Asheville, North Carolina

“Undoubtedly one of the kindest places on the East Coast. Nice nuggets, a lively and experimental music scene, and the overall friendly atmosphere make this town a must for nomadic freaky friends! I’ll see you when I roll through town.”

“One thing i have noticed over the past few years is that the hippies have gotten richer. a lot are weekend hippies now! there are a lot of unique and awesome people here, and then again there are a lot of rich people too…”

0 thoughts on “Asheville, North Carolina

  1. Yes i agree super nice nubins great camping a few miles away
    if ever there and see shuffle board city allstars playing i would check them out

  2. Awesome. This is where I live. definetly a cool place to be. especially downtown, so many pipe stores and awesome little shops. eat at the mellow mushroom! so good 🙂

  3. Now when I’m looking for a real haven, I like to coast on up to the Appalachian Trail just north of Asheville, shy of the Tennesee border. Find yourself a cozy shelter or cabin. Now the drawback to this kind of haven is that it’s hard to lug those bongos and bongs up the trail but believe me, I’ve seen some guys doing it!

  4. Just moved away from the aeria .
    Be aware of the substantail polution problems . In 2000 they had twice as mant “bad air ” alert days as Atlanta !! If you have any respatory problems , try to stay below 4000 ft. in the summer . Ashvill is about 2800 ft. 2ed worst ground levil ozone in the country . All this courtisy of the coal burnning power plants in KY. ,TN. & GA. and just to many cars in the tri county , ( a lot of suv turest’as ) .
    Also the down town sciene is a lot of friction between the hippsters and the shop owners and the cops , be carefull .
    Sorry if I burst anyones bubble .

  5. if you like trustafarian fake ass hippie mafia “kids” than goto asheville you’ll fit right in, if you dont have a fat trust fund than don’t expect to be able to live here

  6. Looking into moving to Asheville? BE WARNED: Paramount Pictures is soon going to build a huge filming studio bigger than the one they have in Los Angelos…. in Asheville!!! It is supposedly much cheaper for them to film on the east coast and they picked asheville for its beauty. I dont know how soon this is going ot happen but I would take that information into conisderation if you want to move there. The industry around there is going to boom.
    I have gone to quite a few big concerts in Asheville and it is such a pretty place- not to commercialized and really cool non-chain restaurant places to eat and shop.

  7. I’m a native of the surrounding Asheville area, and I find it and the smaller, less commercial areas to be some of the most relaxing places I have ever been. If you don’t like the rich tourist aspect of Asheville, I encourage you to check out, the Chimney Rock, Boone (supplier of mass amounts of dank) and the App. State area…many cool people reside in the hidden hills of the Asheville area…very farout atmosphere to be in, maybe i’ll see one of y’all out there one day!
    Peace, Be safe, and have fun in everything you do,
    Lyn

  8. This world is growing too horrible. Pollution and wars are taking over. There is not enough peace for our children to grow up safe and stuff. Phish is by far the best band ever. When Trey says, and I quote, “Rock and roll, on a certain level, sucks because in rock and roll there are not enough hippies” he is exactly right. Henceforth, I believe us hippies must unite. We must find a mountain and camp out forever! We can do hippy stuff like get high and jam by campfires and sleep in hammocks…it would be totally sweet. We could talk about hippy stuff all the time and how we have peace and how we are better than the real world. So if anyone is interested in creating a “hippy comune” just e-mail me at nnlemb@wm.edu and we can save ourselves from this horrible world.

    Nick

    PS: I will bring some super dank nugs and my phish cds.

  9. This world is growing too horrible. Pollution and wars are taking over. There is not enough peace for our children to grow up safe and stuff. Phish is by far the best band ever. When Trey says, and I quote, “Rock and roll, on a certain level, sucks because in rock and roll there are not enough hippies” he is exactly right. Henceforth, I believe us hippies must unite. We must find a mountain and camp out forever! We can do hippy stuff like get high and jam by campfires and sleep in hammocks…it would be totally sweet. We could talk about hippy stuff all the time and how we have peace and how we are better than the real world. So if anyone is interested in creating a “hippy comune” just e-mail me at nnlemb@wm.edu and we can save ourselves from this horrible world.

    Nick

    PS: I will bring some super dank nugs and my phish cds.

  10. Whats the deal with paramount pictures building a studio in asheville?
    Does anyone on here know anything about this?
    I noticed someone posted about that earlier and i was just wondering if it is true?

  11. Black Mountain is about 20 miles south of Asheville. I have been going there to the LEAF Festival (May&October) for the past ten years. Best Hippie festival ever. Property values around Asheville are steep. Natives to the NC mountains don’t like outsiders much, but there is a nice bunch of transplant hipsters there. The public radio station out of Spindale is the bomb. Hippie, alternative, world, primitive country, folk, blues.

