Where do the hipsters hang? (Portland: apartments, rental, houses)

[Mikeisnottoast]

I'm sure this will get lots of resentful replies, but long story short, I'm a college student who's transferring to Portland State in the fall. I've seen a lot of people, for fear of damaging their egos dance around being overt about this, but I'm gonna be too the point since vague questions get vague answers. I'm one of those annoying kids with the skinny jeans, black frame glasses, tattoos, and ironic t-shirts. Which neighborhood, since every town I've lived in or visited has had a specific one, is the one where people similarly conformed in their self-righteous and pretentious concept of counter culture congregate in as their main base of operations. In effect, what is to Portland as Williamsburg is to Brooklyn?

[philwithbeard]

The area around Portland State, and then ride the Street Car to the "Pearl District" on the North end of Downtown Portland. Most of the Pearl is in the "Free-Rail Zone" and you can walk to the rest. Living in the Pear is expensive, and at times from what I have heard, a bit of a pain due to immature youths and booze (but that is to be expected, right?)

I do not know where Portland State students who live on a tight budget and actually study once in a while live. Some might live just across the river in the real in-close SE neighborhoods. On the west side of the river, the South Waterfront area just seems to me to be too expensive for tight budget PSU students.

Hipsters congregate near the music and cultural "hot" spots.
local free street "newspapers" that cover the music of Portland:
Willamette Week | Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 (http://wweek.com/contact/ - broken link)
Portland Mercury

you should be able to figure out the music outlets and bars that play the youth music and dance clubs and build up a map of where the action is. Be aware, as with so much else, the "hot" spots can change and be someplace else very quickly.

HTH
Phil
(an old guy BTW)

[eightiesfan]

Originally Posted by Mikeisnottoast

I'm one of those annoying kids with the skinny jeans, black frame glasses, tattoos, and ironic t-shirts. Which neighborhood, since every town I've lived in or visited has had a specific one, is the one where people similarly conformed in their self-righteous and pretentious concept of counter culture congregate in as their main base of operations.

Whatever neighborhood has the largest corporate owned generic shopping mall. Just look for this place.

[jjpop]

First off, your candor is refreshing. Thank you.

Second, check out the threads that mention the Hawthorne district.

[roneb]

Wouldn't the irony be that if you have to ask where the hipster place to be is, then you must not be hip? Sorry, I couldn't resist!

In all seriousness, I would say that the Pearl District might be too yuppy/trendy to count as hipster. Hawthorne is closer, but more aging hippy to me. I'd say south of Hawthorne, close in around Division or Powell might fit (the Ladd and Brooklyn neighborhoods).

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by eightiesfan

Whatever neighborhood has the largest corporate owned generic shopping mall. Just look for this place.

Dunno where you live, but in Portland, "hipsters" and "malls" are not found together. Espresso shops, microbrew pubs, art galleries, used clothing stores, music venues, Powell's Books, trendy comics shops, other pubs and cafes, sure, but not malls.

[Mikeisnottoast]

Originally Posted by roneb

Wouldn't the irony be that if you have to ask where the hipster place to be is, then you must not be hip? Sorry, I couldn't resist!

In all seriousness, I would say that the Pearl District might be too yuppy/trendy to count as hipster. Hawthorne is closer, but more aging hippy to me. I'd say south of Hawthorne, close in around Division or Powell might fit (the Ladd and Brooklyn neighborhoods).

Heh, I'm sure I'd have figured it out eventually, but it'll be like 8 months before I move over there. I wanted to know ahead of time where to slink so I could jump right in once I did.

[BPLive]

I still have a hard time knowing what a real hipster is. I think because my brain refuses to be in a 'click' of anything. I'm probably a little of everything.......

Like I used to be devoted to the Dead (with jerry of course)..... go to all the shows for the music.. jam with hippies or wanna be hippies... but I took showers (example) and never worried about calling me a hippy or even dressing like one. maybe once in awhile I'd think about it... "am I a hippy?" I guess by spirit in many ways.

anyway I have no idea what you are talking about with having to conform to a way of being.

so are there half hipters out there? is my real question Sometimes I think i'm a hipster... then I read something and i'm like WTF. but really don't give a donkee's tale.

To the OP, would you be seen in public hanging and being friends with non-hipsters?

[Mikeisnottoast]

Originally Posted by BPLive

I still have a hard time knowing what a real hipster is. I think because my brain refuses to be in a 'click' of anything. I'm probably a little of everything.......

Like I used to be devoted to the Dead (with jerry of course)..... go to all the shows for the music.. jam with hippies or wanna be hippies... but I took showers (example) and never worried about calling me a hippy or even dressing like one. maybe once in awhile I'd think about it... "am I a hippy?" I guess by spirit in many ways.

anyway I have no idea what you are talking about with having to conform to a way of being.

so are there half hipters out there? is my real question Sometimes I think i'm a hipster... then I read something and i'm like WTF. but really don't give a donkee's tale.

To the OP, would you be seen in public hanging and being friends with non-hipsters?

It's an evolving term. It originally applied to lounge lizards, jazz men, and writers of the 50's. Through my understanding it tends to refer to whatever the youth counter culture of the time is. There's always going to be some aura of conformity because human beings are social, and seek like people out, and wish to be accepted by them. For the most part, I don't think hipsters want to be original so much as they don't care for mainstream culture. Long story short, I like skinny jeans, indie bands, and books, so I tend to hang out with people who like skinny jeans, indie bands and books. A lot of hipsters can be elitist and resentful towards 'normies', which I think gives the rest a bad rep by association. Then again, I just saw a thread on here about what retards we were for getting tattoos, as if we're in some silly rebellious phase, and will want to be bankers in 5 years. Just something to think about if you ever wonder why you might get dirty looks.

Anyway, long story short, hipsters know they're hipsters, but for some reason it's taboo to accept that, because it's become a dirty word in the hipster community as a synonym for posuer. That is, if you're hip enough to be picked out, you must be trying too hard.

So, to answer your question; if you have to ask "Am I a hipster?" chances are you're just a regular guy who has some indie tendencies. I hang out with plenty of non-hipsters, I'm more concerned with what a person has to add to my life, than what he or she dresses like. I actually tend to be more judgmental towards hipsters cause I know a lot of them who are in it cause it's fashionable and will get over it when something else hits the run way.

[carpenterant]

What I think of as a hipster hotbed right now in Portland is along the Vancouver/Williams corridor, up to about 20th past MLK Blvd, and probably not much farther out than Killingsworth. In other words, close-in NE, edging into North Portland. St. Johns in N. Portland is also becoming a bit hipsterish.
These are areas that have been gentrifying slowly but haven't been over-developed yet, so they're still (somewhat) affordable (if you've got housemates).

Lots of big old houses that have been converted into rental apartments or shared housing. Tons of 20-30 somethings on fixies, backyards for barbeques, a good mixture of dive bars/more trendy places, old-school record shops that haven't been picked over yet like the Hawthorne area, etc...