Im 67, born and raised in this city. At 10 years old my mom would dump me and my pal off in downtown Portland on a Saturday or Sunday with $5 each and say "Cya in 10 hours, right here". We would explore the city and have a wonderful time at movies, stores and parks. 8 years ago I was so disgusted with the town, its moronic politics, crime, hipster dip sticks, drug addicts, Bums and graffiti experts I left. Small town Arizona is heaven compared to this once great City. Makes me so sad, guess nothing stays the same. Every corner you showed had a memory for me...Liberals destroy everything they control, on their way to Socialism .
True. I did the same in L.A. back in the day, get a few bucks and be gone all day into the dusk. Awareness, common sense, self reliance made kids into good adults.
I used to do the same thing you did I'm 68 used to go downtown Portland all day it was an ERA where a little kid could take the Rose City bus and go where you want technically a few miles away and come home alive now people have to bust their kids a block at her two at a time to get out instead of walking a block or two I don't live around Portland anymore I'm on the coast cuz I couldn't afford it I have more memories down there than you can shake a stick at
Liberals have homeless shelters which Republican wealthy counties typically do not. In other words Rich Republicans dump their undesirables on Democrat cities. If you rich Republicans were to let homeless people sleep in your church you could have prevented all homelessness 50 years ago.
Thanks, Leo. Speaking as a Northern Californian, who has been to Portland a number of times, this is another sad collapse i hated to see ... but documenting the truth is important.
@@LeoMetalTraveler doesn't fit the narrative they want out there, plus it would have even further negative impact economically. Our local media in Louisville covers up a lot of stuff happening in my own neighborhood because we're supposed to "popular and eclectic". Unfortunately that was once true in the 1990s but no longer. Bars, closures and homeless are ruining it. Clueless people from the outside are being sold this narrative though to keep bourbon tourism going and tax money flowing.
Americans buying from big corporations, franchises made in China destroyed the US economy . We should have been buying made in the USA and buying from small family farms , small businesses and arts and craft makers / church bake sales .
Very sad. I was there for a month in 2002 and it was such a different place. Lively streets to walk & ride bikes, a fun city to explore. WTF happened? Eventhough I already know some of the answers...
Sooooo very true. I've lived in Portland for 14 years and still here(on the outskirts though). It's so sad. Need to get the excitement back of going there.@@random.oddities
Remember the idea of the neutron bomb? It would kill all the people but leave the buildings intact. This is the result of unconstrained drug legalization - the buildings are intact but most if not all of the inhabitants are gone except for a few zombies.
I've always heard that Portland was nice, but now the bloom is definitely off the rose. They've always been kinda weird but the weirdness has diminished their city.
I'll give everyone some free advice. Don't go to Portland. For years I went there for business and loved it. But Portland descended into a place where I no longer felt safe. The street people can be VERY aggressive, and the police do nothing about it. Tents everywhere, no shops, and the street maintenance is poor.
So sad, many years going to Portland, it's been some years, but was getting bad 15+ years ago. No longer taking ceu classes up there. And even OCOM closed it's doors this year. Top Acupuncture college in western US. Not safe location in downtown when they moved there post 2020. China town was a favorite too, and so much more. GONE NOW. Thank you Leo for all you do keeping us informed. Never on the main stream news...
Thank you Leo for shedding light on yet another diminishing city. This place was once a vibrant, thriving and exuberant community. Now it resembles your San Francisco videos. It's deplorable. How sad.
@PauloHernandezXD Wow! That's really frightening. Imagine just stepping on one on the sidewalk and having it go through your shoe. Now you have some junkie's blood AND drugs in you!
What struck me as I watched this was the lack of people walking around, and cars on the street. The other thing was the lack of «For Lease» signs in the windows of the vacant shops. It’s like they have totally given up on the idea of those shops ever being occupied again.
@@nochepatada well not every city. Downtown Vancouver, Canada is not exactly booming anymore either. Unless you consider the rise of the tent city to be a sign of great economic prosperity.
@@nochepatada the one’s that can I guess. Most of the businesses downtown are like anywhere else, retail shops or restaurants, where working from home isn’t an option.
These cities are only surviving due to all the Federal money being handed out. That money is drying up and things will get way worse. Another great video. Take that Old Portland you have been Leo’d.
Most of Portland is full of people it's just the old town but people working from home now so some areas are quiet but then look at rush hour traffic crazy heavy so not sure, I guess people just moved to the suburbs.
Portland was the first place I ever moved. I was 17, in 1992. I came from Southern California. I can’t tell you how different and how cool portland was compared to the concrete jungle I had come from. I had never seen all those pine tree, rivers, mt. Hood and mt. Bachelor apart of the scenery, white people, safety, no graffiti or gangs, no drive-bys, helicopters, etc. It had a small town feel, in a decent size city. I remember seeing an NBA player at the local DMV. Speaking of, I har Just so happened to move there the year tge Blazers went to the finals against the Michael Jordans bulls, and that was all the talk of the town. I remember bragging to my friends, trying to get them to come up, which they eventually did. That special Portland is gone
I look in astonishment from over here (Australia) on how real America has been completely guttered. Not only mostly empty shops but the cities themselves look derelict & run down
The US, as usual, is unorthodox. We have suburbs. And we have single zoning while everyone else has mixed. The secret is that they don't actually like people living in the cities and just keep them commercial zones because they are targets. Suburbs are fine. In fact they just overspent upgrading a historic town near me.
Shocker! And since nobody wants a police job in these blue cities they've lowered their standards. The $hit city near me is helping prospective officers to get their CRIMINAL RECORDS expunged! That will result in much better policing since it takes one to know one.
