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The 'H' Word: 'American Hipster' Creator Says Hipster is a Dirty Word

BY Rachel Belle  on January 8, 2013 @ 3:53 pm (Updated: 8:38 am - 1/9/13 )

There is a newish web series on YouTube called American Hipster, featuring the creative endeavors of people spanning 10 U.S. cities. One of the cities featured is Seattle, which is where a couple of the creators are from. The five Seattle episodes feature Rachel's Ginger Beer, Seattle bar queen Linda Derschang, the Bumbershoot music festival, furniture maker Marian Built and artist Kesey Pollock.

I called up the director of American Hipster thinking we would just talk about the show. But once I got David Fine on the phone, the conversation immediately turned into a discussion of the word 'hipster' and the stigma that's attached to it.

"I think you hear 'American Hipster' and it's like, 'Oh, gross. I'm not going to watch that.' Particularly if you're wearing a flannel. If there's anything about you that someone could point to and say, 'hipster.' Which I think, by the way, is pretty much everybody under 40. It's been very difficult to make something, and put everything I have into it, when I know that there's a lot of people who aren't going to give it a chance based on what it's called. Sure, dive bars are hipster and Earl Grey sriracha ice cream is hipster, but the people who are making this, and who have made it their lives to make these things, are really passionate about them."

Each city gets an episode on music, art, food, style, and social life and they're extremely well done and, in my opinion, creatively inspiring. But David says the word hipster has kept some from agreeing to be featured on the program.

"I wish I could say that everyone was banging down our door to be on a show called American Hipster. but that just wouldn't be truthful. Some people say, 'No, I just can't do it.' 'I take what I do too seriously,' is a comment that we got once, which I find hilarious."

He features so-called hipsters in cities like Brooklyn, Anchorage, Detroit, Portland, and I wondered if there's much diversity amongst them. Has the hipster culture been homogenized. Portlandia-ized?

"No, there's such a huge difference between all of these cities. So you go to Detroit and the artists you see working there are creating massive, large scale murals. Because, why paint on a canvas when you have all these buildings that aren't being used? That's of Detroit. You go to Anchorage, and you want to do a food episode. Foraging is a kind of hip thing in the food world, but it's been a reality in Alaska forever."

I asked if there is anything going on in a city, that we don't see in the Pacific Northwest.

"Bounce music. The Nicky Da B episode, from New Orleans, is one of my favorite episodes. It's so distinctly of New Orleans. So interesting in it's blurring of sexual and gender lines. Bounce music was sort of taken over by the LGBT community and the dancing just looks so fun. Really really fast, booty shaken, swivelin.' Not being from there I feel like I'm not going to quite do it justice."

You can find the Seattle episodes of American Hipster here.

Rachel Belle, Ron and Don Show Reporter
Rachel Belle is a feature contributor and personality on The Ron & Don Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 3-7pm), and host of Ring My Belle Weekends (Saturdays at 5pm and Sundays at 3pm).
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Comments (9)


  • Add A Comment

  • cw1997 wrote...
    Seriously
    January 9, 2013 5:41 am
    This passes for news?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    um, yes, it does.
    January 9, 2013 7:24 am
    and these are the kind of stories Rachel has always done.

    are you new?

    this section of the website isn't labeled: "Urgent Breaking World News!"

    lame post.

    on to the actual story... i still can't get behind this whole "hipster" thing. it is a dirty word these days. an attitude comes with these people now that used to not be as much of a thing. i'm over it.

    next fad, please.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TwoTrees wrote...
    ''American Hipster' Creator Says Hipster is a Dirty Word'
    January 9, 2013 6:56 am
    Well...Hipsters ARE kinda dirty.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Too Funny!
    January 9, 2013 7:46 am
    Seattle, Olympia, Bellingham & Portland are crawling with these Uber- Liberal Hipsters.... Oh, to be young, ill-informed and all you had to worry about was who's the hipster new band or the hipster new club. Even better to be care of by BIG Daddy Obama and his Big Mama entitlement government.....hipsters & slackers. No difference. LOL
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Mavila wrote...
    Rachel Belle
    January 9, 2013 7:53 am
    "Ron and Don Show Reporter; Rachel Belle is a feature contributor and personality". She specializes in esotericism. Which is to say that the vast majority of people could care less.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • flipper wrote...
    Match Made in Heaven
    January 9, 2013 10:05 am
    Rachel Belle (hipster reporter) and the ultimate Hipster Doofus...Kramer!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    "I think you hear 'American Hipster' and it's like, 'Oh, gross. I'm not going to watch that.' Particularly if you're wearing a flannel.
    January 9, 2013 3:15 pm
    It depends. If you spent more than $20 on your flannel shirt and bought it at some retro store or in Bell Square and not at Penny's, Sears, or Wallmart then you're probably a hipster. If you're acting like something you are not and instead something you think people will like then you're probably a hipster. If you devote entire conversations to what some little restaurant passes off as a meal at a ridiculous price then you're probably a hipster. If you spend more than $10 on a six pack you're probably a hipster. It all boils down to this, if you really care what people think about you, how you look, dress, what you eat, what you drive or peddle you're probably a hipster. Or a 13 year old girl.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    Snout.....
    January 9, 2013 3:26 pm
    Can't argue with one thing you stated.....pretty much nailed it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    One last point.
    January 9, 2013 7:33 pm
    If you swear you're not a hipster....you're probably a hipster.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }