Did the "new Portland" begin about 20-25 years ago? (Oregon City: city hall, brokers)

[belmont22]

I was thinking a lot of the backbone of modern Portland was put up around the '86-'91 period.

*Big Pink was built in the mid 1980s and opened in 1986.
*Pioneer Place was built in the late 1980s and opened in 1990, revitalizing downtown.
*Early '90s was the beginning of "Keep Portland Weird" and the flood of hipsters.
*Lloyd Center was enclosed in 1991.
*Portland Convention Center also built in late 1980s, opened in 1990.
*MAX line was expanded in 1990, from 1986-90 it was mostly just a curiosity.

I'd say before all these events happened, Portland was pretty much a completely different city.

[EnricoV]

I wouldn't.

[LowSlowMakesJuicyRibs]

Portland has changed since I moved away in 1970. But what is cited is just image stuff. I go to my old haunts and they don't look that different. Cleveland was my high school. I really don't see any visible change. I'm amazed how much stuff on Sandy Blvd is still there. Since the 50's!

[pdxMIKEpdx]

When Nirvana and "grunge" put the Pacific Northwest on the map, Portland started to change.
At first Portland was "insider" cool, but word got out that it was unique.
Then, all of a sudden everybody thought it we had something good going and started to move here.

So yeah, Portland really began to re-invent itself about that timeframe.

[Nell Plotts]

From an economic standpoint Portland metro started to change when Georgia Pacific moved to Atlanta. That was when we realized that we could not depend just on the forest products industries.

[EnricoV]

Really? I mean, I know they moved their headquarters, but that wasn't even a blip on my radar. I don't recall any great presence in town, or in business.

I've never known anyone who worked in any "forest products" industry. Well, except my grandmother who I hear back in the 40s worked for a while in the Oregon City mill ... I'm guessing after all her ship-yard experience during the war. She quickly moved on to other jobs. On, and I suppose I have to count my relatives who cut timber and eventually had a lumber mill (with it's own railroad!) in Washington around about from the 1850s up to the 1950s. But Georgia-Pacific relocating didn't affect any of them.

[Minervah]

I think it all depends on what people were doing and where they were in their lives. I see some changes now that I never saw at the time they were being made. I think I was just getting on with my live as were most people. But then that's the way I think most people live. I was never one to continually be looking around to see what everyone else was up to.

I guess the biggest thing for me personally was that the profession that brought me here was slowly being centralized elsewhere with the advent of computers and the branch offices were closing and the prospect for jobs in that field were becoming more scarce.

[take57]

For better or worse, things changed a lot when Neil Goldschmidt took over as mayor. Prior to that City Hall was chock full of old school, good old boy power brokers that were fully intrenched in their way of doing things. Goldschmidt, as well as the City Council at the time ("Uncle" Mildred Schwab for example, who was as gruff and hard boiled a person as could be, but could still be persuaded to think outside the box occasionally) put the kebosh on the Mt. Hood Freeway that would have lead to more suburban flight, lead mass transit efforts and championed downtown renewal. [EDIT: Waterfront Park as well, although it was mostly Tom McCall's baby]

He/they also demonstrated that somewhat 'ordinary' folks could have a voice in local government which lead to folks like Katz, Bluminauer, Clark and a host of other non-lifelong professional pols (at the time) to seek office.

YMMV

[LowSlowMakesJuicyRibs]

Just curious. Anybody commenting on this actually live in Portland before 1970? That's 43 years old and up. I left in 1970, so I'm most aware of what it was before that year. I come back on a pretty regular basis, and I think the "change" is superficial.

[EnricoV]

I was. And I do agree, I don't think the essence of the town (or the people) has changed, it's just grown up.