Parkrose Community Archive: It’s February 25th, 2024. We’re in Salem, Oregon, at a coffee shop with Nicole. Thank you for being here. To start, could you just state your full name?

 

Nicole Pruitt: Full name is Nicole Pruitt. 

 

PCA: Perfect.

 

NP: Maiden name was Seery.

 

PCA: Lovely! Where and when were you born?

 

NP: I was born May 16th, 1986, in Northeast Portland at Portland Adventist.

 

PCA: I was born at Portland Adventist, as well. (Laughter)

 

NP: Yup, I think a lot of Parkrose kids were. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Was your family already in Parkrose? Or when did they move?

 

NP: Yeah. So my parents—they graduated from Sunset High School in I think ‘76, and then not long after, moved to the East County area to Parkrose, probably as early as 1980. Yeah. They didn’t like the west side, so they came out east. 

 

PCA: What was their decision to come to Parkrose, do you know?

 

NP: I think it landed close to where my dad was working at the time. I don’t remember what that was. And also my mother, she worked at the Kmart before I was born. So they lived in the apartments behind the Kmart so my mom could walk to work, and then my dad drove to wherever he was—I think he was cutting meat. He was a butcher at the time. 

 

PCA: Nice. So what was kind of your perception of Parkrose at an early age in your neighborhood that you lived in?

 

NP: So I grew up on Prescott [Street], between 105th [Avenue] and 109th [Avenue]. My parents still live in the same house I was born and raised in. March will be 38 years for them.

 

PCA: Wow.

 

NP: They live on a quarter acre. So to me, in Parkrose—especially living on a quarter acre as a small child—I felt like I had my own farm. My parents had a pond, a pool, a giant garden—and so it’s kind of like we had this little oasis in the suburbs. To me, as a small child, it felt kind of rural, because it wasn’t inner-city Portland, it wasn’t downtown Portland. So it was just kind of a little quieter oasis compared to the rest of Portland. That was my perception back then. And a lot of the area around us, big pieces of property weren’t developed yet. Like where Wendy’s sits today—I remember it being a big field, and I remember when the church right next door to it used to be a Michael’s.  

 

PCA: Yeah. So at an early age, what were some of the things that you did for fun growing up in Parkrose?

 

NP: Well, I had quite a few friends that lived around me. Kids across the street, behind us, around the corner, like 110th [Avenue] and Campaign [Street]. And so it was just either playing on my friend’s cul-de-sac on Campaign Street, because there was no through traffic, unlike Prescott—we can’t play in the street there. TriMet went running through it all the time. So biking over there, walking, and playing basketball, tag, make-believe games up and down the street, hiding in everyone’s yards. I don’t know how the neighbors tolerated us. I mean, I guess it’s because all us kids were out and about, and so it was everybody’s yards. And so it was almost like the sky was the limit, because we had all this unlimited space around us, because almost every house had a kid at the time. It was just a fun place to run around, grow up, and play, and nice having friends nearby. Easy to get to. That was early ages. I remember my first experience at 12, hopping the TriMet by myself with my friend. We got lost in the Hawthorne District. I always kept change in my pocket to use the payphone, because we got lost. (Laughter) Didn’t make it to the mall that day. You know, you had to use the TriMet bus to get anywhere, because we were so far out from everything. So we’d always get on the bus to go to the mall. But yeah—I forgot the original question.

 

PCA: Just what you did for fun growing up.

 

NP: Oh, yeah. Just a lot of running around and playing—especially as a kid, you know, until your teenage years, and then it was the bus, and the mall, and listening to Z100, and sitting there with your boombox ready to record your favorite song on cassette tape until the compact disc came around. (Laughter) Or became more prevalent, and I could burn them on my computer.

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yeah.

 

NP: But that was more towards the end of high school. (Laughter)

 

PCA: So, I’m assuming you went to Prescott [Elementary] then, for elementary school?

 

NP: I did, I went to Prescott, yeah, me and both of my sisters. 

 

PCA: Okay. What did you think of Prescott growing up and your experience there?

 

NP: Oh, I loved it. I walked. So it was about a block and a half from my house, and I think my mom walked me there until I was about eight. And then she would walk me to where the sidewalks started in front of the apartments next to our house, and I would just walk to school with my friends, and walk home from school every day. There was just always a big giant herd of kids that would go to and from, and you’d connect with somebody to walk there. I have some fond memories—a lot of my friends I still hang with are from Prescott, and my longest friend I met in kindergarten, and we still connect regularly. Yeah. Kindergarten, fourth grade, and I met the rest in sixth grade, and we are still all friends 'till this day. 