  12. OK, here’s a smattering of comments on all the posts to date…

    • Black Mountain is northeast of Asheville (but it is about 20 miles)
    • the movie studio is a local effort (blue ridge motion pictures)
    • the best place near Asheville to get seriously local is Hot Springs (about 45 min NW of Asheville and don’t let the high cost of the Hot Tubs at the spa stop you from trying it at least once)
    • The downtown scene does have the tensions mentioned in a prior post, but unless you are a homeless teenager you probably won’t notice or care
    • And yes, many many wonderful people are in the surrounding mountains and the best place to run into or find them is at earthfare, stocking up on munchies
    • The mellow mushroom has better art than food, but the food is not bad just don’t be in a hurry (they take the mellow part seriously) but the Laughing Seed is the best vegetarian restaurant of all time.

    Just my two cents, take it for what it’s worth.

  13. Moved from florida 3 years ago,saw asheville as “move to the mountains for a breath of freash air “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME” 2nd worst polluted city in the U.S. The place sucks,all the wanna be hippies just suck,lets go HIKING? what the hell is that shit,lets go mountain biking what the hell is that? gr8 mountain view dont get me wrong, but get through the smog and i might see a mountain or two .
    my rating 3 thumbs down

  14. Oh i forgot, asheville is a place where peoples problems may go a way .
    NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! let’s sit around and bang drumms,act like wanna be hippie-rasta-wanna bee’s and have a cup of joe.
    JOKE:what do you call 10,000 lesbians standing in a circle holding hands together called
    ANSWER: ASHEVILLE !

  15. I live in Asheville and i’d have to give it a 10…From the downtown area that is a variety of anything fro a homeless couple to the richest docter on Asheville…to the blue ridge parkway, and smokie mountains…I’ve lived here my whole life and enjoy it…Plus the whole paramount thing is crazy…It’ll never happen..

  16. I live and go to college in Brevard, NC. A small mtn town 3 minutes from Pisgah Ntl Forest. Asheville is a very nice place. A little touristy at some places but great none-the-less. Some pretty nice head shops in the area. and some OK nugs.

  17. I’m also from asheville.
    I was born here I’ve watched this place grow from dirt roads to what it is today.
    If your thinking of moving here you better have plenty of $$$
    Land value here is out the roof.
    Taxes are worse mine jumped 5000.00 in 1 year.

    It’s true about how diverse the city is and theres lots of cool little shops.
    Ton’s of glass shops and pipe stores.
    But theres also alot of pork. They mainly mess with drunks or crack heads but if bored they will attack a helpless hippy.

    After lets say 11pm the only thing happening downtown is the clubs a few people walking around.
    The city has a huge crack problem. Don’t lock your auto doors it’s better to let them rummage thru it than break a window.

    Other than the crack problem and pork it’s a cool place.

  18. Asheville is a great place. Very earthy and very cool. I live near Asheville, and, of course, its the place to go for my friends and I. Yes there is crack, but what city doesn’t have a crack problem? Besides, if you stay away from the hood, you really don’t have that much to worry about. Like people hang with like people, so if you dont act like you’re looking for hard than they’ll stay away. Some of the best nugs on the east coast to be found here. Come visit. Sure that you’ll find a hippie or two!

  19. OK, I live in Aheville, right off Merrimon, a 10 minute walk and I’m downtown. I have to say this.. if you are from out of town, don’t drive like an idiot, don’t bring your car downtown, got off your fat ass and walk! This town is becoming way to crowded, and one reason for some air pollution is CARS!!! We would love for this place to be truly safe for walking and biking! I know a nice bunch who walk or bike and this is their main mode of transport! Cars, Slow the Fuck down!! And please, Floridians (these seem to be the most common out-of-town plates), and all others, don’t bring your super-huge SUV’s and trucks into this area, they stink, use way too much gas, and take up too much space.

