I'll take a pack of Newports and your best Merlot please

Okay, so I have to be a snobby (real from birth mind you) Portlander for a moment because while riding the yellow line MAX this afternoon down the glory that is Interstate Avenue, I had a moment, of disgust really. After passing through the very north part of town and past the only Fred Meyer in the city you may need to pack heat to enter, we got to the "new" part of north Portland (NoPo if you will). This is where my disgust builds as I look at the very trendy New Seasons market filled to the brim with silver Priuses, Subaru wagons, and of course globs of bicycles, because this is not a classic image of this historic neighborhood. Of course spilling out of the store (baguettes, organic spinach and bottles of wine in their reusable totes) are this new breed of very white, very trendy in that, "Oh, this scarf and boots don't go together, I just threw them on, really" kind of way people; Who until 10 years ago were afraid to drive under 25mph past the beginning of MLK Jr Blvd without sweating profusely in fear of being car-jacked or shot.

Oh, but not now. Now, they flood the neighborhoods with their over-the-top ideas of what is true art, unkempt looking flower and veggie gardens spilling over their decks onto the sidewalks, and "I am so cultured because I moved away from the non-integrated burbs where I came from" attitudes. It bugs me, a lot obviously as I devoted an entire blog to it, because with this new influx of creamy white complexions to the "hood" comes a somewhat lack of consideration for the families that have called this neighborhood home for so many years. So while 'Tiffany' and 'Joey' flood the new shabby-sheik coffee shops with their iMacs to read the Willamette Week and wax-on about politics, the real locals are dealing with rising property values and the slow death of their colorful culture as they know it. There. I am done. Perhaps next time I will give my true opinion of the Pearl District.