What's the next trendy city?

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by tfox

I would be the homer and say Denver, but I'm not sure that Denver really counts as up-and-coming. I think Denver's been trendy for a long time, just not quite in the same level of trendiness as Seattle or Austin. That's probably a good thing.

For truly up-and-coming, my vote would be Albuquerque. It's always been a city in the shadow of the much smaller but trendier Santa Fe, 45 minutes away. It reminds me a bit of the relationship between trendy Boulder and big-city Denver, the former's coolness now having rubbed off on its much-larger neighbor. Once, Denver was sneered at by the hipster crowd on their way to Boulder, but now Denver is easily the equal of the smaller neighbor in hipster attractiveness.

I could see Albuquerque following a similar route. It features great proximity to winter and summer recreation, an underrated climate, plenty of local color and cuisine, and a growing arts scene. It has a low COL that's accessible to poor bohemians. Plus who doesn't love the southwest?

I agree with all of what you say here and exactly how you describe it (metaphor with Boulder and Denver). I'm moving to Albuquerque soon. It's a very cool city with trendy neighborhoods like Nob Hill with the gentrfied Route 66 kitsch and also the collegiate environment and the historical vibe and Spanish Plaza in Old Town which is quite a bit like Santa Fe. Downtown needs work but it will get there. I see ABQ having some substantial growth in the 2010's. Perhaps it's good the the building booms wern't too extreme in ABQ in the 90's and 2000's so that it doesn't grow like 'sprawl a la Phoenix'. They seem to be aware of that there. I love Albuquerque.