Neighborhoods hipsters would love ... if only they knew about them

[illinoisplanner]

I think jsk hit the nail on the head about the northwest migration of hipsters in Chicago. After Irving Park & Portage Park, Jefferson Park is likely to become more gentrified as well. Whether or not that gentrification will be preceded by hipsters or not, I'm not sure.

Farther north, Albany Park is likely to become a big hipster area soon, if it isn't already.

On the west side, the area around the United Center could become hipster pretty soon, what with its proximity to UIC, the medical district, and the already gentrified areas just west of the Loop.

On the southwest side, I would say the Clearing area near Midway has some good potential to become a hipster area.

I wouldn't count the suburbs out either. There are a few suburbs that still have that nitty-gritty quality to them and are also relatively affordable (but aren't crime-ridden like Maywood, et al), but remain close enough to the action, especially via mass transit. I think a few places like Villa Park and Berwyn could become hipster areas. Maybe not as hipster as the neighborhoods in Chicago, but hipster enough by suburban standards.

[DetroitPlanner]

I'm trying to think of unknown neighborhoods around Detroit that hipsters would love. Hamtramck has been discovered, apparently. Mexicantown? There's not too much that's urban outside of the city that I know of.

Hipsters have found Corktown and Cass Corridor too (though Hipsters call Cass "Midtown"). Mid-Century hipsters prefer Lafayette Park. THe early hipsters enjoyed Rivertown, but that was ripped down to build casinos that were later built elsewhere.

[DetroitPlanner]

I have to amend my previous response and say that Oak Park, MI will never be a true hipster haven since local ordinances forbid the purchase of wine, liquor, or beer for consumption on the premises. Where will the hipsters congregate for their PBR?

Silly Planner, they don't need thier own. They are stumbling distance from Fashionable Ferndale, a veritable food court for drunken hipsters!

[Dan]

Even though I think Kaisertown would be a perfect fit for hipsters, I'd put the chances of any moving there in large enough numbers to notice at maybe 20% over the next 20 years. There may be some uncertainty in the coming decade as the neighborhood's large population of seniors departs for the big polka party in the sky. There's the East Side stigma, but the outward migration of Buffalo's African-American community is now more oriented towards the northeast, with Amherst now the Buffalo equivalent of Southfield circa 1980. Buffalo's hipsters are starting to trickle into Black Rock and Grant Street/Old Little Italy. If Buffalo itself is "discovered", I think Kaisertown will be hot, but I wouldn't bet on it.

If we're talking about gentrification, it ain't happening in Kaisertown, It doesn't have the right kind of housing stock; it's mostly vernacular workingman's cottages and modest bungalows, all frame. If it stays stable, I think the best we can hope for is that it will become the equivalent of a entry level urban neighborhood for young families, serving the same purpose as Kensington in the 1960s and 1970s, and Kenmore today. Buffalo's "hot" neighborhoods are Allentown, Elmwood Village, Delaware District, Symphony Circle/Cottage District, and the North Park/Parkside/Central Park/Park Meadow cluster in North Buffalo; generally areas north of downtown. Kenmore will probably be the next hot aree, even without any hipster/LGBT/artist pioneers.

[Rygor]

I think jsk hit the nail on the head about the northwest migration of hipsters in Chicago. After Irving Park & Portage Park, Jefferson Park is likely to become more gentrified as well. Whether or not that gentrification will be preceded by hipsters or not, I'm not sure.

I wouldn't count the suburbs out either. There are a few suburbs that still have that nitty-gritty quality to them and are also relatively affordable (but aren't crime-ridden like Maywood, et al), but remain close enough to the action, especially via mass transit. I think a few places like Villa Park and Berwyn could become hipster areas. Maybe not as hipster as the neighborhoods in Chicago, but hipster enough by suburban standards.

Not so sure about Villa Park. Far too suburban to ever be hipster, I think. Maybe an Evergreen Park or Niles could fall into that hipster mix. As for Jefferson Park - maybe. The question is whether there is time for it to become hipsterized before it already becomes gentrified like an Edison Park, also right next door. There are some northern neighborhoods of Chicago closer to the lakefront that definitely have potential, though. I'm thinking the areas just south of Skokie, Lincolnwood, et. al. even though they are currently very ethnically diverse (Korean, Jewish, and Indian).

[short timer]

There's still a lot of areas within the inner core of Chicago to be "hipsterized" before they head out to Jefferson Park or Skokie...no disprespect, but what are you smoking?

After almosy 30 years of effort to attract and repel hipsters/artists/gentrifiers Pilsen is finally seeing a level of activity along Halsted St. that indicates menaingful and sustainable change. IMHO Bridgeport - particularly the commercial/industrial areas along Archer and 35th St. west of Halsted offers some potential as well.

The best are still out on what will happen in the "dead zone" between the South Loop and Bronzeville particularly where Ida B. Welles was demo'd. There's some talk of turning it into an entertainment district and some enterprising sould has opened a Rock Club/Record Store/Bar & Grill on State St. a few steps north of Cermak.

