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Seattle. Portland. Which one's better? You may say: "How can you choose? Each has their good points. It's like asking which religion is better." Guess what, asshole, that Negative Nellie attitude is the reason nobody ever asks for your fucking opinion. Jerk. Yesterday, Jeremy Barker advocated the pro-Seattle position. Now, it's Portland's turn.
Why Portland is better than Seattle, by Katie "The Kalama Quickdraw" Tiehen
Before we get into this, let's just lay out what we all know: Seattle and Portland are both pretty white, pretty educated, pretty liberal, pretty green and pretty upper/middle-class.
Gentrification happens. Everywhere. It sucks! It's expensive! But we also like Whole Foods sushi! And walks in the Pearl District! So just because Portland is gentrified and Seattle is gentrified and both are on the West Coast and are "associated with music" doesn't mean we need to spend our lives speaking of one in terms of the other.
Obviously, I love PDX. I happen to live in Seattle and like it just fine too. Accept a challenge to go to bat for my hometown? You betcha. Portland is my Red Sox! I'll never abandon her: through the highs, lows, Packwoods, Trailblazer drug charges and asshole street kids alike. In six years, I've never felt that connection to Seattle.
People in the Northwest have developed a habit of speaking of Portland as Seattle's underdog: smaller, friendlier, quirkier, etc, etc. Note: This is really fucking annoying.
Portland stands alone, folks! And Portland often kicks ass before Seattle does!
Before we had our swanky new SAM, there was the swanky new PAM and its swanky new director. Two decades before we paid for and then voted against the monorail, Portland was Max-ing all over the place. As Seattle worries about strippers and curfews, Portland gives Jiggles and the Acropolis a big bear hug and welcomes to town all of my favorite bands. And the parks! If we're going to talk about parks, Portland wins. And the mark of a great city is its parks. Are you even going to try and compare our Japanese gardens? Don't. We lose.
Seattle will never be Portland, because they are two entirely different beasts. To explain, I may have to venture into that scary world of "feelings." Do you mind? No? Good. Portland just feels different. It's a little gritty. It feels sleepy and shady (really, they have great trees) and humble. The original architecture downtown hasn't yet been destroyed, and in some places it's still a little dirty. People are eccentric, but in an endearing way. Portlanders are proud of their city and invest in their communities.
And best of all, Portland never feels like it wants to be anything other than Portland: take it or leave it, James Mercer or no, it's still Portland. Seattle hasn't quite figured out how to marry its alternative and corporate roots and slapping on bullshit labels like "metronatural" just doesn't do the trick.
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Portland does seem more nimble when it comes to city government, I gotta give you that. But that underdog stuff happens to Seattle too -- I still remember the "Cinderella Seahawks." *shudder*
I will put the Olmsted Legacy up against anything PDX has to offer, so don't even get me started. Don't. Even. Etc!
Dude, that was 23 years ago.
I find it hard to believe that any Portland lover would miss the opportunity to promote Powell's Books, the greatest bookstore on Earth. It's huge, and has a phenomenal web presence which, knowing nothing more than I've read on Wikipedia, predates Seattle web-giant Amazon.com. Exciting stuff! People actually get married there. That's a little nutty. But Powell's really is a phenomenal place to just get lost. I have no idea how much money I've spent there...or how many hours I've spent freaking out and trying to decide which particularly volumes I should buy with my limited resources.
Jeremy M Barker, I was just about to say that.
I DID forget to include Powell's and it IS wonderful. I think in the back of my mind I was thinking if I praised Powell's I'd be belittling Elliott Bay Book Co., which I love dearly.
But yes, obviously, you can't fuck with Powell's! Or Everyday Music (which, *hem & haw*, is better on Burnside than Broadway).
Okay. Before Seattle in a lot of things, yes. Hell, them fine folks of Multnomah even went out and gave distinct growth lines, high five.
But even for all the ideas, the practice still comes up short. With a greater percentage of folks using only cars, 20% more boring white folks, a night life that doesn't exist outside of bars and strip clubs, PDX seems so great on paper but fails in reality.
I think it is only to be blamed on the River. It's a river town. If PDX had itself a protected bay, it probably would be over a million fine folks and some of the finer qualities that significant population brings.
And if there is to be a second blame, it is on the state it sits in. Considering the entire state has a population the size of Everett-Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma area, it's just filled with people too poor to do what their liberal hearts want (re: education).
Don't tell me you still don't feel the sting of shame, too, Seth. "Cinderella Seahawks." And how about the '96 NBA Finals. The announcers practically gave the Sonics tutus. That was only 11 years ago. A blink of an eye in city-pride time.
I think you are wrong on the parks front. I'm pretty sure Seattle has more parks than Portland and unlike Portland where I'm not sure where everyone goes to hang out there are always people of all ages in each one of our parks each and every day. Seriously,real cities have professional football teams. Portland is a nice place to visit though.
When you're visiting Powell's -- and you know you should be -- stop by Counter Media, about a block and a half away. It's everything an alternative media/smut shop should be, except seedy.
I also have to agree that Seattle has much better parks. Portland's got more protected natural area parks, but in terms of preserving large swatches of green in an urban environment, places like Green Lake and Volunteer beat the pants off Portland's parks. And Golden Gardens is way beyond anything they have, though to be fair, that's as much geography as anything.
well, and there's the fact that portland was there first.
Having moved to Seattle from Atlanta two years ago after having been initially recruited to move to Portland, here's what I observed and noted:
Pros for Portland:
• Hip, yet small town feel
• Neato architecture
• Less traffic
• One hell of a huge city park (great for the quick escape from the city without ever leaving)
• Amazing public transportation system
• Everyone is a beer lover
• More affordable
• Feels more friendly and welcoming (obviously very subjective)
• Powell's (I never miss a chance to go there when in Portland)
Pros for Seattle:
• Surrounded by lakes, bays and sounds vs. a couple of rivers
• Much closer to more "real" mountains (biased here- I'm a big climber and hiker and nothing beats the N. Cascades)
• Great skyline
• Better economy / wealth of job opportunities
• Greater investment in the arts (admittedly due simply to scale)
• 3 pro teams vs. 1
• Good (still not great) dining choices
• Ferries rock!
• Fast catching up to Portland when it comes to microbrews
Anyway, both are great cities. In the end, it really boiled down to a few key things:
• Desire to move to a city with a truly strong, diverse economy (what do you do when you get tired of working at Nike-- you move to Seattle or L.A., right?)
• Proximity to the ocean and mountains-- endless entertainment
• Recognition that Seattle would ultimately offer more "things to do" because of its size
• Portland really no cheaper to live in, despite it's smaler size
So that's my two cents. I still love ya Portland. Heck, I might even move there one day. For now though, I'm happy here in Seattle.
So, you're pretty much arguing from a bullshit "feelings" perspective? That works well for blood and soil types, I suppose.
Admittedly, I used to think somewhat like you but my perspective is pretty much that of [6] these days. Also, you can't be serious with the "Portland just wants to be Portland" rhetoric - there's such a huge inferiority complex vis-a-vis Seattle down there. I've found Portlanders keep talking themselves up almost exclusively in reference to Seattle - when about the only actual things Portland is better at is machine politics and building (though not using) mass transit. Hell, your "Boston Red Sox" comment pretty much gives it away.
Also, you forgot to mention how crappy the CHINESE Garden is in Portland. Sure, the Seattle garden won't be done for years but the one in Portland is such an obvious rush job it isn't even funny. More sickly subtropical shrubs and trees, please! And the Japanese Garden is in a stunning location, it really isn't much better as a garden than the one in Seattle.