The battle of the hipsters: Williamsburg, Brooklyn versus Mission District, San Francisco
by Pewpewpew - November 13, 2008
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New York versus San Francisco. Which city has the most pretentious hipsters of them all? Whether fairly or unfairly, New York is considered the cultural hub of the East Coast and San Francisco is considered the cultural hub of the West Coast. 2563.79 miles separate these two incredibly vainglorious metropolises, but that is not enough distance to separate the two warring factions of hipsters - NYC and SF - who each seek the titledom of "Most Hipster in All The World". Williamsburg is the stomping ground of NYC's most dedicated twenty-something hipster slackers, and in SF, the Mission plays the same geographic role. In both districts, tight pants, tattoos, fixed gear bikes, and vain self-absorption is the norm. You've kind of got to appreciate such a level of dedication to a lifestyle that is slowly being taken over by a consumer culture that wants to package it and sell it to impressionable teenagers everywhere. So, which city really DOES have the most hipster hipsters? In order to gauge this very important query, I have created for you the following guide. A bicoastal native who lives in both Williamsburg and the Mission, I have surveyed both areas on the following topics: dive bars, coffee, live music venues, drunk eats, bougie eats for when the parents are in town, pretentious organic food stores, and overpriced used clothing stores. I score each city on the above categories, and tally up the results in the end of the guide. San Francisco is on the left, and New York is on the right. So, which city ends up being the most pretentious? Read on and see...
The Mission
San Francisco is where twenty-somethings come to retire. Mission Hipsters love their retail jobs, their cheap beers, their $2 tacos, and pretending the real world doesn’t exist outside of the Mission. Watch out for the 27-year-old undergraduate who’s still trying to ‘figure it out.’ He’s what I call a “Mission Lifer.” Still, there are plenty of awesome people to be found. I love the Mission.
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Phone Booth
1398 S Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110
Juke box, cheap stiff well drinks for $3, a PBR and Tecate $5 special, pool table, and the only bar in the Mission where you can smoke inside.
Juke box, cheap stiff well drinks for $3, a PBR and Tecate $5 special, pool table, and the only bar in the Mission where you can smoke inside.
Casanova Lounge
527 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Loungey vibe, lots of pin-up girl pictures on the walls, $5 well drinks, next door to a late-night pizza eatery, great happy hours, a DJ booth, and a dancefloor where strangely no one ever dances.
Loungey vibe, lots of pin-up girl pictures on the walls, $5 well drinks, next door to a late-night pizza eatery, great happy hours, a DJ booth, and a dancefloor where strangely no one ever dances.
Delirium
3139 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Back dancing area that gets incredibly packed, a pool table, lots of seating and booths, a bit of a 90s crowd (meaning older), grungy as hell, cheap drinks, more heavily male than female, a great place to go to pick someone up for a one nighter that you might cringe about in the morning.
Back dancing area that gets incredibly packed, a pool table, lots of seating and booths, a bit of a 90s crowd (meaning older), grungy as hell, cheap drinks, more heavily male than female, a great place to go to pick someone up for a one nighter that you might cringe about in the morning.
Mission: 0
San Francisco has great dive bars but New York wins on principle, because 1:30AM last call is not cool.
Four Barrel
375 Valencia St San Francisco, CA 94110
Beautiful, gorgeous, enormous high wood beamed ceilings, a chandelier in the bathroom, wonderful coffee. Probably the most gorgeously decorated coffeeshop I’ve ever seen. They imported people from Portland to work here. No wonder.
Ritual Coffee Roasters
1026 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Used to be the number one hipster coffee land in SF until Four Barrel opened. Still relevant. Written about constantly in magazines and newspapers, and even the NY Times did a feature. Wonderful coffee – the best in San Francisco in terms of quality. Hectic inside. Lots of bobos.
Used to be the number one hipster coffee land in SF until Four Barrel opened. Still relevant. Written about constantly in magazines and newspapers, and even the NY Times did a feature. Wonderful coffee – the best in San Francisco in terms of quality. Hectic inside. Lots of bobos.
Atlas Cafe the
3049 20th, San Francisco, CA 94102
Amazing food. The beetloaf is to die for. Serve alcohol, has WiFi and tons of seating, you can peruse their magazines, there’s outdoor seating, friendly for dogs, friendly for people, amazingly nice staff, delicious coffee.
Amazing food. The beetloaf is to die for. Serve alcohol, has WiFi and tons of seating, you can peruse their magazines, there’s outdoor seating, friendly for dogs, friendly for people, amazingly nice staff, delicious coffee.
