Birmingham:The next hipster city? (Avon, Lakeview: 2015, universities, organic)

[bigstick]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Well its like this...

You learn to give the Donks and Brodozers extra space because their owners spend all their money on lifts and oversized wheels and tires but not on brakes, bushings, etc - stuff that would make their vehicles stop and handle better - yet they still drive too fast and tailgate people.

You learn to spot and avoid the texters and multi tasking soccer moms by themselves in their Suburbans, Expedition, Yukon Denali XLs as they truly believe there is no one else on the road that they have to consider.

You learn to watch out for the old people who stop 100 yards from every stop light, who slow down to a crawl at every possible turn with their turn signal on, but keep going anyway.

You learn to know that with the possibility of a threat of .000001 of inch of wintry mix that the entire ten county metro area will be involved in a mad bumrush on your street heading to your grocery store for milk, bread, poptarts and beer.

You realize that an impromptu race could break out when any combination of import tooner, German Eurosnob, good ole boy hot rod, leather jacket clad biker boy slab ryda, or someone who just got cutoff for the 100th time at any moment.

You know that you can not go to the Summit during Christmas shopping season because of the high probability of getting your ish banged up.

So...in some ways like any other city in the country.

More so because of the great James Spann making everyone panic with his rolled up sleeves.

[GoldCountry80]

Originally Posted by UKWildcat1981

That is true. When I think of hipster I think of counter culture people with tats and piercing that dress kinda funny.. that stuff works better out west in Seattle and San Fran then in the Bible Belt.

Completely true and that's a damn good thing too. I live in CA and trust me you do not want the south or wherever it is you live to become like that. Only in TINY doses like what probably exists in Birmingham but once it takes over your town, it will be completely unlivable. I actually want to move to the south or like the idea of living there since at least for awhile more the traditions will be preserved.

[GoldCountry80]

Originally Posted by ratchetjaw

That's exactly the same thing they were saying about Portland 10 years ago, and I think everybody is painfully aware of what a dump THAT'S gotten to be since the hipster pandemic hit.

As an outsider to your area I'm voting yes, solely on speculation (based on past events in other cities) that the next Great Mass-Migration to Birmingham might take some of the burden off Portland, so the latter might actually become marginally livable again.

Portland already had its problems. The hipsters coming in or trust funders priced it up beyond belief and even if it sucked before, it went from sucking to sucking worse and expensive to boot.

[ashpelham]

Originally Posted by GoldCountry80

Completely true and that's a damn good thing too. I live in CA and trust me you do not want the south or wherever it is you live to become like that. Only in TINY doses like what probably exists in Birmingham but once it takes over your town, it will be completely unlivable. I actually want to move to the south or like the idea of living there since at least for awhile more the traditions will be preserved.

I think this is probably a very good point. We do have enough of the mix of old versus new, conservative vs progressive, to enable anyone to find their niche. That is the definition of an up-and-coming place. I have friends here that are in the theatre and film community, friends in the tri-fit community, and friends that don't do anything but sit on their a55 and watch football. I love them all. They each add something to the quilt of my life, and I hope I do theirs.

That said, tornados suck. The weather in Bama has been beautiful of late, but this place can turn into a war zone with a cold front in the spring.

[jdawson1237]

I honestly don't think Bham has the cultural appeal to true hipsters.

[bhammaster]

^^ Southern hipsters and hipsters who don't want to pay coastal city prices.

[Tourian]

I just want to know why everyone has a fish sammich all of a sudden...
Burger King, Wendy's, Hardee's and Arby's. Why? Cod surplus? Me too ness? Oppressive demand?

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by Tourian

I just want to know why everyone has a fish sammich all of a sudden...
Burger King, Wendy's, Hardee's and Arby's. Why? Cod surplus? Me too ness? Oppressive demand?

Catholics. Gotta eat something on Friday in Lent, after all.

[205Bhamurbanite]

Birmingham to me is hip , not if you only stay over the mountain

[WJSim]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Ah, yes - you are correct. Its time to bring the judgmental map back out...

Love love this!


Would love to see an expanded one of the B'ham metropolitan area. Do you know if one exists?