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Modern hippies, if anything are new age type or bobos
To an extent, I can understand how one would equate earthy, almost off the grid type of people as hippies. In that case I would guess that Northern New Mexico would qualify as being attractive to those sorts of people. I believe Albuquerque, being a fairly large city houses a small, yet noticeable population of hippies, certainly the percentages increase in Santa Fe and Taos.
In my opinion, hippies seem more genuine and real. Hipsters seem more suburban and temporary.
Philadelphia's neighborhoods of Mount Airy and Germantown have historically been very hippie oriented, although mostly an older demographic.
I guess they are the true hippies from the 60's and the founders of Germantown in the 1600's were Quakers, probably the original "hippies" in this country. The first protest against slavery was right here in my neighborhood. It was a great place to grow up
It is also the greenest (in more than one sense of the word) part of the city and the access to nature is unbeatable.
The Weavers Way Food Co-op in West Mount Airy (and now another in Chestnut Hill) is one of the first food co-ops in the country. There are many Quaker schools (including Penn Charter, which is the first Quaker school in the country) as well as alternative schools. It seems like a lot here also home-school. On my block in Germantown our neighbors operate an organic community farm on a formerly vacant lot.
Mt Airy is also known by Civil Rights groups as one of the first successfully integrated neighborhood in America, and it truly is diverse by any measure. Neighbors got together in the 1960's to stop the blockbusting and redlining practice used by so many realtors and banks at that time.
The Philadelphia Folk Festival (oldest continuously run festival of it's kind in North America) seems to draw crowds and crowds of hippies from all over the Delaware Valley.
I have always used hippie and hipster interchangeable. I guess there is a difference as hipsters are urbanites while true hippies are more apt to live off the land. I just don't see very many young hippies. Most urban young people would be classified as hipsters.
Hippies and Hipsters are completely different in many ways, not just where they choose to live. Aside from the completely different fashion sense, hippies are much more ideological, sincere, and less "ironic" than hipsters.
Back in the day the canyons of Los Angeles used to be pretty hippie-heavy - Laurel, Topanga, etc. I would imagine they were so popular in part because they have a rural vibe to them but are surrounded by city, sort of best of both worlds. Probably waaaay too expensive nowadays to work for real hippies.
Philadelphia's neighborhoods of Mount Airy and Germantown have historically been very hippie oriented, although mostly an older demographic.
I guess they are the true hippies from the 60's and the founders of Germantown in the 1600's were Quakers, probably the original "hippies" in this country. The first protest against slavery was right here in my neighborhood. It was a great place to grow up
It is also the greenest (in more than one sense of the word) part of the city and the access to nature is unbeatable.
The Weavers Way Food Co-op in West Mount Airy (and now another in Chestnut Hill) is one of the first food co-ops in the country. There are many Quaker schools (including Penn Charter, which is the first Quaker school in the country) as well as alternative schools. It seems like a lot here also home-school. On my block in Germantown our neighbors operate an organic community farm on a formerly vacant lot.
Mt Airy is also known by Civil Rights groups as one of the first successfully integrated neighborhood in America, and it truly is diverse by any measure. Neighbors got together in the 1960's to stop the blockbusting and redlining practice used by so many realtors and banks at that time.
The 1600's was too long ago to be relevant to the area today, although I get what you are attempting to convey. To drive this point home, Penn Charter is no bastion of hippiedom. It's a hyper-competitive math/science focused prep school and dominated by that internal culture (classic NE prep school). It's Quaker roots, while often reiterated in various words and actions of the staff, aren't refelcted in the culture created by the student body. This is to be expected. After all, they aren't recruited or sent there becaue they are Quakers. Germantown Friends School would be more arts/hippie values oriented, and notably closer to Mount Airy as well. Although, both schools cater to the rich and/or accomplished. I don't believe that they can be held as standards for local hippiedom.
Your 'access to nature being unbeatable' claim is a bit of an overstatement, no? The thin strip of forest that is Fairmount Park is not unbeatable.
Weavers Way is okay, but it's by no means a reason to move to the general area. It's more of an amenity for those locals who don't mind the co-op structure and the tradeoffs that come with it.
Just how diverse is Mount Airy these days? Truly? If I were a Hippy, one look at the crime map of the general area (Germantown) would keep me out. Only the grittiest, most hardcore hippies would move into germantown these days, imo. In general, the local young hippie center is now just west of University City. However, that is a relatively small enclave mixed with a lot of the worst/saddest of hippie culture (heroin addicted squatters), with a lot of good people mixed in admittedly, but it is by no means a neighborhood to move far to be in if one doesn't have local ties for other reasons. There just isn't enough community structure there to justify it. It, too, is an island sitting in a sea of rough areas with University city acting as a buffer to the east. I've had my car stolen from that hippy area.
