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Culturally PNW feels less isolated than the Midwest. I mean Costco, Starbucks, Nordstrom, REI, Redfin, Zillow, MSFT and Amazon are based here. It can't be that out of touch with the pulse of America.
PNW also has a ton of out of state transplants and has far more exposure to the rest of the country than many other places. It's shocking to see the number of out of state plates out here in a geographically isolated part of the country.
The Sports thing is way off base. I've found sports fans in the PNW to be the most passionate on the West Coast (Denver is not West Coast). Look at how many people showed up for the Seahawks Superbowl parade in sub-freezing weather - nearly 1 million! That's a quarter of all the people in the region. Compare that to the Rams parade in LA where 20k showed up. The Sonics still sell a ton of jerseys and gear and they haven't existed for nearly 15 years! Seattle has a bar ('95 Slide) named after the play that won the Mariners an ALDS series decades ago.
I feel more that way about New England. Much more.
PNW attracts a lot of native born Americans and sets the tone for American liberalism. As the poster before me said-most people from WA aren’t even from WA
This is true to some extent but compared to other parts of the West Coast, I run into a lot more Washington natives when I'm in that area than Southern California or Arizona. Especially when you leave Seattle and Portland proper - there is a pretty strong local "I was born and raised here" culture in some parts of Washington and Oregon, even in the major metros. Not compared to the East Coast or Midwest, but compared to the West Coast and much of the Sunbelt, yes. There is a strong debate about what it means to be a "true" Northwesterner.
The Sports thing is way off base. I've found sports fans in the PNW to be the most passionate on the West Coast (Denver is not West Coast). Look at how many people showed up for the Seahawks Superbowl parade in sub-freezing weather - nearly 1 million! That's a quarter of all the people in the region. Compare that to the Rams parade in LA where 20k showed up. The Sonics still sell a ton of jerseys and gear and they haven't existed for nearly 15 years! Seattle has a bar ('95 Slide) named after the play that won the Mariners an ALDS series decades ago.
Seahawks has the largest geographic fan base in the United States. Pretty much stretches from Oregon up to Alaska.
[quote=PolarSeltzer;63267283]This is true to some extent but compared to other parts of the West Coast, I run into a lot more Washington natives when I'm in that area than Southern California or Arizona. Especially when you leave Seattle and Portland proper - there is a pretty strong local "I was born and raised here" culture in some parts of Washington and Oregon, even in the major metros. Not compared to the East Coast or Midwest, but compared to the West Coast and much of the Sunbelt, yes.
True. In the rural towns (and WA turns rural quickly outside the metro area), many locals have lived there for generations and are proud of it.
The Pacific Northwest is definitely not "Middle America" but I wouldn't say it's detached nearly as much as Hawaii or I imagine Alaska to be (I've not been to Alaska so don't know for sure).
Culturally PNW feels less isolated than the Midwest. I mean Costco, Starbucks, Nordstrom, REI, Redfin, Zillow, MSFT and Amazon are based here. It can't be that out of touch with the pulse of America.
PNW also has a ton of out of state transplants and has far more exposure to the rest of the country than many other places. It's shocking to see the number of out of state plates out here in a geographically isolated part of the country.
It may not be isolated culturally, but I think that the PNW is definitely isolated geographically. Based on the US population centers, the entire west coast is isolated, but California and Nevada are much more visited and, in the case of California, populated than the PNW. Arizona is more visited too for that matter.
In much of the rest of the country, many people have family in other geographic areas and may feel more of a connection in that way. I think that relationship is much less common in the PNW outside of the West coast.
The PNW has more in common with British Columbia, Canada than anything in the US. I hate it when people lump all of the West coast together as some liberal cultural monolith when in reality, California, Hawaii, and Oregon/Washington are all very different from one another.
The PNW has more in common with British Columbia, Canada than anything in the US. I hate it when people lump all of the West coast together as some liberal cultural monolith when in reality, California, Hawaii, and Oregon/Washington are all very different from one another.
Strongly disagree - Vancouver and BC in general are quite different than Portland/Seattle and Oregon/Washington. Really, the main similarities are related to climate and landscape. Culturally, socially, and politically, and in terms of overall vibe, Seattle and Portland have much more in common with San Francisco than Vancouver. Likewise, Oregon and Washington have much more in common culturally, socially, and politically with Northern California than BC.
(If anything, San Francisco is more like Vancouver than Portland or Seattle - Both Vancouver and SF are more urban, more cosmopolitan/international, and have a much stronger Asian culture/larger Asian population than Seattle or Portland.)
But back to the main point - the PNW is a very logical and contiguous extension of the Bay Area and Northern California. It is geographically isolated from population centers in the Midwest, South, and East Coast, sure, but it very much feels part of the US West Coast in the same way that California is. That's not to say there aren't differences and distinct cultural aspects to the PNW. Of course there are. The closest analogue I can think of is New England - It has its own distinct culture but at the same time it is also ingrained into the Northeast. I'd say the same thing about the PNW and the West Coast.
Last edited by Vincent_Adultman; 04-18-2022 at 03:13 PM..
I don't agree with that at all. Seattle/Vancouver/Portland is a pretty cohesive region in many ways even if Seattle has a big dose of San Francisco culturally.
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