Berwyn's been trying to market itself as a "hip"/Diverse town to live but it's got a local rep that'll be hard to live down.

[hilldweller]

There's still a lot of areas within the inner core of Chicago to be "hipsterized" before they head out to Jefferson Park or Skokie...no disprespect, but what are you smoking?

Yeah, what are you smoking bro? Don't you know we're trying to contain hipster sprawl?

[short timer]

Don't dismiss Bridgeport...crusties come first, then hipsters.
http://http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2458622

(Dan) Fixed the URL.

[MacheteJames]

Pittsburgh's North Side. I was just there on vacation. It has this thread written all over it. Actually, all of Pittsburgh, period. It really is a great town.

[Dan]

Pittsburgh's North Side. I was just there on vacation. It has this thread written all over it. Actually, all of Pittsburgh, period. It really is a great town.

The Mexican War Streets? There's the Mattress Factory, which is a little bit of a hipster incursion. (My slightly hipster ex took me there once. Pretty cool.)

[MacheteJames]

The Mexican War Streets? There's the Mattress Factory, which is a little bit of a hipster incursion. (My slightly hipster ex took me there once. Pretty cool.)

That's the place. The GF and I stayed at a B&B on the Mexican War Streets two years ago and then at another one on nearby Western Ave just last week.

[jresta]

People in this city toss around "those hipsters" so much (and they're all talking about different people) that I really don't know who they mean. For instance, I hear the older locals and even other non-locals around Passyunk Ave. in South Philly say "hipster" but they're actually talking about young professionals who are in their mid-20s. I've taken it to mean "people younger than me who dress better than I do."

What attracts young professionals to Passyunk Ave. in South Philly is completely different than what attracts "hipsters" to Fishtown and Kensington.

I'm actually gonna say that the hipster paradigm that's existed for the last decade is dead and something new is emerging. I'm not sure what it is yet and at this point I might be too old to keep a finger on it but I'm watching where those "kids" are moving. Actual hipsters are all over South Philly with a few bars & cafes that are decidedly hipster hangouts but 90% of the hipster clubs are from Spring Garden St. and north and east of 6th St. and that scene has been moving gradually northeast over the last decade.

I know a few people living out in Port Richmond and I think PR and Frankford is about as far as it'll go. The center of arts & culture in Philly is in Center City. The art gallery district is in Old City/Northern Liberties and that's why most hipsters sought out the cheaper neighborhoods just north of there so, barring some big shake-up there or the emergence of some other gallery or studio district I can't really see that dynamic changing. Not unless a new subway line appeared that went from there to some other part of the city.

It would be 20-30 years before Kensington/Port Richmond/Frankford are too expensive for hipsters and at that point I could see the whole thing shifting to Germantown or North Broad St. in North Philly but I really don't see anywhere else for it to go. Camden, NJ maybe?

[jresta]

I wonder has anyone ever considered/compared the processes of gentrification with ecological succession? It occurs to me there are numerous parallels (here's another link). In nature, a fire or a flood occurs decimating the existing vegetation and leaving an open field. First some very hardy windborne seeds of pioneer grasses/weeds 'colonize' the field, and these plants are in turn overtaken by a sequence of larger vegetation types, each successive layer in turn requiring greater water, light and other nutrient resources, until eventually the 'climax' vegetation comes to dominate the area.

Gay males are sometimes cited as early 'pioneers' in the process of gentrification. I wonder....are hipsters perhaps the very first pioneer seeds in the gentrification process? (now go ahead and feel free to shoot up my analogy to pieces)

Anywho, my nomination for Grand Rapids, MI would be the Fulton neighborhood.

I generally agree with this assessment but I don't think it's necessarily the case everywhere in Philadelphia. "Gentrification" (another term i find troublesome) has not been happening in down out neighborhoods. The one exception here is the neighborhood just south of Rittenhouse Square that used to be called "Graduate Hospital". This neighborhood was largely poor and african-american and over the last 10 years has gone through a complete transformation . . . but hipsters were never part of the equation.

Everywhere else that there's been a process of socio-economic change (with a strong emphasis on the 'socio' part) has been a working class or middle class neighborhood and, for the most part, neighborhoods that were/are majority white and again, hipsters have not been the driving force. Everyone, at least the early adapters anyway, kind of show up together and as neighborhood amenities develop that cater to people younger than 50 you see the people with a more suburban orientation start to show up, first on the weekends at the bars then eventually as your neighbors. Granted, the early adapters are a different sort, certainly not upper-middle class but not all hipsters either.

The only real exception here is the area that they've already been in for the last 15 years which is Old City/Northern Liberties/Fishtown. They built the infrastructure that other groups came into and made their own.

[ddomin4360]

I'd say the Ironbound is already getting there and has been for a few years now.

[kjel]

I'd say the Ironbound is already getting there and has been for a few years now.

It's done well and certainly is the neighborhood of choice for many. Rents are getting high there though and parking is difficult on a good day. It is a nice destination in a city (Newark, NJ) that doesn't have a whole lot else to offer.