Mission: 1
In a coffee battle between NY and SF, San Francisco wins. New Yorkers may drink more coffee and seem more wired throughout the day, but quality of cafes in Mission versus Williamsburg is not even a question. There is a love and an attention to detail that goes into making a cafe like Four Barrel or Ritual that is noticeably absent in Williamsburg. Cafe culture is definitely better on the West Coast.
Twelve Galaxies Llc
2565 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Local bands, big space, lots of events during the week. 21+. Drink before you get here.
Local bands, big space, lots of events during the week. 21+. Drink before you get here.
Million Fishes Gallery
2501 Bryant St San Francisco, CA 94110
A good number of all ages shows and local bands. An art gallery upstairs, concert room downstairs. Local and grotty. Pretty people. Can get a little performance artsy though, ie Burning Man.
Mighty
119 Utah St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Big venue, lots of lights, lots of drugs, 21+, famous electro acts come through all the time, huge techno scene, fun and industrial, expensive expensive drinks.
Big venue, lots of lights, lots of drugs, 21+, famous electro acts come through all the time, huge techno scene, fun and industrial, expensive expensive drinks.
Mission: 0
The Mission is a thriving bohemia, but there are less good shows coming through here than in Williamsburg. Plus, most famous acts that come to SF don’t go to the Mission anyway. They go to other venues in the city.
It’s good for the Mission that less live music acts come through. The Mission is too loud anyway.
Taqueria Cancun
2288 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Tacos are the San Francisco version of a bagel. Tacos don’t get much better than at Taqueria Cancun. Open until 2, long lines, cheap food ($3.50 for a taco), get a burrito if you’re really hungry, lots of safe options for vegetarians, perfect for beer munchies.
Tacos are the San Francisco version of a bagel. Tacos don’t get much better than at Taqueria Cancun. Open until 2, long lines, cheap food ($3.50 for a taco), get a burrito if you’re really hungry, lots of safe options for vegetarians, perfect for beer munchies.
Cable Car Pizza Corporation
535 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Terrible pizza but it’s right next door to Casanova. If there’s one thing SF needs to learn how to do it’s to serve good pizza past 10PM. From what I know of the city, that does not exist.
Terrible pizza but it’s right next door to Casanova. If there’s one thing SF needs to learn how to do it’s to serve good pizza past 10PM. From what I know of the city, that does not exist.
The Tamale Lady
3139 16th Street San Francisco, CA 94110
Delicious, delicious tamales. This woman carts around a dirty cooler full of home made tamales and she is consistently outside of Delirium at 2AM. Gooey, tamale goodness.
Bacon Hot Dog People
everywhere on Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94110
I don’t know who these people are or where they come from or who they work for. But they sell bacon wrapped hot dogs with fried onions, peppers, and mayo, and it smells so good I gain twenty pounds just walking by one of their stands.
Mission: 1
This food match came in the form of a tie. The Mission has less late night food than Williamsburg, but the general quality of cheap late night food in the Mission is better. Just look at all the amazing taquerias that line Mission Street.
Foreign Cinema
2534 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Parent friendly, expensive oysters, great stiff drinks that are expensive, foreign cinema projected on the walls (the sign for Foreign Cinema is superimposed on a poster of Breathless by Jean Luc Godard), delicious nouveau American style food with a European bent.
Parent friendly, expensive oysters, great stiff drinks that are expensive, foreign cinema projected on the walls (the sign for Foreign Cinema is superimposed on a poster of Breathless by Jean Luc Godard), delicious nouveau American style food with a European bent.
Limon Restaurant
524 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Amazing Peruvian food that’s upscale, gourmet, delicious. Try to Lomo Saltada. Parents will like it because it’s an older crowd and they will be reassured that, despite the fact that you live in the Mission, there are enough bougie people here to offset the amount of homeless people and crackheads on every street corner.
Amazing Peruvian food that’s upscale, gourmet, delicious. Try to Lomo Saltada. Parents will like it because it’s an older crowd and they will be reassured that, despite the fact that you live in the Mission, there are enough bougie people here to offset the amount of homeless people and crackheads on every street corner.
Delfina Restaurant
3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Delfina is a wonderful Italian-esque place that’s truly San Francisco in feel. Great place to take parents who are from out of town. They will think that everyone in SF is uber sophisticated and that, just because you’re covered in tattoos doesn’t mean you don’t have a shot at joining the ranks of honest professionals one day.
