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Most counter-culture:
Austin, TX
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Asheville, NC (the above four were obvious but surprised nobody mentioned Asheville)
Cleveland, OH
Portland, ME
New York, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
I think pretty much every city is going to have at least some small counter-cultural scene. The places with the least counter-culture are the Bible Belt backwoods towns and the super-wealthy suburbs, both of which consist almost entirely of families that probably expect the same image from their children. If I had to pick a city of some kind, I would probably guess Wichita, KS or St. Paul, MN. Somebody else mentioned Indianapolis, IN and Charlotte, NC; those would probably be near the bottom as well.
I like this post. I think you can find anything in any city over 100k. I'm positive there are gay bars in Mississippi and raging hippies in Birmingham. Maybe just not as prevalent.
Capital cities with large universities will naturally have more per capita, as a general rule.
San Diego is not countercultural compared to the rest of California. Go to the beach in San Diego and compare it to Venice Beach for example. I'd say that Venice Beach is one of the most counterculture places I've ever been to and I've never seen such a collection of weird people all in one place.
Orlando is where both the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC started, and is where Red Lobster and I believe Outback Steakhouse as well was founded AND is home to Disney World and Universal Studios so it is probably the LEAST countercultural place ever.
I also don't think Las Vegas or Phoenix have much of a counterculture. Las Vegas is a place where "normal" people go for a good time, it doesn't have the counterculture vibe that places like Key West or New Orleans do.
If I had to choose the absolute most countercultural places in America I'd say
1. Berkeley, California
2. Key West, Florida
3. Venice Beach, California
4. San Francisco
5. Portland
6. Austin
7. New Orleans in some parts. NOLA is a very counterculture city surrounded by very traditional, conservative suburbs.
Decent list. I think Seattle should be there, they have a statue of Lenin in the middle of the city. Asheville as well.
BTW, all of these liberal cities, still have yuppies. San Francisco, Boulder, Asheville, etc. Every city is a salad bowl.
What cities have the most counter-culture people vs the least counter-culture?
There's been lots of "counter-culture" discussion and cities mentioned. But as for "least counter-culture", that tends to be smaller towns and rural areas. Also, state-wide, places like Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas, and Utah. Very monotone, bland, clone-like (in my opinion).
I think Seattle should be there, they have a statue of Lenin in the middle of the city.
I recall reading about that statue. I was initially led to believe that it was a civic statue, but I'm almost positive it's privately owned and on display at a restaurant or something. I also think that there's a chance it gets sold off (ironically?), which is why I was reading about it. Let the googling ensue...by me anyway.
Most counter-culture:
Austin, TX
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Asheville, NC (the above four were obvious but surprised nobody mentioned Asheville)
Cleveland, OH
Portland, ME
New York, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
I think pretty much every city is going to have at least some small counter-cultural scene. The places with the least counter-culture are the Bible Belt backwoods towns and the super-wealthy suburbs, both of which consist almost entirely of families that probably expect the same image from their children. If I had to pick a city of some kind, I would probably guess Wichita, KS or St. Paul, MN. Somebody else mentioned Indianapolis, IN and Charlotte, NC; those would probably be near the bottom as well.
I realize this post was made in September, but I'd like to hear the justification for Cleveland. Having been there several times...I've either gone to the wrong places or you're judging these places differently than I, heh.
I recall reading about that statue. I was initially led to believe that it was a civic statue, but I'm almost positive it's privately owned and on display at a restaurant or something. I also think that there's a chance it gets sold off (ironically?), which is why I was reading about it. Let the googling ensue...by me anyway.
Yeah, either way, not sure that would fly in a lot of cities, at least not that prominent. Could be wrong.
"Counterculture," hipsters, and punk rock types are everywhere
Counterculture usually refers to hippies in the 60s-70s who liked fighting "the man," "dropping acid," going to art school, growing beards, having long hair (both men and women), living in communes, and being the complete opposite of what their parents were. Woodstock, the Summer of Love, the Beatles, and Berkeley are what I think of when I hear "counterculture." But the OP is using "counterculture" in a broader sense to include any subcultures that pride themselves in not being mainstream.
There are lots of subcultures that love being "alternative" - but they're usually just trying to fit into the dominant or cool culture, where ever they are. There's a lot of intersection between different subcultures.
I'm going to try to divide cities up into various types of subcultures.
Hippie/artist colonies/towns that have "retreats":
-Taos, NM
-Santa Fe, NM
-Sedona, AZ
-Ojai, CA
-San Anselmo, CA
-Santa Cruz, CA and surrounding areas (e.g. Esalen)
These towns have lots of old white people (60s-70s+) who still think they're in the 1970s. Talk about macrobiotic diets from Japanese Zen places, and they'll still know what you're talking about.
Where ever they have those dumb festivals:
-Woodstock
-That Burning Man place (Black Rock Desert, NV)
-Indio, CA (Coachella)
-Where ever they have fests that end in "kti" - Shakti, Bhakti - faux Eastern & Indian
Cities stuck in the classic hippie counterculture:
-Berkeley
-Santa Barbara - surprisingly, some Berkeley-type old-fashioned hippies there
College towns - love being liberal, snooty, artsy, academic, and old-fashioned at the same time:
-Davis, CA
-Flagstaff, AZ
-New Paltz, NY
-Arcata, CA
-U of Hawaii, Manoa
-Oberlin, OH
-Wellesley, MA
-Duluth, GA
-Athens, GA
Annoying big cities that are very corporate and full of tech bros, but that still consider themselves "counterculture":
-San Francisco
-Austin
-Seattle
-Oakland
Similar to above, but less techie, still extremely hipster and shallow:
-Brooklyn
-Portland
-NYC
-LA
Southern city that loves the "weird" label:
-Louisville, KY
The latest hipster region to move to:
-Western Montana, surprisingly - the cities of Missoula, Bozeman, Helena, Butte, and Kalispell. The typewriter poet, Tyler Knott Gregsson, lives in Helena with his photographer wife. Too cliched.
Big cities with lots of hipster pockets:
-Philly
-Boston
-Chicago
-all big cities/metro areas in US
It's probably true that all those other cities that we don't usually think of as "counterculture" are the most counterculture of all - Detroit, Cleveland, etc. A biography on Obama's mom claimed that Kansas, where she grew up, had the roots of radicalism, progressivism, and all that idealism that counterculture types value so much.
The Trappist monk in Kentucky, Thomas Merton, was extremely counterculture and cool. So you can find them anywhere, any region, any religious tradition or lack of it.
Counterculture usually refers to hippies in the 60s-70s who liked fighting "the man," "dropping acid," going to art school, growing beards, having long hair (both men and women), living in communes, and being the complete opposite of what their parents were. Woodstock, the Summer of Love, the Beatles, and Berkeley are what I think of when I hear "counterculture." But the OP is using "counterculture" in a broader sense to include any subcultures that pride themselves in not being mainstream.
There are lots of subcultures that love being "alternative" - but they're usually just trying to fit into the dominant or cool culture, where ever they are. There's a lot of intersection between different subcultures.
I'm going to try to divide cities up into various types of subcultures.
Hippie/artist colonies/towns that have "retreats":
-Taos, NM
-Santa Fe, NM
-Sedona, AZ
-Ojai, CA
-San Anselmo, CA
-Santa Cruz, CA and surrounding areas (e.g. Esalen)
These towns have lots of old white people (60s-70s+) who still think they're in the 1970s. Talk about macrobiotic diets from Japanese Zen places, and they'll still know what you're talking about.
Where ever they have those dumb festivals:
-Woodstock
-That Burning Man place (Black Rock Desert, NV)
-Indio, CA (Coachella)
-Where ever they have fests that end in "kti" - Shakti, Bhakti - faux Eastern & Indian
Cities stuck in the classic hippie counterculture:
-Berkeley
-Santa Barbara - surprisingly, some Berkeley-type old-fashioned hippies there
College towns - love being liberal, snooty, artsy, academic, and old-fashioned at the same time:
-Davis, CA
-Flagstaff, AZ
-New Paltz, NY
-Arcata, CA
-U of Hawaii, Manoa
-Oberlin, OH
-Wellesley, MA
-Duluth, GA
-Athens, GA
Annoying big cities that are very corporate and full of tech bros, but that still consider themselves "counterculture":
-San Francisco
-Austin
-Seattle
-Oakland
Similar to above, but less techie, still extremely hipster and shallow:
-Brooklyn
-Portland
-NYC
-LA
Southern city that loves the "weird" label:
-Louisville, KY
The latest hipster region to move to:
-Western Montana, surprisingly - the cities of Missoula, Bozeman, Helena, Butte, and Kalispell. The typewriter poet, Tyler Knott Gregsson, lives in Helena with his photographer wife. Too cliched.
Big cities with lots of hipster pockets:
-Philly
-Boston
-Chicago
-all big cities/metro areas in US
It's probably true that all those other cities that we don't usually think of as "counterculture" are the most counterculture of all - Detroit, Cleveland, etc. A biography on Obama's mom claimed that Kansas, where she grew up, had the roots of radicalism, progressivism, and all that idealism that counterculture types value so much.
The Trappist monk in Kentucky, Thomas Merton, was extremely counterculture and cool. So you can find them anywhere, any region, any religious tradition or lack of it.
Brilliant. I liked this. Shocked Asheville and Ann Arbor escaped your wrath.
College towns - love being liberal, snooty, artsy, academic, and old-fashioned at the same time:
-Davis, CA
-Flagstaff, AZ
-New Paltz, NY
-Arcata, CA
-U of Hawaii, Manoa
-Oberlin, OH
-Wellesley, MA
-Duluth, GA
-Athens, GA
Since when is Duluth a college town?
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"Counterculture," hipsters, and punk rock types are everywhere
