis, so people here didn't think there was anything special about it.


I agree. 

I think maybe it's because Minneapolis is a big city that is so far away from other big cities, so it is doing its own thing and is not so influenced by other big cities like Chicago or New York and their trends and it creates something really original.


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## KAEX

Zurich, Switzerland

source: Neues Café Echo Park – Auf einen Flat White im Hinterhof


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