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Californians are an exception. The outsiders I was referring to are all from the East coast. East coasters just don't get the West coast lifestyle and they try to impose a different pace out here and it's awkward and obvious.
The first thing you've said that I kind of agree with. East Coasters, I agree, tend not to "get" the West Coast lifestyle, with awkward results.
But I have to say that almost all of my close friends are native Portlanders or Oregonians. In fact, the people who I meet from other places are typically students at Reed or Lewis & Clark, though about 58% of Oregon's population was born out of state. I've never been sneered at for not being vegan. I don't keep chickens, but when I had a house I had a garden, no tattoos, no piercings, I drive way more than I ride my bike, and I love camping and kayaking because I'm from Oregon, and I get along just fine. Native Oregonian, born and raised.
That said, LA is more accepting of people in a lot of ways. There are so many people in LA that you have to deal with it. Seattle is similar, and they've had people coming in for ages. Portland is a bit provincial in this regard and behind the other West Coast cities. Growing pains I think, like you said.
But back to the OP's question... If you graduated from UW and know what Seattle is like in the winter, Portland will be only slightly better (being a bit south = longer winter days). If you handled Seattle alright, you can handle Portland's weather and darker winter days.
If you like wearing dark clothes, getting tattoos, sitting in the rain while eating at a food cart,growing your own vegetables, keeping chickens, camping, being an activist, riding your bike just to prove you are better than a car driver, enjoy art made with no talent, kayaking, getting face piercing, letting your dog loose to attack other people and crap all over, being accosted by aggressive homeless people, a great rock scene, Thai food, and being sneered at for not being a vegan you will like Portland.
I like everything in bold...
Some of the other ones---like aggressive homeless people, are actually just as or way more prevalant in California cities like San Francisco...
And I'm a 5th generation Californian living in Portland...But I've been in Oregon over 12 years, my entire adult life at this point.
But I can see your point, a lot of the East Coasters moving here these days are a little smug---there is an idea that Portland can just be Brooklyn West for people who got tired of paying the rent in Williamsburg or couldn't afford the Lower East Side or Boston...Then people get here and are disapointed when it's not a big enough city.
It's natural for all those people to defend themselves because it looks like none of them are actually native Portlanders and it's easier to come up with excuses than try to examine what they are doing wrong and change it. It's easy to make the argument that I will not be happy anywhere, but the truth is I used to be very happy in Portland and was always very happy in LA. I am moving soon, but I have a lot of things to wrap up here before I go. Just remember, it's one thing to move to a city because you like it and you want to fit in with the locals. It's another thing when people are moving into a city in order to transform it into something you want regardless of what the local population thinks. Portland is having growing pains and any number of transformations could have happened with the city doubling in size. If you like wearing dark clothes, getting tattoos, sitting in the rain while eating at a food cart, growing your own vegetables, keeping chickens, camping, being an activist, riding your bike just to prove you are better than a car driver, enjoy art made with no talent, kayaking, getting face piercing, letting your dog loose to attack other people and crap all over, being accosted by aggressive homeless people, a great rock scene, Thai food, and being sneered at for not being a vegan you will like Portland. There are good and bad things there. The bottom line is if you are looking for friends and people who will accept you just the way you are LA is light years ahead of Portland.
This post made me laugh out loud re the bolded text, because it's so true! (And Phoenix where I live now is the polar opposite of all that LOL)
The final sentence made me think. I am from L.A., raised but not born, since 13 months old. I'm not sure I agree. Having lived in San Francisco for many years, I found living in Portland to be a lot like San Francisco used to be. You can wear anything and be anything and look like anything and people won't look twice. You won't feel like you don't fit in. But that's just me. I started having a hard time in L.A. along about the time the YUPS and DINKS took over the burbs where some of my family still lives. I can't stand the L.A. suburbs and get a bad case of simmering rage when I go there. Partly it's because things have changed so much since the 50's and 60's (and not in a good way), and partly it's because I feel like I have to dress like a tan blond bombshell driving a huge-ass SUV full of rowdy kids holding a bunch of soccer bags and leftover pizza boxes. Sorry, but this chickadee no can do. I may have shown up in San Francisco with half bleached blond hair growing out spouting "Rilly" every other word, and talking about celebrities too much (according to the new friends) but I grew out of that rilly fast.
In San Francisco (parts anyway) you can be who you want. Maybe that's changed in recent years. In Portland that's very true as well. In L.A. you have to have a certain car, certain look, certain bank account and you'd better be connected to the entertainment industry and very well-connected or you're nobody (I'm talking about the West Side). Please fall into the ocean now! (Just Kidding) But we don't need it and its pretentious vapid look-right-through-you-you're-worthless-to-me b.s. That's how much I hate what L.A. has become. Not tolerant at all, if you ask me. Greedy? Yes. Mercenary? Yes. Blase to the max? yes. I could go on. So no, I do NOT think L.A. is "lightyears" ahead of Portland. Puh-leeze! Not buyin' it, never will! Have I made myself clear....
Last edited by pathrunner; 11-11-2010 at 05:51 PM..
