Browsing Tag

hipster cities

Pittsburgh: Not the Next Hipster City (And Maybe That’s a Good Thing)

Many moons ago, I wrote several articles that went mini-viral about the next hipster cities.

(Side note: Looking back at those articles, I want to barf.)

One of the cities I included on my next hipster city list was Pittsburgh.

Though I had never been to Pittsburgh, I had been seeing many articles about the Rust Belt city’s renaissance. (Barf X 2 that I wrote about a city I had never been to.)

I never would have imagined that five years later I would actually live in Pittsburgh.

So here I am–a Pittsburgher.

I now have a much clearer window into the city, and I can tell you: It’s not the next hipster city.

And maybe that’s a good thing.

Heinz Lofts in former Heinz factory

Pittsburgh is crumbling.
And it’s progressing (slowly).

There is a slew of empty storefronts.
But Google is here.

The air quality is some of the worse in the country.
But the area has made strides since the days when (more…)

March 5, 2019 by hipstercrite

Travel

Hipster City Travel: Wilmington, North Carolina

Oh, Dawson

Wilmington, North Carolina, is one of those idyllic coastal towns peppered with rose-lined picket fences, friendly neighbors, an old-timey Main Street and, in David Lynch’s version of the city, the occasional severed ear chilling in a field. Located just a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean, this town of 110,000 boasts a wonderfully weird arts and culture community nuzzled within 19th century storefronts and brick-lined roads.

I first visited Wilmington last year when our film played the Cucalorus Film Festival. Now in its twentieth year, Cucalorus has become an institution in Wilmington. Run by a colorful group of filmmakers and film champions, this interactive fest takes hold of the city for one week, with pop-up screenings featured across downtown. What makes this fest special is its seamless intertwining of the local community with visiting filmmakers. It is quickly jumping the ranks of top regional film festivals in the U.S., and filmmakers flock to attend. By the (more…)

August 5, 2014 by hipstercrite

Travel

Hipster City Travel: Tucson, Arizona

Hipsters and Arizona.

Two words you commonly don’t see in the same sentence.

For those of you who have been, Tucson, located roughly two hours southeast of Phoenix, has been a vibrant college town for decades. The city has the feel of Austin 40 years ago, but that vibe is slowly changing. The word is out, and Tucson is becoming a popular place to live and visit.

Before we embarked on our road trip to Tucson, Geoff, who has several musician friends in Tucson, told me that though cool, this southwest town with over 500,000 citizens is kind of sleepy. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up to the our hotel, the iconic Hotel Congress, and could barely make our way to the front desk. Hotel Congress, an old-timey lodge, popular music venue for local and touring acts and home to a gourmet diner (Cup Cafe), 20s themed hair salon (The Hive) and event hall (Copper Hall), has always been the epicenter of activity, but its popularity is only growing. The front patio, lobby, bar and stage (more…)

July 9, 2013 by hipstercrite

20-Something, Austin, Pop Culture

In Defense of the Hipster

My blog’s name is “Hipstercrite”.

I often write about hipsters for my website and others.

Those articles are often my most trafficked.

They’re also the ones that evoke the most wrath.

I can go off about our empathy-challenged Governor or how scared I am of the Republicans, but neither of these subjects compare to the flack I receive for writing about hipsters.

I recently wrote an article for CultureMap about the “10 Most Hipster-Inspired Restaurants, Food Trucks and Bars in Austin“.

It led to a slew of negative comments, though it’s currently one of the site’s most read articles.

My favorite comment being, “The worst part about hipsters is that they’ve led to the existence of Hipstercrite”.

People often comment on how much they dislike hipsters, how hipsters are ruining Austin, how smug hipsters are, etc.

I (not surprisingly) have people that simply won’t read me because of my writing moniker. They make sure to tell me this. They make sure to tell me how stupid (more…)

September 6, 2012 by hipstercrite

20-Something, Austin, Hipstercrite Life, Pop Culture, Travel

I’ve Angered Some People in Detroit

The weirdest thing happened the other day. The piece I wrote about what the next hipster cities will be was read by more than 45 people and my mother. In fact, in some of the towns I mentioned in the post, the article got passed around like a cheerleader in a frat house (sorry to any of you who were cheerleaders. I’m not sorry if you were in a frat).

The article predicts that Chattanooga, Tennessee, Asheville, North Carolina, Burlington, Vermont, Detroit, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland will be the next hipster cities.

My article did not sit well with everyone and even prompted a few humorous articles in Detroit in where I’m lambasted for making fun of a city I’ve never been to (it’s true…though like the hipsters I mentioned in the post, I would love to go to Detroit to see all the delicious ruin porn). One article titled “Dear People Who Don’t Know Anything About Detroit, Your Jokes Are Dumb“, I particularly liked. Even Curbed Detroit (more…)

February 24, 2012 by hipstercrite

20-Something, Austin, Hipstercrite Life, Travel

What Are the New Hipsters Cities to Move To?

Sometimes it feels like there is no place more hipster-plentiful than Austin, Texas. The city has become the poster child of what young creatives and entrepreneurs are discharging into this world. When you look up the word ‘Austin’ in the thesaurus, the words, ‘old-timey facial hair,’ ‘your grandmother’s eyewear,’ ‘college degree in food carting,’ ‘bee hive hoarding’ and ‘Which Wich eating‘ appear. It’s true that there is no escaping the fauxhemian gorilla-whale that is running amok in our city.

But are other cities unscathed by the beast? Smaller, up-and-coming cities that are like how Austin was before ‘we’ showed up? Cities that hipsters can flock to now that other, older hipsters have crimped their style of being on the forefront of a burgeoning scene? The answer is yes.

Are other cities unscathed by the beast? Smaller, up-and-coming cities that are like how Austin was before ‘we’ showed up?

Forget Austin, forget Brooklyn, forget Portland, forget Silver Lake. What are the (more…)

February 22, 2012 by hipstercrite