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Far more people have moved to the South, especially the Carolinas, than the PNW over the last 20 years. Mecklenburg County has almost doubled in size. Get over yourselves.
Far more people have moved to the South, especially the Carolinas, than the PNW over the last 20 years. Mecklenburg County has almost doubled in size. Get over yourselves.
That's because the south is cheaper to live in. There's a lot more poor and middle class people in the US who seek cheaper pastures. The South's population growth would never happen if it was as expensive as Seattle or Portland.
Guess what drives up the prices? The fact that it's a desirable place to live.
Far more people have moved to the South, especially the Carolinas, than the PNW over the last 20 years. Mecklenburg County has almost doubled in size. Get over yourselves.
Why do you have such a huge hard-on for the PNW? Sounds personal, the way you gratuitously toss out these kind of posts. Don't like it? Don't come here.
If you remember the 90's you probably remember Seattle just stepping out on to the national scene in a trendy sort of way. The grunge scene, the music, Microsoft's elevation into the development of the internet, Starbuck's expansion, and generally a city that was under the radar before this time that started becoming a media darling that had a lot of buzz at the time. Seattle wasn't for everyone, but it had rising notoriety and appeal that attracted swarms of youth to the city and has been on a fairly steady course since and it truly made its mark in the 90's.
Denver seems to be drawing in more attention as a very attractive city for millennial youth to migrate to. Denver had earlier chapters where prosperity developed and it became a pretty well educated place. But it seems to be becoming a more trendy sort of place and it would be fair to say the millennial generation is transforming the city in a lot of ways. The outlying suburbs were built out in the 90's and early 2000's. In the last 5-10 years its had a lot of focus on urban infill within the city The development in core neighborhoods surrounding downtown and LoDo (Highlands/Capital Hill/Golden Triangle/Five Points) are infilling blocks with higher density dwellings along with a very exponential increase to its mass transit system all around the metro.
But Denver's lifestyle image is gaining more buzz (literally and figuratively). With a top rated craft beer scene, the pioneering of the cannabis industry, and also an active outdoor culture for skiing/snowboarding, hiking, mountain biking, and a palpable health and fitness culture. It wasn't that long ago Denver and especially its food scene was considered quite vanilla, though that has been improving a lot in recent years as well.
This is a new generation of youth so obviously there are some very palpable differences in trends that aren't quite like the 90's were. Nonetheless do you think Denver perhaps may be making a coming of age kind of imprint on the national radar in the next decade in a similar manner Seattle did in the 90's?
The problem with the comparison is Denver doesn’t have a music scene like Grunge. It doesn’t really have a robust rock scene, and certainly nothing distinct or memorable.. People viewed Seattle as a place that was leading a rock music revolution (even if locals scoffed at the idea.) Seattle even defined cool fashion during that time, with flannel shirts suddenly becoming cool and Marc Jacobs releasing a “Grunge” wear collection, which is absurd.
Other than the weed thing (which has expanded to several other states), I don’t see what makes Denver unique as a city. In the 90s, Seattle was big because of Microsoft, gourmet coffee and grunge music all entering the national consciousness. I don’t see Denver (or any particular city really) having the same impact. In fact, Atlanta in the 90s probably had more impact than any city today, with its music scene, the Olympics, and starting to become a major relocation destination for African Americans.
Gentrification and social media have made most cities carbon copies of each other for the most part, other than visually.
Other than the weed thing (which has expanded to several other states), I don’t see what makes Denver unique as a city.
I agree that weed isn't enough to give Denver the same massive significance Seattle had in the '90s, but for the record, they're also the only city in the country to have legal mushrooms. Weed isn't really countercultural at all these days, it's like a less classy version of alcohol. At least in my circles, it's all about psychedelics and dissociatives now.
Not really. The only people I know in real life who have even bothered to go to Denver are stoners, but the novelty will presumably wear off as weed becomes legal in more states.
The millenial "counterculture" has not been about flocking to a particular city or admiring it, but rather bringing the same culture to every mid sized city and larger. Pretty much all of them have a hipster culture either established or brewing.
Not really. The only people I know in real life who have even bothered to go to Denver are stoners, but the novelty will presumably wear off as weed becomes legal in more states.
The millenial "counterculture" has not been about flocking to a particular city or admiring it, but rather bringing the same culture to every mid sized city and larger. Pretty much all of them have a hipster culture either established or brewing.
Well, to be fair this discussion is over six years old, almost an eternity in terms of what's cool and what's not for young professionals. It's a little bit of a different landscape now.
So at this point agree with most of your comment, though again 5-10 years ago it was a different vibe. I had just started grad school and had a lot of friends who were quite professional (lawyers/doctors) and made the move. There was an allure to marijuana, but I think that perhaps the idea of a state that voted for legal marijuana was even more appealing.
Denver will always hold appeal for people interested in pursuing different lifestyles as it's a gateway to mountains, etc. and gives a taste of the west without really venturing that far. To say that it has a profound cultural impact may be a bit much, though.
Seattle and Denver both attractive to the same age groups. But within those groups I can see pretty stark differences.
Denver is attractive to people who "want to go out West" - lots of Midwesterners who want to live by the mountains, people who say they're "fiscally conservative but socially liberal," value legalized marijuana and similar causes, and typically these are overwhelmingly white people. I think Denver tends to attract a similar demographic to Nashville, but perhaps Nashville was a bit too country or didn't have enough outdoor activities for them.
Seattle is more attractive to immigrants, people attracted to more "crunchy, granola" type activities, and people who are decidedly to the left on the political scale. Seattle is more often on a list with Portland and SF.
Perhaps the overlapping competitor for both would be Austin (tech yet Texas, so appealing to both groups).
Last edited by kimumingyu; 10-21-2020 at 03:24 AM..
This is a 2014 thread. Denver was still fairly affordable then. Housing costs have soared. I-70 up to the mountain playground is a weekend traffic jam. I had a business card that said Denver on it from 2009 to 2015. A 24 year old could move to Denver in 2010. It would be much harder for a 24 year old to move now in 2020 unless they have a high paying tech job.
Of course, Seattle did the same thing and the housing costs are even more prohibitive.
I view this as the whole “move for the lifestyle” thing. Eventually, all those places become congested and expensive. For the average person, you have to relo and lock in your housing early in the wave.
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