Culture of Oregon
The Bonneville Dam was a plentiful and cheap source of power, which stimulated the development of industries such as aluminum plants during World War II.
In agriculture, Oregon is one of the top producers in such crops as greenhouse and nursery products, Christmas trees, grass seed, peppermint, blackberries and filberts.
[17] The Portland Opera is another walk of the performing arts culture of Oregon and was the world premiere location for both Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights[18] and Christopher Drobny's Lucy's Lapses.
Other notable musicians have relocated to Portland from other areas, including Modest Mouse, Sleater-Kinney, The Shins, Spoon, former Pavement leader Stephen Malkmus, singer-songwriter Patterson Hood, and former R.E.M.
Carrie & Lowell, a concept album by Sufjan Stevens, mentions several locations in the state, including Eugene, Roseburg, Cottage Grove, Sea Lion Caves, and John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.
These factors, alongside a community of independent booksellers such as Powell's Books, has attracted many writers to the area, including Tom Spanbauer (who has been called "the Godfather of Portland's Writing Scene"),[24] Omar El Akkad, Jean Auel,[25] David Biespiel, Matthew Dickman, Ian Doescher, Dorianne Laux, Elena Passarello, Matthew Minicucci, Karen Russell,[26] Kim Stafford, Cheryl Strayed, Mary Szybist, and Lidia Yuknavitch, among others.
Children's author Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon in 1916, and attended Grant High School, in northeast Portland.
Although Cleary and her husband would eventually settle in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, the author continued to write stories set in Portland, and used many references to the city in them.
[27] In return, in 1995 fans of the author successfully raised funds to commemorate her work with the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden in Grant Park, which features many of her most famous characters.
[28] Ken Kesey, best known for his novels One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film starring Jack Nicholson) and Sometimes a Great Notion, lived in Oregon for most of his life.
After spending six months incarcerated for marijuana possession in Redwood City, California, he settled permanently in Pleasant Hill, Oregon, with his family 1966, where he resided until his death in 2001.
In interviews, he has stated that his inspiration for his first novel came in part from working as a diesel mechanic for the truck manufacturer Freightliner, a job which the author held from age 22 to 35.
Other authors from Oregon include Virginia Euwer Wolff, Daniel H. Wilson, John Gallaher, Walt Curtis, Phillip Margolin and Collen Houck.
Oregon has provided the setting for hundreds of films, including The Goonies, Stand By Me, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Mr. Holland's Opus.
In addition, Oregon is a popular filming location, owing in part to the state's geographic diversity and natural beauty.
Portland is also home to the ice cream company Salt & Straw, known for its exotic flavors such as Bone Marrow with Bourbon Smoked Cherries and Arbequina Olive Oil.
The lake partly fills a nearly 2,148-foot (655 m) deep caldera[35] that was formed around 7,700 (± 150)[36][failed verification] years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama.
Crater Lake is also the deepest lake in the U.S.A.. Other major natural landmarks are Crown Point, a promontory on the Columbia River Gorge, Fort Rock State Monument a volcanic landmark called a tuff ring, John Day Fossil Beds a 14,000-acre (5,700 ha) park that is world-renowned for its well preserved, remarkably complete record of fossil plants and animals, along with other natural wonders.
