Oklahoma City, In the Press

[Bunty]

Oklahoma City is among the least hipster cities. Is there at least one vinyl store in OKC? Discover the 10 Least Hipster Cities in the Country

[warreng88]

Oklahoma City is among the least hipster cities. Is there at least one vinyl store in OKC? Discover the 10 Least Hipster Cities in the Country

Size Records south of Britton on Western and Guest Room records next to Cock O' The Walk on western. It's interesting what they use to measure it: young people, walkability, bikeability, vintage stores, dive bars, vegetarian restaurants, artsy jobs and vinyl stores. The Plaza District is becoming hipster central due to many of these things.

[TaoMaas]

Size Records south of Britton on Western and Guest Room records next to Cock O' The Walk on western.

Guestroom has another branch in Norman and I'd heard they'd opened a third location in Bricktown.

[bchris02]

Oklahoma City is among the least hipster cities. Is there at least one vinyl store in OKC? Discover the 10 Least Hipster Cities in the Country

This is not good press for OKC. The hipster fad is all the rage right now for young people and hipster cities are the cities young, educated professionals are gravitating to. It's not surprising though OKC has such a low rating in that category as conservative as it is and the fact there isn't one district that has critical mass which is friendly to the creative class.

[adaniel]

This is not good press for OKC. The hipster fad is all the rage right now for young people and hipster cities are the cities young, educated professionals are gravitating to. It's not surprising though OKC has such a low rating in that category as conservative as it is and the fact there isn't one district that has critical mass which is friendly to the creative class.

Seriously? Who cares...

There is a difference between a vibrant, creative community, which are a definite asset to any community, and a bunch of hipsters sitting around drinking PBR. DFW and Houston have lots of creative types yet they also scored low on this so-called survey. And you are exactly right, this stuff is a fad. This is about as significant as a magazine in 1977 saying OKC is the 4th worst place to do the Hustle.

Most true hipsters wouldn't be caught dead in the SE or SW US, save for Austin. Much ado about nothing.

[Mr. Cotter]

True hipsters love places like OKC and, say, Omaha. Living in Williamsburg, Portland or Austin is so over.

[hoya]

Yeah, this isn't really a big deal. It's a website I'd never heard of doing a top 10 list on a subject most people don't care about. Top 10 lists are so common that you can drown in them.

OKC has a lot of room for improvement in areas like walkability, bikeability, and mass transit. These are real things we could work to improve. Vintage stores and vinyl record stores don't matter at all. I'm sure we've got an abundance of western wear locations that put San Francisco or Seattle to shame. The preference of one type of cultural style over another is not something we should be concerned with. Better to establish our own identity than to run around trying to copy the latest fad.

If we really want to make improvements in our national perception, OKC should work with surrounding cities and counties to limit suburban sprawl. Every new neighborhood built in the central Oklahoma area must have sidewalks and parks included in it. We need to transform our city into a place where people can walk. The biggest problem OKC has is not a lack of hipsters, it's too many fat people. If we make walking and exercise easier, something you don't have to drive 5 miles to the gym to do, the health of our citizens will gradually improve.

[betts]

This is not good press for OKC. The hipster fad is all the rage right now for young people and hipster cities are the cities young, educated professionals are gravitating to. It's not surprising though OKC has such a low rating in that category as conservative as it is and the fact there isn't one district that has critical mass which is friendly to the creative class.

I don't think it's the hipster fad that is causing people to gravitate to anyplace in particular. My young educated, professional children laugh at hipsters. But they like walkable, urban areas with great restaurants and clubs. Who doesn't? I do too. It's not just about hipsters, but rather what appeals to everyone. And, Oklahoma City is at least trying to get there. The Plaza District should be a hipster delight. It's just that places like Chicago have 10 Plaza Districts.

[OKCTalker]

Don't Portland my OKC!

Hipsters are but one small component of our large, diverse metropolitan area. Others are boomers, oldsters, racial minorities, LGBT, financiers, goat ropers, intellectuals...

The under-thirty, fixie-riding, skinny jeans-wearing people drinking coffee, staring at laptop screens and working on a $5 million Kickstarter idea for another app - they're a visible stereotype but I don't think that they're economically or socially significant. I'll gladly be proven wrong, but I don't think that more of them will contribute to a growing, vital, significant city.

[bchris02]

Don't Portland my OKC!

Hipsters are but one small component of our large, diverse metropolitan area. Others are boomers, oldsters, racial minorities, LGBT, financiers, goat ropers, intellectuals...

The under-thirty, fixie-riding, skinny jeans-wearing people drinking coffee, staring at laptop screens and working on a $5 million Kickstarter idea for another app - they're a visible stereotype but I don't think that they're economically or socially significant. I'll gladly be proven wrong, but I don't think that more of them will contribute to a growing, vital, significant city.

