The world's biggest hipster havens
At Berlin's 2012 Hipster Olympics. Photo: Adam Berry/Getty Images
If you happen to seriously favor tattoos, vintage shops, vinyl records, vegan food and coffee — in other words, if you're an unapologetic hipster — where is the best place on the planet to put down roots?
The big picture: According to MoveHub, which collected data on 446 cities in 20 countries, two cities more or less tie for the appellation of the world's biggest hipster haven: the southeast U.K. city of Brighton and Hove and Portland, OR. Rounding out the top five were Salt Lake City, Seattle and the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.
An important cultural anchor: In 2011, Berlin — which many locals regard as a capital of hipster fashion and manner — held a Hipster Olympics (its second year in 2012 is pictured above). The Olympics appears to have segued into the Hipster Cup Festival, which will be next held in July 2019, according to its website.
- The top cities mostly were near the sea in cities of less than 1 million.
- The top cities mostly weren't on any continent other than North America, Europe and Australia — although that appears to have been a matter not of hipsterdom but the availability of data.
Why MoveHub bothered: "Our pretentious brethren deserve attention. It’s all they really want. So we rolled up our plaid sleeves and worked out exactly where to find them," writes MoveHub's Frederick O'Brien.