This is many large or larger cities. I spoke to a Hong Kong resident recently who talked about commercial spaces that cannot get leased out, resulting in the look of near abandonment of some streets. There is a YT video showing this on some streets in Tokyo. The reason for urban decline differ from one city to the next, but in Canada/US it is due to increased homelessness, drug abuse and related crimes.
Thanks Leo; and I thought Portland was lethargic a decade ago! If you're able, would you please do a tour of the University district in Seattle? Man that place kept getting seedier by the year!
I asked a friend of mine in the 90s who toured as a sound engineer all over the world. I asked him what was the prettiest place he had been to in U.S. He thought for a brief second and said…Portland, Oregon.
Totally agree with this. I toured the states as a sound engineer for several years in the early 2010s and both my wife & I agreed that if we would live anywhere in the US it would be Portland. We told many people how lovely it was. Such a quick decline.
This content is so important! Thanks Leo for being " our " boots on the ground and revealing this brutal reality. It's heartbreaking but essential we all bare witness and not fool ourselves #gonenow 😢
There was a rear entrance to the SA building. Haven't walked that block in a couple years. That theater has been closed for many years. Those drinking fountains are known as the Benson Bubblers. They are safe to drink from, I've been doing it for 20 years. The idea is that the constant flow of water keeps the top clean.
Yep, Simon Benson . Multi Billionaire in the logging industry gave all those Bubblers to the city , paid for it all so that 'THIRSTY MEN COULD DRINK WITHOUT ENTERING A BAR". My God , how far the city has plummeted.
The Lan Su Chinese Garden on South Everett is still open - it’s an exquisite park. I remember being there around 2008 - it was full of tourists from China who were really impressed. The fact that the entire neighborhood around it has collapsed - it’s the story of America and there’s a lesson to be learned.
@@everettrhay4855 I miss Hung Far Low. The Republic Cafe was a classic too, good food. There was a very old speakeasy I used to go to as well, dated back to the 1920s with a crazy, dark history. Can't recall the name. Gone now, they razed the amazing old building to put up third world mass housing.
I lived on South West Barnes road for 10 years late 90's early 2000's and all those closed businesses were open and doing well. It appears now the homeless encampments have been removed from the sidewalks, so maybe some businesses might reopen. Homeless-addicts ruined Portland.
For anyone who knows, was that a Salvation Army boarding room apartment building at the start of the video? When I was homeless in Los Angeles, I luckily got an efficiency room at the YMCA hotel in Glendale which was a lifesaver.
when i hit that place up to donate or recive, they gave out blankets and info. everyone would sleep around the trainyard or on otherside of waterfront on Rosequater side (moda center) if they didnt have the $8 a night for a cot at a "better" shelter. Tl;Dr: no, it was just for processing and giving assistance. There was a Y down by the postoffice on W burnside by powels books, unsure if it is still there though, I left 6 years ago and wont ever go back.
@@ellerivendale3290 It was, for a very short time. S.A. is great Institution but could not survive the avalanche of demands from people who had messes of their lives with nowhere to go. Sad stuff.
23:14 - this fenced off block used to be a "safe rest village", filled with a dozen or more little shed homes. The company contracted to manage the village finally pulled out because of safety concerns for their staff, since there was a lot of drug use, crime, and violence connected to it - I was standing on my balcony a couple years ago when a homicide occurred nearby the corner of Broadway and Glisan. Many people with issues go to the adjacent Bud Clark Commons building seeking shelter and other assistance, but there is never enough capacity at the building to serve everyone who goes there, so there is spillover to the surrounding blocks, where people live in tents on sidewalks. This presents a challenge to the nearby Union Station, since visitors by train from Seattle would take the MAX line into the downtown, and their first impression of Portland would be all the crazy destitution they see on the streets just nearby the station. Not a good site for these kinds of services, in my view - bad city planning.
I live near Indianapolis. We don't have the weather or mountains and ocean but our downtown is nice and very clean. The sidewalks are spotless. We have beautiful monuments and public buildings. It unfortunate that our population isnt great enough to fund outstanding public transportation and most people drive. Plus the cost of living is way less.
ur so naive. Dopers, homeless and bums dont give a damn about public transportation. To them it's somewhere to sleep, pee and harass people like you. Dipstick democrat.
In this short video you've walked by and documented millions and millions of dollars worth of unused vacant commercial real estate, and behind all of it lies massive amounts of debt that someone must be paying. Presumably the upper floor residential spaces in these buildings must still be generating income sufficient to service these debts despite the total vacancy in the retail spaces, but who knows - Portland really is a beautiful city; It's shocking to see it so abandoned.
Leo, thanks for the update on Portland. 5th November is our ONLY chance to change things for the better. Blue voters this means YOU! If you want improvements for your city vote RED!
We played The Paris Theater and the Ash St Saloon. Those were different times, at least Dante’s is still there. I used to walk that side of the Burnside bridge when I lived in NW.
I'm near Cleveland and it's right behind you! I was an auxiliary and decided it was stupid to risk my life for a city that hates cops. All the full timers (with good performance records) retired and/or went out to the suburbs where crime is not desired. Down 400 now! Even our terrible Browns team is moving out to the suburbs. I never go down there unarmed any more.
@@georgemartin1436 Ahh ok, no kidding...yep I don't blame you! It's not worth it when they seem to hate you, sorry to hear that. Yep, Detroit was in trouble when I was a kid back in the early 70's! it was so scar going down there. Let's hope we can "somehow" pull out of this nose dive!?? I no longer live in MI, but it is still hard to see..I also remember going to Cleveland as a kid, it was GREAT! Too bad..
