What I actually wanted to hear was "There's this great beach town in Croatia..." I appreciate how you've traced out the various movements, and I agree with your assessment. I'd also agree that Seattle in the 90s was a hugely important cultural scene. I would like to say that my hometown of Nashville is experiencing a cultural renaissance, but the current surge of creativity feels plastic somehow. Maybe it's just that I'm on the outside looking in, or maybe it's that everything is geared to the Instagram/Pinterest aesthetic, but it seems like there's a certain spirit missing. The most surprising answer I received among my group of friends was Detroit. Apparently they're giving writers free houses? Anyway, Detroit is definitely cheap, and apparently there are a ton of creative and artistic types there. I'm not sure how inspiring the city is, but cities aren't really my scene anyway.
Let me preface this by saying I have no idea what Paris in the 20's was really like outside of what are almost certainly stale tropes in my mind (but possibly accurate ones). I will say this about Detroit though. It is currently undergoing a developmental revival that may or may not last, and this development is built on not just a cultural revival, but a creative, determined, DIY culture that was never not there in my lifetime, and did not need to be reintroduced. Sections of downtown are experiencing a renaissance. Other parts are crime ridden, cheap, terrible, unique, beautiful, and all sorts of other things. The creative class is definitely flowing into Detroit right now and has been for years. I travel to the East Coast and out West a couple times a year on buying trips for fashion & apparel. I've met more than one indie designer in the past few years that, when they hear we live in the Detroit area, say something along the lines of "No way...a got a bunch of friends back in Cali that were talking about just moving to Detroit and getting an old warehouse...just to you know, make art and clothing and stuff." In my lifetime I've witnessed Detroit about to "come back" about 3 times now. Something is different this time, though who knows how it will play out. That uncertainty is what the vanguard creative class is built on. There is a lot happening in Detroit creatively right now. Finally, I should note that a terribly large number of the population of Detroit is overwhelmingly impoverished, unemployed, under educated, and black. When you look at conversations like these, most of the residents would probably just shake their heads and wonder wtf. They don't need a cultural scene. They need schools that don't systematically fail their kids, neighborhoods that aren't havens for violence, a chance in hell of getting a job, and something in the way of city services in exchange for their taxes (for those that can afford to pay them). The creative revival in Detroit is stimulating, vibrant, frenetic, life-giving, lauded...and completely overrated with respect to the amount of progress it represents in local popular culture imho.
Didn't know that about Detroit ... at least a dozen hubskiers from Detroit so maybe they'll chime in. I should've mentioned Nashville in the iconic Opry days. I could've gone in-depth with musical venues -- because a lot of the great 20th century American movements were associated with venues -- but I'm really hungover and the France Switzerland is starting up. -- Don't count out Croatia! Eastern Europe, Berlin, Budapest, some of the Slavic states are all incredibly cheap and really underrated ... wouldn't be at all surprised if there's an actual US expat movement out there soon. Already starting to be one in Berlin.