It's natural for all those people to defend themselves because it looks like none of them are actually native Portlanders and it's easier to come up with excuses than try to examine what they are doing wrong and change it. It's easy to make the argument that I will not be happy anywhere, but the truth is I used to be very happy in Portland and was always very happy in LA. I am moving soon, but I have a lot of things to wrap up here before I go. Just remember, it's one thing to move to a city because you like it and you want to fit in with the locals. It's another thing when people are moving into a city in order to transform it into something you want regardless of what the local population thinks. Portland is having growing pains and any number of transformations could have happened with the city doubling in size. If you like wearing dark clothes, getting tattoos, sitting in the rain while eating at a food cart, growing your own vegetables, keeping chickens, camping, being an activist, riding your bike just to prove you are better than a car driver, enjoy art made with no talent, kayaking, getting face piercing, letting your dog loose to attack other people and crap all over, being accosted by aggressive homeless people, a great rock scene, Thai food, and being sneered at for not being a vegan you will like Portland. There are good and bad things there. The bottom line is if you are looking for friends and people who will accept you just the way you are LA is light years ahead of Portland.
City's are always going thru changes as they grow. The Portland that I grew up in during the 50's-70's I'm sure was a lot different from the Portland my grandmother & mother knew when they were growing up. And you need to stop thinking you speak for all native Portlanders.
And what a ridiculous statement about people who ride bikes! You must be really insecure (and self-absorbed) if you think people are riding bikes because they just want to feel superior to you - a person who calls himself NativePortland. People ride bikes to stay in shape, save a lot of $$, and best of all, to not add to the city's pollution.
You've lived in LA for one year. I lived in that hell-hole for 8 years & was so happy when I was able to leave it and move back to the PNW. You may think LA is 'light years ahead of Portland' but you'll eventually tire of spending 4 hours on the Santa Monica Freeway or Santa Monica Blvd trying to get from Venice to downtown LA. Get back in touch with us after living in that wonderful city for another year or two. Oh, and stay away from the Hollywood area. You'll run into a lot of the people who you're loathing in Portland.
Climate's great down there, tho, I must admit.
This post made me laugh out loud re the bolded text, because it's so true! (And Phoenix where I live now is the polar opposite of all that LOL)
The final sentence made me think. I am from L.A., raised but not born, since 13 months old. I'm not sure I agree. Having lived in San Francisco for many years, I found living in Portland to be a lot like San Francisco used to be. You can wear anything and be anything and look like anything and people won't look twice. You won't feel like you don't fit in. But that's just me. I started having a hard time in L.A. along about the time the YUPS and DINKS took over the burbs where some of my family still lives. I can't stand the L.A. suburbs and get a bad case of simmering rage when I go there. Partly it's because things have changed so much since the 50's and 60's (and not in a good way), and partly it's because I feel like I have to dress like a tan blond bombshell driving a huge-ass SUV full of rowdy kids holding a bunch of soccer bags and leftover pizza boxes. Sorry, but this chickadee no can do. I may have shown up in San Francisco with half bleached blond hair growing out spouting "Rilly" every other word, and talking about celebrities too much (according to the new friends) but I grew out of that rilly fast.
In San Francisco (parts anyway) you can be who you want. Maybe that's changed in recent years. In Portland that's very true as well. In L.A. you have to have a certain car, certain look, certain bank account and you'd better be connected to the entertainment industry and very well-connected or you're nobody (I'm talking about the West Side). Please fall into the ocean now! (Just Kidding) But we don't need it and its pretentious vapid look-right-through-you-you're-worthless-to-me b.s. That's how much I hate what L.A. has become. Not tolerant at all, if you ask me. Greedy? Yes. Mercenary? Yes. Blase to the max? yes. I could go on. So no, I do NOT think L.A. is "lightyears" ahead of Portland. Puh-leeze! Not buyin' it, never will! Have I made myself clear....
Now That's the LA I remember!
And I find San Francisco to be very similar to Portland. At least in the kind of life styles, people and politics both cities seem to share. One of the main reasons I live here is the climate. SF gets half the rain that Portland gets. It's been sunny and in the 60's & 70's here this week and I know what it's like in Portland this time of year. I'm a Portland native who suffers from SAD.
Californians are an exception. The outsiders I was referring to are all from the East coast. East coasters just don't get the West coast lifestyle and they try to impose a different pace out here and it's awkward and obvious.
Not everyone. I was raised on the East Coast. I get the West coast alright!! As soon as a graduated high school, i abandoned everything i know over there and came to Portland. Havent left since, and just thinking about visiting makes me want to throw up. ha.
It's been my experience that they either "get it" or they don't. I know more East Coasters who tried it out here and moved back East than any other transplants. Yet I also know a few who loved it and stayed.
But then maybe we should define East Coast. People often refer to me as having come from "back East" even I am from Chicago. I was chatting about this subject with a friend who was born here and she reminded me that to her, people from Chicago are from "back East." She lumps them into the New Yorker category while people from Denver are from the Mid West.
I have heard this from Oregon born people ever since I have been living here.
Chicagoans call themselves Midwesterners and Denverites are called Westerners.
Chicago is in Illinois which is MidWest, not East Coast. How can people re-define geography and time- zones? I am confused...
Don't ask me. I've heard this ever since I have been living here. It may be more of what is percieved as an attitude rather than geography but that's not accurate either.
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I have heard this from Oregon born people ever since I have been living here.