Don't worry - Lizzo just said her and Kamala are going to make ALL big cities "Just like Detroit." And you know what? The crowd CHEERED. I say give them what them want, and then put a fence around it!
Summer of love? Summer of gone now! Defunding the police, legalizing drugs, decriminalizing theft, violence, and riots was a Bad idea. O its weird snowflakes.
Wow! 😲 $4.60 a gallon for gas ⛽ (Chevron). New Jersey is the ONLY state where it is still ILLEGAL to pump your own gas ⛽. We do not have self-serve gas stations. Oregon was the only other state that had full-serve gas stations until about a year ago.
@RoadTripTelevisionJN LOL I discovered that years ago, when I was in Portland on business. I stopped to gas up my rent car, and some homeless guy stumbled up to my car to pump the gas. I tried shooing him away, like any other vermin, but the manager came out and said I had to let him pump my gas. 45+ years ago, I worked at a full-service gas station. We wore clean uniforms, were neatly groomed, dealt with the customers in a respectful manner, and actually provided services, like washing windows, checking under the hood, tire pressure, etc. All that for just an extra 10 cents over the self-serve island.
There's a promo video Portland put out a few years ago that ends with a portly opera singer on a dock by a river. They literally created the proverbial, "It ain't over til the fat lady sings."
It was in the early to mid 90’s. I lived on 18 th and Davis roughly 16 blocks from where the beginning of the vid starts. It was quirky, raw, gritty, live, real and with just the right amount of rot, for flavor. Those were the days, sadly I believe they are long gone. If you were there and remember the smell of the food carts, the feel of the rain the taste of the blue boar ale, the girls at Mary’s you know.
Nice work Leo. As usual. Sad to see how decimated downtown Portland is - like San Francisco Jr. Couple of ideas for you to consider. One, put a time/date stamp at the beginning of your walks. The Portland streets were so quiet I began wondering the time and what day of the week it was filmed. Also, maybe add a Google map image of your walking route. I was also wondering if all of downtown Portland looks this bad or is this just the worst part? That could be helpful for the viewer.
Thanks Leo for your research and letting us know what is going on. Such devastation in these cities. It is hard to believe what has become of the USA. All by design. They are not coming back anytime soon.
PDX will not recover easily from this. People in Oregon are losing hope, taxes rise, services decrease, lawlessness grows. Youth buy things on-line from the worst companies on Earth, then cry about how they hate corporations. Instead of having goals, they live day to day and seek immediate gratification. That the the West Coast far too much of the time.
It's insane how NYC was so much better 20-25 years ago and how the majority of people there just effectively said, "We'll accept an Arkham Asylum city if it means neoMarxists won't call us mean things like 'gentrifier'."
Broken Windows Theory. One of the most brilliant ideas to come out of classical criminology. Liberals HATE it because it's irrefutably accurate and true.
Agreed it is sad that Portland is rotting. At least Portland has enthusiastically worked hard to destroy itself from within. They wanted to fail and they have been a highly successful failure.
It's unfortunate that two beautiful places have faced division due to political decisions, but this presents an opportunity for us to advocate for unity and collaboration in order to restore and enhance their beauty.
Burnside is one of the main streets of Portland. Once upon a time, there were lots of businesses and people here. Not to mention nice parks and a great public transportation system. Gone now! Shocking and sad to see it so vacant. I wondered how it was doing and now I know.
6:50... Marys just recently moved into that location after having been in another location around the corner for decades. They must have cleaned the area up the night before you got there. Those streets are usually covered with tents, people drinking, taking drugs and nodding out. 90% of the businesses are closed. The Homeless Help agencies and the Flop House Hotels are open. There are always lines of people outside the agencies waiting for food and free stuff. Surprised you didn't step in needles and feces in the gutters. 12:30. YES there ARE usually tents ALL OVER the place. Fences and barricades around everything. The campers may be gone but the fences and barriers are a visual blight and reminder of the situation.
Hey Leo, my husband and I lived in the Mission district in SF before coming to Portland! That was in 1993. After the Mission district, we thought that Portland was weirdly clean, now it’s not though. Portland really took a beating during the Black Lives Matter protests and when the Proud Boys fought it out with the anarchists. Things have definitely quieted down since then. Also, the homeless are not as much in evidence. I think the city is getting at least some of them into tiny house villages. Next time you come, we want to make sure that you see some other parts around Portland both good and bad.
Lived at a weekly hotel downtown on Burnside in ‘91…was seedy with lots of weird characters around but it had a lot of charm and it was mostly friendly locals….after the internet this place went downhill fast! Love going to Hung Far Low for some cheap Tsingtao’s and checking out great punk bands at Satyricon….and grabbing a really cheap souvlaki out front at Eat or Die! That was as weird as it shoulda got….young hipsters killed my city of roses!
They wanted to "keep Portland weird." Instead, they made Portland vacant.
pin
this
comment
I wonder where all those people and businesses moved to?
I wonder what happened to the Hatchet Lady.
@@carefulconsumer8682 austin now
@@LamelKendrick After 2004 Austin went down hill fast imo.
Thanks for showing us the story mainstream media refuses to report.
Exactly. WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS ?? THIS SHOULD BE ON EVERY NEWS OUTLET. WTF?
@@thechaostrials1964 its democrats fault and they own the media thats why
hey when the city of san fran defunds the fire department holy ghost shit trouble.