 

PCA: Same! Thinking about Parkrose, that’s one thing that I feel like is so unique is that, in more of an urban environment, I think it’s rare to have those kinds of connections that last that long. Like, to have so many kids in my graduating class in high school that I went to elementary school with—

 

NP: Yeah!

 

PCA: —and met in kindergarten. I feel like that’s rare in urban settings. 

 

NP: And I think having—you know, it was the four grade schools when I was going, and then just the one middle and the one high school. We all just funneled together. And I think that is definitely unique, and we weren’t a very big high school. Like my husband grew up in Newberg, which is considered more rural, but his graduating class was twice the size as mine. 

 

PCA: Yeah. 

 

NP: And I was like, wow, we were in the city—quote, unquote—but we had a smaller graduating class than a small town. And it’s just always interesting—he had a class of like 300 and mine was 200ish, maybe, that made it through. 

 

PCA: Yeah. I think it’s a unique experience. That’s one of the things that I’ve been thinking about, too, is kind of the relationship to the rest of Portland, because it kind of feels a lot of times I think in Parkrose like you’re on the periphery.

 

NP: Yes.

 

PCA: Not only that it feels like that, but I think sometimes the area is kind of treated like that compared to the rest of Portland. 

 

NP: Oh, absolutely. 

 

PCA: So yeah. What are your thoughts on that? Do you feel the same way?

 

NP: I feel very much the same way. When people ask where I’m from, in general, my clients—like, “oh, where did you grow up?” Because they’re always curious if I grew up in the area that I work in now. And I say Portland, and as I go further into the discovery with them, and if I figure out they know more about Portland, I’ll specify Parkrose. And there’s been a few instances where my clients are like, “oh, yeah, I went to Centennial,” or, “my wife went to Parkrose,” or one of the residents that live in our community—she grew up in Parkrose, graduated from there, and her house that she grew up in is literally kitty-corner from the house I grew up in.

 

PCA: Wow.

 

NP: You know, obviously decades apart from each other. So I found that very fascinating—like, “I know exactly what house you’re talking about,” and she goes, “I know the one you’re talking about, too.” I always say I’m from Parkrose if people know where that is, or I’ll say northeast Portland, but that’s just so general that most people don’t get it. Or I’ll say, “by the airport, specifically, Parkrose.” And then you’ll know if someone knows what that is or not. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Yeah, that’s exactly how it goes for me, too. And likewise, I use the airport as the marker—like, “I’m very close to the airport.” 

 

NP: I was driving back from the airport on Friday because I just came back from a work conference. I had two of my staff driving back up to where we live, and we were driving by the Sandy Boulevard exit, and I was like, “you know, I grew up five minutes as the bird flies that way.” And they’re like, “oh, you did grow up real close to the airport.” And I was like, “I wasn’t kidding when I said real close.” (Laughter)

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yeah, yeah. 

 

NP: I mean, the planes went right over my house.

 

PCA: Yeah. It’s so funny, because I’ll have conversations with people who aren’t as familiar with Portland, too, and I’ll be like, “by the airport.” And they’re like, “there’s neighborhoods by the airport? Like I didn’t even realize that.” Like yeah, there’s a whole community out there.

 

NP: There’s a whole community out there. Absolutely. 

 

PCA: Yeah! Before we kind of move on, maybe you could talk a little bit about what you’re doing now for your work, because you mentioned it a little.

 

NP: Well, right now, I’m a director of sales and marketing. We call it “residency planning” for a senior living community in Newberg, Oregon. But academically, in my previous career before that, I was in higher education, specifically student affairs, and have a master’s in educational leadership and policy. I wanted to be a dean of students one day in my life, and then decided no I don’t. (Laughter) Once I realized what that entailed I was like yeah, that takes it too far from the students, and there’s just a lot of politicking in that. So I just kind of left education in 2019, and somehow landed in senior living, and I really enjoy it. There was a lot of signs throughout my life that I should’ve been working with seniors a lot sooner than I was. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. I always was attracted to the non-trad students in my undergrad courses and would sit with them and chat with them. Yeah. So it’s just a fantastic fit. And it’s wonderful working with adults who I don’t need to teach to be adults. (Laughter) They teach me how to be an adult. 

 

PCA: That’s great. I guess to kind of go back to school, and then we can transition into that again—so you attended the old middle school?

 

NP: I did. 

 

PCA: I did as well.

 

NP: Yup.

 

PCA: I’m curious what that experience was like, and also your reaction to the new middle school, if you’ve seen it.

