17 Best U.S. Cities for Hippies

[G_j]

http://blog.estately.com/2013/07/17-best-u-s-cities-for-hippies/

17 Best U.S. Cities for Hippies

While some may think all the hippies have burned out or faded away, the truth is they’re still out there, still busily making love, but not war. We here at Estately set out to find communities where they’re heavily concentrated, as well as providing ideal habitat for the next generation of flower children. To determine this we used a formula based on marijuana availability and legality, number of stores selling hemp, local counter-culture icons, tie-dye availability, hippie festivals, progressive government, intensity of Occupy protests, and a Facebook poll. In the end, we determined these places are the 17 Best U.S. Cities for Hippies…

17—ARCATA, CA / 16—BLOOMINGTON, IN / 15—SAN FRANCISCO, CA / 14—MANITOU SPRINGS, CO / 13—BEREA, KY / 12—OAKLAND, CA / 11—MISSOULA, MT / 10—BISBEE, AZ / 9—AUSTIN, TX / 8—BERKELEY, CA / 7—ITHACA, NY / 6—BURLINGTON, VT / 5—PORTLAND, OR / 4—BOULDER, CO / 3—ASHEVILLE, NC / 2—OLYMPIA, WA / 1—EUGENE, OR

[Bonx]

1. Just spent a long weekend in Asheville

Beautiful city and the weather was great. Excellent dining & beer selections.

[Siwsan]

33. My niece and nephew live in Asheville, and keep bugging me to move there, too

I am giving it some very serious thought.

[LWolf]

2. lol

I went looking for Eugene in your list before I clicked on the link; I knew it wouldn't be accurate if Eugene wasn't included.

Sure enough, #1.

I see two in my current state, and 3 in my former state.

Somehow, it makes me want to visit the places on the list that I've never been. I love Portland, the city for "flower adults." If I ever give up rural living for the city, that's where I'll be.

[G_j]

3. Flower Adults

hadn't heard that, but I like it!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

30. That's me!

You won't find me anywhere else
[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[cali]

4. Honestly, the entire state of Vermont is still a hippie haven

even Stowe and even the Northeast Kingdom which is still home to functioning communes that have been around for decades and now have third and even fourth generation residents, and the iconic Bread & Puppet Theater in Glover.

[HillWilliam]

6. I grew up in Asheville, lived in Austin twice

and felt right at home in Stowe. Pity we couldn't stay but a few days.

[cali]

14. there's always been a big Vermont Austin connection as well as a sizeable

Northeast Kingdom Maui connection.

Stowe is a bit too gentrified/touristy for me, but then I live in the Kingdom.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. Yay Olympia!

Were it not for Olympia's role in creating the most regressive tax system in the country, it'd be a wonderful place.

[opiate69]

32. Truth..

[ZombieHorde]

7. Holy shit, my little Montana town is on the list.

I knew we were liberal, but I didn't think we would be on the list.

[neverforget]

29. Missoula is a great city.

I used to live in Billings but am now in Portland.

[ZombieHorde]

31. I used to live in Portland, and I plan on moving there again in about one year.

I think of Portland as Missoula's big sibling.

[marlakay]

53. I visited Missoula once

and climbed the M but didn't see the hippie part at all. Happy for you!

[NightWatcher]

8. "the best cities for hippies with money" it should say re: Asheville

Those aren't hippies, those are rich people who enjoy smoking pot and wearing expensive sandals while they drive Suburu Outbacks back to their condos in the gated community

[aikoaiko]

13. Agreed. I'm surprised Telluride didn't make the list

[MuseRider]

28. We used to take our little boys there

every summer. Loved it. Went back about 10 years ago, it has changed so much since the late 70's when I was first there and the 80's when we brought our little boys.

The next to last time we were there with our kids in the 80's we thought about purchasing a few acres but it was just not the right time for us. We looked at some but the location was too secluded and far up the otherside of the mountain. Well, that is where the ski resort is now . You win some and you lose some.

Still an incredible place.

