Where can you still find bohemia in America?

[Angelshare1]

In my area, all the hipster bohemian free thinkers seem to work for banks and earn high five figures. (They can afford to drive Priuses!) Where in America is there still authentic Bohemia? If I wanted to emerge myself in it, where would I go?

I used to live in New York and the new hotspot was DUMBO, which is in Brooklyn. However it seems that condos are going up like mad.

Never been to Seattle but I'm wondering if it's all condos and Starbucks.

[Wilms]

1. Have you considered...oh...wait...

Sorry. The yuppies have taken that neighborhood over, too.

Thing is, if you want to live in bohemia, you need to travel light. Because after not long, it's ruined.

[Melissa G]

3. Yep. After not long it's ruined.

Pockets of Austin and parts of Seattle still hanging on. I hear tell about Asheville, NC but have never been there.
Hi wilms.

[Wilms]

4. Hi Melissa!

[Melissa G]

5. Hug back

[GulleyJimson]

9. Asheville

Lived there from 1985 until 2002. Bohemians passed away as early as the mid 90's when Asheville was taken over by trustafarians and bobos along with influx of big moneys which drove most of us out of town. There are a few people left but new blood can't afford the rents/real estate.

I remember renting 1000 sq. ft. studio space downtown for $100. No heat and the electrical was dodgy. They've since turned those into condos.



There's always Cleveland.

[Tsiyu]

10. Agreed

When I went last, it was more like the most anti-social misfits from Atlanta on a Majick Kamping Trip in some places; other parts were interesting if repetitive; some people were great. But not a place I'd find inspiring.

Don't know what's up in FLoyd, Virginia, but a google search for "Intentional Community" should pull up some places for the OP to consider.

And Vermont has a lot of towns full of artists and unique personalities, if you can handle the snow.

[zbdent]

2. Dictionaries ...

[OriginalGeek]

6. 30something years ago

I lived on a pallet in my friends' room in Garland, Texas. His mom called us bohemians. She was an art teacher at the high school and we were into drawing and photography. We worked at restaurants for free food and enough money to buy weed and go to concerts. We mostly filched her art supplies but she didn't mind. She liked us creating.

I didn't have shit but what I could pile in the corner of his room but those were some of the best years of my life. Simple and fun. I occasionally miss it.

However, I do not recommend Garland, TX as a bohemian mecca. We were the only two I knew there and neither of us are still there.


Besides, if you do it right, bohemia is wherever you are.

[ecaramil]

7. IMHO

Give New Orleans a try. It isn't all Bourbon Street and beignets.

[Javaman]

8. Detroit. nt

[Nay]

11. Carrboro, NC is a very hippie town -- it reminded me of the 60's and 70's! Great art, health food,

etc.

[toby jo]

12. Pittsburgh has some great little communities

and a real nice arts scene. Check it out - there's the 3 Rivers Artfest - right by the 3 rivers, and the downtown crowd and the , hmmm, forget what they call it, but there are blocks and blocks of old riverfront buildings where there is a lot going on. Like a wharf.

I was in Savannah and absolutely fell in love with it, again, the river walk and old buildings turned into shops, etc.

I heard the same thing about Asheville - that it was an east coast Boulder. But then I met some fellas at a draft horse auction here in Ohio from that area, and they said what the above poster said - that all the good land, etc., was taken over by money. And you know how creative that crowd is.

But I'd bet down in that neck of Appalachia there's pockets of artists. I know there's an artist's 'drive', whereby everybody is on the path. There's also an Appalachian Arts community. It stretches from down in NC up to PA & parts of southern OH. There are some of the most talented and coolest people you'd want to meet. I'd google that and see what all comes up. This might sound bad, but alot of those people are so poor, it's probably going to be bohemian for some time.

Good luck.

[womanofthehills]

13. Madrid, New Mexico

Lots of bohemians but the real estate is very high.

https://www.google.com/search?q=madrid,+new+mexico&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=9nd&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=gRH8UIGXNYGU2AWht4CgDg&ved=0CEkQsAQ&biw=1683&bih=788

[randr]

14. The new Bohemia is rural

Small towns dot the country with lots of progressive hipsters doing their own thing. Search for small community radio stations for a start.

[KG]

15. small arts community - Gulfport, FL

[votesparks]

16. Dayton, Ohio

You can buy a house for a thousand bucks, and maybe have a beer with Bob Pollard. Lots of artists.

But going to where a lot of artists are isn't going to make you an artist, or bohemian. It's a mind state.

[Lefty Nast]

17. Austin, Texas

The state pols are still crazy, but the folks in Austin are cool.

[Stevenmarc]

18. Marfa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa,_Texas

[earcandle]

19. San Francisco, of course!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Club

http://www.sfgirlbybay.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bohemian-club-san-francisco

http://www.sanfrancisco.travel/arts-culture/Bohemian.html

http://www.bohemiancarnival.net/

http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-francisco-oakland/925088-bohemian-sensibility-sf.html

http://sanfrancisco.menupages.com/restaurants/frankies-bohemian-cafe/

http://www.angelfire.com/nm/guineapigs/bohemian.pdf

something for everyone!

[ChazInAz]

20. Bisbee, Arizona

One hundred miles southish from Tucson. It's an old copper-mining city, once the richest town in the state. The copper mines dried up, the people left, and we hippies snatched up the cheap houses. There are huge old stone and brick buildings in styles from Late Victorian/Civil War to Art Deco to 1940's industrial. The whole town is one huge gallery, restaurant/pub crawl.
I love the place.

[valerief]

21. Here, but you have to be part of the ruling class to get in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove