Can we please define hipster? [General]

2012 Oct 10
No, not looking to start another brawl, but just curious as to how other foodies define 'hipster'. The word has come up in conversation a prodigious number of times this past week, always with a negative connotation (f**ing hipsters and their music suggestions, too many hipsters ruining the place, a great place except for all the damn hipsters), and most notably connected with all things Hintonburg, in particular the Hintonburg Public House (an establishment that seems to generate no shortage of angst both on- and off-line).

Most recently overhead at the arboretum: "These hipsters can't even take their wedding photos without a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon!" (And yes, cans of Pabst were lining the front end of the limo...)

While there hasn't been a formal decree against hipsters on this site, comments I read now and again lead me to believe that they are detrimental to foodies' enjoyment of popular places. Could fellow foodies enlighten me as to what exactly defines this species?

(And for the record, no, I do not own an iPhone or any other product from Apple ;o)

2012 Oct 10
Check this out:
diehipster.wordpress.com

"A place for real New Yorkers to vent about the invasion of attention starved, useless adults that we know as hipsters."

2012 Oct 10
Ok thanks Blubarry, so in other words here's evidence 'A'...

Looks like what you'd get if HPH opened a patio... ;o)

2012 Oct 10
Youch. Nevermind Hintonburg, I didn't realize the situation was so dire in Brooklyn where they've recently had a 'hipster infestation':

"Where our coffee/tea is still about a dollar. Where we eat non-organic, not overpriced food. Where we don’t need or want bike lanes. Where there is zero pretension. Where parks are filled with children and not 30 year old kidults trying to out do each others daily hipster costumes."

2012 Oct 10
and from the same site, sung to the tune of Billy Joel's Piano Man:

The Casio Man – Billyburg Joel
Posted on October 10, 2012

It’s 9am on a Wednesday
Emaciated Ethan sleeps in
There’s a tattooed Megan laying next to him
Her job is riding around on a Schwinn

He has arms that resemble celery
And sounds like he talks through his nose
His new art loft is sweet
I read that from his Tweet
He fits into young women’s clothes.

Yah yah yah di di yahhhhh
Yah yah di di yah yahhhhhh

Sing us a song, you’re the Casio man
On the Bedford Ave platform tonight
You claim we hate you out of jealousy
Your beard I’d love to ignite.

Now Josh at the bar is a friend of his
He gets him his craft ale for free
He claims to be broke but always has coke
Thank god for that liberal arts degree

He says, “Ethan, I believe this is itching me.”
As he scratched the filthy beard on his face
“One day I’ll be a famous artist,
But for now my dad pays for my place”

Oh, Yah yah yah di di yahhhhh
Yah yah di di yah yahhhhhh

Zoey is a waitress practicing smugness
Part time Vegans chew on chicken bones
Yes, they’re sharing with us their pretentiousness.
But it’s better than flying back home.

Sing us a song, you’re the Casio man
On the Bedford Ave platform tonight
You claim we hate you out of jealousy
Your beard I’d love to ignite.

Now Zach is a real shitty novelist
Got held up for his iPhone with a knife
He’s extremely lazy
Got fired from Old Navy
He’ll be in credit card debt for life

It’s a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
McCarren’s full of Chloes and Kyles
They’ve done shit all week; this park really reeks
And probably will for a while
And the Casio, it sounds like a 5 year old’s
And Ethans body is shaped like a spear
And they sit at the bar – drink from mason jars
And say, “Yah, PBR is the best beer”

Oh, Yah yah yah di di yahhhhh
Yah yah di di yah yahhhhhh

Sing us a song, you’re the Casio man
On the Bedford Ave platform tonight
You claim we hate you out of jealousy
Your beard I’d love to ignite

2012 Oct 10
Beards, trucker hats,skinny jeans,garish sunglasses, popped collars and ridiculous shoes.

2012 Oct 10
Within the confines of OF, the term "hipster" seems to mean "vaguely defined group of people that I have taken a dislike to, and that I wish to feel smugly superior to."

2012 Oct 10
Please leave beards out of the hipster phenotype. Beard=good taste.

2012 Oct 10
Out the top of every beard grows a man. Beards are not just hip, they're the cat's evening wear. However, it does seem to run in the hipster mentality. A beard, or a pencil moustache. Yikes! Say NYET to pencil moustaches.

Go here for more examples:
lookatthisfuckinghipster.tumblr.com

Think of every fashion crime you can commit, then apply that to everything else in your life. That, I believe, is the hipster creed. Plus the fashion crime.

2012 Oct 10
Man Rizak July 26 photo is Smoker Guy and I!

2012 Oct 11
I couldn't find that pic Krusty, nothing wrong with camo jackets and chainsaw boots. Does this make us hipsters?

