I was walking around with my friend at Navy Pier and I such a group of teenagers/early 20s kids that were dressed up sort of weird and in a genre I was unaware of. I asked my friend if she knew what they were. She didn't know.

I said "maybe they are the Midwest version of a Hipster."

She obviously asked "what's a hipster?"

I really couldn't think of anything good and I said "well, the common theme seems to be guys in skinny jeans that drink Pabst Blue Ribbon."

She said that didn't make any sense and I asked her why.

"Well, I would think guys in skinny jeans would get beat up, but I would also think guys drinking PBR would be the ones doing the beating."

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It's definitely not a regional thing, hipsters are universal (at least across the US). It's most likely that your friend specifically didn't know what one was. I have friends in Chicago who definitely know and can point out hipsters.

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You know, the homeless make desperate, passionate lovers. But they will rob you blind.

You must add that hipsters, especially that of the making time variety, are responsible for 1/2 of the music on popular radio playlists now, but that music is now too mainstream and the hipsters won't go near it. But they founded it. Founded it from obscurity, then loathed it to popularity. While drinking Pabst. And now that Pabst is popular, they loathe it and are trying to switch to Lion's Head which will be there's forever since it tastes like monkey butt and hole.

The only thing positive about "hipsters" was the pants in the 60/70's. The hipsters of more recent times(and their music) are a disgrace to the name. PBR was popular at that time too, in a Schlitz like way. Nothing but white trash beer..drink as many as you can, go have a fight then go home and puke and sleep it off only to start all over again.

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"Barack Obama has found his people.
But, unfortunately for his election prospects,
they're German, not American."
-The Guardian, UK

RE-ELECT DAVID OH COUNCIL AT LARGE 2011

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/

At least, what, a quarter of the people carrying around copies of the Reader must qualify, don't you think?

So...I've been wondering about this...is the rock-a-billy movement still going on? When I lived in Detroit, and Phoenix, it was pretty huge. The hipster scene like what we have in Philly wasn't in Detroit (a little in Ann Arbor, but it had more of a neo-hippie influence) or Phoenix. Is rock-a-billy just in certain areas, or is the movement dead, and now the former rock-a-billies have either grown up, or become hipsters?

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Drown the fishes.

People in Chicago and its suburbs tend to be extremely insulated from other neighborhoods in the city (even more so than Philadelphia). It's quite possible that your friend has never seen a hipster if she lives in one of the upscale north side neighborhoods or in the suburbs. But undoubtedly, there are just as many hipsters in Chicago as there are in Philly and Brooklyn.

Going back ten or twelve years, Wicker Park was the hub for hipster types (although I don't think the term hipster was widely used at that time). Things have probably changed since then. I know Wicker Park has become more upscale and the hipsters are probably in some other neighborhood now.

Your friend needs to get out of her neighborhood/suburb and explore the entire city of Chicago. She will probably be shocked to find there are not only a lot of hipsters but there are also people of color living in other parts of he city.

Haha, you just described where she lives ... Gold Coast.

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I lived in Chicago from 2000-2005, and the city is inundated with hipsters...its the hipster mecca of the Midwest. Not that I have a problem with that.

The hipsters now (or at least a few years ago) live in Humboldt Park, Pilsen, etc...

The Detroit Rockabilly scene is pretty badass. We have a pretty strong scene here it seems, but a lot of the folks are in the burbs.

Not my scene, I just like the chicks and the cool cars (and the fact the the guys can actually fix their own cars)