Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is just my opinion as a younger guy who's lived in Austin several times and used to go up there 2-3x a week for years... I think it's "peak" was 2010-2019-ish. It wasn't a small unknown town then by any means, but it was right before tech corps really started invading.
These days, there's a whole YouTube channel documenting the fights/shootouts on 6th street (tbf it's called dirty 6th for a reason, but it was nowhere near as bad as it is now). Homeless problem has gotten way worse and was out of control at one point. Rainey street is damn near gone now and replaced with generic Miami/Vancouver style high rise condos/apartments.
SoHo House/Hermes/Equinox, etc on South Congress which used to be a boutique artsy area. Rent is higher than Chicago. Restaurants/lounges where you need an AmEx concierge to get a RSVP at... that kind of thing. I guess it just depends what people's definition of cool is.
IMO Austin at it's best was a very live and let live kind of city where you could go to Zilker and chill, go paddle boarding and then go eat at a cool restaurant in shorts. Nowadays (generalizing) it's an odd mix of Silicon Valley tech bro types, LA/Dallas pretentiousness and Portland/Seattle hardcore leftist culture. Not saying that stuff didn't exist to a degree before, but it definitely wasn't as in your face.
The inner core of San Antonio these days kind of reminds me of what Austin was 6-7 years ago. Seems to add up given the largest amount of migration to SA is from Austin.
Well, like I said I could see an argument for Austin being "cooler" a decade ago, I think saying the 90s (which is what this thread is) is kind of a crazy statement though, as Austin was a pretty small/unknown city in the 90s. Maybe it was underground / alternative cool but for the most part it was just college kids (who would usually move to other places when they graduated) and families.
Overall, I think there are plenty of things to criticize 2023 Austin for, "not being cool enough" is a kind of strange one to be honest. I think if anything Austin is too cool these days, and it was nice when it was more chill and casual as you described. A lot of it is just the social media / Instagram era and probably present everywhere I think. In the 2010s Austin was super hipster which I thought was fun and you had the peak of SXSW music fest, so those were good times for sure. These days it's more cool with the NYC/LA/SF crowd which is strange. The pandemic also brought a lot of family-oriented tech workers who moved just for relatively cheap housing; these people are boring and if the city does lose its cool I'd blame them more than anyone. Luckily that flow has slowed as prices have risen, and is mostly confined to Cedar Park and Round Rock and the like anyway.
Manhattan had lost its raw edges, now you have the aesthetically offensive Vessel that looks like a giant cockroach and oozes bad mojo, you have all the “luxury shopping” and expensive designer cupcakes. Having seen the sexy riveting energy of the city in the ‘90s and early 2000, NYC is like Miami now, has all the glitz and flashiness, boasts all the “luxury” and expensive real estate, but take away the existing cultural legacy that’s still bona fide world class such as Guggenheim and MET, NYC is just like any city USA. If you think it’s cool now, imagine 25 yrs ago.
Some people would say that's cool though. A Gen Zer isn't evaluating current times through the lens of a Gen Xer.
Some people would say that's cool though. A Gen Zer isn't evaluating current times through the lens of a Gen Xer.
Of course.
NYC will always be cool, to the current generation and to the next. The thread wasn’t asking if NYC is still cool, it was asking what cities YOU considered have dropped off in “coolness” since the 90s. I expressed my observation as someone who lived throughout the ‘90s and early to mid 2000.
If you think it’s cool now, that’s your taste level and your prorogative. Whatever gets you through the night…..(what rock n roll song did this sentence I just typed come from?!)
I’m a Gen X, but i wasn’t raised only to have limited references of the years I was born in and raised in. I’m and I was wildly interested in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ask me anything with the Beat Generation I’ll be happy to discuss; ask me the Swing Era and the Gilded Age I am well-versed as well. What are the differences between Baroque and Rococo? What is the impact of Renaissance to the civilization? I was was raised to respect history and remain an intellectual curiosity of the time before me, the time I’m currently living in and the time that’s ahead of us.
