I saw a picture of Newcastle’s waterfront on the Tyne and it reminded me a ton of the Willamette in Portland (Google images of both and see for yourself). The Fremont Bridge looks like a larger version of the Tyne Bridge.
Apparently the similarities go further than that. Portland has the Timbers Army, Newcastle has the Toon Army. Newcastle is the greenest city in England, Portland the greenest in America. Tonya Harding and Cheryl Cole. Both cities have been in perpetual economic depression since the 80s but have seen gentrification and disenfranchisement of their natives. Though Portland has grown a lot in recent decades, historically the cities were relatively similar in size. The climates are very similar too as both cities are cold (but rarely freezing cold), wet and dark for the majority of the year.
People in Portland and Newcastle are both of similar ancestry too, mostly Anglo-Saxon with strong Scandinavian and Celtic influences.
I often hear Portland compared to Copenhagen and Amsterdam but I’d argue Newcastle might actually be a better fit.
Fair enough. Still, the fact is both cities have a town called Durham several miles to the south, which is a pretty interesting coincidence! Seattle also has a suburb called Newcastle.
Which, oddly enough, has a really big coal seam. But the town has only been incorporated for a couple decades, for a long while it was just that neighborhood between Renton and Issaquah.
Maybe in some ways, but in other ways completely not. I think the most telling difference is that when looking to make a UK version of Jersey Shore, Newcastle was the UK city the producers chose (Geordie Shore). Portlandia it ain’t.
Making Portlandia a Jersey Shore type show back in the '90s during the Tonya Harding era would have made more sense though. Back then Portland was only known for the Trail Blazers and for white trash.
Portland has a rather odd history. I was born in Oregon and lived in Portland for a quarter century. I left because it just somehow felt a bit off. Stale, I guess. The hipster aspect is a weird anemic undercurrent that has never had strong purchase, because the antithesis to it is an undercurrent that seems to be equally strong. No one writes songs about Portland or Oregon because the there that is there is merely there, no more.
Newcastle does seem to be pretty hip and gentrified these days. It’s still pretty poor and blue collar in many areas though. But so are a lot of parts of Portland. NOTHING east of 82nd Avenue is hip at all.