@georgecoons6872 There's a real stick in the spokes! So, who pays property tax on an uninsurable asset mortgage lenders refuse to service?
@nochepatada Yes, the businesses that were closed down due to hostile covid political policies including Fisherman's Wharf, permanently closed.
Im 67, born and raised in this city. At 10 years old my mom would dump me and my pal off in downtown Portland on a Saturday or Sunday with $5 each and say "Cya in 10 hours, right here".
We would explore the city and have a wonderful time at movies, stores and parks. 8 years ago I was so disgusted with the town, its moronic politics, crime, hipster dip sticks, drug addicts, Bums and graffiti experts I left. Small town Arizona is heaven compared to this once great City. Makes me so sad, guess nothing stays the same. Every corner you showed had a memory for me...Liberals destroy everything they control, on their way to Socialism .
The Hipster Dipsticks are fun to watch🤷
True. I did the same in L.A. back in the day, get a few bucks and be gone all day into the dusk. Awareness, common sense, self reliance made kids into good adults.
I used to do the same thing you did I'm 68 used to go downtown Portland all day it was an ERA where a little kid could take the Rose City bus and go where you want technically a few miles away and come home alive now people have to bust their kids a block at her two at a time to get out instead of walking a block or two I don't live around Portland anymore I'm on the coast cuz I couldn't afford it I have more memories down there than you can shake a stick at
Liberals have homeless shelters which Republican wealthy counties typically do not. In other words Rich Republicans dump their undesirables on Democrat cities. If you rich Republicans were to let homeless people sleep in your church you could have prevented all homelessness 50 years ago.
I thought the coast had higher prices @@brantardrey7360
Thanks, Leo. Speaking as a Northern Californian, who has been to Portland a number of times, this is another sad collapse i hated to see ... but documenting the truth is important.
Thank you, I know they don’t show this on msm
Gone Now !
100% agree.....the truth matters!!!
@@LeoMetalTraveler doesn't fit the narrative they want out there, plus it would have even further negative impact economically. Our local media in Louisville covers up a lot of stuff happening in my own neighborhood because we're supposed to "popular and eclectic". Unfortunately that was once true in the 1990s but no longer. Bars, closures and homeless are ruining it. Clueless people from the outside are being sold this narrative though to keep bourbon tourism going and tax money flowing.
@@LeoMetalTraveler 22:50 They look like boys in yellow, not in blue, and there is a girl among them.
I grew up in Portland and in the 70's we had a lot of fun going to old town. Sad to see it all screwed up now. Thanks Libs.
I guess legalizing drugs and kicking out the police was a bad policy? Who would've thought.
Brought to us by living through television
Live and learn. Portland got what it wanted
Americans buying from big corporations, franchises made in China destroyed the US economy . We should have been buying made in the USA and buying from small family farms , small businesses and arts and craft makers / church bake sales .
Legalizing drugs is fine in a free country. Just doing it in public should be regulated.
Feelings trump facts in America.
Ol town Portland is GONE NOW!
It's for leesae!
@@mrsleep0000 They can buy the Boeing StarLiner as well.
@@mrsleep0000 good luck with that!
This is depressing. You don’t see more than 3 people every 2 blocks. And the only businesses open are beaten up crap holes I wouldn’t put my foot in.
Very sad. I was there for a month in 2002 and it was such a different place. Lively streets to walk & ride bikes, a fun city to explore. WTF happened? Eventhough I already know some of the answers...
Sooooo very true. I've lived in Portland for 14 years and still here(on the outskirts though). It's so sad. Need to get the excitement back of going there.@@random.oddities
Welcome to the Democrats utopia.
Remember the idea of the neutron bomb? It would kill all the people but leave the buildings intact. This is the result of unconstrained drug legalization - the buildings are intact but most if not all of the inhabitants are gone except for a few zombies.
As well as the ensuing crime that breeds, keeping most people away.
Metal Leo deserves a Pulitzer prize for his reporting!
More like a Poooavoider Prize. Watch your step Leo.
@@canamrider07😂
I've always heard that Portland was nice, but now the bloom is definitely off the rose. They've always been kinda weird but the weirdness has diminished their city.
Leo is far more legit than the alphabet soup news outlets.
@@sailingaeolus talmuddies
I'll give everyone some free advice. Don't go to Portland. For years I went there for business and loved it. But Portland descended into a place where I no longer felt safe. The street people can be VERY aggressive, and the police do nothing about it. Tents everywhere, no shops, and the street maintenance is poor.
Sad to see and hear. Before the disease I had wanted to go out there and check it out as I had heard some good things. Looks like a wasteland now.
Nothing a few more Black Lives Matter signs and rainbow painted crosswalks can't fix!
Just how the world elite want it!
So sad, many years going to Portland, it's been some years, but was getting bad 15+ years ago. No longer taking ceu classes up there. And even OCOM closed it's doors this year. Top Acupuncture college in western US. Not safe location in downtown when they moved there post 2020. China town was a favorite too, and so much more. GONE NOW. Thank you Leo for all you do keeping us informed. Never on the main stream news...
America is toast
1) Gone nowww!
2) Boards, boards, boards!
3) For leease!
4) OMG, I am not gonna step there!
Thank you Leo for shedding light on yet another diminishing city. This place was once a vibrant, thriving and exuberant community. Now it resembles your San Francisco videos. It's deplorable. How sad.
Imagine having a "Syringe Drop Box" outside your business! WOW. I've never seen anything like that and I'm so glad.
@PauloHernandezXD Wow! That's really frightening. Imagine just stepping on one on the sidewalk and having it go through your shoe. Now you have some junkie's blood AND drugs in you!
