The Hipster in Suburbia: Do I Dare Hipsturb the Real Bay Area?
San Francisco’s Mission District is Hipster Central for the Bay Area. (Also mentioned: The Uptown, Oakland. But that’s in the East Bay, so fuhgeddabowdit.) A recent New York Times column (motto: We Still Think New York Is Important!) notes that not all the East Coast Hipsters are found in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg district, either.
Creating Hipsturbia
By ALEX WILLIAMS, The New York Times
Published: February 15, 2013Illustration: Ryan Inzana
A yoga studio opened on Main Street that offers lunch-hour vinyasa classes. Nearby is a bicycle store that sells Dutch-style bikes, and a farm-to-table restaurant that sources its edible nasturtiums from its backyard garden.
Across the street is the home-décor shop that purveys monofloral honey produced by nomadic beekeepers in Sicily. And down the street is a retro-chic bakery, where the red-velvet cupcakes are gluten-free and the windows are decorated with bird silhouettes — the universal symbol for “hipsters welcome.”
You no longer have to take the L train to experience this slice of cosmopolitan bohemia. Instead, you’ll find it along the Metro-North Railroad, roughly 25 miles north of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the suburb of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
So, barring any proper large city, where would hipsturbia be in the Bay Area? Is Palo Alto too expensive to qualify? Is Larkspar too tilted to aging hippies? Could Hayward, City of Diversity, take the title of the “twee lifestyle”? How can people who don’t want to be like everyone else find meaning in a subdivision full of identical tract housing?
Well, they can’t, that’s the point. The challenge is to find low-density but non-conformist older single-family housing. Or at least older and idiosyncratic housing amid primary low-density population centers and front yards. We’d say look for neighborhoods near funky downtowns, with low Walk Scores or lots of bicyclists.
We bet you could find something appropriate near the downtowns of Mountain View, San Carlos, or Willow Glen. Where would you suggest?
Meanwhile, this is also your weekend Open Thread, to discuss any hipster sightings in the Open Houses you’re reporting on.
March 16th, 2013 at 9:03 am
Sunnyvale 94087 goes wild:
1462 MISTAYA Ct – List: $1.275M. Sold: $1.45M
882 Pecan Ct – List: $925K. Sold: $1.275M
142 CONNEMARA Way – List: $1.238M. Sold: $$1.365M
1125 Rockfeller Dr. – List: $988K. Sold: $1.175M
Congratulations to all the successful bidders! Welcome to prestigious 94087!
March 16th, 2013 at 10:16 am
P*** A*** isn’t full of transient guests, it’s full of hipsters.
March 16th, 2013 at 11:08 am
Yesterday shows that Willow Glen is a candidate. Weird older house.
March 16th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
Madhaus,
Check the moderation queue.
March 16th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
Good news! Prices up again!
March 16th, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Real Estater is correct, areas in 94087 are going nuts. Multiple offers/low inventory situation. If you live in CUSD or at least Cherry Chase there’s an excellent chance your house has entered seven digit territory.
Pecan Court is a little bizarre though, as it was listed way, way, WAY too low. That house got 62 offers.
March 16th, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Welcome to Palo Alto!
March 16th, 2013 at 2:53 pm
Even Eichlers are flying out the window with significant overbids. Beggars…I mean buyers can’t be choosers.
March 16th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Waiting in line for a chance to overbid…
March 16th, 2013 at 5:49 pm
Everyone is bundled up in the cold. How old is that pic? Or does the weather in the east bay suck more than I remember?
March 16th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
Pretty sure it was in Feb.
March 16th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
Have prices ever gone down?
March 17th, 2013 at 7:59 am
That picture reminds me that the “white people” are the ones inside who flipped the house, or who are making commission on it.
March 17th, 2013 at 12:14 pm
It is crazy out there. The house in the next sub over that couldn’t sell for $1.95M last year just went pending in two weeks listed at $1.988M. Another one that’s been on the market on and off for a year or two as the owner struggled to pay his mortgage payments went pending in less than three weeks after relisting it recently.
March 17th, 2013 at 10:45 pm
Maybe Woz’s house will sell this time.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Gatos/300-Santa-Rosa-Dr-95032/home/1447248
March 18th, 2013 at 12:04 am
Doubt it. But they did just refinish the floors again!
March 18th, 2013 at 9:04 am
#15-
“Mar 15, 2006 Sold (Public Records) $6,900,000 30.7%/yr Public Records
Feb 25, 2009 Sold (Public Records) $3,100,000 -23.7%/yr Public Records”
Down 24% per year [>50% loss for 3 year holding period]?
March 18th, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Will FB get back to IPO ($38/share) before this June?
March 18th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
Hey, #15, the headline spread around the ‘net is Nobody Wants to Buy Steve Wozniak’s Old House.
Bad enough to have a long listing history, but to have articles written about it… bummer!
March 19th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
As far as hipsters go, well Oakland seems to be increasingly turning into hiptser-land. It makes sense if you think about it: San Francisco is now too expensive. So where do they go? Oakland. Particularly the Temescal area.
March 20th, 2013 at 2:40 pm
My rental unit is too small, since my family is growing, so I’ve been looking for housing in today’s market, even made a couple of offers, and I can vouch that the market is INSANE.
In Mountain View, if you can’t make a cash offer with no contingencies, bidding WAY over asking, you aren’t getting a house, end of story.
In 94087, open houses result in massive lines out the door since the houses can’t hold all the interested people. For example, this crap shack was filled to the brim with buyers, and it’s not even livable: http://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/1441-Norman-Dr-94087/home/1550005
This place was in dire need of repair and smelled like cat pee, carpets were ripped up so you walked on plywood and nailboards, the second floor is built w/o permits, so Sunnyvale could force its removal. It went pending on Monday after the weekend it showed: http://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/1587-Peacock-Ave-94087/home/711866
Here in mountain view, a house was listed recently for $2.4M in my neighborhood, Blossom Valley. It got 68 offers, 10 of them were cash. Went for $2.6M.
I offered $1.25M on an old unlivable house (which I intended to fix myself), asking price was $1.1M. It went for a few hundred thousand more, cash.
It’s nuts out there! If you are in need of housing, you’re kind of f***ed right now.