 

NP: I’ve only seen the outside. I have seen pictures, because my childhood best friend that I met in kindergarten at Prescott, her sons go to the middle school. So she messaged us when she went to do her oldest son’s tour through, and she goes, “this place is crazy—nothing like what we went to.” She goes, “it’s so nice,” and shared pictures with us. And I’m like, woooooow.

 

PCA: Yeah. (Laughter)

 

NP: But it also kind of reminds me of the magic of when the high school opened. So, my other good friend from childhood, she was class of ‘02, and she was the first graduating class that did all four years in the brand new high school, and I was the third class. So I remember seeing the new high school when it was built before it opened up to all the students, and it was like, whoa—state-of-the-art everything. So, it’s kind of the same thing, although now the middle school seems way cooler than the high school. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Yeah. The middle school is super nice. I went in there—it was like right when it opened. I just had an opportunity to go through and see it with a few of my friends, and I was astounded by how gorgeous it is. It’s really nice. It’s so funny. I mean, yeah, the middle school—it was probably time for that to go down, at that point. (Laughter)

 

NP: Oh, yeah. I remember trying to run and then slide down the ramps—

 

PCA: The ramps.

 

NP: —in my shoes, like my skater shoes, go see how far you could go. Or roll down it, and hopefully not get caught by a teacher. So yeah. It was definitely time for that school to be replaced. 

 

PCA: Yeah, yeah. In terms of thinking about the middle school—do you have a favorite memory from middle school, specifically?

 

NP: Middle school is rough. I mean, I think it is for most pubescent children—

 

PCA: I hated middle school.

 

NP: —yeah, me too, actually. Somehow I don’t know how I got out of there. Seventh grade, though, I think was a pivotal year for me to realize I’d developed a love of history. I had Mr. Newman in seventh grade, and I just enjoyed the way he taught the class, and just made history very exciting. It takes a special teacher to make it exciting because otherwise, history can be very dry. And I think that was the starting point of me really liking history. My mother always had us on adventures, and loves Pacific Northwest history. So we were always traveling all over the state, Washington, learning different historical things. So, that also probably played into my love of history. But it was that class in seventh grade—I really started cementing probably my destiny to go get a bachelor’s in history. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Yeah, that’s awesome. Maybe we can talk a little bit about the transition to high school, as well. So you went to the new high school—

 

NP: I did.

 

PCA: —what was that experience like, being one of the first groups of students to go through that new high school?

 

NP: You know, I think at the time, you don’t think much about it. You’re a 14-year-old, and you’re like, oh, it’s school. But you could tell everything was new. And if any damage was done, it was because of one of the classes there right now—

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yeah.

 

NP: —and the outside walls were very sensitive if you were playing tennis against it, or throwing a baseball at it. It would dent the walls because of whatever they spackled it with. I remember us putting holes in those quite frequently, or dents, more like it. But it was—I don’t even really know how to answer that. I just don’t even think I thought of that, not until later on in life to realize that I was one of the first three classes to fully graduate out of that school. But what was nice was it was new, and it had state-of-the-art everything, because I have vague memories of the high school, especially the pool. The pool was a huge upgrade. Except for they took out the big cool diving board that used to be at the old high school, so that was a bummer. I loved that as a kid—we all got to jump on it and jump into the very deep end. But it was much nicer in the hallways. Except for the lack of lockers.

 

PCA: No lockers, yeah.

 

NP: No lockers. And when I went to college, and I explained to my friends, “we had no lockers unless we played sports,” they couldn’t understand it. They were like, “what’d you do with all your books?” It was like, “oh, you carried 80 pounds on your back.” 

 

PCA: All of them, yeah. (Laughter)

 

NP: All day long! To and from school—I even walked to and from school, uphill, both ways. (Laughter)

 

PCA: I remember that being a big thing going from the middle school to the high school—

 

NP: Yes.

 

PCA: —because you had the lockers at the middle school and then you’re like, man, I’m going to have to change everything I do about carrying things. (Laughter)

 

NP: Yup! I remember freshman year my mom was so worried about that she got me a rolling backpack—

 

PCA: Aw. 

 

NP: —but it was uncool, like I looked like a total dweeb. (Laughter) So I would just carry it on my back.

 

PCA: It’s the thought that counts!

 

NP: It was, yeah. You know, my mother had good intentions, and did I have a bit of back problems in high school? Yeah, just a little bit. But physical therapy worked. (Laughter)

 

PCA: (Laughter) Man. So I guess, going to high school, was there any sports or clubs that you were involved in?

