adrian is rad

I’m trying to draw a pattern from various indie rock/ hipster fads, which include trucker hats (foam domes, as I call them), work shirts or work jackets, old thrift store shirts (especially solid color shirts with simple black or white silk screens), hoodies, old sweaters and pabst blue ribbon.

A lot of these are tied to each other, but each criterium adds something. Not all of them will be true for each fad. These are more tendencies than strict rules.

1. cheap (probably able to be obtained used). thrift stores, surplus shops are usually good places to find things.

2. unpretentious. pabst blue ribbon (still) doesn’t advertize. no one used to advertize foam domes.

3. obscure enough that people in the “mainstream” probably don’t wear it/ drink it/ do it, but not obscure enough that people don’t previously know about it.

4. previously relegated to the working class. trucker hats, work shirts, and PBR all fall into this category.

5. ironic, usually because people in the ‘scene’ wouldn’t previous think of using such a product. haha! sweet hat! my grandfather wore one of those!

6. not intrinsically ugly or baggy. I think big sweatshirts with big bubble letters would not become an indie fad even though they are cheap, ironic, and obscure because they are both ugly and baggy. hoodies (at least those worn by indie kids) tend to be tighter.

7. like much retro-influenced fashion, the two decade rule applies. you can wear 70s and you can start to wear 80s fashions as retro-ironic, but you can’t really wear 90s stuff. If you’re wearing multiple flannel shirts, you’re stuck in the past, you’re not starting a new trend.

I’m often complaining about how squeeky clean and character-less Palo Alto/ Menlo Park are, so I decided to make a list of all the things I like about this area of the Peninsula.

• Classic one (or two) screen theaters: the Guild and the Aquarius. Normal (expsensive) priced tickets, but good movies in classic theaters.
• Silent movies at Stanford Theater over the summer. Complete with live accompaniment on the Might Wurlitzer organ.
• Old people, cheap snacks, and artsy movies at Spangenberg Theatre
• Crazy people and punk kids at the Pit. I’m glad some people aren’t middle-aged silicon valley professionals.
• Beer gardens: the Oasis and Alpine Inn (aka Zott’s). You got your locals and your Stanford students. You got your bicyclists, motorcyclists and BMW drivers.
• Peninsula Creamery Dairy Store (on High St.). Not to be confused with the Peninsula Fountain and Grill (on Hamilton and in the Stanford Shopping Center), this is vintage and not retro, cheap and not pretentious.
• Sandwhiches: Pluto’s and the Prolific Oven. Fancy sandwhiches, but still reasonable value.
• Rose and Crown. You’re paying pub prices, but at least they have Hoegaarden and Franzikaner on tap.
• Ridiculous safetey. Just yesterday I parked my car on the street unlocked for the entire day, with CDs and other things sitting on the seats and nothing was gone.