Hipsters are attracted to the type of dense, pedestrian friendly environment most of us would like to see more of in OKC. Hipsters don't make a growing, vital, significant city but they are attracted to those types of cities. The top cities in the country for young professionals right now like Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Austin, etc are also hipster meccas.

OKC simply doesn't have that kind of draw for the twentysomething demographic.

[bchris02]

I don't think it's the hipster fad that is causing people to gravitate to anyplace in particular. My young educated, professional children laugh at hipsters. But they like walkable, urban areas with great restaurants and clubs. Who doesn't? I do too. It's not just about hipsters, but rather what appeals to everyone. And, Oklahoma City is at least trying to get there. The Plaza District should be a hipster delight. It's just that places like Chicago have 10 Plaza Districts.

The Plaza district needs to reach critical mass. Right now, though its getting there, Blue Dome and Brady in Tulsa are ahead, significantly.

[RadicalModerate]

I, too, think OKC is suffering from a lack of hipsters.
(and a surfeit of suits)


However, this "cultural imbalance" can be corrected, without the assitance of Wayne Coyne and his Posse, and doing just that should be the first order of the day. or the tomorrow (a.k.a. "manana" with the squiggle).

(do you really believe that it is only a "coincidence" that "Gilliagan's" real name involved "Denver"? =)

[bchris02]

If we really want to make improvements in our national perception, OKC should work with surrounding cities and counties to limit suburban sprawl. Every new neighborhood built in the central Oklahoma area must have sidewalks and parks included in it. We need to transform our city into a place where people can walk. The biggest problem OKC has is not a lack of hipsters, it's too many fat people. If we make walking and exercise easier, something you don't have to drive 5 miles to the gym to do, the health of our citizens will gradually improve.

Completely agree. I've gained some weight since moving to OKC simply because its difficult to find places to walk. Most places don't even have sidewalks so if I want to go for a walk on my lunch break I really can't unless I want to walk the stairwell.

About this city's national perception, that will unfortunately forever be somewhat tied to what goes on at 23rd and Lincoln. If our state legislators ever decide to come into the modern era, then just maybe that will help our image. As the capital and largest city of Oklahoma that for the most part is in sync with the rural areas of the state, the image of our city is intertwined with our state's politics.

[ljbab728]

I've gained some weight since moving to OKC simply because its difficult to find places to walk.

I'm thinking that if you're using that as an excuse, you're not really serious about your weight. LOL

[zookeeper]

I'm flipping through my new April issue of PC World and there's a big write up about the best & worst tech-friendly cities. Here's a couple of charts, sorry for the quality, I just snapped them with my iPad Mini. The articles aren't online yet. 2 Oklahoma Cities in Top 10 Least Tech-Friendly Cities.




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[ljbab728]

Daily tweets per 100 people has to be one of the silliest measures of being tech friendly I've ever heard of.

[Bunty]

Vintage stores and vinyl record stores don't matter at all.

Some people say vinyl sounds better than CDs, but I remember vinyl sounding best for annoying pops, ticks and scratches.

[Praedura]

Daily tweets per 100 people has to be one of the silliest measures of being tech friendly I've ever heard of.

I guess Silicon Valley wasn't very tech-friendly twenty years ago when twitter, facebook, public wifi, home & wireless broadband, etc. didn't even exist.

[bchris02]

The media will pretty much use any criteria they can to paint a specific set of cities consistently in a negative light. OKC is one of those cities. They will also use criteria just as silly to praise their darling cities (Portland, Seattle, Austin, etc). Re-enforcing a stereotype must get them good ratings or something.

[Praedura]

The media will pretty much use any criteria they can to paint a specific set of cities consistently in a negative light. OKC is one of those cities. They will also use criteria just as silly to praise their darling cities (Portland, Seattle, Austin, etc). Re-enforcing a stereotype must get them good ratings or something.

Huh? OKC has received tons of positive press in the last four or five years.

Let's just chalk up this list as being too flaky to be taken seriously.

[ljbab728]

I guess Silicon Valley wasn't very tech-friendly twenty years ago when twitter, facebook, public wifi, home & wireless broadband, etc. didn't even exist.

Well, in my opinion, cities that show the highest rates of tweets per 100 people are cities where people just have too much spare time on their hands. LOL

[Bellaboo]

Well, in my opinion, cities that show the highest rates of tweets per 100 people are cities where people just have too much spare time on their hands. LOL

Exactly, as in high unemployment rates.

[Naptown12713]

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Nice video hightling the efforts put forth to improve and address obsesity in OKC.

[BDP]

Oklahoma City in top ten of Best Places for Young Adults:

Best places for young adults 2013 - The Business Journals

[Rover]

Has been it top ten for awhile now.