 

NP: Yeah. In the school, I played tennis. I was varsity sophomore through senior year, maybe played a couple of varsity matches my freshman year. And then I was in choir—I sang in all the choirs, except for Debs. I was too terrified to try out for it. But I loved singing. I also, actually, was a football manager sophomore-junior year. Yeah. I loved watching and playing—well, I couldn’t play football. I would’ve loved to play football, but girls couldn’t play football. But I loved watching football, and I don’t know—one of my friends was doing that and like coerced me into it with her. It was just a lot of fun. Traveled with the team, managed all the supplies, got into all the games for free, which was cool. Didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so. (Laughter)

 

PCA: That’s great. Did you have any teachers that were particularly influential on you in high school?

 

NP: I had two that were very pivotal. Sophomore year I had Mr. Wilson for U.S. History. Was he there when you were there? 

 

PCA: (Nodding yes.)

 

NP: Yes. So I was a mainstream student, so I was not in honors. Wasn’t allowed to for some reason, because of how I graduated out of the middle school—bad grades. They didn’t think that I could handle it, and I had an IEP and other things, so I wasn’t allowed in honors. But Mr. Wilson—I loved his history class. Although,  funny enough, getting a bachelor’s degree in history, I did not focus on U.S. history at all because it’s too modern, in my opinion. But I remember my last day of class going into summer, you know, finals were done—he stopped me and he goes, “you’re very smart,” and he goes, “I’d love to see you in my U.S. honors history class your senior year.” And he had specialized homework for me that was more advanced than the rest of my classmates, because he could see that I wasn’t being challenged enough by the coursework. So I really appreciated that, because I wasn’t challenged mainstream. And I did not take his U.S. class my senior year because I had senioritis and I just wanted to be out of there. (Laughter)

 

PCA: (Laughter) That’s fair!

 

NP: But I did take a different history class that was being offered—World Religions, I think, with Mr. Baird. 

 

PCA: I had Mr. Baird too. 

 

NP: Yup. He was great. And then Ms. Langdahl my senior year. She really probably taught me the most about writing and helped really develop my writing technique and my voice, which was super beneficial when I went into college. And I still use and I still remember a lot of what she taught me, and how I structure my sentence and when to use this and how to use that. So, I would say those two teachers were extremely pivotal to my learning, and to what I went on to do. And so I thank them both—because I think Langdahl also saw my desire and she challenged me, too. I know a lot of my friends were like, “oh, she was too hard,” but I always loved the hard teachers. Even in college—everyone was like, “oh, don’t take that teacher, he’s super hard.” And I’d be like, click! Because I love a challenge.

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yeah, totally.

 

NP: Because that’s how you learn, is by taking that challenge, and having someone push you intellectually. So I’ve always thirsted for knowledge and would seek the hardest teacher possible. Except for in math. I would find the easiest way out. (Laughter)

 

PCA: (Laughter) Same, same. 

 

NP: Didn’t like math. Still don’t. Hardly use it, except for percentages. (Laughter) Ratios. That’s about all I use. 

 

PCA: Same. My final year I took Intro to Contemporary Mathematics, which was, liberal arts math. 

 

NP: Oh, really?

 

PCA: Like, the easiest class I could take. (Laughter)

 

NP: Yup. I think that’s kind of what I took just to get my bachelor’s degree. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Yeah, absolutely. I was so lucky—like by the time I got to OSU, that class had the Mt. Hood [Community College] credit or whatever, so I didn’t have to take math at OSU at all—

 

NP: I’m jealous.

 

PCA: —which was gorgeous, yeah. 

 

NP: I still had to take it. I saved it to like the second to last term of my college career, just in case I failed it, so I had one term to take it over again. (Laughter) I passed with a solid C+. C’s got degrees.

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yes, I was just going to say. So you had siblings as well that also went to Parkrose?

 

NP: I did, yes. I’m much older than my sisters. So one was class of 2010, and one was class of 2012. Well, she passed away right before she graduated high school, so she would’ve been class of 2012. So their experiences from my experiences were different. I wasn’t there with them—never was in school with them. (Laughter) I would definitely say their experiences with high school compared to me was vastly different, but I was also the more studious type.

 

PCA: What kind of ways did you think it was different? 

 

NP: You know, at that time, when they were going through high school, I was in college, so I was away. I did come back, because I graduated with my undergraduate degree in 2009, and my middle sister graduated high school in 2010, so I was there for her senior year. And then I was there for my other sister—she was 2012. So I was there for 2009, ‘10—so basically almost three years of her high school. I mean, by that time, they dressed differently. Both my sisters, all three of us, were heavily in choir. The other two were in Debs—they were not as shy as I was. They also did band, at least their freshman year they did, but then they stopped because they liked choir better. My youngest sister was a huge thespian, did a lot of acting. And socially—I mean, I think my youngest sister always stuck up for my middle sister. (Laughter) They both did not like academics like I did, which is understandable. I mean, that’s just what was different about us. But I think by the time they were in high school, things were painted a little different. It was really a lot of purple when I was there, and I think they started putting in more green and black, which made more sense with school colors, instead of purple and blue.