Delfina is a wonderful Italian-esque place that’s truly San Francisco in feel. Great place to take parents who are from out of town. They will think that everyone in SF is uber sophisticated and that, just because you’re covered in tattoos doesn’t mean you don’t have a shot at joining the ranks of honest professionals one day.
Mission: 1
The Mission wins this round for several reasons. The first is that, in terms of quality organic produce, San Francisco can really not be beat. I have argued and argued about this with tons of people, but the foodie scene in SF is just unparalleled anywhere else in the country. There is a reason why SF has the highest Zagat restaurant rating on average than any other city. Also, the dining scene here is just more of a pleasure to experience. There is none of the weird social competitiveness in SF as there is in NYC. In SF, eating is about the food, not the scene.
Bi-Rite Market
3639 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
How do hipsters in SF afford $6 heirloom tomatoes? I don’t know, but they sure love Bi-Rite, which is one of the most beautifully presented gourmet supermarkets I’ve ever seen. Concord grapes just look better when they’re in a Bi-Rite bag. I don’t get it either.
How do hipsters in SF afford $6 heirloom tomatoes? I don’t know, but they sure love Bi-Rite, which is one of the most beautifully presented gourmet supermarkets I’ve ever seen. Concord grapes just look better when they’re in a Bi-Rite bag. I don’t get it either.
Rainbow Grocer Cooperative Inc
1745 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Rainbow is the MECCA of pretentious organic food, and thank God for its existence. No where in my entire life have I encountered a grocery store this amazing. Literally the best place on Earth. They sell Doctor Brommer’s in bulk, and they make nearly everything in house as well as selling it pre-packaged. Why buy pre-packaged organic miso when you back get black, red, white, or yellow miso that Rainbow makes on site? San Franciscans are ridiculously spoiled.
Rainbow is the MECCA of pretentious organic food, and thank God for its existence. No where in my entire life have I encountered a grocery store this amazing. Literally the best place on Earth. They sell Doctor Brommer’s in bulk, and they make nearly everything in house as well as selling it pre-packaged. Why buy pre-packaged organic miso when you back get black, red, white, or yellow miso that Rainbow makes on site? San Franciscans are ridiculously spoiled.
Valencia Whole Foods
999 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
This is like the Z-Side Bi-Rite, but at least they sell every Amy’s product known to man.
This is like the Z-Side Bi-Rite, but at least they sell every Amy’s product known to man.
Mission: 1
You can’t argue with California produce. When literally everything is available all year long because of the beautiful weather, and avocados and pomegranates are 4 for a dollar, and the fruit almost looks like plastic because it’s so beautiful, you get so spoiled for the rest of your life that it’s almost not worth it to live here for any extended amount of time because when you leave SF, life will always seem just a little less quality. San Francisco is truly a foodie paradise.
Painted Bird
1201 Guerrero St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Great prices, excellent selection, a huge collection of weird 80s leather jackets but the rest of the selection is heavily 70s, good shoe selection in the back, expensive accessories, they get new shipments all the time.
Great prices, excellent selection, a huge collection of weird 80s leather jackets but the rest of the selection is heavily 70s, good shoe selection in the back, expensive accessories, they get new shipments all the time.
Buffalo Exchange
1210 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
A Buffalo Exchange is a Buffalo Exchange is a Buffalo Exchange.
A Buffalo Exchange is a Buffalo Exchange is a Buffalo Exchange.
Mission Thrift
2330 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Overpriced for what it is, but you can find some ludicrous clothing here. Ludicrous as in, so costume-like that it’s almost essential to stop by just for the kicks. Where else can you find 80s style lederhosen that have a tutu attached and a stuffed cat stitched onto the crotch?
Overpriced for what it is, but you can find some ludicrous clothing here. Ludicrous as in, so costume-like that it’s almost essential to stop by just for the kicks. Where else can you find 80s style lederhosen that have a tutu attached and a stuffed cat stitched onto the crotch?
Mission: 0
People in the Mission love their thrift store clothes, but the general quality of things isn’t as high here to justify some of the prices I have seen. My only explanation is that people in SF has more important things to care about than what they wear, like following politics and being on the whole much less superficial than those you find in Williamsburg.