[aikoaiko]

41. Me too, In the late 80s I would hang there in the summer

Sometimes for the music festivals and sometimes just to relax while watching the occasional snowflake fall to the ground in June.

[WI_DEM]

18. +100

[G_j]

25. Hey wait a second

I live here, and I'm fairly poor, as are most of my hippie friends. It's not easy, but we survive! Rich? that's rich...

[bunnies]

9. Now I know why people keep saying I should move to Eugene.

I even took one of those 'where should you live' tests & got Eugene as #1 & Portland as#2. NOW it makes sense!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. What? No Santa Cruz?

[ohheckyeah]

11. We spent our honeymoon

in Bisbee, Arizona. It's a great little town full of old hippies.

[ananda]

12. Austin is beyond hippie -- cool funk, weird.

Keep Austin Weird!

[Bunnahabhain]

15. I am sure I'll get grief for this observation

but the pictures in the links, and the areas listed, are mighty white. Seems to be far less racial diversity in the "hippie" designation than in the general population.

[KamaAina]

20. *cough*Oakland*cough

Berkeley is also way diverse, with a sizable African American population in South Berkeley plus the Cal student body and faculty. SF is struggling to hold on to its black and now Latino population, with the Mission gentrifying, but still has plenty of Asians.

[cali]

22. Oakland isn't. Berkeley isn't. Austin isn't. SF isn't.

Asheville isn't. And other cities have sizable minority populations. Yes, some of those on the list are largely white. It's also worth noting that the original hippie movement was largely comprised of white middle class kids. that hasn't a lot to do with racism and in any case it was a very different era and a far less diverse country.

[burnodo]

16. Commonalities

17—ARCATA, CA - UC Humboldt State
16—BLOOMINGTON, IN - Indiana U
15—SAN FRANCISCO, CA - UCSF and others
14—MANITOU SPRINGS, CO - U Colorado Colorado Springs
13—BEREA, KY - Berea College, others
12—OAKLAND, CA - UC Berkeley, others
11—MISSOULA, MT - U Montana
10—BISBEE, AZ - U Arizona South
9—AUSTIN, TX - U Texas
8—BERKELEY, CA - UC Berkeley
7—ITHACA, NY - Cornell, others
6—BURLINGTON, VT - U Vermont
5—PORTLAND, OR - U Oregon, Portland, others
4—BOULDER, CO - U Colorado
3—ASHEVILLE, NC - UNC
2—OLYMPIA, WA - Evergreen College, others
1—EUGENE, OR - U Oregon

Hippies and higher education go hand in hand

[n2doc]

36. Actually CSU Humboldt

As an alum, i am proud of being from a 'lowly' state school!

Also College of the Redwoods is located there.



As far as the list, I have to agree with the ones I've been to. However I would be concerned living in Asheville, considering the direction the rest of the state has taken. I don't know how Austin has survived, but it is/ has been gentrified to near Oblivion. Same with SF.

[XemaSab]

64. I went to HSU too

[Smarmie Doofus]

17. Kick, Rec. NT

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Let me get this out of the way: Obligatory Hippie Bashing Post

Grumble Grumble Blah Blah Grumble Fart Snotty Remark Jerry Garcia Blah Fart Grumble Hippie Punch Grumble What Did The Deadhead Say When The Drugs Wore Off Har Har Fart Grumble Fart



...did I miss anything?

[Brigid]

48. You forgot "Dirty hippie."

And "get a job." They usually go together.

[Warren DeMontague]

49. I hate tie dye blah blah wear a suit

Actually, though, in my experience the "establishment" hippie-bashers aren't nearly as bad as the pseudo-hipster would-be punk ones.

The people who think they're too cool for school because they got puked on once by GG Allin.

[KamaAina]

21. Pahoa, HI

on the rainy side of the Big Island. Most of Maui's authentic hippies have been priced out , though a few make a stand in Pai'a.

When John Prine gave a concert in Honolulu, one review said "it looked like half of Pahoa was there".

