The Portland Perspective: Richmond, Virginia? Another hipster-oriented city?

[Nell Plotts]

That is great!!! Doubtless your son had some technical education and a good work history (doesn't matter where; employers want to know if a candidate can work as a team member, shows up when needed and does the work as assigned).

[58rhodes]

Hes been building home computers for a while but had no formal training

[Port Pitt Ash]

Okay, now that I've been to Richmond and lived in Portland I can add my 2 cents.

Some of Richmond went beyond my expectations and some of it fell short.

Carytown (in 2016) is far more gentrified than anything in Portland was (in 2009). Shockoe Bottom was also a disappointment. Belle Island, Downtown, and The Fan were standout areas.

In a nutshell Richmond reminded me of the DIY punk and metalhead scenes in places like Seattle and Portland pre-grunge era.

At night it’s a little rough around the edges too. I think it's more bark than bite from the crime standpoint, but it did give off a energetic, friendly, and be on your guard type of energy. Then again maybe having lived so long in Asheville and Portland has made me soft?

Hipsters:

Unlike hipsters in other places most of Richmond’s hipsters seem to just be about the aesthetic. Mostly their style was preppy hipster or faux thrift store style (expensive clothing made to look vintage or expensive vintage). Although some of them rocked looks from multiple hipster fashion eras. In other words fashion focused hipsters, but not sloppy like you see in the PacNW.

It’s not uncommon to see black hipsters as well. Think Dwayne Wayne in the show A Different World.

DIY 80s/90s Punks and Metalheads: Lots of black. You know guys with long hair, the occasional scruffy goatee/beard, with some band tee shirt, spikes, and sporting black leather. Stuff like Dave Brockie, Fredrik Thordendal or George Fisher, but skinny. Sort of reminded me of a PacNW DIY 80s/90s scene. Seemed genuine. Nice guys, but their look doesn’t exactly say come talk to me. Some were Millennials who’d rather be a Gen Xer (Slacker, Singles, Reality Bites sort of thing) while others looked like they could have come out of that time and simply kept the metal spirit alive.

I’d say this is the scene that sets Richmond apart from other cities. Both Seattle and Portland mostly lost these types a while ago.

Sort of like the XRay Cafe and Satyricon era. Here's a video about that time in Portland: [vimeo]2805140[/vimeo]
https://vimeo.com/2805140

In Richmond just make it more metalhead focused and you get the idea.

Yamhill Pub and Lovecraft Bar are closest to the Richmond vibe with places like Strange Matter and Wonderland.

While bands like The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, and Sleater Kinney are "big" names to come out of the PacNW.

Richmond is more Cannibal Corpse, GWAR, Wolf Eyes, and Deerhoof type of thing.

Minneapolis is far more like the PacNW cities as far a cares and vibe than Richmond is currently.

Portland Hipster: Environmental, trendy protesters, who are politically focused and have a sloppy vintage fashion sense. Wants to tell you about how great they are, but never seems to produce this art/music/writing. Smug about all the stuff they've yet to do. Often does weird stuff just to be weird.

Richmond Hipster: More fashion focused with a blend of hipster eras and elements of metalhead and hip hop mixed in. They are likely to look down on people who aren't fashionable. More of a do nothing and have fun culture. Throw cigarette butts and trash on the ground. Sharpe faux vintage dress that probably cost more than everything you're wearing. Metalheads are kind of scruffy though (but not exactly hipsters either).

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Oh Richmond is a great city if you have never been to anywhere else in the country. I won't argue that, but the moment someone experiences the Northwest, it is hard to even try to compare it to Richmond because nothing in the Northwest can be found in Richmond.

While not entirely true the PacNW has certainly set the bar high. A few of the Richmond indie types I spoke with viewed Seattle as the mecca of cool.

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

It seems a predominately black and white city though. And a very segregated one as well - as are most American cities.

On that note, are there prominent ethnic groups? Asian nationalities in Richmond and such? I'm not aware of them, but Portland isn't known for them either, and they are definitely there.

Portland Integration:

Portland preaches extreme tolerance in a largely white city that pushes its minorities to the edges.

Richmond Integration:

While blacks and whites seemed to get along and mingle in everyday interactions most of the groups I saw were all black friends or all white friends. Even in the Midwest you get the token minority in groups so I’m not sure what the deal was with Richmond.

Also noticed mixed relationships weren’t a big deal, but there were fewer of them than other places I’ve been.

The Asians I saw were mainly East Indians and not many at that.

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

If Richmond truly has what Portland "had" back then, expect it to quadruple in size within the next few years.

Give it 5 to 10 years. If the sketchy night vibe went away and they cleaned up the city it could easily happen.

Richmond's a great city, but at this point living there, at least for me, would be disingenuous. It feels like the scene that would be my scene there is content to just have fun, go to shows, and do nothing. Which if I was luck enough to find Richmond in the 21 to 27 age bracket would have been great. But now that I'm in a creative production phase I'd rather be working on my art focused business than doing nothing (or talking about doing something and never doing it for that matter).

Moving to Richmond with my current goals kind of feels like I'd be giving up on life in an odd way.

It's a bit heartbreaking, but I'll get over it.

[EasyBeezy]

Great synopsis! Love the Dwayne Wayne reference!! Shockoe Bottom used to be better before the floods of 2004 tore the area apart. The segregation is real, although Portland doesn't have that because pretty much everyone is white. My lady is from Oregon, and I'm from Virginia. She actually loves Richmond and says it's one of the few places in Virginia that she'd be willing to live.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by Port Pitt Ash

Portland Integration:

Portland preaches extreme tolerance in a largely white city that pushes its minorities to the edges.

Richmond Integration:

While blacks and whites seemed to get along and mingle in everyday interactions most of the groups I saw were all black friends or all white friends. Even in the Midwest you get the token minority in groups so I’m not sure what the deal was with Richmond.

Also noticed mixed relationships weren’t a big deal, but there were fewer of them than other places I’ve been.

Kind of sounds like midwestern towns....

[Port Pitt Ash]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Kind of sounds like midwestern towns....

On the whole Richmond doesn't feel like the Midwest. Although maybe St. Louis if you absolutely had to pick one. But yeah, it's its own thing.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by Port Pitt Ash

On the whole Richmond doesn't feel like the Midwest. Although maybe St. Louis if you absolutely had to pick one. But yeah, it's its own thing.

Yep, Richmond does seem like it's own thing altogether, in a geographical area with close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the Appalachians, the North, the South, and DC.

[EasyBeezy]

I was just in Richmond last week. I still think it is the Portland of the South, but that doesn't mean it's just like Portland. It's like Portland if Portland were 200 years older, half as large, had been burned to the ground in 1865, had an insidious history of racism and segregation (yet tons of real history nonetheless), and whose population is half African American (many of whom are very poor).

Richmond is, besides being a counter-cultural haven, becoming a haven for DC area refugees who can't take that city's stifling culture and extreme housing costs. It's only 100 miles from downtown DC and 50 miles from the edge of that city's suburban fringe.

To those interesting in food (who isn't) I highly recommend visiting Croakers Spot. It's a sort of soul influenced seafood restaurant on Richmonds south side just across the river from downtown. We had a great meal there.