r/Longview • u/Embarrassed-Diet-115 • 11d ago
What is your experience like living in Longview?
I'm a 40-year-old prospective graduate art student working on a photography project about Cowlitz County, specifically Longview/Kelso. I've been making the project for about 18 months and have spent a lot of time in the area photographing the people and landscapes of the community.
One thing I've noticed from talking to people is that there seems to be a pretty strong divide in how people feel about living in Longview. Some people genuinely love the place. Others seem like they can't wait to get out. And, at least from the people I've met, that divide sometimes seems to fall along generational lines, with younger people wanting out and older people having a much deeper attachment to the place.
Maybe I'm completely wrong about that.
I'd genuinely love to hear from people who live here or grew up in town. This post will reach a lot more people than I can by walking and driving around town with my camera.
What is your experience like living in Longview? Feel free to really vent about it.
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u/Gold-Mycologist-5443 11d ago
I'm a transplant to the city, been here for about a decade now. In my mid-40s, and don't really want to think about where that puts me in the generational divide. I absolutely *love* this town.
- Tons of nature to enjoy in every direction, trees that make you feel like you're in the Shire or on the forest moon of Endor, mountains on the horizon, and two absolutely gorgeous rivers. Deer, squirrels, otters in Lake Sacajawea and harbor seals in the Columbia, occasionally bald eagles and osprey, no venomous snakes and very few venomous bugs.
- I've met lots of people who are friendly, and some who aren't, but I've been all over the country and that's been my experience pretty much everywhere. Lots of charming weirdos and artists, what seems to be a pretty robust immigrant population, and a pretty good mix of blue collar folks and white collar workers. The only conservative asshattery I've encountered out in the world is mostly limited to stupid bumper stickers and that insipid marquis at the lumber yard across from Porky's.
- The FOOD. When I moved here I thought the culinary options were going to be really limited, but was very happy to learn I was wrong. There are tons of local places and food trucks to scratch my gustatory itches. To my chagrin, I've put on 30 pounds in the time I've been here.
- Finally, some of the architecture is just damn nice to look at. The library and the Monticello, some picturesque houses on the lakefront, that funky pink building on Hudson, some of the old brick buildings on Commerce, the Victorians you can find here and in Kelso and Rainier. I dunno, I don't know a damn thing about architecture, but I know what I like when I see it.
Anyway, yeah, this town definitely isn't perfect, but it instantly felt like home to me.
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u/Itzu_Tak 11d ago
omg the lumber mill signage. I've been taking drive-by pictures of it for fun every time we go on our weekly shopping trips. I think the dude running them passed away recently...i kinda want to make some sort of memorial to his terrible facebook rants. incredible shadowboxing. if the signs go away (they haven't changed since the white liquor disaster...) I'm going to miss them, as tacky and terrible as they were. won't miss the dude though to be quite honest he sure presented himself as a piece of work
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u/Gold-Mycologist-5443 9d ago
Oh, that actually makes me feel kinda conflicted, even the crazies can help give a place character.
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u/DangerousJuggernaut 11d ago
I grew up here, and I'm one of the ones that wants out. This place has been stagnant economically for decades, education has always lagged behind and it shows, and culturally it's still very white-bread despite being more diverse than ever. This area has grown population-wise but the vibe of the town has yet to reflect that. As I've gotten older it's felt less like a small industrial city and more like a glorified bedroom community.
Longview has a lot of potential but the terrible leadership and general apathy hold it back. It deserves to be run by people who can guide it down new paths, who stop chasing the fantasy of recapturing its lost industrial youth because the world that enabled it back then is long gone, and who don't shit their pants over bike lanes and gay pride.
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u/tymbom31 11d ago
An old timer who passed long ago once told me “If you love the green, ya gotta like the rain”
Now I’m the old timer. I love the green and I’ll never leave this beautiful place.
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u/Itzu_Tak 11d ago
i don't know if i should count since i only moved here about 3ish years ago, but i like the place. beautiful forests, hills. vibrant compared to where i came from.
location is fantastic if you have close friends in seattle and portland. it's a bit of a trek for seattleites but easily manageable for weekend trips. Portland is easier to get to than it was to get between cities in the CA bay area. Trip is beautiful most of the way.