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yeah. 

 

NP: And still no lockers. But they had an assortment of classes more than I had access to. Like there was French then, and they had like psychology and some other courses that just were not offered when I was in high school. Although when I was in high school, we had Russian—so we had Russian, Spanish, and German. Except when we needed a second year of Russian, we had to cancel it, so I had to start taking Spanish. 

 

PCA: That happened to my brother, too. 

 

NP: Really?

 

PCA: Yeah. With French, I think.

 

NP: Yeah. I think just listening to them—from what I can remember, it’s like, “oh, I don’t like this teacher, I don’t like that teacher.” And I think when they learned that they were my sisters, they were like, “oh, great, another Seery—great kids.” No. My younger sister was hell on wheels, and had a mouth on her—

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yeah. 

 

NP: —and not in a disrespectful way. But she was very vocal about her opinions. And my middle sister—not academically studious, so it probably really wowed the teachers. Like wow, very different from the oldest. (Laughter) But yeah. My middle sister graduated luckily, and we were provided an honorary diploma for my sister, even though she passed away before her graduation. We got to receive that during her graduation, with her class. But yeah—I think our experiences were a little bit different. My sister got a car younger than I did, and so she had it right when she got her license because I gave her my first car and got a new one. So she got to roll around with a vehicle a lot younger than I did. And then she drove the youngest sister everywhere. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Is Felicia your younger sister?

 

NP: Yes.

 

PCA: She was my Sparrow in middle school.

 

NP: Was she? Yeah—that’s my baby sister. Yes.

 

PCA: I remember seeing her in the Wizard of Oz, because my brother was a tree in Wizard of Oz.

 

NP: Was he a tree? (Laughter)

 

PCA: (Laughter) Yeah! And so I was at the show when she was doing it, and she was so good. Like, I literally remember it to this day, how good she was. 

 

NP: Yeah. She was a fantastic villain. She always played really good villains. She did the evil stepmother of a play in eighth grade called “Twinderella,” and she was the evil stepmom with this powerhouse solo. My whole family thought she couldn’t sing until that play. And then she had this solo, and all four of us—my parents and my other sister—were like, “she can sing!” 

 

PCA: She’s got skills.

 

NP: Oh, yeah. So Cassi and I had to swallow our pride because we always teased her. And well, boy, did she show us up—publicly! Like I said, hell on wheels was my sister Felicia. 

 

PCA: Yeah, man.

 

NP: Yeah, she was a fantastic villain. She did Belle in Beauty of the Beast, where it was this mild and meek character, and she did okay.

 

PCA: Just wasn’t the same?

 

NP: Not her strong suit. She just was always a good villain. (Laughter)

 

PCA: She was great. Like I said, I remember—I really enjoyed Wizard of Oz in general, that play was a good one. And I remember being like, man. She knocked it out of the park. 

 

NP: Yeah, she really did. There was I guess a dress rehearsal where she was up flying, and I guess she started singing “Defying Gravity.” (Laughter) Like the diva she was! Her friends told me that, and I was like, yeah, that doesn’t surprise me one bit. 

 

PCA: That’s so awesome. So, you wrote this oral history in high school.

 

NP: Yes.

 

PCA: Maybe you could talk a little about that, and what that process was like? 

 

NP: I’ll try to drag my memories as best as possible—I’ve been trying to think back on it a lot since we talked. So, I was part of a community group called Parkrose Community Builder’s Club. There was probably eight or nine of us girls—we were all girls. And weirdly enough, we were all basically friends, and then a few other people who were kind of not part of the main clique we were in. But it was definitely an empowerment group for girls, I think is what it was if I remember correctly. But there was a grant that was given to it, and we had to do something for the betterment of the community. And I think we all came to the conclusion to do a history on the area, because I think as you have found working on your project, there’s not a lot of written history, or history in general. And so because there was not a lot of written history, we created an oral history by networking through people we knew and finding out people they knew who have been long-term residents of the area. Obviously, we targeted the Rossi family first—that was one of the biggest, oldest families in the area. But there was a lot of other little families that had been there for decades and seen massive changes in the community. We interviewed them, asking when did they come to the area, were they born and raised, what were some of their fondest memories—much of like questions you are asking me now. 

 

PCA: Yeah.