[cali]

23. Still quite a few in Hana.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. Yay! I live in between Portland and Olympia.

Double Flower Power.

[opiate69]

38. Yeah, but...

Doesn't that put you somewhere near that teabagger dumbfuck with the huge Uncle Sam billboard on I5 then? We may need to get you some reinforcements in that case...let's turn the whole Chehalis valley into hippie paradise!

[adirondacker]

26. When I visited Bisbee, a female artist exclaimed to me "people don't get divorced in Bisbee,

they just take turns" referring to the population density and availability of optional partners. I remember being perplexed for a moment, then amused. It's a cool and fascinating town.

[snacker]

27. I can't believe Madison WI isn't included.

[HereSince1628]

42. Maybe folks getting arrested for singing Kumbaya at the Capitol knocked it down-list.

[Jackpine Radical]

52. That's so 3 years ago…

My first thought too

but then I thought about everything that's going on.

To the tune of…well you know.

Oy, Wisconsin, Oy, Wisconsin,
Former hippie land;
We thy loyal cheesehead offspring
Grieve what once was grand.

[maxsolomon]

34. Berea KY? I had no idea.

Never seemed that way to me when I was there before. But I ain't been there in 20+ years.

[TheKentuckian]

47. I think it might not be obvious unless you know people that live or go to school there or

are into the arts and crafts scene.

Similar goes for my other nearby location of Bloomington, I can see spending plenty of time there and never getting any such idea if you aren't in the right circles.

Now, Asheville you can feel the vibe right off but maybe I got that because the first time I ever did more than drive through I went to catch some bands and hangout with friends at Warren Wilson. The location also probably helps the vibe.

[Butterbean]

35. Not shocked to see Asheville on the list (big fat DUH from this NC girl)

but I am surprised that Carrboro and/or Chapel Hill didn't get a nod. They are pretty darned crunchy, if I do say so m'self.

[cynannmarie]

37. Woodstock, NY hard to top

but not a city--very small town

[Spike89]

39. Raised and living in Eugene

I've lived up and down the I-5 corridor and Eugene doesn't just have a hippy side, the undercarriage, frame, and accessories are full hippy. I lived in S.F., Oakland (and a few other Bay communities) as well as S. California (Newport Beach) and all around Portland. Even in Portland, a mere 100 miles up the road, you can pretty easily ignore the hippy community without dropping out of the entire social scene.
In Eugene it just isn't possible. Not everyone is a hippy of course, but pretty much everyone and everything is influenced by the "hippy vibe". It's home and most of us don't promote or downplay the counterculture nature--it's just the way things are here.

[cascadiance]

51. And each year the Country Fair in Veneta just west of Eugene is hippyville ground zero...

http://www.oregoncountryfair.org/

[madrchsod]

43. love to go to austin but it`s in texas.

what? no madison, wisconsin?.....

[Champion Jack]

44. Great thread

[mick063]

45. I grew up about 40 miles from Eugene, in the middle of the Cascade Mountains....in the 60's.

My extended family owned a logging company. They hated hippies because they "took over" the local hot springs.


Plaid wool shirt wearing, Deer hunting, tobacco chewing, horse shoe throwin, loggers. Wild berry jam was a staple. So was trout. They would play cards and say "Those damn hippies".

I always thought the hippies were kinda cool.

[Spike89]

57. Could be my family, with a huge exception

My extended family also owned a logging company (based outside Oregon City) and my Dad grew up literally in the woods steps from the family sawmill. He was only one of 11 sons to go to college and get a degree. He choose to raise his family in Eugene and although he wasn't a stereotypical hippy (most aren't) he certainly had most of the traits and was liberal to his core. He also became a logger (again) and commercial fisherman for "fun" as his second career.
Anyway, some of us "hippy kids" grew up deer hunting, living on wild berry jam and trout, wearing plaid and tossing horseshoes too. We just did it between reading Kesey and Brautigan novels.

[mick063]

60. Cool

So you are familiar with McKenzie Bridge, Oregon? In between Sisters and Eugene?

If my mother had not moved away, I probably would have been a logger like my cousins.

Check out the images. I grew up in paradise.

Remember the flood of 1964? As a child, all of my Christmas presents, as well as my grandmother's house was swept down Horse Creek.....on Christmas eve. I didn't care about the presents actually, but my mother was distraught.

[Spike89]

69. Certainly! One of the prettiest places anywhere!

Those are some great pictures. I actually live in the Thurston area of Springfield (work in Eugene) and head upstream every chance I get--it doesn't take but a few minutes to get into some awesomely scenic countryside.

I remember the flood barely (I was 6). The big one for me was the Columbus Day storm a few years earlier...my Dad couldn't get home because of all the trees in the roads and the wind literally splintered our back door frame. My little sister and I had to help my Mom push the door shut so she could nail it closed.

Logging isn't the most dependable career in Oregon any more. Yeah, some of that happened because of us environmentalists, but really we just hastened the inevitable. The highly profitable old growth areas were pretty much tapped out and most of the big outfits wouldn't or couldn't transition to working with second growth.

[steve2470]

46. great thread, a shame that Orlando is not on that list

[Zorra]

50. Proud to say the Northwest has 3 of the top 5, and the left coast from Frisco north

has 7 out of the 17.


I miss the NW, live in AZ now, but lived in the NW for most of my life, lots of awesome progressive people there.

[starroute]

54. My kids are in Olympia, but they're geeks, not hippies

I think they basically find the hippies kind of annoying, but they put up with them.

[starroute]

55. Also, what about Northampton?

[Arugula Latte]

56. I've lived in three of them.

I always feel more comfortable in hippie-friendly places, even though I am not a hippie.

[Spike89]

65. That's funny...I've met NO real self-identified hippies

A good friend I work with was an original hoedad (a co-op tree-planting community in Eugene during the 60s and 70s that was perhaps the very definition of a hippy group), she also is an original Oregon Country Fair member/founder/vendor. When she's not barefoot, she's in sandals, owns almost nothing that isn't tie-dyed/velvet/both. She knows and is friends with virtually every high profile hippy in the area.
She claims she isn't a hippy. When really pushed, she'll admit that she understands why people may think so, but she insists she's just a person.

[Arugula Latte]

67. I know a lot of people that go to the Country Fair but I've never been.

I wear no tie-dye, smoke no pot, and burn no incense. I like to wear bras and a little make-up (oh, and clothing as well. )

[Spike89]

71. Except for the bra and makeup part, I'm with you

I did go once, it isn't my thing. I'm aligned pretty much with the "hippy philosophy" I suppose, but I'm not into the trappings (no tie-dye, pot, patchouli or incense. I keep my clothes on in public too (though naked/painted people watching was probably the most memorable part of my one visit to the fair).

I work about a block from the park when the farmer's and Saturday markets are and my office is smack in the middle of where they hold the annual Eugene Celebration. I get plenty of exposure to the local Eugene hippy community.

[Egalitarian Thug]

58. Gotta admit, hippies have some pretty good taste.

Most of those places are really nice.
& R

[michreject]

59. Royal Oak, MI

Disappointed that it didn't make the list.

[CrispyQ]

61. "tie-dye availability"

I LOVE tie-dye.

[NM_Birder]

62. Portland...where the young go to retire.

[typeviic]

63. I live over an hour away...

from Bloomington, IN. Love the town. No interstate highway, just State Roads to get you there. No local news cast either. Great natural foods/organic selections as well with two Sahara Marts and a few Bloomingfoods stores. However, we dont care much for IU sports, as our family are Purdue fans, because in the State of Indiana, you either like Purdue or IU. The top-northern half is mostly Purdue fans, while the southern-lower half likes IU.

[duffyduff]

66. "Hippies" haven't existed since the late 1960s.

This is pure fantasy on the part of the author, who probably wasn't even around then.

I was. It wasn't much to brag about.

The "hippies," at least those who didn't live off of trust funds, had to go to work. That was the reason the "hippie era" ended.