Move to Detroit? (New York, Windsor, Portland: real estate, 2015, rent)
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People had the same reservations about moving to Brooklyn and parts of lower Manhattan 35 years ago. I don't know if Detroit will go in the same direction, but if you can find an income then the cost of living is amazing.
I posted in another thread someone started about what the next hipster Mecca in the US would be now that San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Portland, Brooklyn, and the like all have pretty much had that title. I said that Detroit might be it.
I'd agree that Detroit has to be a strong contender for the next big hipster destination.
It has a long and established popular music tradition of jazz/Motown/hip-hop. It has a surprisingly strong high-culture infrastructure as well, with its art museum, library, theaters, symphony and opera. Land and housing is cheap, with lots of space for artists to live, perform, and make stuff.
And there is no other nearby place in the Midwest that already has or could really develop the hipster vibe. Ann Arbor is too collegiate, Chicago and Minneapolis are too far away, Toledo is too small, Windsor is too boring, and Cleveland is pretty lacking in "alternative" cred, at least on the national level. Lastly, after emerging from bankruptcy, Detroit now has little downside and lots of upside potential.
I don't think that because the city is primarily black or has crime issues will be a deterrant. That certainly didn't stop the hipster presence from growing in parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Atlanta, or San Francisco. In fact, an area that's a little bit frightening and less bourgeois probably adds to the attractiveness for these folks.
"Hey Ma. I'm going rent a house near Eight mile in Detroit with my girlfriend and start a band."
(Then watch as Mom passes out)
It may sound far-fetched to some New Yorkers. But the only hip place isn't New York. And it hasn't been for a while.
Artists are the truffle pigs of real estate. They need large spaces, and don't have much money. So they colonize areas where they can get that. They then give that area a vibe that attracts the yuppy artist wannabees. The real estate people are tuned into this, so as soon as they see it happening, they descend, and start buying up the properties.
Detroit might have the attributes it takes to be the next large scale artist colony, and start the process again, but....
In NYC it was useful that the economic core of the city (the financial industry) was still intact, it's workers appreciated to some extent appreciated the artists work, and served as a handy local customer base for the artists. That isn't really the case in Detroit.
I don't know if Detroit has a lot of the loft type spaces that artists tend to like. I get the feeling the fallow space there is either derelict giant factories, derelict single family houses, or just open land (from derelict buildings being torn
down.) It may be too hairy there for even the artist class to colonize
I'd agree that Detroit has to be a strong contender for the next big hipster destination.
It has a long and established popular music tradition of jazz/Motown/hip-hop.
I don't think that because the city is primarily black or has crime issues will be a deterrant. That certainly didn't stop the hipster presence from growing in parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Atlanta, or San Francisco. In fact, an area that's a little bit frightening and less bourgeois probably adds to the attractiveness for these folks.
What in the world does Jazz, Motown and Hip-hop have to do with hipsters?
Hipsters only like pseudo-ghettos. They like living in cleaned-up parts of Brookyln and telling their midwest friends at home that they are "keepin it real" in Brooklyn. Meanwhile they are living in stroller friendly Williamsburg, dumbo, etc.
Try finding a hipster that is willing to move to the actual ghettos of Detroit. They didn't have a Guiliani-type to clean it up (who ironically all the hipsters love complaining about, but they would not have come here if Guiliani didn't clean it up).
Last edited by 85dumbo; 04-13-2015 at 02:35 PM..
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