 

NP: Although, we condensed it down to almost a paragraph per person—pulling out key things and ideas of what they remember about the area, what they loved about it, historical events also. And we would go around with our tape recorders with a little mic on it to record these interviews, and then we would transcribe them on these old Macintoshes. I can’t remember the information on what printing press we used, but I remember going to this old building in downtown Portland with this indie publishing company to format this book and put in all our work. There might have been a trip to the Oregon Historical Society for pictures because there are pictures throughout the book. It’s snapshots of news clippings, et cetera. But I don’t recall going to the Oregon Historical Society—it might’ve been a time when I was on vacation. A lot of work happened during the summer, and during the summer my family and I would camp a lot. I did summer tennis classes and all sorts of things. So I felt like there were parts where I didn’t contribute to completely because of the timing and what I was doing socially. But I think it also just helped deepen my interest and love of history, because I do remember when I was in undergrad, I went on to—what was it—it was my Pacific Northwest class. And our final paper had to be on the area you grew up in, and I was like, great, Parkrose. I know how much stuff is out there—not a whole lot. So I started at the [Oregon] Historical Society. I also took a trip to the administration building to see if they had anything archival, and they pulled out the book that I had participated in. I looked at the lady and I said, “well, I helped write that book. I have a copy.” I said, “do you have anything else?” And she goes, “no.” And so, you know, I think it was a great thing that we did this, and it’s a great thing that you’re doing this website, because there’s just not a lot of history in the area.

 

PCA: Yeah. 

 

NP: I know I think I just totally went on a tangent there, but yeah. 

 

PCA: No, that’s perfect. I mean, this is truly the only thing I’ve found so far specifically about Parkrose—

 

NP: Uh huh. (Laughter)

PCA: —so you’re not wrong in that. Other than that, it’s like, people have flyers and things of their time there. But there’s no formal, published—it’s just not out there. 

 

NP: Nope. I can’t remember where in the research history that I remember this from—but the plans for Parkrose, they wanted it to be its own little city, its own little metropolis. Like, where the Portland International Airport sits now, the dream was to have an access to the river for ships, and make that a destination to drop off stuff. But obviously, PDX claimed that up quicker than the people that founded the area and built the airport. 

 

PCA: I think it’s interesting, too, because Parkrose wasn’t incorporated for so long. 

 

NP: Oh, so long.

 

PCA: And then the city of Portland just kind of—

 

NP: Yeah, all of a sudden. I remember, I think it was the ‘90s—I mean, I was a kid. But I remember my dad grumbling, because the city was now fully incorporating the area, and mandating that everyone had to connect to the sewer system. Our house was a 1940s little bungalow and was on a septic system. “That’s not cheap. That’s going to raise my water bill.” And it did. (Laughter) And we had a pool, and so of course we had to refill the pool every summer. He hated it, because of how much it was because we were on the city system then. But yeah—it was almost like a final frontier of Portland before it became incorporated into the area. And the post office was like an outpost back in the day. It’s like your last stop before you really leave civilization. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Yeah, totally. Maybe you could talk a little bit about after you graduated from Parkrose. What year did you graduate?

 

NP: 2004.

 

PCA: 2004. What did you do next, and kind of how did your experience at Parkrose influence your career path and your education path?

 

NP: Well, after graduating Parkrose, I went to Western Oregon University. I never liked being in the city—I mean, I know like I said earlier, [Parkrose] was kind of like a little oasis, and it was. But I wanted something smaller. So, I went to Western, where it was a town of 5,000 people at the time, and most of it was the college. It took me almost three years to finally declare a major. Like, I don’t know why I kept denying the fact that I wanted a degree in history. But going into college from Parkrose, with my friends—one key thing that stood out was that most of all my friends were honors students from their high schools, I wasn’t. Most of my friends came from rural areas, I wasn’t. I’ll never forget one pivotal moment, and it’s a silly one—we all were in South Salem at Shari’s one night at like midnight, because there’s nowhere in Monmouth to go. And I remember sitting at the Shari’s table looking around, and I’m like, “where are the rules on how to behave in Shari’s?” And my friends all looked at me like, “rules?” Well, I guess it was a Parkrose thing, because you know, after like a theater or choir or sports game, we’d go destroy Shari’s. So they set up rules for us high schoolers. I guess nowhere else do they do that.

 

PCA: (Laughter) That was the Shari’s on 122nd [Avenue]?

