This week, the financial rag Forbes released a ranking of the "hippest hipster neighborhoods" in America. Apart from the obvious irony of the most mainstream, corporate magazine weighing in on the favorite neighborhoods of the painfully hip, there are some glaring issues with the list. Namely, the fact that many of the neighborhoods have been gentrified for close to a decade, and now have million-dollar homes and finance-type denizens—hey, at least they're Forbes readers. At #5 is Portland's Pearl District, located just north of that city's downtown, and home to this $1.1M penthouse condo. The two-bed, two-bath unit boasts a wrap-around terrace, loft-like entertaining spaces, and a wood-burning fireplace. Nice, but even a trustafarian would have a hard time justifying the price tag, despite the prevalence of single-origin coffee shops and independent bookstores.
? Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, which Forbes dubbed the Midwest Mecca of hipsterdom, is home to plenty of art galleries and concert halls, but million-dollar homes too. The latter is thanks to more than three decades of gentrification, which began in the '80s. By 2004's Wicker Park—a Hollywood flick starring Josh Hartnett—the neighborhood was seen as a realistic home for the advertising executive at the heart of the plot. That was eight years ago. Now brick townhouses are being built from scratch and listed for $1.05M. This five-bed, 3.5-bath townhouse measures 4,200 square feet and has heated floors, a steam shower, and a "massive custom kitchen" with dual ovens.
? No East Coast locale has been more closely associated with hipsterdom than the Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, which came in at #3 on the Forbes list. Recently, much of the artistic community that originally settled the area has escaped escalating rents by moving to the nearby neighborhoods of Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. The easy access to Manhattan and rep as a "cool" neighborhood has drawn besuited residents willing to pay big money for apartments. This loft-like condo is one of the penthouses at The Gretsch, a converted warehouse that formerly stored musical instruments. The current owner of the three-bed, three-bath condo looks artsy enough judging from the listing photos, with reams of records and CDs and some funky modern art, but there's nothing hip about the $4.75M price tag.
? Compared to most of the others on this list, the Mission District, in San Francisco, has kept the most of its bohemian character. It's fitting that it also is the nabe with the cheapest house on this list, an $828K one-bedroom historic cottage. That's a lot of cash for a one-bedroom, but the soaring ceilings and room for expansion make it more tolerable. The renovated kitchen is hardly bohemian, however, with a Liebherr fridge, Bertazzoni gas range, and Bosch dishwasher.
? America's #1 hippest hipster neighborhood is, according to Forbes, L.A.'s Silver Lake. The epicenter of Southern California's indie music scene, Silver Lake has also drawn more commercially successful acts to town, at least judging by the property prices. This concrete bunker of a modernist house sits on less than a quarter of an acre, but has a swimming pool and space for "cocktails for 100+." Another sign that it might be outpacing the market: it hasn't managed to sell after 200 days on the market. The price of hipness? $1.949M.
· America's Hippest Hipster Neighborhoods [Forbes]
· 726 NW 11th Ave APT 606 [Zillow]
· 1321 N Bell Ave [Zillow]
· 60 Broadway PH12 [Elliman]
· 2495 Harrison Street [Zillow]
· 2284 Hidalgo Ave [Zillow]
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