Bend, pretty upscale, how/why? (Portland: ski resorts, transplants, hotels)

[JJGittes65]

I just visited Bend last weekend. It's been twenty years since I've been there.

It had a cute downtown twenty years ago. But wow, it has really become quite upscale, at least in the central downtown area. Lots of trendy restaurants and nice shops. It reminded me a little of Park City, Carmel By the Sea, Laguna Beach, and a few other California seaside towns. Hotels/motels were $250 a night and up.

Question (and please don't take this the wrong way...but..): Why is Bend so nice? I mean, it Really seems to have taken off. Its a bit remote, and obviously not on the coast. I guess there is some skiing nearby, but it's not Aspen or Jackson Hole. It's also not a big university town as far as I know, and I did not see any major industry there. The river is pretty, but is that enuf? I did not see any large recreation lakes. The local population did not seem big enough to generate and support what I saw.

Good marketing? Good city planning? Escapees from California, Portland and Seattle with $?
Something particular about the weather? What gives?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by JJGittes65

........? I did not see any large recreation lakes......

You didn't look very hard. The area is full of lakes of all sizes for fishing and boating.


The scenery is beautiful and there is every kind of recreation, including surfing. There are over 30 golf courses, every winter sport that involves snow and/or ice, all sorts of summer mountain sports, including an internationally famous technical rock climbing area.


The weather is good. The shopping is good. There are lots of activities, street fairs, festivals for cheap entertainment.


Lots and lots of out-of-state money to support the trendy restaurants and shops.

[roadwarrior101]

I don't know. Aspen and Jackson Hole are a lot more expensive than Bend and don't support nearly this amount of population.

I find Bend unique in terms of being in the high desert, but still very accessible to all the lakes/mountains nearby. You may call it remote, being that its 3+ hours from Portland but its within a day's drive for me in the SF Bay Area. I can't get to those other ski resorts as easily, unless I hop on a plane.

Honestly, the towns that you cite as ski resorts are very nice and I'd love to go up there for a weekend. I don't think they'd offer enough for me to consider relocating full time, as Bend would.

[Thom52]

Bend spends an enormous amount of money on Marketing.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by JJGittes65

I just visited Bend last weekend. It's been twenty years since I've been there.

It had a cute downtown twenty years ago. But wow, it has really become quite upscale, at least in the central downtown area. Lots of trendy restaurants and nice shops. It reminded me a little of Park City, Carmel By the Sea, Laguna Beach, and a few other California seaside towns. Hotels/motels were $250 a night and up.

Question (and please don't take this the wrong way...but..): Why is Bend so nice? I mean, it Really seems to have taken off. Its a bit remote, and obviously not on the coast. I guess there is some skiing nearby, but it's not Aspen or Jackson Hole. It's also not a big university town as far as I know, and I did not see any major industry there. The river is pretty, but is that enuf? I did not see any large recreation lakes. The local population did not seem big enough to generate and support what I saw.

Good marketing? Good city planning? Escapees from California, Portland and Seattle with $?
Something particular about the weather? What gives?

Park City, Carmel, Laguna, Aspen, and Jackson are all significantly more expensive and upscale than Bend. Bend is a very appealing area with increasingly high-end development, but the other communities you are comparing it to are in a different league.

[Benzito]

Lots of CA transplants (not just retirees, but now a large segment of tech folks who can work remotely or only occasionally need to commute to SF).

Bend had a huge run-up in housing costs in the early 2000s, then an equally huge crash during the recession (the largest drop in value between 2009 and 2010, I believe), but it's come back again and I think a lot has to do with the CA influx. It is a nice alternative to Portland's five months of gray skies and rain all winter (replace that with lots more snow, but also some sunshine between October and February). Just as much, or more, outdoor recreation such as biking, hiking, snow sports, fishing. I agree that you can't compare Bend to those resorts and high-dollar communities, but relative to Oregon, I suppose that is a fair take on the Bend vibe.

[NW Crow]

The big lakes are 25-50 miles outside Bend.

[mikalalnr]

Bend is in chaos. Natives hate Californians and it’s really ugly around here. If you come from Cali change your plates before you get here!!!

[BurntCoffey]

Originally Posted by mikalalnr

Bend is in chaos. Natives hate Californians and it’s really ugly around here. If you come from Cali change your plates before you get here!!!

I remember in the early '70s a classmate of mine relocated to Oregon from the Bay Area and that's exactly what he told me back then. I bet a good percentage of those bemoaning the current influx from their southern border 50 years later are NIMBY transplants that escaped from the golden state.

[texasdiver]

There is a TREMENDOUS amount of money in the Portland metro area.

Bend is the closest place you can get to that is sunny most of the year and adjacent to the best skiing in the Pacific Northwest outside of British Columbia. It doesn't surprise me that there is a lot of money there. Yes, lots of new money from CA. But a whole lot of it is also home-grown Oregon money from west of the Cascades.