[la_mode]

Everyone knows the main ones.

San Francisco, Portland, Seattle.

Should probably include Toronto if we're going to include Canadian cities. In the US, on the list would have to include Minneapolis, Boston, DC, Austin TX. The SWPL vibe probably isn't as strong in these cities, but most large American cities in the better "gentrified" parts seem very SWPL. Mid-sized cities like Madison are very SWPL as well.

For the least SWPL cities. My list:

LA - too many people trying to look good to be SWPL (no fat chicks allowed)
Vegas - Strippers, escorts, and gambling are not SWPL
Miami - Tony Montana wouldn't have stepped foot in a SWPL city

NYC & Chicago are somewhere in the middle. Both lean SWPL but don't have the overwhelming SWPL culture. Their mafia history makes it hard for them to be truly SWPL.

[aeroektar]

What's swpl?

[Armenian]

Stuff White People Like

[T and A Man]

Pittsburgh?

[el mechanico]

East St Louis.

And what do you mean? White people love all that stuff.

[3extra]

New Orleans.

[ball dont lie]

Pick random black cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Any city in Alabama or Mississippi? Places I don't want to go to.

[Rang off the Pipe]

I feel like Philadelphia would qualify for this, but I haven't been there enough.

[Deluge]

I was under the impression that NYC and to a lesser extent L.A were SWPL heartlands.

[el mechanico]

From Urban Dictionary.. I really didn't know so..


SWPL = white educated liberal bohemian

So what the heck is a bohemian? Wikipedia aptly defines “bohemian” as a word of French origin, “first used in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities. Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or antiestablishment political or social viewpoints, which were often expressed through free love, frugality, and/or voluntary poverty.”

But modern bohemians aren’t necessarily impoverished. In fact, being college educated, they are usually wealthier than regular middle class white people, and many SWPLs are downright rich. BIGLAW is full of SWPLs such as Heather Eisenlord. Consequently, there is a great deal of overlap between SWPL values and upper middle class values.

SWPL is actually an acronym for “stuff white people like” which was coined by Christian Lander who founded the blog of the same name, Stuff White People Like. In his blog, Christian wrote post about stuff that “white people” like, which includes things such as farmer’s markets, sushi, knowing what’s best for poor people, and the Ivy League. The blog was so well done that people initially thought that the author was Asian, but it turned out that the author was a member of the very class he was mocking.

SWPL can be used interchangeably as a noun or a verb.

SWPL should be pronounced “swipple” but never written that way.
That vegan triple tofu burger is so SWPL!

[lycosidae]

It's good to be aware of this distinction because it will affect your game.

SWPL usually indicates the presence of hipsters and how much hipster culture has affected the mainstream culture of that particular place... the more hipsters, the more SWPL... It has little to do with the number of white people. Oklahoma is full of white people, but pretty much none of them qualify as SWPL.

SWPL culture is Blue Pill... it means accepting the worldview of the Social Justice Warriors and rejecting traditional ideas.

By that definition, the most SWPL cities would be:
New York
Washington DC
San Francisco / Oakland / Anywhere in the Bay Area
Chicago
Boston
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Portland
Seattle
Minneapolis-St. Paul

Here are some outliers... lots of hipsters, but not many SWPL:
Austin
New Orleans

Note that these are generally the largest cities in the U.S., but there are exceptions.. Los Angeles is not SWPL... in fact the first thing a SWPL will say when you mention California is how much they love San Francisco and hate Los Angeles... The hipsters in L.A. have always been there, that's a key difference from all the other places... New York also to a lesser extent, because I think you'll find a lot of SWPL in NY despite this fact, particularly in Williamsburg...

Note that the most consistent feature of these cities is the presence of large research universities that churn out graduate students...

So to answer your question, the least SWPL cities are those found in more conservative states...

Dallas-Fort Worth
Oklahoma City
Atlanta
Houston
Phoenix
Las Vegas
Salt Lake City
Nashville
Omaha
Kansas City
Raleigh/Durham
Charlotte
Memphis
ect...

To choose to live somewhere NOT SWPL is really to make a practical choice. And men make practical choices...

Sans Miami/L.A. (which are really outliers), the non-SWPL cities are generally cheaper to live in and have lower unemployment rates, lower taxes, and cheaper housing than the SWPL cities...

(10-30-2014 07:48 AM)aeroektar Wrote:  

What's swpl?

[Brian Shima]

Cities with blue collar roots or ones with a sizeable blue collar industry and lots of minorities. I don't think SWPLs know how to perform hard labor haha!

Memphis
Houston
Dallas
Boston

[Brian Shima]

Did someone say Austin isn't SWPL!?

[Sp5]

(10-30-2014 11:41 AM)Brian Shima Wrote:  

Did someone say Austin isn't SWPL!?

Did someone say Boston isn't? Only if you're in Roxbury, East Boston or Dorchester . . . even then.

I'm OK with SWPL, because I'm a WP.

Nothing wrong with walkable towns with good coffee in cafes, pubs with 20 craft beers on tap, bakeries, large bookstores, a variety of great restaurants, always including good Italian pizza, Thai, French and Viet noodle places.

