It's no secret that once a location or item starts trending, they'll become more expensive and harder for people to attain.
But some people had witnessed this on much bigger scales, like their childhood hometowns being transformed into something they didn't recognize.
Curious about trends and rich living, Redditor Lattethecoffeeaddict asked:
"What was ruined by rich people?"
House But Not a Home
"I hate when houses have that soulless hotel look."
"I saw one on TikTok yesterday with a beautiful Victorian house that they ripped right through and painted white and grey. It could’ve still been modern and kept the original character! Not sure why people think cookie-cutter homes are the way forward, homes with quirks are much more interesting."
"The worst part is, from the glimpses in the video, it looked like all the internals were modernized. The bathroom and kitchen fixtures were maybe at most mid-late 90s, so I would assume the wiring was also probably no older than that, too."
"There was a beautiful, original mahogany style staircase, and they sanded it and painted it a ‘nice’ grey. I honestly don’t mind some minimalist interior design, and I also get that mahogany and dark woods aren’t the ‘in thing’ right now, but that staircase hurt a bit to watch."
- toxicgecko
House-Flipping
"Housing flipping for sure. I'm looking to potentially buy at the moment and everything has been fitted with new grey kitchens and modern lighting, etc., which isn’t my style."
"I may be in the minority here but it means paying way more for a house and then having the job of ripping everything out."
- intrapersonality
Smooth Expenses
"Bourbon. It used to be the most expensive bourbon you could find was like $100. Now, with everyone 'collecting,' the prices have sky rocketed. The secondary market is completely insane."
- W0rk3rB
You Can't Go Home Again
"My hometown. A lot of the long-time locals here are working class and it used to have a bigger sense of community. In the recent decade, rich people have decided that it's a cute small town with pretty scenery to buy a second home to rent out to other rich people who want to visit."
"Many of the long-time residents here are struggling to keep or find homes; meanwhile, rich people who just discovered this small town can easily buy a home or rent an overpriced Airbnb. It's literally disgusting here now!"
- ramielpilled
Food Truck Fun
" Food trucks used to be a way to get good food for cheap, now it's a premium without any of the advantages of a restaurant. Not to mention that they all expect a 20% tip for handing you food from a window."
- DabLord5425
Authentic Tacos
"I went to a taco food truck. They put like one-hundred ingredients on one taco and charged $20. I would rather go to the Mexican place down the street and get a plate of four tacos for $10."
- Themanwhof**ts
Premium Prices
"Cheap and simple dishes. Ramen, tacos, sushi. Now everything’s gotta be labeled premium only to taste the exact same… if not, worse."
- eggtada
Not-So-Affordable Cuts
"Brisket used to be a leftover cut given to the workers who figured out how to make it awesome."
"Now we have brisket-flation, and rich people smoking them on their $1500 Bluetooth-enabled pellet smoker."
- molly_777
Recreating Culture
"Cheap foods, like Chicharrones or Tuétano (I'm from Mexico). When I was a kid, Tuétano was something that was even a gift in the meat market, now they sell you a d**n bone-in meat price or even higher!"
"The same with chicharrón, which was really cheap to buy, but with rich people discovering how good it is, now is impossible."
"All places up the prices because rich people buy them at high rates, and don't know what the heck they are shopping for anyway."
- MexicanAugustus
Recreating Childhood
"Cries in Austin"
"My entire life, I grew up in San Antonio and used to come up to Austin with four friends with $100 each and have ourselves a rowdy day and night and the sober one to drive us home."
"I moved here a while back, and that $100 is gone before you’ve gone anywhere. Uber is expensive. Parking is expensive. Food is expensive. Everything is f**king expensive."
- rapalosaur
The Time of Your Life Is... When?
"I wonder if I'll ever get to live the twenties life that people always recommend where you get to travel and do the s**t you want to do. I wonder if I'll ever own my own place or if I'll be stuck at home for most of my life."
- Megaman_exe
The Days of Collecting
"Nerd paraphernalia like Star Wars or Marvel/DC stuff (action figures, comic books, etc)."
"It used to be just a fun hobby for kids and kids-at-heart, but now it's almost totally purchased by richer, dedicated speculators solely for profit."
- eddy_talon
Unachievable Hobbies
"I feel like this is driving up the price of LEGOs too, with the rise of more 'expert' designer sets and whatnot."
"It makes me very sad, I loved LEGOs as a kid, but now I'd only be able to afford the buckets of stuff. The creativity buckets are nice, but I love the sets. I want to be able to build a Harry Potter set but they're all so d**n overpriced."
- lynn-doesnt-reddit
So Trendy
"Instagram. When it first launched, we were content to post grainy pics of our average-looking sandwich that we made ourselves. Or a mundane selfie. The background and the angle didn’t matter."
"Studies show that since the wealthy started sharing their lives on IG, our collective standard of living changed."
"And it’s trickled down to our influencers mimicking wealth down to average users. We’re exposed to yacht parties. expertly organized and color-coded walk-in closets, high-end facials, and party-planned gender reveals. We’re benchmarking our posts with professional photographers and videographers, elevating our expectations for everything."
"For those saying, 'Just don’t use it,' it’s influenced every aspect of society whether you’re on it or not. Collectively society aspires to a flashier existence. Instagram has inspired new aesthetic-forward businesses like restaurants and coffee shops, tourism, home decor, and types of homes, gyms, and gym bodies. Fashion."
- bkafrogurl
Just, Everything
"Almost everything that has anything to do with money at this point."
- Seigmoraig
The subReddit was unfortunately ready with responses to this question, as some watched their hometowns transformed into something completely new and unattainable since their childhoods, and others were unable to recreate favorite elements from their childhood because of the cost.
While it's nice for everyone to know about the fun things in the world, those fun things should remain available to everyone.