Mission Total: 4
The Mission wins in coffee, bougie eats, and pretentious grocery stores. It ties with Williamsburg in drunk food, thereby bringing its tally to 4 points total. It’s an overall tie! Congrats, Mission, you’re equally annoying and pretentious as Williamsburg, though less people know about you and therefore you have a major chip on your shoulder. Rest assured though, that you’re equals. Now you may return to your Tecate and burrito with peaceful mind.
Williamsburg
Williamsburg is a great place to go if you live in New York but hate New York. The people here are at least three standard deviations more attractive than they are anywhere else in Brooklyn. There’s a thriving artistic community, but gentrification is slowly wiping out the last vestiges of the truly hip. The really cool people have left, and now the area is at least 70% douche. Still, there are still plenty of awesome people to be found. I love the Burg.
Bushwick Country Club
618 Grand St Brooklyn, NY 11211
A windmill made out of PBR cans, cheap drinks by Manhattan standards, and a game station where you can play Buck Hunter and Erotic Photo Hunt all night long.
Union Pool
484 Union Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211
A large dance floor on the inside, lots of be bop and country tunes from the DJ booth, cheapish drinks that hover around $6, a huge outdoor patio that’s great in the summer, a burrito truck on the outdoor patio, and a photobooth inside.
Barcade
388 Union Ave Brooklyn, NY 11224
An entire bar full of old school arcade games. Enough said.
Williamsburg: 1
New York wins because their dive bars come with more arcade games and you can stay out until 4AM getting sloshed on PBR.
Gimme! Coffee
495 Lorimer St Brooklyn, NY 11211
Tiny and has a weird smell on the inside that always reminds me of Vietnamese fish sauce (WTF) but really super good coffee. Don’t come to this tiny place to sit with your laptop. Great coffee for on the road.
Oslo Coffee
133 Roebling St Brooklyn, NY 11211
Owners came to NY via Seattle, was written about in the NY Times, two locations (other in North Williamsburg), great espresso drinks, possibly the best coffee in Williamsburg, nice ambiance, nice barristas.
Atlas Cafe
116 Havemeyer St Brooklyn, NY 11211
Great for laptops (tons of plugs) and they don’t mind you sitting there all night. Closes at 10pm. Food is decent, good bagel sandwiches, and they serve alcohol. Could be larger.
Williamsburg: 0
When I’m in Williamsburg, I have to walk an exceedingly far distance to make it to a coffee shop where I can actually sit with my book or laptop and have a cuppa. That is not good. In an area that is much more populous than the Mission, Williamsburg needs to raise its cafe culture up like, 500%. People are less snobbish about their coffee here, and it shows. Also, what is with cafes not all having WiFi?
Props for cafes staying open later here though. Cafes should be open until 10PM, like they are in New York, not 7 or 8, like is sometimes the case in SF.
McCarren Park Pool
Lorimer Street at Bedford Ave Brooklyn, NY 11222
Hipster central. Fashion parade. A good number of famous bands come through here and sometimes shows are free. There’s a slip and slide in the summer. Nice times to be had with friends.
Warsaw at the Polish National Home
261 Driggs Ave Brooklyn, NY 11222
Looks like a high school gym, disco ball on the ceiling, cheap drinks, $5 for perogies and snacks, smells like Polish food, looks like prom in a teen 80s movie, great fun.
Music Hall of Williamsburg
66 N 6th St Brooklyn, NY 11211
Great acoustics, large with four floors, couches and seating on first level, decently priced drinks, cool indie acts come through occasionally.
Williamsburg: 1
It’s not fair, but New York wins on principle. More good acts come through here than in SF. It’s just how it is. There are more people, more shows, and therefore more good bands. It’s a population thing.
Grand Morelos Diner and Bakery
727 Grand Street Brooklyn, NY 11230
A taco in New York does not include sour cream. This is a travesty. The tacos here were edible, no more and no less. At least they stay open late, and they have lots of yummy Mexican pastries for when you’re in the mood for churros at 5AM after drinking your face off all night. There are other things on the menu too but I’ve never looked further than “taco” – you really can’t get good Mexican food in New York, it’s like a natural law, and tacos are generally the least offensive.
Anna Maria Pizza
179 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11211
New Yorkers know pizza. Quick, easy, painless, delicious. The dough is thin and just a little burnt on the bottom, the sauce is fresh with real diced tomatoes floating in it, and when you pick the slice off the plate, cheese falls off the sides because they really load it up on there. Love is a slice of NY pizza.
Manna
Grand St & Lorimer St Brooklyn, NY 11206
Falafel for $3 at 5AM? You betcha. Lentil soup? Greek salad for when you can’t go to bed without eating something but you don’t want to get something unhealthy? A 24-hour Mediterranean place is exactly what every neighborhood needs.
