A testament to our hipness comes from an unlikely source

The mass-emailed press release arrived from New York City with boilerplate language and indifference to its recipient.

It came from a public relations firm that wanted to tell me about a place that would make an interesting story for my readers: a city that's no longer a sleepy military town but a thriving urban oasis in coastal Virginia.

Wait. What? I'm supposed to know about all the urban oases in coastal Virginia. Tell me more.

The seaport city attracts young urbanites with culinary repertoire and artist attractions. It is - you guessed it - Norfolk.

In the past two weeks, Visit Norfolk, the former convention and visitors bureau, has kicked off a national campaign to attract the right kind of media attention for the city. (read: nothing weather-related.)

The thinking is simple. Norfolk is a place with an art aesthetic and restaurants that serve "modern, ethnic and sustainable cuisine." It's a city that has capitalized on the biking culture, which has become popular worldwide.

And while the pitch at times may sound a tad overstated (coffeehouses as "a meeting point for local artists"?) the facts are closer to the truth than self-deprecating Hampton Roads folks want to believe.

For decades, the average Norfolk tourist itinerary was set in stone and aimed exclusively at retirees, or the cruise-boat crowd who stopped by after a tidy game of shuffleboard, or Navy vets who served here long ago. Tour the Wisconsin. Ooh and ahh at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Eat at Freemason Abbey. Get a cone at Doumar's. Walk around Freemason. Visit Town Point Park. Take a boat tour.

It's been a fine strategy, one I repeated and even encouraged at times, but it's a narrow slice of the city and somewhat unrepresentative of day-to-day Norfolk life.

The first things the new press release mentions are that the city's median age is 29 and that more than a third of the residents are between the ages of 21 and 39.

Erin Filarecki, a spokeswoman for Visit Norfolk, said the convention and visitors group thought there was a hip and bohemian side to Norfolk that locals - and especially visitors from outside of the city - don't ever see. So the group chose to highlight epicurean walking tours, the coffeehouse scene, the Naro movie theater, the art galleries on 21st Street - the very things many Norfolk residents take for granted or have forgotten about altogether.

The new strategy did not come from any moment of realization or singular missed opportunity, but from conversations, especially among interns and younger staffers, that some of the best parts of the city were ignored by visitors. The philosophy could expand to all of Visit Norfolk's marketing materials shortly, and it should.

Officials are quick to say this is not to take away from the tried-and-true attractions. Instead, wisely, they say it is an expansion of how everyone thinks of Norfolk, that not everyone wants the same thing out of a city. All business travelers don't want the same type of restaurant for dinner. All military contractors aren't interested in the same amenities.

When a group comes to town, the city wants to keep the 25-year-old from holing up in his hotel room just as much as it wants to prevent the 55-year-old from turning in early for a long night of "CSI" reruns.

The best-case scenario is for the visitor of any age to want to come back, for a day trip or a long weekend, built around a concert at the Chrysler - or at the Norva.

By tweaking its approach, Visit Norfolk officials are acknowledging - maybe for the first time - that the young energy of the city is part of its allure. They are recognizing that Norfolk has - even in a few short years - changed into a place where small art galleries, local food, independent coffeehouses, biking, epicurean walking tours and light rail are part of the culture, not just fringe behaviors.

I have spent much time and ink the past few years writing about a regional identity crisis. But this is the right step. Reality feeds perception.

The broader vision of the city is refreshing. If Norfolk is to have lasting tourism or, more importantly, business-class appeal for its downtown hotels, it can't come solely from a white-haired crowd.

And if you need proof, the professionals from New York City are willing to show you what's right in your backyard.

Mike Gruss, (757) 446-2277, mike.gruss@pilotonline.com, PilotOnline.com/gruss