2012 Oct 11
Here we go....I prefer plaid over camo.

2012 Oct 11
I feel like the term has been misappropriated. You'll recall that Elaine referred to Kramer as a "hipster doofus" in the nineties.

Historically, the term was used to suggest a counterculture that was obsessed with the pursuit of originality, and by extension, the ever elusive "cool" factor.

www.dissentmagazine.org

In contemporary terms, I am not entirely sure that blind, slavish adherence to 3-5 year old hyper-local (i.e. NYC) trends is exactly original, and therefore by definition, certainly not "cool".

In short, I think the term is tired and off-point...but I do fully support any and all eccentricities in fashion and thought regardless!


2012 Oct 11
I think it means simply someone trying too hard to be cool and doing things for the sake of doing them to be cool not because you actually want to do them.

The other day my 8 year old was playing in the back yard with 2 of his friends, and he came running into the house and wanted a jar of peanut butter. After a few questions we determined he wanted to smear it all on his head.

I guess we've got a proto-hipster there :-)

2012 Oct 11
One cannot be 'cool' AND 'hip'

To be 'hip' is to be 'cool' in a unique way, however once that hip becomes 'mainstream cool' then it is no longer cool in the view of the hipster.

Once the hipster becomes mainstream cool, they must change their ways to be even more unique, perpetuating the 'hipster cool' -> 'mainstream cool' cycle.

... Just my 2 cents =P

2012 Oct 11
I think zym and FoodMonger have it. It's a self-obsessed adoption of a certain aesthetic, which, to me, is all about an extreme casualness, to the point that it stops being casual at all, and fake authenticity. Zym is right, it involves doing things that have come down from hipster mother-ships in Portland, New York, and London, to seem trendy, even if those things are objectively stupid (see Pabst, fixies, horrible hair cuts).

2012 Oct 11
Nice pic Krusty; I didn't know you come all the way in from the sticks just to hang out at Bridgehead. Beard looks good on you btw ;o)

2012 Oct 11
Hipster is not misappropriated (i.e. the seinfeld reference) just repurposed. Hipster goes back to the 50's and the conotation is certainly not the same as today. However much dis-like people put on said hipsters, they are leading the way to good food in many of the latest restro's, both front/back of the house as well as the customers. Bourdain has some interested comments about them lately.

2012 Oct 11
I read an interesting article on the difference between a hipster and a geek (and by this definition, OF are geeks, not hip)

"Many people believe geekdom is defined by a love of a thing, but I think — and my experience of geekdom bears on this thinking — that the true sign of a geek is a delight in sharing a thing. It’s the major difference between a geek and a hipster, you know: When a hipster sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say “Oh, crap, now the wrong people like the thing I love.” When a geek sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say “ZOMG YOU LOVE WHAT I LOVE COME WITH ME AND LET US LOVE IT TOGETHER.”"

whatever.scalzi.com

2012 Oct 11
Cannot possibly thumbsup you enuf for ref'ing Scalzi OH WAIT CRAP NOW OTHER PEOPLE WILL LOVE HIM TOO NOOOOOOOOO.....

:)

2012 Oct 11
I found hipster restaurants rating.
www.yelp.ca

One thing I noticed about hipsters, they need audience or mirror.

2012 Oct 11
If you use Instagram to take a photo of your lunch, congratulations. You've joined the ranks.

2012 Oct 11
"If you use a 35mm Film Camera to take a photo of your lunch, congratulations. You've joined the ranks."

Sorry JohnnyE had to correct you ;)

2012 Oct 11
No. I think it's: "If you use a Polaroid to take a photo of your lunch, congratulations. You've joined the ranks."

;)

2012 Oct 11
... and if you see another using a Polaroid , you need to switch to a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye.

2012 Oct 12
HIpsters are nothing new though. There were always people going out of their way to be cool. And there were those of us who just achieved it as a natural state of being :-) Back in university in the late 80s the big rage was ripping holes in your jeans. I could never figure out why someone would want to ruin a perfectly good set of jeans and the only thing they proved in the process was that they were complete idiots. Oh I had a pair or two of well patched pants, but they got worn through the honest way and lovingly patched by me by hand.

2012 Oct 12
Talking about jeans, one thing I don't understand is the baggy jeans/ pants thing.
I wonder why some people wear pants like that way, is it their way to be cool?
It seems being cool is very important for many people, but I think being yourself, know what you like and value it like Zym is more cool.

2012 Oct 12
This discussion of hipsters and authenticity reminds me of that old sales trope: Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you've got it made!

2012 Oct 13
Hahahahahaha!! Since I've just returned to Ottawa from a 2 day stay in Montreal's Plateau neighbourhood, I'm *very* familiar with the hipster stereotype. A picture is worth a thousand words and Rizak's link says it all: lookatthisfuckinghipster.tumblr.com

The funny thing I noticed in Montreal is that the guy hipsters all looked like dorks to me but their female compatriots looked just fine. Not even a knitted hat on the women!