 

NP: Yeah, yeah, that one. And the one in South Salem, I guess, doesn’t get beat up by the South Salem high school kids, like the one by our high school. So, I guess that was kind of like one of the moments where it’s like, oh wow, I’m not in Kansas anymore, Toto. But my friends relied heavily on me, though, when we went to the city. And here’s the fun thing—I had never experienced downtown Portland very much as a teenager, except for taking the MAX—we’d go to Saturday Market. But I never drove down there. It terrified me. I remember missing the side of I-84 that I needed to get through the tunnel to get over the Marquam Bridge to get back home, because my whole family lived west side, except for my parents, because they were the rebels, and they went east side—the right side of the river. And I missed it, and I was trying to get to work. I remember calling my boss on my first cell phone, and I was like, “Laurie, I need you to help guide me. I am now in the middle of downtown Portland”—this is before GPS, no smartphones. 

 

PCA: Yeah! Stressful. 

 

NP: I had never been in downtown Portland in a car before, other than when my dad would drive like once in a blue moon. But we’d always MAX in. So she got me over the Burnside Bridge, and once I was on Burnside [Street], I knew what to do from there. (Laughter) But I just remember that horrifying moment. And then in college, my friend is like, “oh, you’re from Portland? Let’s go downtown! You could drive us and show us around.” And I was like—“we could go to Gateway and park and take the MAX and walk.” And they’re like, “the MAX? That’s terrifying. And I was like, “no, not really, that’s what we used before cars.” (Laughter) So, my friends would be nervous on the MAX and the bus, like looking around at people—and I was like, oh my gosh folks, it’s not that big of a deal. So I think that’s one thing that really made me feel different from my friends, is because I somehow connected to friends who grew up in rural Oregon, or even out-of-staters—even people from the middle of nowhere Alaska. But I seemed to have became the local from Portland, and I didn’t know what I was doing. Because I didn’t know downtown unless it was Saturday Market or Pioneer Square. I didn’t even go to Powell’s bookshop until I was in college. And so I think that was one thing that made me feel like a different make from everybody else. 

 

PCA: Yeah. Did you come back to Parkrose or Portland after?

 

NP: I did. So when I graduated it was the heart of the recession, 2009, and I was like, “I haven’t got a job yet”—so my parents let me move into some open weird space in their basement. I didn’t have a room anymore, because my middle sister took my bedroom and my youngest sister was up in the other bedroom. So I was in the basement with no proper walls, closet—just hanging out. So, I lived in Portland from about 2009 to—when did I leave?—2017. And I was in the Parkrose area, specifically, until 2014. From 2009 to 2014. And then I moved, basically—it wasn’t Lents, but I was in southeast Portland, yeah. Because I worked at Portland Community College Southeast campus for about a decade, so I moved closer to there for a handful of years until my husband and I got married and we moved to Canby, because he worked at Newberg at the time and I was working in southeast Portland. So it was a good midway point—

 

PCA: Kind of in between.

 

NP: yeah. It was 30 minutes each direction to our place of work. 

 

PCA: Kind of thinking about your experience as a kid in Parkrose, but also coming back—what were some of the changes that you noticed to the community over time, if you noticed any? Whether that’s like, industrialization of the area, or more building, or anything like that.

 

NP: I would say the biggest thing was the industrialization of the area. Because like I said earlier, I remember when the Wendy’s was a big giant field of grass. I actually remember Senn’s Dairy—I remember walking there with my mom and getting chocolate milk and I think it was cookies and cream ice cream. Like, I can still taste the flavor in my mouth. I also remember just bigger open pieces of property, and then over the years coming back—and even going back now every now and then, to see my parents because they’re still up there, and I go maybe once a month. But every time I feel like I go up there, there’s a new building. There’s new apartments, new high rises in the area. I mean, also, a lot of inner-city has now moved out to that area, so you see a lot more violence. There’s more houselessness in the area, and vastly different than what it was from my childhood. 

 

PCA: Yeah. 

 

NP: And it’s sad to see. I mean, the house across the street from my parents got shot up over a year ago. 26 shots to it. So it scares me, and it’s not the neighborhood that I grew up in. It’s just wildly different. It’s what you would think North Portland was in the ‘90s. Because I remember all the talk of the “projects” of the North Portland area—which does have a fascinating connection to Parkrose, if you have discovered that. So there is a lot of urbanization and industrialization to the area, and I’ve been following the whole talks about the old Kmart area, and what they want to do there, and do some big industrialization depot for trucks, versus actually putting it in to the community to do a multipurpose area for them, which I think would be more beneficial for that area and what it needs. 

 

PCA: Totally. 

 

NP: But I would say that’s the biggest thing. You know, it’s not like the weird little last frontier anymore—it’s definitely incorporated to suburb. It’s a very different neighborhood feel. Especially in north Parkrose. I don’t know—I go up in the Argay area once in a while. But definitely north Parkrose, where I grew up, is very industrialized and urbanized, and very inner-Portland-like, yeah.

