Steven Baker gazes at the oldest house in Eugene@@http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=20080216&id=zl9WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b_ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=3010,3309535@@ and reminisces on his time on 12th avenue with a certain fondness. He smiles a scratchy, mustached smile as he recalls the outdated kerosene heating unit they used to heat the house, the closet-bathrooms they put up with and the claw-footed bathtub on the main floor that every tenant used. You would never guess that one of the oldest structures in Eugene is inconspicuously nestled between Pearl Street and Pearl Alley on 12th Avenue@@checked on google maps@@. The Daniel Christian house@@http://boundless.uoregon.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/archpnw&CISOPTR=9504&CISOBOX=1&REC=4@@, as it’s called, was built in 1855. According to Historic Eugene, the house “may be the oldest house left in Eugene.” Steven Baker was able to live in the historic house during the ’70s, when he first came to the University.
“It’s a part of history that students walk past every day,” Baker said, expertly navigating the streets of West University Neighborhood in his well-worn Brooks sneakers. Although it’s a bright and sunny day, Baker wears a rain shell — a practice he has learned after years of living in Eugene. After pointing out the first fraternity, sorority and other historic marks in the neighborhood, he explains, “West University is filled with history. It’s just hard to tell if you’re not looking for it.”
Baker is a former University researcher and professor, current software developer for Microsoft and a member-at-large for the West University Neighbors association. He has been living in the neighborhood since 1973, and is one of 23 homeowners left in a neighborhood of 6,748. He has seen houses picked up and moved from one side of the block to the other, apartment complexes move in and drive owners out and the culture of West University change before his eyes.
“In the ’70s, these new apartment complexes started coming around,” Baker said. As homeowners in the neighborhood started to pass away, many from old age, their houses went up for public auction. Developers could purchase the property for a cheap price and do what they want with the land. He points out a ’70s apartment style across the street — it has parking half-a-story down from the street with the apartment units hovering half-a-story above ground. “They were cheap and good enough for someone who wasn’t thinking long term — they look like motels. A lack of residential stability probably started around when those started to go in.”
“The neighborhood wasn’t always like this,” he said. “I mean, West University was still 75 percent renters when I moved in, but there was still a neighborhood aspect until recently.”
He tells the story of Charlotte Lemon, the founder of the West University Neighbors association@@http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19810325&id=EBVWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SuIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4768,7715162@@, who lived in her house from the time she was born in 1903 to when she died in 1994. She looked out of her front door every day and saw roughly the same scene: the same houses, the same trees and the same street. It wasn’t until a couple of years after she passed away that the scene at her front door changed.
And when it change, it changed fast. Baker believes the changes peaked in the past five years, not only with development but with the attitude toward the neighborhood. To Baker, it’s too easy for a student to disconnect from the neighborhood. With apartment rentals, typically a student is obligated to live in the complex for a year, if they are not paying month-to-month. Many students live with different roommates each year because of tensions that can build between students living together. Therefore, students often move in and out of different houses and apartments, completely abandoning the idea of knowing your neighbors on a personal level.
“There needs to be somebody besides all students, because there’s no way to deal with all the problems,” Baker says. “Students don’t get that when they break something, there won’t be anyone around to pick up after them. It’s just not healthy.
“It’s too late for this neighborhood. The new stuff that they have built around here is not good for the long term.”
Baker almost moved out of the neighborhood in the middle of the 1990s, when two rival gangs from Los Angeles — the Crips and the Bloods@@http://www.nwgangs.com/oregon-gangs.html@@ — were active in the community. He persevered and decided to stay in the neighborhood.
“The West University Neighborhood is delightful because of its location,” he said. “You can get downtown, you can get to campus, you can get to your doctor’s office — you can get anywhere you need to go easily on foot or bike.”
In the end, though, the location and ease of travel cannot keep Baker in the area.
“I see myself moving out of the neighborhood one day,” he said after noting that his picket fence has been kicked down a couple of times. “We are doing what we can to make the neighborhood better, but we need more stability to make anything work.”