Is Western Montana culturally 'The Pacific Northwest'? (Missoula, Bozeman: fit in, transplants)

[mrshadow914]

I keep seeing people say that Western Montana and Missoula "feels like the PNW" as opposed to other Mountain states like Colorado or Wyoming, and how many residents of Western Montana are more culturally aligned with Idaho, Oregon, Washington. Is there any truth to this?

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by mrshadow914

I keep seeing people say that Western Montana and Missoula "feels like the PNW" as opposed to other Mountain states like Colorado or Wyoming, and how many residents of Western Montana are more culturally aligned with Idaho, Oregon, Washington. Is there any truth to this?

Missoula is radically leftist like Seattle and Portland, the rest of Western Montana is far.more centered to right leaning, so no, it's more closely aligned with Idaho and Wyoming than either the left coast or Colorado.

[Shuffler]

The only thing that 'feels PNW' here in the Flathead can be the weather. Until we got this arctic blast, it'd been pretty mild, overcast/inversion, and dreary.

Politically, very conservative/libertarian.

Whitefish being the exception, naturally ... it's full of "Limousine Liberals" and is the butt of many local jokes.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

Whitefish being the exception, naturally ... it's full of "Limousine Liberals" and is the butt of many local jokes.

Do Bigfork/ Kalispell get any of the Whitefish attitude?

[Shuffler]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Do Bigfork/ Kalispell get any of the Whitefish attitude?

To a lesser degree. Seems like Bigfork, Lakeside, Kalispell tend to harbor more of the 'old money' around here - just my casual observation, I don't know if it's true or not.

Most locals don't like the direction things have taken around this valley ... too much, too soon.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by mrshadow914

I keep seeing people say that Western Montana and Missoula "feels like the PNW" as opposed to other Mountain states like Colorado or Wyoming, and how many residents of Western Montana are more culturally aligned with Idaho, Oregon, Washington. Is there any truth to this?

Eastern WA, the Idaho Panhandle, and NW MT are really one region (as was explained to me by our realtor!), both culturally and geographically. Same kind of weather, heavily forested in places, great mountain ranges, mighty rivers. Old mining and timber industry. Quite a bit of Norwegian immigration history. A combination of being self-sufficient while being good neighbors. More libertarian than conservative. Missoula is a bit different in that it aligns itself with other liberal university towns of the PNW, but nowhere near as progressive as most left-coast university towns.

I'm "only" a part-time North Idahoan, but that's my impression from 20 years of visiting/part-time living.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by MTSilvertip

Missoula is radically leftist like Seattle and Portland, the rest of Western Montana is far.more centered to right leaning, so no, it's more closely aligned with Idaho and Wyoming than either the left coast or Colorado.

Well, technically Missoula is an exclave of Berkeley, Kalifornia.

[Montguy]

I’ve lived in both, and if your notions of the PNW center heavily on the culture/politics of the I-5 corridor in WA and OR, then Montana is going to feel very different. The greater PNW (E WA, E OR and ID) aligns well with Montana, or at least the Western portion.

And a note about Missoula: it’s just a left-of-center college town with a weird mix of yuppies, granolas and rednecks. Transplant-heavy. Pretty boring IMO. Not my favorite place by any means, but it is widely hated by Montana conservatives, who are, with all due respect, some of the most insane people in America. That they would even compare it to Berkeley CA proves my point.

[MTSilvertip]

When you have to follow some naked guy on a bicycles hairy butt through town because they're having a naked bike ride event, it's a liberal town since most Montana towns frown on that kind of stuff.

Montana conservatives are very grounded, traditional people that are first in line to offer help if someone needs it.
They still believe in morality and just being good friends and neighbors.

Missoula prides itself on being weird and embracing anything but traditional values.

It's referred to as Berkeley North in part because of all the California transplants infesting it.
Same reason Bozeman is called Boz Angeles or Aspen North.

Most of the truly insane people live in one of those 2 places where they fit in with others in the asylum.

[Cody01]

Nowhere is the same as it used to be except maybe small towns. I've watched Montana change a lot over the years. Much of what I enjoyed has changed so much it is hard to enjoy anymore. Yes Missoula is full of odd people for sure. It does remind me of a smaller spokane.