 

PCA: Yeah. I feel that as well. My parents are in Parkrose Heights off of 102nd [Avenue] and Knott [Street]—

 

NP: Okay, yeah.

 

PCA: —so pretty close by. They still live there as well, and it’s the house I grew up in, too. And they have similar things to say about being there. 

 

NP: Yes, yup. Yeah. Not the neighborhood I once knew.

 

PCA: Yeah. Are there any parts of Parkrose that you feel are kind of underappreciated or underrepresented?

 

NP: Do you mean geographically, or—

 

PCA: I mean, depending on what you think. For me, I think that despite the fact that it became more urbanized and industrialized while I was there, I feel like there was still a pretty good sense of community.

 

NP: Yes.

 

PCA: And so for me, I almost feel like the community aspect of Parkrose is a little bit underappreciated. But I also think just being on the outskirts of Portland, you’re kind of underappreciated. Is that kind of a similar [experience]?

 

NP: Yes. Oh, I feel absolutely. I think anything east of 82nd Avenue is greatly underappreciated and under—well, not taken care of like the rest of the city. It is the forgotten area of Portland that the city needed to incorporate, but has done nothing to help upkeep it. I always joked growing up, living in the area once I came back from college and taught my sisters to drive, about the potholes and all the underdeveloped roads, the side roads. I know living in Canby and smaller towns, it’s like, “oh, these potholes suck,” and I was like, “oh, this is nothing. They don’t got nothing on East County Portland. You want to talk about potholes? They’re the size of Volkswagens! So I just think, you know, it is a nice small community, and I also feel that maybe as industrialization and urbanization has come in, there’s been a loss of community, just because of the increase in crime. I feel like a lot of people are less out there connecting, or perhaps maybe just in the area that my parents live in—all the kids that grew up there, we’ve all grown up and moved on. And so now a lot of it’s just older people. There are a few young families around, but not much. And the sense of community has changed considerably. And also just the lack of city support and infrastructure to make it a community space that people would want to go to. 

 

PCA: Yeah. Definitely.

 

NP: And that’s just viewing from the outside since I’ve moved away and now live outside the area. You know, people living there might feel differently, but it feels significantly different than the place we grew up in. 

 

PCA: Yeah, definitely. As a final question, what is your favorite thing about Parkrose?

 

NP: I think my favorite part of it, and still is—I love the proximity of where it is to everything. You’re not super close to downtown, but it’s easy to get there. Although traffic makes it take longer, unless you’re on the MAX. Or the ease of going out to the Gorge. Like I live in Newberg now, and if I want to go do that, it’s not just like oh, hop in my car and I’m there in twenty minutes. It’s like, well, it’s going to be an hour—

 

PCA: It’s a day trip.

 

NP: —it’s a day trip! I haven’t done it yet [with my daughter], because I’m going to have to plan and coordinate and get my husband on board to go explore it, and I know there’s a lot of rules that have changed out there—you can’t just go hop into Multnomah Falls like you used to. But I think the proximity to urban and outdoor thrill-seeking is a fantastic location that could really be played up if they want to do some revitalization. Like, come here, be at the mouth of the Gorge. Be 45, 50 minutes away from Mt. Hood—2 and a half hours from the coast, if I’m doing the time right in my head. (Laughter) Or like, you’re 25 minutes from downtown Portland. So it’s just a really good location and proximity to everything, and I miss that. I really do. Where I live now it’s like, I am close to the coast, but the Gorge is where my heart is. And I miss the east wind just cutting through the house. I mean, living in an old house with no insulation, like it cut through the house and through my jacket as I walked to school, because I’d walk right into the east wind to get to school. And I’d always joke on a rainy day—I’d show up wet in the front, and by the time I’d walk home, I’d be wet in the back. And you never used an umbrella. I think I tried a few times, but it always ended up inside out or blowing down the street. So I do miss that. We had a stiff breeze in Newberg recently and the whole town was talking about it and I didn’t even notice it until someone said something about it. And I was like “oh, it is windy”—just because you grow up out there and it was always windy.

 

PCA: You’re used to it.

 

NP: You’re used to it still, even though it’s been years. Yeah. I do miss the proximity to all those key places that I love dear. Love Saturday Market, love going to the Gorge—now it’s a day trip. (Laughter)

 

PCA: Yeah. Well, is there anything else you want to add or anything we didn’t touch on?

 

NP: Nothing that’s popping into my head right now, but if I think of anything I’ll just shoot you a message. 

 

PCA: Absolutely. Thank you so much! This has been great. 

 

NP: Yes, thank you.