Quote:
Originally Posted by 88Hearts
Between Pittsburgh and Richmond which is more nerd-friendly and has a bigger presence of Pop culture?
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In your list I think you're confusing regular people with outside interests, hipsters, nerds, and geeks.
Hipsters are basically concerned with fashion, irony, and appropriation & remixing of previous subcultures (think thrift store shopping, ironically liking cheap beer like PBR, being obsessed with odd ingredients in organic food, etc.).
The main difference between nerds and geeks is nerds enjoy things to do with the mind (math, technology, classifying a new species of insect, etc.) and geeks are more to do with passion/obsession/fantasy of usually pop cultural things (cosplay, Harry Potter, old video games, etc.).
Things like cafes, record stores, and book stores fall under the heading of everyday people type stuff.
Although pop culture themed places usually fall under the heading of either hipster or geek stuff.
Pittsburgh:
Still retains a bit of the northeast's forced conformity even in my circles (mainly artists & geeks) when I lived there, which means if you like something geeky your friends aren't already interested in you have to warm them up to the idea that it's okay to like that thing.
On the whole Pittsburgh isn't great for geeks, nerds (outside of say Carnegie Mellon who tend to stick to campus), or hipsters. It has some things, but on the whole it isn't.
It is also odd that for such an educated city it can't seem to keep its bookstores open for long.
It's understandable how someone could think the city would be good for these activities with the whole Andy Warhol thing, but really Pittsburgh is the opposite of his interests & he left for NYC as soon as he could.
Hipsters have been pushed into small corners of Pittsburgh as well & won't be found in more than a few neighborhoods.
Things Pittsburgh has that would fall under your heading:
- Furry Convention/zombie walk
- Record stores Ides (+comics), Dave's Music Mine (+VHS tapes), etc.
- A few indie theaters like Harris, Hollywood, Regent, etc.
- Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Lab.
- The Beehive Coffee Shop, Cider Bar, The Church Brew Works, etc.
- A few hipster/themed bars like The Smiling Moose, Brillobox (Worhol theme), and Lava Lounge (sort of like an unofficial Fraggle Rock cave), etc.
- Pitt & Allegheny General having examples of grand architecture that looks like something out of Harry Potter's Hogwarts.
- Some bars/shops with video games/pinball, but nothing completely devoted to retro gaming (outside of corporate sports bar-arcades like Dave & Busters). Not sure, but I think Richmond is roughly the same.
Richmond (based on research as I've never lived there):
- VCU Art Department
- GWAR bar, Fallout (Goth/Industrial club), Galaxy Diner, etc.
- Hipster stuff
- Odd festivals/zombie walk
Seems Richmond is best for art, music, and hipster type stuff while Pittsburgh is best for having a little bit of everything. Although neither strikes me as being a nerdy nirvana like the Pacific Northwest or even as high on the list as someplace that gets big conventions.
I'd say it's a tie (6.5 out of 10 for both).
The main difference between the two seems to be with Richmond you get better weather and lower taxes, but don't get pro sports or as many cultural/nightlife options.
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