Williamsburg: 1
The late night food match results in a tie. Williamsburg has many more late night options than the Mission, though not all of them are up to par in terms of quality. However, the abundance of delicious late night pizza overrides the lack of good late night tamales. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Forgo addictions to Mexican food and learn to appreciate Italian food more.
There are more healthy options available in New York too, late at night. Bacon hot dogs might be grand, but sometimes you really just want some lettuce in your stomach to soak up the booze, not bacon grease.
Peter Luger Steak House
178 Broadway Brooklyn, NY 11211
Peter Luger is so famous that even finance people who live in Murray Hill know about it. In fact, for finance people who live in Murray Hill, it’s the only place they’ve probably ever heard of in BK. It’s really expensive. Don’t come here unless someone else is willing to pick up the tab, ie your dad because he’s here for a business meeting or some sort of professional conference, and he can charge it elsewhere. While this is decidedly not a hipster scene (it’s where frat guy investment bankers take their girlfriends on their birthdays), hipsters need places to go with their dorky parents where they are sure to see no other judgmental hipsters.
Zenkichi
77 N 6th Street Brooklyn, NY 11230
Sushi, expensive, not too shabby. Super esoteric sushi like bonito shuto and sushi yasuda. Have your parents take you here and then brag to your friends later that you tried the scallop guts.
Dressler
149 Broadway Brooklyn, NY 11211
Totally tasteful, lively, and very New York. The New York Times said this place was “for grown-ups” so it’s sure to please the parental units.
Williamsburg: 0
The eating scene here can be delicious, but it can also be douchey (Peter Luger). People watching at restaurants is annoying. It’s also no fun to deal with snobby staff when your parents are in town. Like why are you being mean to my dad just because he’s wearing socks and sandals? Nuff said.
Sunac Natural Foods
150 North 7th Street Brooklyn, NY 11211
I’m down with Sunac. It’s big by New York local grocery store standards, and they have a lot of produce.
Hana Food Corp
534 Metropolitan Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211
Twenty-four hours, which is great. Expensive, which is not great, but delicious, which is good. Douchey sandwiches that cost a ton of money and you will have to grapple with lines if you want to come here late night style but it’s worth it, until you realize you’ve spent $15 on a sandwich.
Khim's Millennium Market
265 Bedford Ave New York, NY 11211
Khim’s is New York’s “Valencia Whole Foods” – way Z side in relation to Sunac or Hana food, but edible and good for when you need to pop to your nearest Khim’s (there are a million everywhere) to get something last minute.
Williamsburg: 0
Food in New York is just not what it is on the West Coast. It’s just not as fresh. And it’s more expensive.
One thing I’ve noticed in New York is that people are more content to eat things that come prepackaged or in a can. They also eat out a lot. Both lead to a lower quality of grocery stores, simply because so few people in New York actually cook at home. No matter, there are enough great restaurants to try in Williamsburg that I can deal with not having as quality of produce.
Overpriced Used Clothing
Why wear new clothes when you can spend a lot of money on old clothes that are falling apart?
Beacon's Closet
88 N 11th St Brooklyn, NY 11211
This place is by far the coolest second hand store I have ever seen. If you are okay with navigating a huge warehouse space that smells like old clothing, and you are willing to dig through tons and tons of random junk, and you don’t have a dust allergy, this is the place to go to find one of a kind treasures you won’t find anywhere else. Nothing in San Francisco compares.
Buffalo Exchange
504 Driggs Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211
A Buffalo Exchange is a Buffalo Exchange is a Buffalo Exchange.
Viceversa
241 Bedford Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211
Prices are in the $15 to $50 range and that in itself is amazing by New York standards.
Williamsburg: 1
New York wins the battle in fashion. People in New York simply care more about the way they look than people in SF. It can be extremely tedious to deal with these vanity levels at times, but it’s a good thing for consumers because the quality and diversity of what you can buy is higher. A fashion addiction is an extremely expensive addiction, so to get around my own, I buy a lot of things secondhand. The vintage selection in NYC is of a par I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Williamsburg Total: 4
Williamsburg wins in categories of dive bars, live music venues, and overpriced used clothing. It ties with the Mission in drunk late-night eats. Result? A tie! Congrats Williamsburg. Though your avocados are expensive and your people are rude and unhealthy, you are still the most hipster place on planet Earth… tied.
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