Hola y Bienvenidos a "Little Jalisco/Guadalajara" aka Woodburn, Oregon..
Okay, well its not known as "Little Jalisco/Guadalajara" but most of the Mexican immigrants that populate this outlying suburb of Portland's metro hail from Jalisco State in Mexico and their representation of that state is quite evident. FYI Guadalajara is also a sister city of Portland. Jalisco State and Michoacán are among the major sources of Portland's rapidly growing Mexican population.
BTW - I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend in Woodburn because I was helping a friend pick up some furniture so I pretty much had to rush my picture snapping.
lo siento mis amigos.
The main downtown area is tucked away in the middle of Interstate 5 (I-5) and from Highway 99-E (2 major highways) so its easy to miss especially by outsiders.
Woodburn has 20,000-30,000 people (about 30 miles S. of Portland City) and is over 50% Hispanic/Latino with the majority being of Mexican origin and another quarter to a third of the town is made up of Russian Orthodox Old Believers. The Hispanic/Latino presence in Woodburn is not a new phenomenon because they've been here for many generations and was often a place the INS would target because the undocumented back in the day would often settle or stop here (via train hopping etc) to look for work. The town has been stigmatized as being a place of prostitution, drugs and gang activity and is pretty much void of White people (although, not completely). Most of the stereotypes are true to a certain extent but the town has been cleaned up quite a bit. Although, the 13th Street gang still seems to be around from the grafitti i've seen. I think another reason why non-Hispanics avoid adventuring around the town (other than the fact that most stores are geared toward the Hispanic/Latino population) is that there are always a ton of people standing around at the corners or sitting around pretty much doing nothing all day. Of course, most people don't spend enough time around there to actually find out, so....
Las ropas para ti
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ooh another thing worth mentioning about the Jaliscienses in this town is that the youth have really taken to their culture identity as Aztecs and other Indigenous peoples from Mexico (pre-hispano). The revival has created a new sense of pride and there is a movement to teach the youth their indigenous languages, culture, etc. There was an article about it in the "Oregonian" a while back that i thought was very interesting.
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A little alley
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A little ole park. I think that this park was created a few years ago, can't remember exactly 'cause its been while since I've been in Woodburn.
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Quieres un corte de pelo? Si o no? quizas?
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Looking southward towards Salem
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Looking northward towards Portland
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Of course can't forget the Russians. The Russians in this town are very old school and I belive are descendents of the first waves of Russians to have settled in Oregon after fleeing religious persecution in the former communist U.S.S.R. Most people en la ciudad de Woodburn just refer to them as "Old Believers" whom are also somewhat disconnected from the newer waves. However, symbols of their culture are most noticeable east of Highway 99-E while Downtown Woodburn es casi todo Jalisciense.
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Another very Latin area of Portland metro most of you have probably never seen is out in Hillsboro. Anyhow, thanks for cruising with me I hope that you enjoyed this mini-tour. Chaocito.
I wish that I would've had more time to have taken better pics but I tried.
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