That said, hipsters are just the latest of many fashion/lifestyle trends, and anyone from the outside looking in thinks it is stupid (just like every other fashion/lifestyle trend). When it comes to fashion and appearance, I guess our time is better spent judging the mirror than the window. :-)

2012 Oct 18
Anyone who attends the FIRST ANNUAL EVER PLAID PARADE!
www.notrevictoire.com

It starts at SuzieQ donuts ... was about as far as I could read before throwing up a little bit in my mouth. THIS. This is where you will find every single hipster in the area, if they can manage to ride their fixie that far.

I think that with them all clumped together like that, they'd be easier to hit.

2012 Oct 18
I've a question, though: If one's collection of plaid harkens back to the grunge era of the 1990's, and one was actually of an age to participate in the cultural celebrations of that time period, could that not exempt one's wearing of plaid from the designation of "hipster"?

Please? ;)

2012 Oct 18
Rizak - you have it all wrong. Any true hispter would be too cool to join that Plaid Parade.

2012 Oct 18
Refashionista, the demographic of my plaid skews even older. Madras patchwork and Faconnable eqyptian cotton dress shirts in lilac and mint green. Oh yes, and red white and blue plaid seersucker topsiders.

2012 Oct 18
To find out where hipsters eat, check out Ottawa Magazine's Top 10 restaurants for this year.

As for where to go to get good food and good service....I'm not sure where that list is exactly

2012 Oct 18
Mad Mike ... It's here at Ottawa Foodies ! Right here !

2012 Oct 18
I refuse to stop wearing my plaid shirts just because of the hipster train. Maybe I'll just tuck them into my jeans and wear work boots.

2012 Oct 18
Rizak - I am left to wonder why a man who so frequently mentions his own kilt wearing would pour such scorn on a plaid parade put on by a clothing store. Or why a person who frequents a website such as this would be offended by an event that features food from Murray Street and beer from Kichesippi. So offended, in fact, that he tosses off an hilarious one about running the participants down in his car. What a wit.

I must say, this thread is awash in more uncool, un-Ottawafoodies like a**holery than I have seen in a while.

2012 Oct 19
Yes, but none of my kilts are plaid. The event is put on my more than just this one store (other hipstery places are involved as well) and I can only imagine that you are being a troll by assuming that I'd imagine driving over a plaid of hipsters (is a collection of hipsters a plaid or a pod?). They get caught up in the wheel wells and it takes hours to stop the noise.

Don't act like you know me. You don't know me. I am inscrutable. Ask anyone who has actually met me. My scrutles are beyond your ken. I am certainly odd, but not to be put in any pigeon-hole. Certainly not with the hipsters. Maybe I'll get out my bongos and sit outside the Parliament buildings crooning about letting love solve all of our problems. THEN I'd be a hipster.

2012 Oct 25
Leave it to o-dot to clarify:

www.theodot.com

2012 Oct 25
Rizak I like the cut of your jib. Not much into the hipster scene, hell they rather annoy the crap out of me. I do have to draw the line at the plaid thing though. Most of us rednecks have a pick up full of the stuff.

2012 Nov 11
Just adding this to the definition ... anyone who does not see a problem with a place called a "Oyster House and Tavern" ...

(ducks)

:-)

2012 Nov 12
The downscale gourmet trend has been gathering steam over the past decade with the advent of gastropubs and their ilk. Montreal, with APDC, Joe Beef, and a great number of lesser known establishments, is riding the wave a couple years ahead of Ottawa.

Some sub-categories of Ottawa's downscale gourmet scene:
* small plates - Play, Two Six {Ate}, Allium, etc
* gastrobars - Wellington Gastropub, Union Local 613, microbreweries, etc
* Bohemian - Whalesbone, Town, Art-Is-In, etc

There is overlap between all of these and the hipster trend. Get used to it! Lumberjacks and truckers do not go for white tablecloths. ;-)

New word for Zym's entertainment... the Elmdale will be a gastrotavern. LOL :D

2012 Nov 12
Hey, Gastrotavern is a lot better than Oyster House and Tavern - I'll take it!

2012 Nov 12
Gastrotavern sounds like some place where they have dedicated parking for smart cars and Perrier water on tap. I'll pass.RIP Elmdale .

2012 Nov 12
The reason that hipsters HAVE to dress like they put on the cast offs from the Salvation Army is that between their expensive condo fees and drinking overpriced beer every night to blog about with their other friends, they don't have anything left.

2012 Nov 12
Rizak, you sure your not a redneck. I mean you wear a kilt and all but you sure as hell sound like one of us.

2012 Nov 13
I thought this really needed to be added to the thread.

Brooklyn Couple Requires Apartment with Chicken Coop

gawker.com