<p>It seems like these days, the majority of folks in Oregon and Washington are from California 
so it shouldn’t be such a big deal. I’m looking to move to Vancouver, WA (yes, partly because I can pay cash for house there and partly because I’m tired of my beautiful but overcrowded area of Northern California <em>and</em> am itching for a new adventure when my kids fly the coop.<br>
Should I lie to people about where I’m from and not use my car with CA plates?! If you’re willing, I’d love to talk (type) to people from that area.</p>
<p>Back when I lived in the emerald city the slogan was “Don’t Californicate Washington”.</p>
<p>Still not popular. NoCal less so than SoCal which tends to be more different in values.</p>
<p>Since the majority of us are former Californians, you’ll be in good company.</p>
<p>I cannot think of one in our office that was from Cali–out of 50.</p>
<p>My entire floor is littered with them, though my boss is a New Yorker, my qualitative assistant is from Arkansas, and the research director is from Oklahoma. The head of the division is from Maine (but came from California); the Secretary is from Utah; head of program services is from Colorado.</p>
<p>I guess commercial real estate requires more local knowledge and contacts. Government is government.</p>
<p>Vancouver, WA is a bedroom suburb of Portland, OR; traffic to Portland is AWFUL, which you should know if you plan to live in Vancouver and work in Portland.</p>
<p>Portlanders in general are not fond of Californians, because they have driven up the cost of housing and priced many natives out of the market. I don’t know of any formal studies, but anecdotally I know of many Californians who have found it difficult to find a job.</p>
<p>When we moved to WA, I quickly found that admitting I had most recently lived in CA was a very bad thing. It helped if I said I was from Boston and had been forced to live in CA for a while (and hated it). It’s been 11 years and I now just tell people I moved here from the East Coast. </p>
<p>I think you will find that your neighbors, who are struggling to pay mortgages that many Californians consider quite small, will not be happy to hear you paid cash for your house; they will consider it boasting. You would do well to focus on more prosaic reasons why you moved there: “a better place for the children” “I’ve always loved this area” “my family is here” “I wanted to be nearer to Powell’s”.</p>
<p>And make sure you pronounce Oregon correctly.</p>
<p>I have also found that most people completely leave off that they came through CA.
My D however who recently took the driving test in Vancouver and didn’t pass- attributes it to the fact that her friends car that she was using had CA plates. ( it could also be she wasn’t used to his car)</p>
<p>$%@#8<em>#()$)_<em>+% and (@$!()%</em>(^)$</em>^ then you #)%@)#%.</p>
<p>We used to live in the country. And the strawberry fields that I used to work in, is now full of #%@)_)@%)(@.</p>
<p>As my Nom d’Guerre states, Itstoomuch (#()@%)*()%^… Three weeks of rain and more coming.</p>
<p>Oh, and Sushi, you only have 30 days after you move to WA to get rid of the CA plates or else you have to pay penalties. <a href=“http://www.dol.wa.gov/vs/tr-new.htm[/url]”>http://www.dol.wa.gov/vs/tr-new.htm</a></p>
<p>"How soon must I license my vehicle?</p>
<p>Your vehicle must be licensed in the state within 30 days of becoming a Washington resident. You are considered a resident when you:</p>
<p>register to vote.
receive state benefits.
apply for any state license at residential rates.
seek in-state tuition rates.
manifest an intent to live or be located in this state on more than a temporary or transient basis in any continuous six-month period.
