# Is Newcastle Europe's Portland? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2015, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333 "2015-02-22T09:12:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/1 "2015-02-22T09:12:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/2 "2015-02-22T09:18:16Z")
Oh yeah one more thing, they even both have a southern suburb called Durham! ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/3 "2015-02-22T09:40:53Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Oh yeah one more thing, they even both have a southern suburb called Durham! Durham’s a city itself, and older than Newcastle. It’s most definitely not a suburb of anything. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/4 "2015-02-22T09:47:41Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Durham’s a city itself, and older than Newcastle. It’s most definitely not a suburb of anything. 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. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/5 "2015-02-22T10:34:03Z")
Does New Castle also have a large population of hipsters? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/6 "2015-02-22T16:26:34Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Does New Castle also have a large population of hipsters? Footie-wise they’re more like pre-2004 Boston Red Sox. Or post 2002 Oakland Raiders…if the Raiders hadn’t won anything since forever. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/7 "2015-02-22T16:53:25Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/8 "2015-02-22T17:15:58Z")
Relocating this thread over to IMHO, as I’m not seeing the Cafe Society connection. Hope you enjoy living over there as well 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/9 "2015-02-22T17:38:04Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/10 "2015-02-22T18:00:47Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > 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. Yeah if it weren’t for the forest angle, I’d say it’s like Pittsburgh. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/11 "2015-02-22T20:25:23Z")
No. Hardly any hipsters or old hippies, and it’s in an area of terrible economic depression. “Greenest” in this case means “most ecologically aware” but it’s just one study and it’s a bit sus to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/12 "2015-02-22T20:31:13Z")
I thought British hipsters lived in Shoreditch or Hoxton. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/13 "2015-02-22T21:08:44Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > I thought British hipsters lived in Shoreditch or Hoxton. Yep Hoxton is arguably Hipster central, but if you had to name a town outside of London maybe Bristol. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/14 "2015-02-22T21:54:25Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > 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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/15 "2015-02-22T22:58:27Z")
Portland has [a rather odd history](http://gizmodo.com/oregon-was-founded-as-a-racist-utopia-1539567040). 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. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/16 "2015-02-24T10:06:24Z")
And both have Australian name-sakes! Each is a former industrial town that is desperately looking for some other reason to remain viable. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-newcastle-europes-portland/713333/17 "2015-02-25T06:44:01Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Does New Castle also have a large population of hipsters? 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. > [@Banksiaman](#): > > And both have Australian name-sakes! Each is a former industrial town that is desperately looking for some other reason to remain viable. That’s another great point!