Yet the people of Portland will continue to re-elect the people who created this.
Yeah there is no more voting their way out of this the good people are "gone now!".
@@plasmaticmedia518 , forever gone .........
It'a not the voter but the vote counters that determine the results.
Communism can be voted in, but it can't be voted out.
@@NomosPocus , yeah right .... they were voted in now they won't go away n that's what happened ..
We appreciate you making these videos for us Leo. But please keep yourself safe in your travels. 🇺🇸
Thank you
Holy cow! Even the Salvation Army is gone. Portland has hit rock bottom.
Yep. When they leave, it's over.
This country has hit rock bottom. Wake up.
no it somehow keeps declining the ppl are like frogs in boiling water
There’s no more Salvation there 😂
More shops are open in Kyiv Ukraine... something is really wrong.
Exactly
Democrats. That’s what’s wrong. Antifa runs that town.
This is very true.
Free US Dollars
Then imagine the U$ hit by a war on its territory. What would it be like?
Given the ultra low number of pedestrians, even the open businesses must on verge of closing.
What struck me as I watched this was the lack of people walking around, and cars on the street. The other thing was the lack of «For Lease» signs in the windows of the vacant shops. It’s like they have totally given up on the idea of those shops ever being occupied again.
Right!
@@LeoMetalTravelerwhat time was it Leo
It was around 2 PM
@@nochepatada well not every city. Downtown Vancouver, Canada is not exactly booming anymore either. Unless you consider the rise of the tent city to be a sign of great economic prosperity.
@@nochepatada the one’s that can I guess. Most of the businesses downtown are like anywhere else, retail shops or restaurants, where working from home isn’t an option.
Wow! Now all you need to cover is Seattle and San Diego, and you'll have the west coast pretty completely covered.
Soon…
These cities are only surviving due to all the Federal money being handed out. That money is drying up and things will get way worse. Another great video. Take that Old Portland you have been Leo’d.
More videos to come!
2008 was described as the end of the party. Everything after has been spiking the punch bowl at 4 am
Most of Portland is full of people it's just the old town but people working from home now so some areas are quiet but then look at rush hour traffic crazy heavy so not sure, I guess people just moved to the suburbs.
It's all done by design!
Portland was the first place I ever moved. I was 17, in 1992. I came from Southern California. I can’t tell you how different and how cool portland was compared to the concrete jungle I had come from. I had never seen all those pine tree, rivers, mt. Hood and mt. Bachelor apart of the scenery, white people, safety, no graffiti or gangs, no drive-bys, helicopters, etc.
It had a small town feel, in a decent size city. I remember seeing an NBA player at the local DMV. Speaking of, I har Just so happened to move there the year tge Blazers went to the finals against the Michael Jordans bulls, and that was all the talk of the town.
I remember bragging to my friends, trying to get them to come up, which they eventually did. That special Portland is gone
I remember that Portland so well. I miss it. I'm glad I spent so much time there in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Yep. It was California liberals that started Portlands decline in the 90s....Thanks. Californians ruin everything they touch.
Thank you for posting this video. ... John Russell Batchelder ... Davis, CA
Thanks for listening
Yes, Leo, please cover more cities. People need to know all that’s Gone Now.
Will do
I look in astonishment from over here (Australia) on how real America has been completely guttered. Not only mostly empty shops but the cities themselves look derelict & run down
Australian cities have their dark spots too.
Sydney and Melbourne are dreamscapes compared to US cities. You are lucky. Spent 6 months there and did not want to leave.
The US, as usual, is unorthodox. We have suburbs. And we have single zoning while everyone else has mixed. The secret is that they don't actually like people living in the cities and just keep them commercial zones because they are targets. Suburbs are fine. In fact they just overspent upgrading a historic town near me.
Australia is catching up, main streets are shutting down as well in some towns in Australia.
@@Nylon_riot Thank you for that insight. That said, the system must have worked better in the past. As I understand it. The question then is : Why ?
That whole defund the police thing ain't workin' out too well
Shocker! And since nobody wants a police job in these blue cities they've lowered their standards. The $hit city near me is helping prospective officers to get their CRIMINAL RECORDS expunged! That will result in much better policing since it takes one to know one.
This is like visiting a city where some terrible catastrophe had occurred a few years ago, And we see the aftermath.
Its working really well.. there is no need for police now as all the business and people are gone...
Mission Accomplished!
Mission Accomplished!
I lived in Northern Cali and traveled through Portland on my way to visit family in Washington many times. This is so sad.
This is many large or larger cities. I spoke to a Hong Kong resident recently who talked about commercial spaces that cannot get leased out, resulting in the look of near abandonment of some streets. There is a YT video showing this on some streets in Tokyo. The reason for urban decline differ from one city to the next, but in Canada/US it is due to increased homelessness, drug abuse and related crimes.
Tacoma, Seattle, etc., don't look in better shape.
Where's all the people? "Gone now"
It's just Closed Now 😂 Will reopen when policy changes. 😅
I wasn't trying to insult anyone it's a common phrase on this channel.
Antifa took over the Portland streets in 2020 and now no culture remains.
I guess people died.
they're out to get "BOARDS, BOARDS, BOARDS"
The city reeks of despair and desperation! You could see it in all their eyes.
And shiat
@@canamrider07 Don't forget the PEE SMELL!
Where's Antifa? It was so prominent a few years ago.
@@MarlinWilliams-ts5ul Their work is done in that location!