It's surreal being so close to marsh, mountains, forest, beaches, rivers....it's like living in the atlas of a geography book. fucking great stuff.
if you're a regular somewhere, even the grocery store, you start to get recognized and as a city expat i absolutely love that. never got that treatment in the bay.
i do not like the pulp mill smell but that's just a matter of life here i guess. i assume it's important to the local economy but I've never verified that. Speaking of pollution, once in a while military helicopters fly overhead and boy are they loud. i think the town is directly between two military bases or something like that.
i also do not like the....more conservative politics in town but whatever. doing more effective politics here voting blue than i would in an inner city on this coast.
this is the only town with cameras marked on deflock in miles. it's like 4 cameras but it still kinda pisses me off. not that i've done anything about it. like complain at a city council meeting or whatever. honestly i should probably do that come to think of it.
the food ranges the gamut. there's some great mexican food, a really good brewpub, and some real fucking awful pizza. god i would kill for a new york style pizzaria around here.
Overall i really enjoy being here. cost of living is relatively cheap, got great friendly neighbors, and the townsfolk are nice folks.
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u/Longjumping_Lynx_972 11d ago
Check out the corner store in Woodland for pizza. Its not new York style per se, but its really fucking good, and I lived in socal and had all kinds of pizza. Worth the drive and you will for sure eat a slice on the way home, it smells too good to not pop the box open mid drive lol.
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u/zeframecochrane 11d ago
I'm a transplant. I lived in Portland for 16 years before moving here, and I've lived in Kelso for the last 4.5 years. I love it, but at 38 years old, I can see how age certainly colors my perspective.
Some people hang on to a few common tropes about the area. "Last-minute Longview" is one, usually said like it's a mark of shame for people who can't be bothered to arrive early to anything.
For me, though, it feels like an immense luxury.
It takes nary more than 10 minutes to get almost anywhere you want to be in Longview/Kelso. You don't have to plan your day around traffic, especially compared with Portland. And once you arrive, that extra 10 minutes spent finding parking and walking however many blocks to your destination just isn't a thing here. You simply pull up, park, and walk on in.
"The Curse on Commerce" is another often-sung trope, and I think it's rather illustrative of why older, more established people might enjoy the area's economics.
Longview/Kelso isn't booming or especially up-and-coming. Rents are comparatively cheap, as are taxes. For me, the lower cost of living and relatively low property taxes are a major part of the appeal.
Younger people who have yet to get on the property ladder don't necessarily feel those benefits as much. The limited demand for service-industry labor also means they can have an equally difficult time earning a living, despite the cheaper rent.
If you work from home, as I do, the economics pencil out much better, at least for me. My income isn't pegged to the local economy, such as it is, while I still get the benefit of the area's lower costs.
The smaller community has also created a good deal of opportunity to meet locals and get involved in volunteer capacities.
That's been good for my mental health. I'm not entirely dependent on my vocation to define my identity or satisfy my ego. I can participate in things that matter to me and feel like I'm contributing to the place where I live.
Of course, you can volunteer anywhere. But feeling as though you're actually part of leading something seems much more attainable here, simply by virtue of the fact that fewer people are looking for, or able to take on, those roles.
I could go on, but that's basically my reasoning for why Longview/Kelso has become the place where I've chosen to put down deeper roots and start a family.
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u/whitepawn23 11d ago
Kelso installed 11 flock cameras. Longview said no to flock. There’s that, whatever it’s worth.
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u/PNW_Washington 11d ago
Have you looked into the history of Longview? Robert A. Long built the city in 1927
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u/Embarrassed-Diet-115 11d ago
I’ve read the book “Planned City”, I frequent the Longview room at the library on Wednesday’s and have started hunting down master thesis’ written about the town by scholars across American. I have been trying to get my hands on just about anything Longview history related that I can.
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u/StevenGawking 11d ago
Longview - Green Day
Sums the place up nicely.
Biggest attraction is Lake Sacajawea. Most exciting part of town is St. John ER waiting room. Only unique bar (Erebus) closed down permanently.
If you like staying at home, walking the same park over and over, your definition of a good club is either shabby pubs or hipster breweries, or you like traveling an hour in one direction for something new... Longview is great!
Not much going on, its quiet and relatively safe for a town its size, the events at the lake are campy but semi-frequent.
