An article declaring the death of hipsters in San Francisco managed to crash 48 Hills, a donation based website from former Bay Guardian editor Tim Redmond and publisher Marke Bieschke.
Bieschke, who now serves as the publisher of 48 Hills, penned a post on Tuesday called "The San Francisco hipster is dead, y'all," naming the imminent closure of Mission District restaurant Boogaloos as the "locally sourced, hand-wrought nail in the neon coffin of a once inescapable lifestyle caricature."
"Not even a robust gap-year trust fund can withstand the skyrocketing rents here," he wrote. "And who can afford anymore to launch a Malian-Icelandic fusion food truck, organic Ayahuasca pop-up, or hand-printed line of Zombie Hannah Montana jeggings? Only bored Google wives have resources for that now, and they’re too busy with toddler yoga. I seriously waited on Valencia Street for three hours last week before I spotted a single acid-wash romper. There were pleated chinos at Zeitgeist. Elbo Room is closing. Hipster’s dead, y’all."
"It seems people move here for money now instead of ideals or at least their ideals are currency-based," Bieschke told NBC Bay Area. "I want to be wrong about that."
Within 30 minutes of publishing, the site crashed due to a flood of visits, then went up and back down intermittently for the next 10 hours.
"The reader response has obviously been overwhelming — the piece definitely struck a nerve," he said. "The biggest thing I've been struck by is how many people are talking about how they've been thinking about the same thing. There were some actually touching, nostalgic memories being shared around the piece on social media. It was like an era of history was being sweetly eulogized."
"Sure makes me glad I got a taste of the real SF and lived there before the term hipster was even created," wrote reader Lewis Foulke. "And now even that's outdated. It makes me feel a bit bummed for all those kids who don't have chance to live their feelings instead of their wallets when they roll into the Fairy City by the Bay."
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Another reader, Jayinee Basu, wrote, "An old lady started playing a pan flute unprovoked on the UCSF shuttle today, I'm holding out hope."
Au revoir, PBR: The San Francisco hipster is officially dead: http://t.co/V6Bu5MpVLs pic.twitter.com/mWtc3uRHGm — Marke Bieschke (@supermarke) September 1, 2015
we're back (at least right now)! Thanks for patience ... http://t.co/V6Bu5MHwD0 https://t.co/rw1zSv9Jmd — Marke Bieschke (@supermarke) September 2, 2015
