Fishtown: Local Residents Upset With ‘Hipster’ Influx

Resident Rocco Tomastto stands outside Gunnar's Run Restaurant and Bar.
Resident Rocco Tomastto stands outside Gunnar's Run Restaurant and Bar.
Resident Rocco Tomastto stands outside Gunnar’s Run Restaurant and Bar.

The Piazza at Schmidts hosted Radio 104.5’s Winter Jam this weekend in Northern Liberties. The event featured performances from Tegan and Sara, Matt and Kim and three other bands. However, the huge turnout for this free concert sparked mixed reactions from local residents.

The Fishtown.us forums carried the topic Hipster Convention? for several days after the event and housed complaints about the crowds from forum users. The posters labelled the attendees as “hipsters” and “bros,” leading to lengthy discussions of each label as well as their presence in and negative affect on the  neighborhood.

Outside the forums, residents seemed more willing to put up with the crowd. “ The crowd was too much, but its for such a cool event,” said resident Rocco Tomastto. “I mean, they’re spending money locally and live music isn’t a bad thing, so I’ll put up with it.”

“It definitely brings in a lot of business,” said Chris Feher, an employee of Plaza business Gunnar’s Run Restaurant and Bar. “The crowd was well-behaved, but it was a bit much in scale.”

In response to the labels given by the forum-goers, Rocco summed it up nicely.

“They were a hybrid,” Tomastto said, “Brosters I guess. Some aren’t all about the art and music and just want to be part of the scene.”

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