Please, don’t wait for your out-of-state plates to expire! You may receive a $330 minimum traffic fine if you are a resident and do not license your vehicle in this state."</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips. I’ve been told the traffic in Portland is really bad, I’m a little concerned about things like getting to and from the airport when my kids go back and forth to college out of state. I’m being wooed for a job in a nice area of Vancouver so I thought I’d look for a house close to it. </p>
<p>I didn’t mean to imply I’d actually tell anyone I paid cash for a house, that’s generally no one’s business and agree it would be considering bragging. </p>
<p>Maybe I’ll have to study up on another area of the country where I can say I came from!</p>
<p>Say the Midwest. Everyone from the NW has relatives from there.</p>
<p>Yes, Oregonians do tend to resent Californians who can walk in and pay cash for a house that we would have to take out a big mortgage on. (nothing personal–just passing along what I have heard) It is probably not as bad here as in southern Oregon. Ashland, for example, has become too expensive for most Oregonians, thanks to all the Californians moving up.</p>
<p>Still, if you can put up with the rain, I guess you will be accepted. Just practice saying “Ore-ee-gun.” :)</p>
<p>(We don’t have relatives in the Midwest.)</p>
<p>Here is what I wrote last year on this very topic. It still applies:</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>I lived in Oregon during that phase, which has since transformed into not even inviting you to visit, especially if you are from California. I was born in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from high school in Oregon. If I had to pick a place to which I feel native it would be Oregon. But a few years ago while in Oregon to visit my mother who still lived in Salem, we pulled off the freeway into some Portland suburb to eat. Spotting our California plates, some locals came over and in no uncertain terms told us how unwelcome we were and would we please just leave. I told them that I had been living in Oregon for years before they were even born, that I had every right to return home to see my mother and visit my father’s grave, and that their bad manners made me ashamed to say I was also from Oregon. </p>
<p>I was shocked by their smug rudeness. It was at that point that I began to think that maybe I had outgrown the Pacific Northwest. It was time to start thinking of myself as being from somewhere else. I’ll gladly take the SoCal rat race over that kind of “friendliness”.</p>
<p>I dont think you “outgrew” the northwest- but no place has the corner on jerks.
I would bet that the people who were so rude to you werent even Oregon native- but from someplace else-I know that most northwesterners would never dream of being so in your face.</p>
<p>Ah, this thread brings to mind some very funny memories of times when I tried to explain nor’westerners enmity of California to co-workers east of the Hudson River. But…anyone making such complaints to a newcomer’s face is just plain rude. That being said, I can’t stand it when easterners or Californian’s say “OH-REE-GONE.” Ugh. Secondly, why do folks pronouce “George Washington” correctly, but then say “Seattle, WURSHINGTON?” Good grief.</p>
<p>Yes, the seemingly immeasurable rise of real estate in the Great Northwest has left a lot of long time residents a bit sour (and many of their former neighbors, enriched!!!). More than once I would be on a call back home and mom would declare that “some Californians just bought the old Jones’ place; and they paid the asking price!”</p>
<p>Still, welcome ye new frontiersmen and women but remember this:</p>
<ol>
<li>don’t complain about the rain</li>
<li>don’t try to turn every meadow, glen and forest into a subdivision</li>
<li>don’t knock our worship of Salmon</li>
<li>don’t tell us how you did things back home</li>
</ol>
<p>and</p>
<ol>
<li>enjoy Ivar’s, Oberto Peperoni and Beef Jerky, and the Seafair Parade</li>
<li>Identify with J.P. Patches, Ketchitkan the Animal Man, The Slo-mo-shun and other local lore</li>
<li>appreciate and respect our ethic diversity (Seattle area is probably the most effectively and positively integrated region in America)</li>
<li>be on time when you’re invited for dinner. SMILING.</li>
</ol>
<p>Wow, I had no idea that there was such a thing as this Oregon California rivalry. It reminds me of how in NYC people in other boroughs are growing resentful of Manhattaners who are moving into other neighborhoods, Harlem, for example, pushing out the lower income people, and then changing the name to make it seem somehow less ‘ethnic’. Case and point, Morningside Heights. Ten years ago that was just plain old Harlem, lol. Its apparently a national phenomenon.</p>
<p>PS
My friend travels to Oregon regularly, I think her family has a house there… she pronounces it Or-eh-gone. (gone pronounced like the word ‘gone’) I, on the other hand, and most people I’ve met here, pronounce it Oh-eh-gin. Who’s right? I would guess that she is, but she has a Brooklyn-Texas accent, so I don’t know. Or are we both wrong??</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Sure these people were ruder than most, but I don’t think their attitudes are unique to them. As far as I can tell, their attitudes toward Californians are widespread in Washington and Oregon. They were just more vocal about it.</p>
<p>And I really have outgrown the place. I don’t share their hatred and intolerance of outsiders. When asked in conversations, I no longer say I’m from Oregon. I say I’m from California.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Exact same thing my parents said. :rolleyes:</p>