  20. i’m from boston but my grandparents live in hendersonville, NC about 20 minutes from asheville..i love the place, especially in the summer for that music and art festival, hippies everywhere! its a great place to shop. lots of pipe stores and good places to eat, go to asheville during the summer, its the best

  21. The posts that are on this board, are the reason that the people that have lived in the mountains for generations, don’t have anything to do with that cesspool called asheville. The natives, have been here though good times and bad. This area was once a very poor area. No one had any money, and most lived off the land. My people were share croppers. Half the people that have lived here for many generations, have iindian heritage. My family is one of them. I can remember when asheville had street preachers. But now, anything to do with the christian faith, or the bible, the one thing that has made this area a good place to live, and that most of the mountain people live by, is disespected, along with the people that hold these beliefs. Absolutly any type of deviant behavior is ok, it seems in asheville. We natives use to shop in asheville, but no more. The only thing you’ll find up town is trashy behavior, drugs,drunks, queers, robbers, rapes, and murders. The natives know you take your life in your hands when you go up town. Try to leave asheville before nite falls. Thats when the drugies and drunks come out most, to rob and steal. They’ll knock you in the head for a quarter. My own annt was killed walking to friends house in asheville. I use to try to help the winos and people down on their luck, as the bible instructs christians to do, but after I kept seeing so many able bodied men that made their living by panhandling, I stopped. I tried to buy one a sandwich one time at one of the bar and grills. The people knew the guy and would’nt serve him. So that was the end of trying to help the so called homeless. Most of them could do more to help themselves than that do. A lot take advantage of people that would truly like to help the needy. As the bible says if your able, and you don’t work, you don’t eat. My advice, don’t come to a nasty, scab encrusted place like cesspool asheville. Besides, you don’t want to be around so many christians. They’ar so intolrant. Freaksville, what a disgusting place. Asheville needs to be bulldozed, and then sow grass.

  22. Ashville– wow what a place! Seriously you guys… i got to school at Warren Wilson, which is SUPER close to downtown and I so would not go anywhere else. Most of the people here are really cool… I mean it’s the greatest place in the whole world to raise kids and stuff at if you want them to be culturally diverse… my son is almost 2 and has already been exposed to an amazing array of people. We go to the dance and drum circles alot on the weekends… He, my boyfriend, and I all love it. There’s always a lot to do… awesome places to shop and eat and all that. It’s a really spiritual place because of all the people. We all just wanna help each other.

    love and peace forever

  23. I’ve been in asheville for 4 years now and I finally feel that i have a grasp on this place.
    I love the mountains,rivers(the few unpolluted) the outdoors etc.
    but the overwhelming lack of INcompitance that i run into daily is unacceptable.most of the locals are completely ignorant and slow.
    some make up for this with genuine heart and hospitality but I’m sick of them for the most part and I conisder mylsef to be a very kind person.
    I’m orginilly from california and have spent most of my life travelling in and out of the USA and never in all my life have i encountered soo many lazy,slow,stupid and unprofessionl people in positions of managenment.
    it makes it hard to get anything done here with any semblence of efficiently.
    some examples:
    I take my dog to the most recomended vet in town and he forgets to stich it up all the way.
    – I take my car to get a simple oil change and the kid forgets to tighten down the new filter…..oil spill engine froze…they deny it.
    – I go to look at 2 homes for rent by 2 major local realtors on thier websites….the directions to thier properties are soo incorrect that you cant find anything…even with maps and gps!..a simple call to ask for better directions resulted in a smartass…”the directions on the website are right”.
    – decided to support local business when i first came to town,i went to a local tire store and payed to have 4 tires installed…when i returned they had installed the cheaper model at the same cost….(guess they figured the dumb city folk wont notice)
    – my families flight was delayed due to mechanical trouble and service needed on the plane…my elderly relatives where put up in a hotel that had no elevator that worked because it was down due to mechanical difficulty and needed repair.
    – one third the people here drive normal,one third drive fast and almost reckless and the last third should be alowed to drive at all but somehow alway end up in my way!
    – managers at most local business are severely under educated for their positions and it really really shows.
    even bigger national stores are run shitty due to poor management.

    I can go on and on and on…..THE BOTTOM LINE IS IF YOUR A HIPPY GO TO CALIFORNIA OR NY OR WASHINGTON STATE…..GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE SOUTH EAST!
    ASHEVILLE IS A MIX OF SMART HIPPIES AND STOOOOOPID LOCALS…..OW YA AND TO THAT GUY FROM EARLY IN THE STRING TALKING ABOUT HOW HES A LOCAL AND HOW THINS USE TO BE GREAT…..YA THINGS IN THE SOUTH USE TO SUCK AND THOSE OF YOU STILL HOLDING ON TO THAT, MAKE THIS PLACE LAME….EVOLVE DAMMIT!
    EVOLVE!!!!!!!!!!
    OW YA, AND DONT FORGET U FAKE HIPPIES…MOST OF YOU SUCK TOO…VEGETARIANS WITH YOUR LEATHER BIRKENSTOCKS driving new suvs your mommies bought u while spending $100’s a month on PRETENDICA while homeless people sleep in boxes.
    EVOLVE DAMIIT EVOLVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    PEACE,
    -G

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