Portland Has Changed Since 1984 (Salem: new home, yard, place)

[Steve Pickering]

We still outnumber them, and they soon learn to assimulate and put their evil ways behind them.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

You are remembering an Oregon (probably through rose colored memories) before it became the "IN" place to be.

There are so many new people here now from all over the US, that the "old" Oregon doesn't exist anymore except in memory.

Just be glad you were part of it, and know what was like, both good and bad...

Portland is now a melting pot city.

But every state has that sort of city. WA has Seattle, VA has DC area, GA has Atlanta, NY has NYC, etc.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Since Portland is stuffed chock full of Californians, why would it not become more like California?

Well, in reference to being like Los Angeles--that's just one part of California. It's a huge state with a lot of different regions and cities. Much of California doesn't actually feel like Los Angeles. My father's family is from Northern California and we had more ties and family connections in Oregon than we ever did to LA. Los Angeles is mostly defined by it's huge diverse(though highly Latino) mix with the entertainment industry's role in the city--both of which aren't anything I'd associate as being representative of Portland.

As far as Portland being full of Californians--it's full of people from all over the US. I meet on average just as many people from the Midwest or Northeast as I do from California, these days.

Portland at it's roots is still closer to somewhere like Sacramento than Los Angeles. It doesn't even really remind me much of the Bay Area except for maybe the comparison of the gentrified inner neighborhoods of San Francisco and Portland--and even then the two cities feel very little alike.

[Deezus]

Oregon has historically always attracted a lot of migrants from the rest of the US. In the last 100 years the average population growth rate per decade was about 20%. Except for the 1980s, almost every decade since Oregon saw statehood has seen a growth rate of over 15%--though the rate of growth from 2000-2010 was only 12 percent--much less than Oregon in the 60s and 70s and far less than the 40% growth of the 1940s. The population of Oregon has almost doubled since 1970 and almost quadrupled since 1940. On the other hand in comparison, Portland actually lost people from 1950 to 1980--it's grown a lot since that time(some of which was due to annexation of unicorporated Multonomah County areas).


So Oregon(not just Portland) has almost always seen a lot of people moving here--though maybe it's just who moves here at what point in time that people seem to get peeved about.

[Discovery1]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

You are remembering an Oregon (probably through rose colored memories) before it became the "IN" place to be.

There are so many new people here now from all over the US, that the "old" Oregon doesn't exist anymore except in memory.

Just be glad you were part of it, and know what was like, both good and bad...

Portland is now a melting pot city.

Accept for wealth

[JakeDog]

Portland hasn't changed all that much compared to a lot of other cities. More young homeless though.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by JakeDog

Portland hasn't changed all that much compared to a lot of other cities. More young homeless though.

Really? How long have you been living here that you think that?

[NickyBilly]

You'll find one thing hasn't changed since 1984: Portland still loves to boast about itself about how 'quirky' and 'cool' it is. Much of this comes from the inside out and not the other way around.

[belmont22]

I didn't live here until 2011 and didn't visit until 2001, but I haven't seen much change over the past 12 years. Can't speak for the past 29, though.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

Lets never compare Portland to Los Angeles again

Yeah, Portland is just a greener, less-dense, landlocked version anyway.