Not going to prefer the strip mall and the windowless bar serving Bud Light only on tap.

[lycosidae]

True dat...

I'm what you'd call a "conservative urbanite" -- Could never suburbanize my lifestyle.

This is why I like Dallas so much, it's got kind of the best of both worlds... DART has made some amazing progress in recent years at connecting the different neighborhoods and the cool public spaces downtown.

Austin is a weird case... I suppose that's why I listed it as an outlier...

(10-30-2014 11:59 AM)Sp5 Wrote:  

(10-30-2014 11:41 AM)Brian Shima Wrote:  

Did someone say Austin isn't SWPL!?

Did someone say Boston isn't? Only if you're in Roxbury, East Boston or Dorchester . . . even then.

I'm OK with SWPL, because I'm a WP.

Nothing wrong with walkable towns with good coffee in cafes, pubs with 20 craft beers on tap, bakeries, large bookstores, a variety of great restaurants, always including good Italian pizza, Thai, French and Viet noodle places.

Not going to prefer the strip mall and the windowless bar serving Bud Light only on tap.

[jimukr104]

(10-30-2014 10:01 AM)Deluge Wrote:  

I was under the impression that NYC and to a lesser extent L.A were SWPL heartlands.

Myth. NYC metro area has loads of them but NYC has lots of everything. I mean there are so many niches that aren't SWPL.

[Cattle Rustler]

Man, you guys preaching dfw and hustletown as non swpl places have never been here...

DFW and Houston are swpl as fuck. There's nothing conservative about Texas, other than being conservative on paper only.

[el mechanico]

Here..
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2...t-cocktail

I want some

[Brian Shima]

Sp5 I didnt get the impression it was at all when I was there. Cattle what part of Houston are you talking about? It gets conservative as soon as you leave the downtown and hip areas . It's definetly not SWPL as fuck like you said. To your comment about Texas not being conservative, I'm not sure if your serious. Have you been to the thousands of towns across that state?!

[lycosidae]

I've been there...

Everything is perspective. When you've lived in the most left wing hegemonic places in the United States, a place like Dallas is like a wonderland...

You should live in Washington, DC -- and compare the girls there to the ones in Dallas (who yes, are also yuppies... but are much more friendly, agreeable, and sane)

You'll understand why I think the way I do...

Sure, it's more SWPL than Oklahoma City... but it's a fine compromise from what we're dealing with here in DC.

(10-30-2014 12:38 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

Man, you guys preaching dfw and hustletown as non swpl places have never been here...

DFW and Houston are swpl as fuck. There's nothing conservative about Texas, other than being conservative on paper only.

[h3ltrsk3ltr]

Lol, how did the south become the least SWPL?

[TigerMandingo]

(10-30-2014 12:52 PM)h3ltrsk3ltr Wrote:  

Lol, how did the south become the least SWPL?

Good question. But SWPL usually involves a certain level of faggotry that Southerners normally would not engage in. Some SWPL shit that Southerners tend NOT to do (from what I've witnessed):

- Jog/bike with gear on (spandex, lance armstrong bracelets, all decked out)
- Farmer's markets
- "Walk for Breast Cancer"-type rallies, Autism Awareness sprints, etc.
- Observe a gluten-free diet
- Listen to Dave Matthews Band

Surely there are exceptions, but I can safely say that you would rarely see Southerners doing any of these things.

Personal experience: 2 years in Lexington, KY

[el mechanico]

(10-30-2014 12:52 PM)h3ltrsk3ltr Wrote:  

Lol, how did the south become the least SWPL?

I had sushi for lunch my employees did not know what it was when they saw it.

[Brian Shima]

Haha El Mechanico. There's plenty of backwards boonies in California, New York, etc also

[Dr. Howard]

(10-30-2014 01:07 PM)Cunnilinguist Wrote:  

(10-30-2014 12:52 PM)h3ltrsk3ltr Wrote:  

Lol, how did the south become the least SWPL?

Good question. But SWPL usually involves a certain level of faggotry that Southerners normally would not engage in. Some SWPL shit that Southerners tend NOT to do (from what I've witnessed):

- Jog/bike with gear on (spandex, lance armstrong bracelets, all decked out)
- Farmer's markets
- "Walk for Breast Cancer"-type rallies, Autism Awareness sprints, etc.
- Observe a gluten-free diet
- Listen to Dave Matthews Band

Surely there are exceptions, but I can safely say that you would rarely see Southerners doing any of these things.

Personal experience: 2 years in Lexington, KY

The core of Knoxville TN has all of things, as does all of Nashville now. The suburbs are still bibles and bbq. Memphis has a smaller element I think mostly because its a much rougher city..ie don't set foot outside of the lights of beale street or overton park. Its down to the sub 50k towns in Tennessee that are 'southern' in every sense.

Remember though, when I say "Nashville is SWPL" that describes the city, not the suburbs...which are yoga pants and cowboy boot meccas. However, here you will me more limited to day and online game.

This division has great stereotypes here in Knoxville where the mayor of the city proper is a new york born lesbian and the mayor of the county limits (suburbs) is a good ol boy with a thick drawl with a spit and a handshake ethos. They hate each other.

I would imagine this is the same way houston is.