[biscuit]

Pittsburgh's North Side. I was just there on vacation. It has this thread written all over it. Actually, all of Pittsburgh, period. It really is a great town.

The (slow) redevelopment of the area around the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh more or less followed the classic gentrification model jresta described above. In Central North Side it started with gay couples moving there for the architecture back in the late 80's and renovating and flipping homes. Crime went down, the adult theater then closed, new townhouses were built, coffee shops moved in, property values kept going up... It never really involved the hipster crowd.

The hipster influenced neighborhoods started with the South Side, but once the rents got too high and the area become populated with students and yuppies the hipster scene largely shifted over to Lawrenceville. In less than 10 years Lawrenceville has gone from a mostly hardscrabble working-class neighborhood to the main drag being lined with restaurants and galleries as the hipsters grew up and started renovating the neighborhood. Now the developers are moving in to build condos and suburbanites no longer refer to it as a "scary place." So, the search for cheaper real estate continues and those cooler than I are pushing further into formally undesirable parts of the neighborhood or have moved-on to other neighborhoods like next door Bloomfield, Garfield, and Polish Hill.

[Shark Man]

Maister,
That connection is awesome.!
Ecological succession does follow a similar patter to gentrification.

Taking it a bit further, the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans perhaps fits the bill as a social succession FUELED by environmental tumult. After Katrina in 2005 left large gaps in the social fabric and ocupied housing units the Bywater was left open to new comers. The new comers were attracted, i think, by cheaper rents, proximity to exiosting arts sceen in the frenchquarter and other neighborhoods, and quality housing that could withstand hurricanes, existing neighborhood bars, great infastructure (compared to much of the city) in the form of streets and side walks. Bike lanes came with in the last 5 years and street cars are coming that way in the next 5 years.

[Cismontane]

I'd say the Ironbound is already getting there and has been for a few years now.

Newark? Yep. I'd agree. Also, I'd add the SOMA/Teachers Village area, on the southern stretch of Broad Street.

San Diego, in addition to the traditional hipster neighborhoods of Hillcrest, University Heights, the Adams Ave neighborhoods, and the East Village.. which really are now more about a more affluent professional set):
- North Park (hipster assimilation tragically complete as of 2011 or so, although some hipster handbooks still need to be updated to reflect this sad fact; no apparel colors are in evidence except black, metrosexuals now in evidence and pedestrians are at imminent risk of Critical Mass attack)
- South Park (already there in terms of ambiance and food, although the recent arrival of an actual wealth management firm and an upscale wine bar portend a dark and sinister future as a potential hub for the trustafarian subspecies; now a popular base for the designer food trucks that usually portend full hipster assimilation in San Diego)
- Golden Hill/Grant Hill/Stockton (hipster eateries, music and galleries queuing up for the retail streets, and, look, they've already gotten their first Starbucks! Soon, non-trustafarian South Park hipsters who want to stay hip may move here en masse, I'd guess)
- NW border of Barrio Logan (transition in progress.. the designer food trucks have started to migrate there in any event, taking advantage of cheap loft space and there seems to have been a recent spate of "gallery openings" and other dark portents; however, the Housing Commission is still aggressively competing for space against the invading hipsters, and I'm still rooting for the public housing projects)
- Sherman Heights/Grant Hill (next bastion, hipsters slowly moving in, but a wrong turn can still lead you into a rabid pitbull ambush -literally- but a recent commentary on a hipster blog noted that the potentially aggressive opposition to hipsterization has been reduced to a single remaining "redneck")
- City Heights (a still colorful, vibrant United Nations-like collection of dense immigrant neighborhoods that already have great food choices, even without the presence of hipsters - there is still hope for them and hopefully they can organize to form some type of opposition to hipsterization; the city likes to dump subsidized workforce - especially teacher - housing there,however, and there is a certain hipster component to that)

Basically, the shadow of Hipsteria seems to expand along a set of very defined trajectories in San Diego, following traditional streetcar retail corridors and available late 19th and early 20th century housing stock..
- Vector 1: west to east along Adams, the Boulevard and University in a massive wave (now starting to menace the borders of City Heights)
- Vector 2: north to south from University, down 30th and Fern or so from North Park, down the east side of Balboa park and now entering extending beyond the park toward Golden Hill and Sherman Heights beyond, this can be seen as an offshoot of the first vector
- Vector 3: an altogether separate vector moves southeast of the East Village and Bayside toward the Barrio from the Ball Park precinct of Centre City (downtown)

Interestingly, even though Vector 2 has now extended to the neighborhoods due east of downtown, the Northeast East Village gap between Centre City and the hipsterizing areas seems to have remained, with what is basically skid row still positioned stubbornly in between

So.. how does one protect neighborhoods from the threat of incipient hipsterization?

[ruthevans41]

Boston is also there for hipstered out, And I had a great fun there in my college days.

[The One]

I can report that the Tower District in Fresno California should be added to the hipster list. It has additional potential and in time could be a great urban enclave.