We have lived in Portland now longer than Jeff and I ever lived in the Netherlands, yet since moving here in 2011, I have written nothing about our Oregon lifestyle. This is likely because, Portland being my hometown, the novelty factor of day-to-day life here is low. But it's a missed opportunity since Portland is so rich with material, especially when it comes to "lifestyle." (See generally Portlandia.)
To ease us into more Portland-centric updates, allow me to introduce the city through a brief FAQ:
So what is this Portlandia you speak of?
Before it was a quirky tv show, Portlandia was (and still is) the name for the statue on top of the Portland Building at Fifth and Main downtown. Portlandia was made in the Maryland suburbs of DC in the early 1980s – just like Jeff! Little known fact: I was once Portlandia for Halloween. Relatively better known fact: Portlandia is the second-largest hammered copper statue in the U.S. – after the Statue of Liberty.
Wow, who knew! Any other neat factoids about Portland?
Why yes: Portland is the only city in the U.S. with a volcano within the city limits. (My sister tells me that's actually volcanoes.) And yes, that includes Hawaii.
Other key selling points for the State of Oregon: No sales tax. All beaches are public. And you don’t pump your own gas. (Unless you’re me, in which case you don’t pump your own gas anywhere. It's a native Oregonian's prerogative.)
Does it really rain all the time?
Weeeeelllll .... yeah. Except August and September, which are reliably sunny and warm with no humidity - just like the best weather of Southern California. Which of course raises the question: Why don't we just live in Southern California year-round? (Answer: But then we'd have to pay sales tax, pump our own gas, and live next door to Californians. You just can't win.)
Why do people laugh when I say "Willamette"?
The "will-a-MET" is a river in Illinois; Portland's river is the "Will-LAAAM-ette." My non-native husband has drawn my attention to many of our local pronunciation idiosyncrasies:
If you build it, they will come? Portland in the '70s, '80s, and '90s made a concerted effort to control development and build liveable communities. In the '00s, this started to draw some national attention. Young, idealistic and/or artistic people started moving here, it got a reputation, and now we have New Portland: hip, creative, resoundingly liberal, and determinedly crunchy.
As for the food, that's a mystery to me. All you need to know is that Portland has some of the best damn food in the country. Seriously. Our waistlines will never be the same.
If there's a New Portland, is there an Old Portland?
New Portland is just a veneer; Old Portland still makes this place tick. What is Old Portland? (Cue Neko Case's ode to her hometown, Tacoma.) It's a little bit parochial, a little bit redneck, lightly industrial, and so unpretentious as to be at times frustrating (if you don't wear jeans out to dinner, you may be looked at askance). It's mundane, working class, damp, sometimes gritty, often quirky, and retro not in the cool sense but in the we never bothered to renovate sense. It's the raw material the hipsters have to work from, but it will be here long after the hipsters leave.
On the grim side, Portland has a long history of racism and exclusion, a high rate of depression and mental illness, and a growing meth problem. But there's still a lot to love. Portland is a deeply democratic city; everything is community-oriented. I remember as a teenager voting in a local neighborhood meeting for what kind of community development I did and didn't like. People care here - maybe even too much. Which is why the hipsters fit right in.
So why is Portland named “Portland” anyway?
I thought you'd never ask you.
Portland was founded in 1851 by Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettigrove (you can’t make this stuff up). They each wanted to name the new city after their hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine, respectively. Naturally, they settled the dispute with a coin toss – which Pettigrove won.
You will find almost as many places in Portland named after Lovejoy and Pettigrove as Lewis and Clark. Because while Lewis and Clark showed up first, “Lovejoy and Pettigrove” is just more fun to say.
To ease us into more Portland-centric updates, allow me to introduce the city through a brief FAQ:
Before it was a quirky tv show, Portlandia was (and still is) the name for the statue on top of the Portland Building at Fifth and Main downtown. Portlandia was made in the Maryland suburbs of DC in the early 1980s – just like Jeff! Little known fact: I was once Portlandia for Halloween. Relatively better known fact: Portlandia is the second-largest hammered copper statue in the U.S. – after the Statue of Liberty.
Wow, who knew! Any other neat factoids about Portland?
Why yes: Portland is the only city in the U.S. with a volcano within the city limits. (My sister tells me that's actually volcanoes.) And yes, that includes Hawaii.
Other key selling points for the State of Oregon: No sales tax. All beaches are public. And you don’t pump your own gas. (Unless you’re me, in which case you don’t pump your own gas anywhere. It's a native Oregonian's prerogative.)
Does it really rain all the time?
Weeeeelllll .... yeah. Except August and September, which are reliably sunny and warm with no humidity - just like the best weather of Southern California. Which of course raises the question: Why don't we just live in Southern California year-round? (Answer: But then we'd have to pay sales tax, pump our own gas, and live next door to Californians. You just can't win.)
Why do people laugh when I say "Willamette"?
The "will-a-MET" is a river in Illinois; Portland's river is the "Will-LAAAM-ette." My non-native husband has drawn my attention to many of our local pronunciation idiosyncrasies:
- Oregon: Not "Or-e-GONE," but "Or-e-GUN"
- Tigard (suburb, also a famous Supreme Court case): Not "TEE-gard," but "TIE-gard"
- Tualatin (suburb next to Tigard): I can't even recreate how Jeff tries to pronounce this suburb. It's "Too-all-a-tin."
- Glisan (Portland street): Not "GLISS-an," but "GLEE-san"
- Albina (another street): Not "AL-bin-a," but "All-BYE-na"
- Couch (yet another street): The doozy of them all, pronounced "COOCH"
If you build it, they will come? Portland in the '70s, '80s, and '90s made a concerted effort to control development and build liveable communities. In the '00s, this started to draw some national attention. Young, idealistic and/or artistic people started moving here, it got a reputation, and now we have New Portland: hip, creative, resoundingly liberal, and determinedly crunchy.
As for the food, that's a mystery to me. All you need to know is that Portland has some of the best damn food in the country. Seriously. Our waistlines will never be the same.
If there's a New Portland, is there an Old Portland?
New Portland is just a veneer; Old Portland still makes this place tick. What is Old Portland? (Cue Neko Case's ode to her hometown, Tacoma.) It's a little bit parochial, a little bit redneck, lightly industrial, and so unpretentious as to be at times frustrating (if you don't wear jeans out to dinner, you may be looked at askance). It's mundane, working class, damp, sometimes gritty, often quirky, and retro not in the cool sense but in the we never bothered to renovate sense. It's the raw material the hipsters have to work from, but it will be here long after the hipsters leave.
On the grim side, Portland has a long history of racism and exclusion, a high rate of depression and mental illness, and a growing meth problem. But there's still a lot to love. Portland is a deeply democratic city; everything is community-oriented. I remember as a teenager voting in a local neighborhood meeting for what kind of community development I did and didn't like. People care here - maybe even too much. Which is why the hipsters fit right in.
So why is Portland named “Portland” anyway?
I thought you'd never ask you.
Portland was founded in 1851 by Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettigrove (you can’t make this stuff up). They each wanted to name the new city after their hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine, respectively. Naturally, they settled the dispute with a coin toss – which Pettigrove won.
You will find almost as many places in Portland named after Lovejoy and Pettigrove as Lewis and Clark. Because while Lewis and Clark showed up first, “Lovejoy and Pettigrove” is just more fun to say.
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| Pettygrove Park, next to Lovejoy Fountain. (Test for Portlanders: Do you know where this is?) |
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