Is Portland an "East Coast-style" city? (Dallas, Seaside: spring break, house)

[Smitty211]

Eastern WA native here, currently living in Pennsylvania (just NE of Philadelphia) and working in New Jersey.

Something just resurfaced in my mind from when I lived in Portland two years ago, for about a year-long period: during casual conversation with friends about the general culture and feel of Portland, someone mentioned that Portland is an "East Coast-style" city. For some reason, I didn't press that person for an explanation, but I later ended up hearing/reading similar comments from sources that I can't recall. At that point, I'd never been to the East Coast in my life, so I had no firsthand point of reference.

Now, having been out here on the East Coast for almost six months, and having done quite a bit of exploration (central and northeastern PA, upstate NY, Baltimore-DC area), I don't see how or why people draw the comparison. There are lots of major rivers here, and plenty of bridges (and even some hills/mountains), but other than that, I see no commonalities.

Thoughts?

[texasdiver]

Portland is a pretty old city for the west coast. Up until around 1900 it was the 2nd largest city in the west after San Francisco. So a lot of the buildings and streetscapes date to the early 1900s and have a more east coast feel compared to other western cities like LA, Phoenix, Dallas, etc. that all grew up mostly during the age of the automobile and suburbia.

That said, Portland never developed the row house architecture one sees in all the old east coast cities so it doesn't have that same urban feeling that you get in NYC, Boston, DC, Philly or even San Francisco.

Portland also doesn't have the same in-your-face agressive culture that one finds on the east where the streets are louder and people just honk and shout at each other a whole lot more. That might also be because Portland is more Nordic compared to the Italian/Irish cultures on the east coast. My freshman year of college in Oregon my roommate was an Italian-American from Boston. I remember being shocked at how loud everything was when I went out to visit him over spring break. Everyone in the house was just yelling at each other and at everyone on the street it seemed.

If I had to generalize, I'd say Portland is more "northern" than "eastern". It has a lot more in common with say Minneapolis than Boston. Both in the culture and style of architecture.

[Jane M]

I would say Portland has more of a mid-west feel. Working class, traditional people who are not necessarily "hard scrabble" like in the NE. Generally, I agree with texas driver's observation.

As for Italians being loud and yelling at each other...I can attest to that. LOL

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Personally, I don't see much similarity.

Drivers on the east coast are more rude and more dangerous, there are sections of older buildings, more written history. Portland lacks the ghetto slums and violent gangs. I think that Portland also lacks the level of art and culture.

The east coast cities do not have the same outdoor culture that Portland has. A big outdoor adventure in the east is to spend a day driving out to buy apples from an orchard, and not many do that.

[Hapa1]

I don’t think that Portland is similar to an east coast city at all! The culture, climate, architecture, scenery, etc.. all different. Portland seems like a combination of Seattle and Sacramento with a liberal feel.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by Hapa1

I don’t think that Portland is similar to an east coast city at all! The culture, climate, architecture, scenery, etc.. all different. Portland seems like a combination of Seattle and Sacramento with a liberal feel.

Very good summary.

I think people hear about the MAX and decide that we have a mass transit system akin to eastern cities. But while the MAX is ahead of many other west coast cities, there's no comparison to cities in the east.

[DKM]

Originally Posted by jjpop

I think people hear about the MAX and decide that we have a mass transit system akin to eastern cities. But while the MAX is ahead of many other west coast cities, there's no comparison to cities in the east.

Umm sorry but Seattle, San Fran, LA and San Diego have mass transit systems worlds ahead of MAX and streetcars. Portland doesn't even have commuter rail (WES doesn't count).

Minneapolis and Denver are the most similar to Portland.

[leastprime]

Portland's MAX and Seattle's LINK are more akin to a fast street car. Amtrak's Cascades trains is a light rail on a heavy rail track.

[leastprime]

OP, we didn't see anything common either and got out of the East as fast as we could.

[soarswitheagles]

I'm originally from the East Coast and haven't seen anything in the PNW that reminds me of the East Coast. Seaside sort of reminds me of a Mid-Atlantic coastal town with the strip malls and such but just a tiny bit.