Riga named among hipster capitals in the world

  • 2014-12-04
  • From wire reports, RIGA

British newspaper The Daily Mail has named Riga, Latvia as one of the most hipster destinations in the world.

The tabloid newspaper names Miera Street (Peace Street) in Riga as one of the trendiest districts in the world.

''They were once the gritty, run-down areas of a city that most tourists actively stayed away from. These days however, the world's edgiest urban neighborhoods are magnets for the trendiest young crowds,'' the newspaper writes.

The former industrial districts of Williamsburg in New York and Dalston in East London have been firmly established as meccas for hipsters in recent years, thanks to an explosion of pop-up restaurants, vegan cafes, Bohemian shops, cutting-edge art galleries and gourmet coffee houses.

But the newspaper has included many other districts in cities around the world on its list of the world's most ''hipster'' cities.

''According to travel guide company In Your Pocket, Riga’s Miera Iela s home to a bohemian community of shopkeepers, publicans, gallery-owners, painters, writers and stylish layabouts who congregate at its unusual collection of inspired shops and cafés,'' the newspaper writes.

Riga is the Capital of Culture 2014 and Skyscanner adds that Miera Iela is a ‘a swarm of art galleries, vintage shops, hairdresser-bookstores, restaurants and florists bartering green plants for herbal teas.’

''The center of this hipster heaven is the DAD Cafe - a boutique coffee shop that offers home baking and regular acoustic concerts,'' the newspaper points out.