@MarlinWilliams-ts5ul in their communes being unemployed, trying to sell nudity on FansOnly
Thanks Leo; and I thought Portland was lethargic a decade ago! If you're able, would you please do a tour of the University district in Seattle? Man that place kept getting seedier by the year!
Houses everywhere still 500k average. Absolute bullshit 💩 money printing scam
You're hero Leo. Why is no one talking about this?
Because they like to sweep it under the rug…
I've lived in Portland all my life and nothing good has ever happened to me.
I did my tour back in 71-93 then transferred to the Marines. I never made it back.
Thanks!
Welcome! @garywothington840 thanks again !
I asked a friend of mine in the 90s who toured as a sound engineer all over the world. I asked him what was the prettiest place he had been to in U.S. He thought for a brief second and said…Portland, Oregon.
gone now
Totally agree with this. I toured the states as a sound engineer for several years in the early 2010s and both my wife & I agreed that if we would live anywhere in the US it would be Portland. We told many people how lovely it was. Such a quick decline.
salvation army found NO salvation!!!!!!!! LOL
When the Salvation Army throws in the towel, you know things are out of control.
They probably got ransacked on day one.
Salvation Army found that no one wants to be saved and prefer perdition and destruction.
Thanks for posting, I lived there for 20yrs, it was great while it lasted, moved out to the Southwest 3 yrs ago 🤠
Cool, what state?
The city looks devastated. What time of day were you filming. Was it a weekday? Great video.
Yes, it was a weekday just a few days ago,around 2 PM
Thank You Leo for all your do for us! We are seeing first hand what you are doing behind the camera! Thank you Most High!
Leo. Come to Denver. it's bad.
Will do
The world has become a sad place due to some evil people . God bless Leo , Peace ✌ from Oz.
This content is so important! Thanks Leo for being " our " boots on the ground and revealing this brutal reality. It's heartbreaking but essential we all bare witness and not fool ourselves #gonenow 😢
Have a great day Leo
It's disappointing but not unexpected since some people don't want to have to admit there are consequences to their actions.
There was a rear entrance to the SA building. Haven't walked that block in a couple years. That theater has been closed for many years. Those drinking fountains are known as the Benson Bubblers. They are safe to drink from, I've been doing it for 20 years. The idea is that the constant flow of water keeps the top clean.
I didn't know that, and I went to Benson Tech
Come on there are tons of videos of homeless washing their butts and feet etc in the bubblers, gross.
Yep, Simon Benson . Multi Billionaire in the logging industry gave all those Bubblers to the city , paid for it all so that 'THIRSTY MEN COULD DRINK WITHOUT ENTERING A BAR". My God , how far the city has plummeted.
No dont drink that! Seen homeless use them as a bidet.
The Lan Su Chinese Garden on South Everett is still open - it’s an exquisite park. I remember being there around 2008 - it was full of tourists from China who were really impressed. The fact that the entire neighborhood around it has collapsed - it’s the story of America and there’s a lesson to be learned.
The lesson is don't let commie drug addicts drive away good people 👌
The Mai Tai’s at Hung Far Lo, were super strong, you’d have to wait for the ice to melt. And good times at Yhe Magic Garden across the street.
@@everettrhay4855 I miss Hung Far Low. The Republic Cafe was a classic too, good food. There was a very old speakeasy I used to go to as well, dated back to the 1920s with a crazy, dark history. Can't recall the name. Gone now, they razed the amazing old building to put up third world mass housing.
Not the story of MY American city. We're doing great.
yea its DONT TRUST LIBERALS!!!
Great show, Leo.
Thanks,more Portland videos on the way
You just walked past my appt from the last millennium!
God bless you and thank you for your service!...
I lived on South West Barnes road for 10 years late 90's early 2000's and all those closed businesses were open and doing well. It appears now the homeless encampments have been removed from the sidewalks, so maybe some businesses might reopen. Homeless-addicts ruined Portland.
Abd didn't oregon overturn the "all drugs are ok" law?
@@GUITARTIME2024 once the allowed lawlwssness its near impossible to walk that back when there is a woke liberal antipolice marxist local government
For anyone who knows, was that a Salvation Army boarding room apartment building at the start of the video? When I was homeless in Los Angeles, I luckily got an efficiency room at the YMCA hotel in Glendale which was a lifesaver.
when i hit that place up to donate or recive, they gave out blankets and info. everyone would sleep around the trainyard or on otherside of waterfront on Rosequater side (moda center) if they didnt have the $8 a night for a cot at a "better" shelter.
Tl;Dr: no, it was just for processing and giving assistance.
There was a Y down by the postoffice on W burnside by powels books, unsure if it is still there though, I left 6 years ago and wont ever go back.
the salvation army building was a shelter for women.
@@ellerivendale3290 Oh, thought that was some place else. Being male, I never got that info.
@@ellerivendale3290 It was, for a very short time. S.A. is great Institution but could not survive the avalanche of demands from people who had messes of their lives with nowhere to go. Sad stuff.
23:14 - this fenced off block used to be a "safe rest village", filled with a dozen or more little shed homes. The company contracted to manage the village finally pulled out because of safety concerns for their staff, since there was a lot of drug use, crime, and violence connected to it - I was standing on my balcony a couple years ago when a homicide occurred nearby the corner of Broadway and Glisan. Many people with issues go to the adjacent Bud Clark Commons building seeking shelter and other assistance, but there is never enough capacity at the building to serve everyone who goes there, so there is spillover to the surrounding blocks, where people live in tents on sidewalks. This presents a challenge to the nearby Union Station, since visitors by train from Seattle would take the MAX line into the downtown, and their first impression of Portland would be all the crazy destitution they see on the streets just nearby the station. Not a good site for these kinds of services, in my view - bad city planning.
