September 9, 2010
Eugene
Eugene is, the story goes, where the '60s came to die. Or to retire, anyway. You've got the Oregon Country Fair here with its 50-something hippies and the sad remnants of the Deadheads still looking for something to do. Eugene is, for the most part, an ugly city with little or no interesting architecture to make up for the fact that the town fathers and mothers redeveloped its downtown in the 1970s, making a pedestrian shopping mall that finished off what was left of the city's once elegant core.
There are a few highlights for visitors. The University of Oregon is here, along with its Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. The Hult Center for the Performing Arts is a beautiful building, even if the acoustics are mediocre. And the new Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse that's to open downtown in fall 2006 is by Thom Mayne, the badboy architect of Morphosis, with a big art project by Manhattan art star Matthew Ritchie.
Eugene is also a pleasant place to live and raise a family, which is why many people live there. It's a small city not too far removed from the natural world that makes up so much of Oregon.
Photo: Delta Ponds in Eugene
all text and images © 2005-06 by Bob Keefer
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