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Definitely Chicago has to be near the top of my list. In the 90’s through the early 2000’s it was the clear #3 city in the country. MJ, Oprah, Millennium Park, distinct skyline/skyscrapers (many other cities outside of NYC/Chicago/and a few others hadn’t begun building the big skyscrapers yet), several talk shows, several 90’s movie settings, and the list goes on… It was definitely viewed as a much “cooler” city back then, and it wasn’t a politically divisive lightning rod.
While I’m sure it’s not what it was it it’s peak, New York is still generally viewed as a cool. San Francisco probably dropped off a lot more than NYC.
San Francisco is tricky. In a sense I think it’s coolness probably increased, although I guess it depends on how you look at it. SF’s profile is much more global due to its reputation for Tech. It’s also an exclusive city where you have to have money to live in. Now “cool” might not describe this, but it definitely has more of a “brand” now. Back in the 90s it was more of just a normal medium/large city. It didn’t have the kind of instant “tech” or “expensive” brand recognition it does now.
NYC has always been the Alpha US city. It’s kept up with the times since the 90’s but it’s stature (and I would say “coolness”), hasn’t changed all that much.
Atlanta was the place to be in the 1990s, but I think the bloom is off the rose now. The cost of living in Atlanta is increasing, but the quality of life is not.
I agree. I think Atlanta is still somewhat cool/popular, it’s just that there are lots of similar peers that kind of have the same vibe (and takes away from its unique place in the south). The growth of Houston, Nashville, Charlotte…all to some degree attract people in the same way Atlanta did as the alpha of its region in the 90s.
Wait? Orlando, Phoenix and Houston were cool? I had no idea.
I think that is an allusion to now, versus the 90s which I don't get as Orlando is definitely not cool, nor Phoenix from my understanding unless suburbia is a thing now. Houston I do get as an option.
Not mentioned thus far are cities like Nashville, Savannah and Cleveland which are pretty evidently "cool" now.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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SF was cool in the 90’s—it was no longer the hippie/counter culture that it was in the 60’s but remnants of that still existed and was replaced with more contemporary groups such as Huey Lewis, The Counting Crows, and 4 Non Blondes. the 49’ers were still in dynasty mode, and it definitely was a top foodie/restaurant and gay mecca back then. Even had a cool underground South of Market club scene back then (Club DV8)…
It was definitely popular with celebrities—ran into Beverly Hills 90210’s Jason Priestly at The Cypress Club, was enjoying a cigar upstairs at Stars when Arnold Schwarzenegger popped in to see what was going on, always saw one at Bix or a members only cigar club atop a fancy Chinese restaurant near Boulevard on Steuart Street whose name I cannot recall at the moment.
Basic Instinct, Joy Luck Club, Mrs Doubtfire, Pacific Heights, The Rock were films shot there.
Tech existed but wasn’t as prevalent as it is today and even the homeless situation, though still existent, was not as bad as recent years.
Last edited by elchevere; 01-25-2023 at 12:48 PM..
I always felt like or though no one even remembered Boston in the 1990s. It’s only “cool” decade was the 1980s when there was a cheaper, harder edge too it.
The 1990s was basically a rollback and cleanup decade for Boston as we emerges from a localized recession. It was also the first decade without Happy Hour, the first one with no championships and our biggest defining thing was lowering I-93.
The city is much more cosmopolitan, diverse and forward thinking now than in the 1990s when it was basically a livable affordable place for regular joes. But still without much nightlife? Or anything new and attractive.
Lmao how do you know this if you were born in 94'?
For anyone saying NYC is as cool now as it was in the 90's, I'd recommend reading the excellent Meet Me In the Bathroom about the halycon days of the mid-90's through 9/11 NYC. It was one of those brief moments in time, after NYC was cleaned up enough to be generally safe but before absurd prices pushed out nearly all creative types and social media destroyed anything remaining after that.
NYC was the epicenter of the global indie scene, and arguably the global nightlife scene. Today, I'd have to think long and hard about a single band I listen too today that has come out of NYC since those days. And I'm saying that as someone that really likes NYC, but now that I'm creeping up on middle age I don't need much of that anymore.
Anyway, a bit of a diversion but really a fascinating time capsule.
Phoenix was seen as a bland, older, conservative, maybe racist desert suburb in the past. It had nowhere to go but up in terms of "cool". Tons of people are moving out there of al races and socioeconomic brackets. Every year I hear about Scottsdale more and more. An how young people thrive out there.
Charlotte I don't think is seen as cool. Just livable. I've never heard someone say its so dope/cool.
Well sure, Phoenix is/was at a point where it literally can’t go any lesser in terms of blandness. But if you’re the 5th largest city in the country and one of your suburbs gets more nods to “coolness”, that says a lot about how people view Phoenix.
Lmao how do you know this if you were born in 94'?
How do I know things about Boston form the 90s and 80s- well my entire family, all my teachers, coaches were there. I was also there. And I was more aware of my surroundings during the early 2000s.
But there a whole Boston forum here full of old timers from Eastern MA, same with some the people on Reddit. I also go back and read Boston local history extensively.
Rent control was killed off in 94, which fosters gentrification: Many many inner city bars and clubs were forced to close for fickle violations in the 1990s, places like a Roscoes Biarritz and Connelys…happy hour was banned in 83/84, alt bars in Fenway/Kenmore/Allston closed in the 90s.
Bostons punk and rock scene peaked on the 80s and so did New Edition. The Boston Music Awards were created in 1987 to honor the local scene. Anecdotally you never ever hear about Boston in the 1990s and very very little media was based or set in Boston until *after* Good Will Hunting in 1997.
I would be more than interested in eating more anti perceptions of Boston in the 1990s you can hardly find a picture of Boston in the 1990s that ain’t the Boston Garden or a construction site. It was a transition era most noted for the massive reduction in crime (Boston Miracle) and the Big Dig which spanned from 1991-2007.
You simply never hear about the 90s in Boston it’s almost as if it didn’t happen. The city was diversifying a lot and becoming “new Boston ” and gentrifying beginning in earnest after 1995..
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