With the identity of the city as a mecca of hipness and forward thinking, it sounds like fiction to hear that before the 1970s, Portland—the land of hipsters, urban farming and bicycles—was characterized by a relatively provincial conservatism. To locals who can claim more than a 30-year residence, though, it puts Portland’s historical trajectory from conservative to hip in perspective.
From 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m on March 14 at the Native American Student and Community Center, Portland State professor Carl Abbott will be delivering a talk addressing this same, curious trajectory.
“In the ’60s and ’70s, Portland was not yet the hub of innovation and creativity that it now is,” said local Sarah Mason, who grew up in Portland.
Abbott’s lecture, “From Proper Portland to Portlandia: How a Conservative City Got Hip,” is part of the CityWise lecture series hosted by the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, a branch of Portland State’s College of Urban & Public Affairs. Subtitled “Breakfast with the Toulan School,” the series is a valuable service to the city. “It provides the school with an opportunity to share faculty research with members of the community,” Jenny Keene, office coordinator for the Toulan School said.
Through the series, faculty research that is otherwise largely reserved for the academy is introduced into the public discourse. According to Keene, Breakfast with the Toulan School events are “often attended by city, metro and state officials and employees, as well as those who are otherwise involved with local and regional economics, planning and policy, but it is also open to the public.”
Topics discussed at recent CityWise events have ranged from the future of the Portland metro region with Ethan Seltzer, to gentrification in North Portland and the Albina District with Karen Gibson, to an area-population analysis with Jason Jurjevich and Sheila Martin.
In his lecture, Abbott will contrast the politically and socially conservative Portland of 1845–1970 with that of the city’s vibrantly green modern period. “It grew up as a politically and socially conservative city that was resolutely typical of other American cities,” said Abbott. “It has since evolved into something very different, whose roots lie in the opening up of local politics to new ideas in the 1970s and the consequences that we’ve been working through since.”
Abbott’s upcoming lecture is especially important in light of Portland’s recent media coverage. Internationally read publications like The New York Times and the Guardian parachute in journalists and subsequently run stories touting the city as collectively hating corporations and shopping at co-ops. But, Abbott asked, “Are we really as hip as we think?”
A reexamining of the city’s history in light of Portland’s identity as belonging only to neighborhoods like North Mississippi and Southeast Clinton seems crucial for the city’s future. For Abbott, the challenge for both foreign journalists and “cool Portlanders” is to broaden the scope. “The future of this metro area will be shaped by the graduates of the highly multicultural Parkrose, David Douglas and Beaverton schools—much more than by Lincoln High graduates.”
Portland is and has been a city of diversity, but one whose differentness stretches beyond the ranges of dietary range and artistic expression. And opening the discussion of broadening the definitions is an important one for all members of the community. As Abbott would have it, “the future belongs with the numbers.”
To attend, RSVP by Friday to Jenny Keene at citywise@pdx.edu or 503-725-4045.