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Also keep in mind COSTS. Most "punks, hippies, weirdos, drag queens" can no longer afford Manhattan, where this once existed, so they moved over to Brooklyn. Once trusties and so on found out about how "hip" Brooklyn was, the odyssey made its way to Queens, other boroughs and elsewhere in the world. This is not a static deal.
Most people have to go to work during the day, and don't have time to flaunt around such identities. You will, however, see such people at night time in cities like SF, Seattle, Portland, etc. But if you're looking for a 24/7 circus, I don't know any city that has a plethora of that. The closest thing to it would be all the trustafarian hipster kids in Portland, but the extent of creativity with these folks doesn't go far beyond smoking pot and playing the drums all day while their parents pay rent. Not really interesting once you see past their flashy appearances.
And you can still find some homeless hippies lounging around at Golden Gate Park. The Haight-Ashbury has become really mainstream through the years, but there may still be the promising "weirdos" somewhere in there. As for drag queens, I think the Castro or Tenderloin would give you that.
What most West Coast cities should really be known for, more than anything, are their homeless people.
Darling I'm from Greenville Mississippi and I live in Memphis I think I can handle LA politics. As for the other poster I know the SF is a real city it just isn't anything like how the media portrays it. It kind of felt like Midtown Manhattan with pretty buildings.
Where did you go in SF? Lower Haight (not Haight-Ashbury, which is a different, more touristy neighborhood) seems like it might sort of fit what you're looking for. Sections of the Mission District and Portrero Hill, as well.
The hippie movement was five decades ago. It's baffling why people think SF will always retain a hippie counter-culture crowd half a century later. SF is not an amusement park; it's a city with people living, working, and ever changing. At this point, SF's identity is more in line with it's businessmen and tech firms than it ever was with the hippies or punks.
Honestly it's hard to think of a more straight laced and money-centric place than San Francisco in the 2010s.
Most people have to go to work during the day, and don't have time to flaunt around such identities. You will, however, see such people at night time in cities like SF, Seattle, Portland, etc. But if you're looking for a 24/7 circus, I don't know any city that has a plethora of that. The closest thing to it would be all the trustafarian hipster kids in Portland, but the extent of creativity with these folks doesn't go far beyond smoking pot and playing the drums all day while their parents pay rent. Not really interesting once you see past their flashy appearances.
And you can still find some homeless hippies lounging around at Golden Gate Park. The Haight-Ashbury has become really mainstream through the years, but there may still be the promising "weirdos" somewhere in there. As for drag queens, I think the Castro or Tenderloin would give you that.
What most West Coast cities should really be known for, more than anything, are their homeless people.
I just moved from Portland and the only people I saw who looked like that were kids who played to unsuspecting tourists just because they thought it was fun to get their money. I was approached for money by one kid who, if you looked closely, had clothes with a lot better labels than mine. But I suppose he could have stolen them.
Friends tell me SFO is pretty much the same and when I've been to Seattle I've seen similar things although there are real street people there.
Hands down Austin. No other city outside Cali comes close.
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