— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Guys, I don't spend too much time up in the Western Addition/NOPA/the Land of the Lost because it requires me to bike up a 4-block gradual incline to get there. The horror! I wasn't aware that there was a class war / NorCal-SoCal debate surrounding the proper name of the neighborhood. Someone care to properly fill me in?
Comments (9)
Seriously? In short, it’s been the Western Addition since the beginning of time, but now developers want yuppies to come in, so they call it NOPA because the Western Addition is where black people live, and they can’t have that.
And to those who would say that the Western Addition is not really a western addition any more, NOPA ain’t No of Pa, either.
NOPA forever, period.
NOPA seems to have stuck, and it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. I actually think it’s a useful marker of when someone arrived in The City, in the fashion of those that drop the “Valley” after “Noe” and “Hill” after “Potrero”. I gave up judging and just accepted that they’re newbies, don’t know any better and are fun to have around because every local story is new to them. That sounds WAY too mature for me this Friday morning, so I will add that I HATE THE DODGERS.
YOU BUY CRANK AND GET SHOT IN THE WESTERN EDITION BRO! YOU GET HOTTY ACADEMY CHICKS AND COOL PBR PARTIES IN NOPA!
the Western Addition is its own beast. NOPA exists in theory, but generally just provides restaurants with options for clever names. Like, Nopa (although that’s not really clever, right?) and Nopalito.
The Western Addition is called “nopa” to disassociate it from the city at large. Calling it “nopa” is like calling the Mission “new valencia”. NOPA, a yuppie wet dream.
Yeah, Western Addition is the OG shit where Popeye’s and janky BBQ spots are totally legit, but realtors realized rich white people wouldn’t be into living in that kind of hood, so they changed up the name and some asshole opened a shiny wine bar/”organic wood-fired cuisine” spot to make it stick. West Addy 4EVA!
Potrero Hill is still Potrero Hill, Potrero refers to the flat area between mission and Potrero Hill. It’s been like that on maps since the early 1900’s. NOPA is a total marketing ploy and a way for the rich white hipsters to try to separate from the Western Addition and to justify the crazy prices they are paying compared to the folks that have been living there for decades. It is helpful in identifying hipster douches though since they will get a dizzy if you dare say they live in Western Addition.
Da Viz is called Uptown. Nopa is for yuppie scum douche applicators.