I’m certainly not the Gen X who would mock the “boomers”.
Gen Z is still very young. One tends to think they know everything when they are very young. Our frontal lobe isn’t fully mature until 25. I didn’t feel like an adult until I was 30, despite the fact I lived through three continents and 5 countries before then. Kids these days may think Kim Kardashian is the modern day Karen Silkwood (by the way how many Gen Z know what I’m referring to?!) who is saving the world. Or they might think by logging into Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Reddit their world is complete.
Unless one respects the history, one will always have a very provincial world view.
I said this all the time, just because you don’t know (or never heard of it) doesn’t mean certain things don’t exist or aren’t well-known to others. Your ignorance has no bearing of the legitimacy of certain culture/zeitgeist.
Last edited by achtung baby; 01-30-2023 at 02:01 PM..
Reason: Editing
Your ignorance has no bearing of the legitimacy of certain culture/zeitgeist.
^^^^^
another idea is that in any given decade, especially, pre instagram, twitter, YouTube, there were multiple zeitgeists living exclusive of one another and it was easier to be hip with the zeitgeist in your world and be ignorant of the zeitgeist(s) in SF, LA, Chicago, Miami or even further NYC, London or Berlin.
another idea is that being ignorant of history and other cultures makes it easier for a "unique" culture to develop because there is less influence. The world and the USA is more "homogenized" in 2023 vs 1983 vs 1923 vs. 1873.
^^^^^
another idea is that in any given decade, especially, pre instagram, twitter, YouTube, there were multiple zeitgeists living exclusive of one another and it was easier to be hip with the zeitgeist in your world and be ignorant of the zeitgeist(s) in SF, LA, Chicago, Miami or even further NYC, London or Berlin.
another idea is that being ignorant of history and other cultures makes it easier for a "unique" culture to develop because there is less influence. The world and the USA is more "homogenized" in 2023 vs 1983 vs 1923 vs. 1873.
What fascinates (and puzzles) me is that we have Maya Ruins, the Pyramid in Egypt, the Great Wall of China when there weren’t much technology, nor modern tools as well as people like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven composed complicated splendid pieces with no help of computer/state-of-the-art recording engineering-all these were done when most life expectancy was probably 45.
This is not about “nostalgia”. I’m not a Luddite and I love technology. I live my whole life on my iPhone 14 pro max. I’m grateful for modern science and medicine. However as someone unthread said the creativity and the individualism were compromised from the corporations and gentrification, we are seeing more and more sameness.
Industrialization and modern urbanism brought so much progression but we are either afraid of standing out (conformity) or courting too much validation/attention to stand out. (95% of the social media.)
Creativity is something to set us apart from the A.I, so is innovation. It’s kind of hard to be innovative when you have one nice, original work that’s well-received (in this case, the French TV show called Call My Agent/Dix Pour-cent on Netflix.) but immediately there’s a remake from the Brits on Amazon Prime. You have the original formula of, say, Top Chef USA, next thing you know Top Chef franchise worldwide. The U.K The Office was only available through BBC America from early 2000 when streaming was unheard of so it made sense to have the U.S remake. Creativity and innovation, along with Cultural IQ (in addition to IQ and EQ (emotional intelligence)) will be the future, but how are kids able to discern the quality of work and originality if all their references came from algorithms and the platform where most people do the same repetitive movement every 10 secs?!
Imagine Mozart had to carry his own social media followers and match his hashtags for the sake of algorithms (or the Archbishop wouldn’t allow him to compose for the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg.)
Cities like NYC, Berlin, London, Paris and SF will always be considered “cool” by many people. What makes a city “pop” and “memorable” very often are tied to many unique local people and from certain era. I was in art/creativity/cultural fields, so when I think of Sacramento I don’t think of the NBA team, I think of Joan Didion. When I think of Mexico City I think of Frida Kahlo. Georgia O’Keefe/Santa Fe. Key West/Hemingway. Paris/Henry Miller/Hemingway/Picasso in early 20th century….etc.
