'Don't Californicate Oregon,' A view of recent visitor. (Portland: transplants, condo)

[PA650]

I recently visited Portland after leaving the state three years ago for graduate school and I was taken aback on how much the area has changed. My background entails attending the University of Oregon and residing in the state until my departure. Overall, I am interested in whether my perspective is warped or has the area truly changed so much it that it reminds me of an old bumper sticker decrying California type growth in Oregon?

[pdxMIKEpdx]

It's changed. It's not you.

I was born here in the very late 1940's, grew up here, I still live here, and much of the area is unrecognizable to me and my memories.

So much for growth and progress.
Can't stop it, so you just have to shrug and accept it.
At least I didn't get stuck in some small hillbilly timber town.

If people that have moved here within the last ten to twenty years could go back in time and see what they missed, they would be crying their hearts out.
It seems as though someone else from somewhere else always knows better on how to "improve" things, when in reality, a lot of things really didn't and don't need improving....

[Bluesmama]

I was going to say..... it started to get "Californicated" a long time ago, I'd say by the time the 90's hit. Perhaps that's why that bumper sticker was "old".

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by PA650

I recently visited Portland after leaving the state three years ago for graduate school and I was taken aback on how much the area has changed. My background entails attending the University of Oregon and residing in the state until my departure. Overall, I am interested in whether my perspective is warped or has the area truly changed so much it that it reminds me of an old bumper sticker decrying California type growth in Oregon?

Portland is not unique in that change and development is happening everywhere. Transplants in the 90's drastically changed my hometown, SF. Most of CA was very different in the 70's and 80's when I remember growing up than it is now. I don't recognize most of The Bay Area when I visit. NYC is the same. Boston. Los Angeles. And so on...

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

I was going to say..... it started to get "Californicated" a long time ago, I'd say by the time the 90's hit. Perhaps that's why that bumper sticker was "old".

In CA we had a bumper sticker that said, "welcome to California. Now leave". So much for anyone taking the advice off of a bumper sticker, eh?

[Adamson865]

I'm old enough to remember the Oregon "Ungreeting" cards which popped up during Tom McCall's tenure as Governor. That was during the time that the first wave of my friends were all bailing out of town after high school and heading for the bright lights and big cities of California.

[Sunderpig2]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

I was going to say..... it started to get "Californicated" a long time ago, I'd say by the time the 90's hit.

I know of a very different state (nowhere near the PNW) that also starting changing drastically in the 90's. There may be bigger factors at work (nationally, politically) that in turn triggered other - less obvious - factors at work.

In other words, it might not be as simplistic as People from State A moved to State B and messed it up. Maybe the blame and finger-pointing really should be aimed at others who started the root problems that set things in motion.

[ccjarider]

I see no specifics noted.
What was better in the "good old days"?

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Here is a post I remember from a long time ago:

Originally Posted by AnotherPDXGuy

I was born in Corvallis, Oregon 35 years ago, and aside from five years in Seattle, have lived in Oregon my whole life, the past 6 years in Portland.

I think the changes to Portland are the same as those to Oregon. The main difference that I see is that Oregon didn't used to be a big thing. It wasn't getting the press, people didn't want to move here, or if they did, it was a real lifestyle commitment. You couldn't move from LA to Portland in the 1970's and still find a semblance of the suburban Californian lifestyle to comfortably slide into. You can move here now with much less adjustment.

Oregon wasn't as self conscious. It was inward-focused, and unassuming, and not really trying to do big things. Oregon was frumpy and square (this is still easy to find).

One thing that recent arrivals don't seem to get a sense of is the overwhelming centrality of logging in Oregon's history until really very recently. The major collapse of the industry was about 25 years ago, well within the memory of residents and whole towns. People move here now because they think it's a like-minded environmental utopia, but the only reason this city is here is because loggers where buzzing down old growth in the surrounding mountain ranges as quickly as they could for a hundred years.

This brings me to the main cultural changes I see. I think that new arrivals have a vision of Portland and Oregon that isn't quite accurate. (Ironically, or perhaps it's just to be expected, the new arrivals are now here in such numbers that the mistaken perception is becoming the reality.) Anyway, the misperception is that Oregon is historically liberal. It isn't. Oregon is historically LIBERTARIAN. As in "don't ask me about my sexuality, or the pot growing out back, and I won't ask you about the arsenal hidden under your bed, or tell you what you can do with your property."

I think Oregon has always loved its nature, wildlife, fish, etc. but at the same time with the understanding that logging and fishing are what people did here. It was respect for the land with an understanding of its utility, and needing to be stewards of that utility. In this respect, I suspect that Alaska may be the most like what Oregon used to be like. You can love the land without wanting to shield every foot of it with lawsuits.

I think there is another misperception of new arrivals in Portland itself. The Pearl District and much of what is happening in NW Portland is barely ten years old. Too many people move here and move directly into the Pearl, or spend lots of time there. The Pearl has no real connection to anything that existed in Portland even 12 years ago. It sprung out of the ground. Similarly, much of the dining, culture, etc. sprung up as well. My impression of the Pearl is that of a bunch of recent arrivals selling things to each other at at 30% premium and patting themselves on the back for having the good taste to move to Portland. (Can you tell I don't like the Pearl?) I guess the point is that to native like me, the whole place feels alien.

Long story short, it kind of feels to this native lately like we're the ones who decided to throw a party and got the house together, and then guests started showing up. And we're thrilled because our party is a success, and everyone is having such a good time. Then word starts to get out, and more people show up, and people are calling friends.

Then people say "what's this crappy music" and put on their own music. Then suddenly someone announces it's a 80's party, and people are dressed up. Then that your couch would look better iin the next room. Then you don't know anyone who's coming through the door, and they're congratulating other people you don't know for putting on such a good party. Then you look around and all your friends are gone, and the remaining crowd isn't your usual type.

And all these new arrivals are having a hell of a time, but as you sit and watch you just kind of wish that they knew it was your house, and you don't really like 80's parties.

Anyway, how is that for a disjointed rant? Timber is gone. Non-natives make up a huge percentage of the population. It's one of the current places to be. So the change is here. I do miss the old Oregon, but it isn't all gone by any stretch, and there is a lot of great new stuff to enjoy as well.

[texasdiver]

The "Don't Californicate Oregon" bumper stickers were definitely around in the early 70s when I was a kid. So nothing new under the sun. Back then it wasn't so much about Portland as it was stopping condo development and that sort of thing along the Oregon Coast if I remember correctly. But then I was a kid.

I do miss the grittiness that used to be more prevalent in Portland. One used to be able to smell the hops brewing next door in the Weinhard Brewery when hanging out at Powell's. That sort of thing.