Back in the day the canyons of Los Angeles used to be pretty hippie-heavy - Laurel, Topanga, etc. I would imagine they were so popular in part because they have a rural vibe to them but are surrounded by city, sort of best of both worlds. Probably waaaay too expensive nowadays to work for real hippies.
Unless you made money from the music scene back then and stayed in the neighborhood (or near).
The 1600's was too long ago to be relevant to the area today, although I get what you are attempting to convey. To drive this point home, Penn Charter is no bastion of hippiedom. It's a hyper-competitive math/science focused prep school and dominated by that internal culture (classic NE prep school). It's Quaker roots, while often reiterated in various words and actions of the staff, aren't refelcted in the culture created by the student body. This is to be expected. After all, they aren't recruited or sent there becaue they are Quakers. Germantown Friends School would be more arts/hippie values oriented, and notably closer to Mount Airy as well. Although, both schools cater to the rich and/or accomplished. I don't believe that they can be held as standards for local hippiedom.
Your 'access to nature being unbeatable' claim is a bit of an overstatement, no? The thin strip of forest that is Fairmount Park is not unbeatable.
Weavers Way is okay, but it's by no means a reason to move to the general area. It's more of an amenity for those locals who don't mind the co-op structure and the tradeoffs that come with it.
Just how diverse is Mount Airy these days? Truly? If I were a Hippy, one look at the crime map of the general area (Germantown) would keep me out. Only the grittiest, most hardcore hippies would move into germantown these days, imo. In general, the local young hippie center is now just west of University City.
I'm not too familiar with the demographics or teaching style of Penn Charter, I was just noting that it was the first Quaker school in the World. It is technically a block outside Germantown, in East Falls so not in the neighborhoods I was referencing. The schools I was referring to are Project Learn, Germantown Friends School, Greene Street Friends, Waldorf, Green Tree and others. Some of these are alternative schools, some with no tests, etc. There are also the montesorri schools in the area. I agree GFS and others are expensive but they also give tons in financial aid and scholarships.
I was trying to convey an area of a major city that has always been very "crunchy" "granola" "hippie", whatever you want to call it. The history of the area is important because the Quaker spirit seems to live on, especially during the 60's and 70's when the neighborhood possibly became the first successfully integrated neighborhood in the US. Yes, the area is still very diverse, especially West Mount Airy which has a nearly equal number of whites and blacks with a much smaller but present Latino/Asian population. It is also noted for having a large number of same sex and racially mixed Households.
And tiny strip of forest? There are very few areas in major cities where a park completely surrounds the neighborhood. 7 Miles and 1400 acres is nothing to scoff at. The Wissahickon was the first piece of publicly owned US land to be preserved, and mainly because of it's scenic attributes.
And, I was just noting that Weavers Way was one of the first food co-ops in the country, again to get a better sense of the area. I think it is run excellently, but to each their own.
I agree, the young hippie-ish areas would be in West Philly, but I was speaking on an older population in NW Philly.
millenials aren't hippies... hipsters aren't hippies. liberal people aren't hippies. Major cities and hippies generally don't go together. Expect to find more hippies in places like Eugene, Asheville, Boulder, Taos, Burlington, Santa Cruz, etc or farther out from cities of former hippie areas, Sonoma County, Mendocino County, Humboldt County..
Hippies in Chicago and DC? come again?
I think this sums it up well. I haven't been to Eugene in ages but I am told there are still real hippies there. As far as Portland, I haven't seen a hippie there in decades. Hipsters, yes.
I did an informal study based on key words and businesses about the hippy presence in major cities to quantify it.
Hippy Quotient Factor.
Lower means a higher percent hippy presence/hippy feel to the metro.
2667 san francisco
3351 austin
4771 portland
8647 seattle
12368 los angeles
18511 chicago
22727 boston
23041 new york city
41981 dc
SF by far has the highest raw score over 2.5X higher than the second highest of Los Angeles.
NYC has a raw score right behind LA.
Portland Seattle Chicago and Austin all have a similar raw score but about half that of Los Angeles
Boston has about half the raw score of Portland, Seattle, Chicago and Austin
DC is slightly lower than Boston.
Just for good measure though Humboldt County has a sub 2000 hippie quotient.
Last edited by grapico; 08-15-2013 at 11:23 AM..
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