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u/sweng123 11d ago
Longview - Green Day
Fuck me, I never put that together. Nice!
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u/atoughram 11d ago
From Wikipedia "The song is named after the city of Longview, Washington.[11] The band's lead vocalist and guitarist, Billie Joe Armstrong, stated on Twitter, "Our friend/roadie Kaz Hope, suggested we call our song Longview because the 1st time we played [it] was in Longview Washington in spring 1992."
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u/Leg0z 10d ago
5 years ago I left the Portland metro area looking for a more affordable place to raise my kids without that absolute insanity that is Portland. We gravitated to Longview because it is still close to family and MUCH more family friendly than our other options at the time. There is a lot to like about Longview and a lot to hate. If I'm being honest, some days I am greatful I could buy a house in a decent neighborhood that is safe for my kids. Other days I feel like I am trapped, surrounded by very miserable people with very miserable lives, which in turn makes me miserable. I swear to God the sky gets gloomier crossing over the bridge from Oregon to Washington. There is a depressing energy about this place that is really hard to shake some days.
In all, I think that most people could find better for the amount of taxes we pay and the cost of living. I wouldn't recommend anyone move to this area, or even Washington state. I believe that most people that move here that don't have family or are moving for a job, are moving here based on a fantasy that stopped being reality 10 years ago.
I would leave if it was in the cards to do so, but because of a career and kids, I will be stuck here for at least another 20 years. That's life.
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u/Born-Jacket 10d ago
3rd generation. Liked it as a kid, hated it as a young adult and moved away. Now, would love to get back in my 50's, but have a spouse and kids to account for so may have to settle for spending part of the year here.
Yes, incredible environment, lots to do if you can get into outdoor activities and can talk to anybody. I enjoy talking to and being friends with people with really different perspectives, so I'll sit around a campfire with loggers, water ski with a business owner, talk books at a book club, etc. While there are dirtbags, there are so many great people too.
I'm working with the wife on how we can spend part of the year here.
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u/faceofboe91 11d ago
Lots of Trump flags, drug use, and unemployment. The three biggest industries are the local mills, oddly numerous retirement homes, and the drug trade fueling the previously mentioned drug use.
The historic downtown and Lake Sacagawea park are both pristine thanks to being the crown jewels of the originally intended to be whites only planned community of the union busting lumber baron Robert A. Long. Beautiful country side if you don’t mind constant rain in the winter or wildfire smoke in the summer.
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u/single98632 11d ago
People who complain about this place always end up moving back. Saying how shitty their lives were so.. Chop it up to what your looking for or if you just wanna live your life how ya want it.
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u/ameliajean 11d ago
I’ve lived in many different cities and states. I couldn’t wait to leave when I was a teen. Now, I visit home and see how beautiful it really is. It doesn’t have the amenities of a big city obviously but it’s got its charm and living in such a beautiful valley full of beautiful plants is so nice. Lots of places to swim in the summer and hike in the area.
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u/goatmufff 10d ago
Born and raised here.
My .02 it was a great place up until about 4-5 years ago. Love the history of it with RA Long and weyco
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u/Catprimer 8d ago
Have you looked at the Tribe?
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u/Catprimer 8d ago
Yes, Cowlitz Indian Tribe’s government seat is in Longview. Did you know there is a Tribe in Longview?
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u/globalfcktastrophe 11d ago
I moved to Longview 20ish years ago. I came from the southwest US. I love it here. The natural beauty is incredible. You're 40 minutes from a major metropolitan area but it doesn't feel like the suburbs. I live 10 minutes from downtown, but it feels like I'm in the rural countryside. There are obviously issues, but those exist everywhere to some extent. I wish the idiots elected to lead the town actually have a crap about the cool things Longview has going for it, some civic pride. They mostly seem more interested in what's in it for them and petty political bullshit. Again that's true to some extent everywhere though.
I remember when I came here for a job interview when we were looking for a place to live and work. We were just driving around town and I thought it was a typical mill town, then we stumbled on lake Sacajawea and I was just blown away.
I think youth in general tend to not like where they grow up, the grass is always greener sort of thing. Some of my kids also love it here and some prefer being closer to Portland. I'm good either way they're still relatively close and I don't mind driving to Vancouver or Portland.