‘Old Town’ is now ‘Ghost Town’! 👻
Exactly 👻👻👻
Hey Halloween 🎃 themed
Leo… Those aren’t drinking fountains… They Are Portland Urinals…💯🤮🤢
I live near Indianapolis. We don't have the weather or mountains and ocean but our downtown is nice and very clean. The sidewalks are spotless. We have beautiful monuments and public buildings. It unfortunate that our population isnt great enough to fund outstanding public transportation and most people drive. Plus the cost of living is way less.
That's because you have a functioning city government running the place and not mentally deficient woketards like Portland has.
"I live near Indianapolis." but the city itself has dark spots, like all other U$ cities.
ur so naive. Dopers, homeless and bums dont give a damn about public transportation. To them it's somewhere to sleep, pee and harass people like you. Dipstick democrat.
In this short video you've walked by and documented millions and millions of dollars worth of unused vacant commercial real estate, and behind all of it lies massive amounts of debt that someone must be paying. Presumably the upper floor residential spaces in these buildings must still be generating income sufficient to service these debts despite the total vacancy in the retail spaces, but who knows - Portland really is a beautiful city; It's shocking to see it so abandoned.
True indeed.
Thanks again Leo. Great Job! We missed You!❤
I missed you too!
Leo, thanks for the update on Portland.
5th November is our ONLY chance to change things for the better. Blue voters this means YOU! If you want improvements for your city vote RED!
Sadly they won't. The brainwashin4uhas turned them into zombie robots.
Thank you Metal Leo for another great video.
My pleasure!
The city of drug attics and homelessness.
And a bunch of Lgbtqxyz/ antifa clowns! 🤡
We played The Paris Theater and the Ash St Saloon. Those were different times, at least Dante’s is still there. I used to walk that side of the Burnside bridge when I lived in NW.
I’m glad Dantes still there
Miss those days
As I said when this WHOLE thing started 4 years ago...All major cities with turn into Detroit! And trust me, I know, I am from Detroit!
I'm near Cleveland and it's right behind you! I was an auxiliary and decided it was stupid to risk my life for a city that hates cops. All the full timers (with good performance records) retired and/or went out to the suburbs where crime is not desired. Down 400 now! Even our terrible Browns team is moving out to the suburbs. I never go down there unarmed any more.
@@georgemartin1436 Ahh ok, no kidding...yep I don't blame you! It's not worth it when they seem to hate you, sorry to hear that. Yep, Detroit was in trouble when I was a kid back in the early 70's! it was so scar going down there. Let's hope we can "somehow" pull out of this nose dive!?? I no longer live in MI, but it is still hard to see..I also remember going to Cleveland as a kid, it was GREAT! Too bad..
Don't worry - Lizzo just said her and Kamala are going to make ALL big cities "Just like Detroit." And you know what? The crowd CHEERED. I say give them what them want, and then put a fence around it!
"this WHOLE thing started 4 years ago."😂😂😂😂Way back!
@@truthadvocacy I know right!! Kinda scary...lol
Summer of love? Summer of gone now! Defunding the police, legalizing drugs, decriminalizing theft, violence, and riots was a Bad idea. O its weird snowflakes.
All part of the Great Plan.
@@PartTimeLaowaifrom whom ? The liberals ??!!
@@ettaplace6716 from a far more powerful authority than that I'm afraid. To say more on this platform would likely annoy the YT WrongThink bot.
Drugs should be legal. My body, my choice. America is supposed to be a free country. Only public use of drugs should be illegal.
The sunshine came out for YOU, Leo! Your sun shines everyday! ☀️🌞😘💕
☀️🕶️
It's incredible how a beautiful city like Portland has turned to crap. It's deserted.
22:59 Entrance to the former Portland Greyhound bus station.
23:42 Used to be Harvey's Comedy Club. A popular place 15, 20, 25 years ago.
Wow! 😲 $4.60 a gallon for gas ⛽ (Chevron). New Jersey is the ONLY state where it is still ILLEGAL to pump your own gas ⛽. We do not have self-serve gas stations. Oregon was the only other state that had full-serve gas stations until about a year ago.
@RoadTripTelevisionJN LOL I discovered that years ago, when I was in Portland on business. I stopped to gas up my rent car, and some homeless guy stumbled up to my car to pump the gas. I tried shooing him away, like any other vermin, but the manager came out and said I had to let him pump my gas. 45+ years ago, I worked at a full-service gas station. We wore clean uniforms, were neatly groomed, dealt with the customers in a respectful manner, and actually provided services, like washing windows, checking under the hood, tire pressure, etc. All that for just an extra 10 cents over the self-serve island.
Thanks Leo for telling the TRUTH about the left coast.
Even the Salvation Army is:
For leeeeze! 😮
Very good video
Watching before work.
There's a promo video Portland put out a few years ago that ends with a portly opera singer on a dock by a river. They literally created the proverbial, "It ain't over til the fat lady sings."
How sad, this looks like it could be an incredible place to live.
It was in the early to mid 90’s. I lived on 18 th and Davis roughly 16 blocks from where the beginning of the vid starts. It was quirky, raw, gritty, live, real and with just the right amount of rot, for flavor. Those were the days, sadly I believe they are long gone. If you were there and remember the smell of the food carts, the feel of the rain the taste of the blue boar ale, the girls at Mary’s you know.