NYC in the ‘90s, as I shared the Minimalism in fashion reached the high point in NYC. The American sportswear received enormous international exposure and attention. The people that were imminent and active back then from the original Supermodels such as Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Helena Christensen, to restauranteur Keith McNally and Ian Schrager (studio 54), are all very much alive and most still in their prime today. Andy Warhol’ s Interview magazine was still very much in the zeitgeist, and there was still a very strong tie between streets and high fashion. I love the American Vogue back then often had the journalist Julia Reed (RIP) and Katherine Betts writing interesting and intelligent articles breaking down the cultural differences (along with career women’s style preferences) among women in D.C/San Francisco/NYC/Chicago/Dallas. Even US magazine in the ‘90s was a much journalism-based, serious movie industry publication than the ones now with many Real Housewives fights and the Kardashian/Jenner brand. We want instant gratification now, and we measure people by their virtual presence. Everything is now very performative, calculating and strategic.
30 yrs from now, what’s our collective memory of NYC?!
Last edited by achtung baby; 01-30-2023 at 06:18 PM..
Reason: Typos
Well, according to Seinfeld in 1991, Seattle was the 'pesto of cities' and everyone was moving there. So.....there ya go. We are no longer the pesto. I believe most people are over pesto and Seattle.
Well, according to Seinfeld in 1991, Seattle was the 'pesto of cities' and everyone was moving there. So.....there ya go. We are no longer the pesto. I believe most people are over pesto and Seattle.
Maybe the housing market will finally come back to earth, or not:
While Phoenix isn’t necessarily “cool”, it’s finally starting to develop a desperately needed urban core downtown and centered along Roosevelt Row with some developing cultural identity (eg First Fridays). Booming in the car-centric, post-war era lead to a relative lack of history and streetcar developments that permeate the “cooler” areas throughout much of the west and elsewhere. Still a far way off but at least there some attempts at not just being a gigantic suburb.
Fully disagree on some of the comments about Tempe. That place has exploded dramatically in the last 5 years and has a really promising vision for their downtown and the lake. It’s possibly 10 years away from being pretty damn cool with the lakefront, a rapidly growing very walkable area with tons of restaurants and bars, and the university. Yes there is a corporate component, but those are massive employers in the valley and necessary to support the growth, and the style of development isn’t any different than what you see in other booming sunbelt cities like Austin or Nashville. Tempe is obviously nowhere near those two but if even half of what’s currently planned gets built it’ll be an actual city with more than ASU and some nightlife. Places don’t rapidly urbanize like that without some element of “cool”.
I would say Chicago and New York for different reasons
New York is still the most amazing city in the US. While still nothing like it, I find growth sometimes = not always good and a sterile feeling. Hudson Yards is an amazing development as is what is going on in Brooklyn, but as someone who has visited NYC hundreds of times in last 30 years, a change for sure.
I did enjoy the early 90s the best
I live in Chicago and unlike the media, crime is not as bad as it was back in the 90s and there are so many great things the city has that it did not have in the 90s like the Bean, many downtown parks, Riverwalk, a huge amount of new skyscrapers developed and neighborhoods grown.
That said, back in the early 90s when that ugly sun times buildings was on Mich ave, Chicago was absolutely more cool or important than it is now. Why?
You had the greatest athlete ever maybe most famous team in the history all over the world in the CHicago BUlls. The Bulls brand is still extremely strong.
You had Oprah! Say what you want, she was a major celebrity and made Chicago a destination for celebrities. The Viagra triangle was in its heyday, so many neighborhoods felt more athentic and again less developed can = better sometimes. Wriggeville now is just extremely suburban imo.
Also CHicago had Sears at the tallest building in the world which meant something after Dubia and Asia just went crazy on supertalls. Ohare was busiest airport.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