I would say the peak was 2010
Hey Thanks for showing us Portland. Looks pretty desolate for sure
It is
Nice work Leo. As usual. Sad to see how decimated downtown Portland is - like San Francisco Jr. Couple of ideas for you to consider.
One, put a time/date stamp at the beginning of your walks. The Portland streets were so quiet I began wondering the time and what day of the week it was filmed.
Also, maybe add a Google map image of your walking route. I was also wondering if all of downtown Portland looks this bad or is this just the worst part? That could be helpful for the viewer.
Thanks Leo for your research and letting us know what is going on. Such devastation in these cities. It is hard to believe what has become of the USA. All by design. They are not coming back anytime soon.
PDX will not recover easily from this. People in Oregon are losing hope, taxes rise, services decrease, lawlessness grows. Youth buy things on-line from the worst companies on Earth, then cry about how they hate corporations. Instead of having goals, they live day to day and seek immediate gratification. That the the West Coast far too much of the time.
Portland will recover once people reject the woke mindset and take control of their own destinies.
Ur right.
I bet it's scary at night time. 😢
All of this vandalism and ruin would certainly legitimize Rudy Giuliani's "Broken Glass" approach to managing a city.
It's insane how NYC was so much better 20-25 years ago and how the majority of people there just effectively said, "We'll accept an Arkham Asylum city if it means neoMarxists won't call us mean things like 'gentrifier'."
Broken Windows
Broken Windows Theory. One of the most brilliant ideas to come out of classical criminology. Liberals HATE it because it's irrefutably accurate and true.
Sad to see it rot.
Agreed it is sad that Portland is rotting. At least Portland has enthusiastically worked hard to destroy itself from within. They wanted to fail and they have been a highly successful failure.
What happens on the floors above those closed establishments
Portland and Seattle were once my favorite cities.
Both trash now.
It's unfortunate that two beautiful places have faced division due to political decisions, but this presents an opportunity for us to advocate for unity and collaboration in order to restore and enhance their beauty.
Its sad what Portland has become. Thank you Metal Leo.
Man, Gwar playing in a wreaked city. The planets have aligned.
lol appropriate
Doing a great job and great service!
Leo,,when the sidewalks start smelling too strong, turn around and Go Now ,,! 😮 Thanks for your videos 🎉.
😁
Burnside is one of the main streets of Portland. Once upon a time, there were lots of businesses and people here. Not to mention nice parks and a great public transportation system. Gone now! Shocking and sad to see it so vacant. I wondered how it was doing and now I know.
Thanks for sharing!
This is heartbreaking. I spent time there back in the late 80s and 90s. I had always wanted to go back, but as the saying goes: You can't go back.
Sketchy dystopian hellscape.
6:50... Marys just recently moved into that location after having been in another location around the corner for decades.
They must have cleaned the area up the night before you got there.
Those streets are usually covered with tents, people drinking, taking drugs and nodding out.
90% of the businesses are closed.
The Homeless Help agencies and the Flop House Hotels are open.
There are always lines of people outside the agencies waiting for food and free stuff.
Surprised you didn't step in needles and feces in the gutters.
12:30. YES there ARE usually tents ALL OVER the place.
Fences and barricades around everything. The campers may be gone but the fences and barriers are a visual blight and reminder of the situation.
There has been a recent crackdown on tent encampments in Portland, which might explain their scarcity.
The Original Marys on Broadway is still there isn't it?
Seeing all those businesses closed is heartbreaking.
Leo, can you visit Eureka California? We would love to see what that place looks like nowadays! Keep up the outstanding work!
BLM needs to pay reparations to Portland
So do the Proud Boys
So does Antifa. Particularly Antifa.
@@ladesigner8764oh yeah? What did they do? I thought it was Antifa and BLM burning and looting, did I miss something?
@@ladesigner8764 You've still got your head so far up your ass you'll never admit it was your own kind that destroyed Portland!
@ladesigner8764
Whatever proud boy’s are from Vancouver.
Ironic that there’s a for lease sign under the iconic Portland sign haha!
For leeaze!😁
Boards, boards, boards.
“BOARD!
BOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRDDDDD!
(Thud)
Warned ya! Twice.”
-- Hot Shots Part Deux
Stay safe, Leo❤
Hello Leo, thank you for covering this. Someday it will get better.
doubtful
Once it’s gone, it’s gone now!
The city will probably continue to decline. It's hard to reverse such rot.
Who wants to wait???
Hey Leo, my husband and I lived in the Mission district in SF before coming to Portland! That was in 1993. After the Mission district, we thought that Portland was weirdly clean, now it’s not though. Portland really took a beating during the Black Lives Matter protests and when the Proud Boys fought it out with the anarchists. Things have definitely quieted down since then. Also, the homeless are not as much in evidence. I think the city is getting at least some of them into tiny house villages. Next time you come, we want to make sure that you see some other parts around Portland both good and bad.
U can tell the state of downtown by how freakin quiet it is. Was there 25years ago. Was not that dead
It’s desolated!
Spot on. Used to always be crowds
Portland was my favorite city to visit inside the US, I haven't seen it for about 5 years. Hoping things get better.
Lived at a weekly hotel downtown on Burnside in ‘91…was seedy with lots of weird characters around but it had a lot of charm and it was mostly friendly locals….after the internet this place went downhill fast! Love going to Hung Far Low for some cheap Tsingtao’s and checking out great punk bands at Satyricon….and grabbing a really cheap souvlaki out front at Eat or Die! That was as weird as it shoulda got….young hipsters killed my city of roses!
The Mai tai’s at Hung Far Lo’s were super strong. I lived on 18th and Davis.