COVER STORY
PAGE 22 • GO! MAGAZINE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
The 1990s in Central Oregon
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE
The Bulletin
I
n one Bulletin end of year column writ-
ten by former publisher John Costa in
1998, he described the year before as
“hard to remember a recent time when our
political culture was so uncertain, or our se-
curity in the world so hard to gauge.” Read-
ing that with 2020 freshly in the rearview
mirror may give you a chuckle.
Though it certainly doesn’t feel like it, the
1990s concluded two decades ago.
Defined through fashions of flannel and
frosted tips, bubble gum pop and grunge
music and the beginning of the information
age, the ’90s lept society into the new mil-
lennium with a hefty dose of optimism.
Here’s a look back at some local news
from that decade with some of the defining
and sobering moments, new horizons and
some interesting events that stood out.
Fires
The summer of 1990 in Bend saw one of
the most devastating fires blaze right up to
the city limits. On Aug. 4 the Awbrey Hall
Fire ignited west of Bend near Shevlin Park
scorching more than 3,350 acres in just 12
hours.
Though the amount of land burned is a
fraction of what we saw last summer, the fire
destroyed 22 homes.
that dotted Central Oregon. When the
A similar story came six years later when
Brooks-Scanlon mill (at the time owned by
the Skeleton Fire scorched 19 homes in the
Crown Pacific Ltd.) closed down in 1994, it
Sundance subdivision and more than 17,700 marked the end of timber processing in the
acres of juniper and ponderosa forest south- area. But no sooner had the saws quit buzz-
east of Bend. That year was the
ing, developer Bill Smith had a vision for
worst fire season the state had
the area to be revitalized into the Old
seen up until that point.
Mill District we know today.
Now, it seems like ev-
But at the time, many wondered
ery few years Oregon
if the town could sustain “two
has a record fire sea-
downtowns” as one 1999 Bulle-
son, but these two that
tin article stated.
hit the closest to home
Turns out it can.
and stand out vividly
Growth
in residents who lived
Bend grew up in the ’90s. The
through them.
town transformed from the sleepy
Another fire story that
mill and mountain town to one of
hit close to home took
Bulletin file photo
the top destinations and places to
place hundreds of miles
The Awbrey Hall Fire roared live by the mid-’90s.
away in Colorado. In
Deschutes County was the fast-
1994 the Prineville Hot-
past Skyliners Road shortly
shots traveled to Glen-
before sunset Aug. 4, 1990. est growing county in the state
during the 1990s, a trend that has
wood Springs to help
continued, with Bend taking the
with the fire fighting ef-
lead in population booms, starting with
forts on Storm King Mountain. But the fire
around 24,000 people and doubling by the
progressed quickly and they were trapped
by the flames. Fourteen firefighters died, in- end of the decade.
With all that growth, infrastructure and
cluding nine from the Prineville crew.
the county itself had to adapt for the influx
Mills
of people. In 1991, U.S. Highway 97 be-
tween Bend and Redmond was widened to
The ’90s also saw the closure of the mills
four lanes — which at this point seems hard
to imagine any other way now. In Bend,
new plans were laid with the building of the
Bend Parkway in 1997, a new downtown
library was built and the Deschutes Public
Library District was formed in 1999, which
expanded access and unified the libraries
throughout the county, as well as the cre-
ation of a whole new fairground and expo
center in Redmond (1999).
From the depths of the archives
Of course, no look back would be com-
plete without some of the more … unusual
stories that garnered at least an article in
The Bulletin.
In one truly “only in the ’90s” story from
1994, angry Star Trek fans flooded the
phone lines to a local TV station, The Bulle-
tin as well as Bend Cable (now BendBroad-
band) when the first hour of the series finale
of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was
blacked out.
The two-hour episode “All Good Things”
was originally broadcast on May 23, but the
Eugene station KEZI, which the show aired
on, delayed it a week to May 28.
Eventually, local Trekkies got to see the
episode in its entirety two weeks after its
original broadcast date.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0304, mwhittle@bendbulletin.com
The test of time: How well do you know the ’90s?
Even by today’s standards, the 1990s were an
eventful decade, with plenty of scandals, early
iterations of reality TV, forbidden dances and
more. But considering 1999 was 21 years ago,
it’s been a while. How well do you remember
the details? Take our quiz and find out!
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1. What was the name of Ross’s pet capu-
chin monkey, which appeared in eight epi-
sodes of “Friends”?
A. Chandler
B. Morgan
C. Marcel
D. Paulo
2. The first season of MTV’s “The Real
World” aired in 1992. In which of the below
cities was it set?
A. San Francisco
B. New York
{C. Los Angeles
D. Miami
3. When it came to the physical move-
ments of the titular character in 1999’s “Tar-
zan,” the animators took inspiration from
the movements of what great athlete?
A. A-Rod
B. Michael Jordan
C. Kelly Slater
D. Tony Hawk
4. Before she went solo and became
known as a judge on “The Voice” and the
fiancée of Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani was
the lead singer of what 1990s band?
A. No Doubt
B. Some Doubt
C. Reel Big Fish
D. Creed
5. What 1990s film spawned the bestsell-
ing soundtrack of all time?
A. “Home Alone”
B. “The Bodyguard”
C. “Armageddon”
D. “There’s Something about Mary”
6. With which fellow Britpop band did
Oasis have a well-known rivalry?
A. Suede
B. Pulp
C. Elastica
D. Blur
7. What was the name of country great
Garth Brooks’ rock ‘n’ roll alter-ego?
A. Chris Gaines
B. Chris Gentry
C. Sam Rockwell
D. Paul Ramon
8. In what year did ESPN hold its inaugu-
ral X-Games?
A. 1991
B. 1994
C. 1995
D. 1997
9. What dance form is referred to in the
title of 1990’s “The Forbidden Dance”?
A. Lambda Lambda Lambda
B. The Urkel
C. The Lambada
D. The Carlton
10. Who drove the infamous white Ford
Bronco during law enforcement’s low-speed
pursuit of O.J. Simpson in June 1994?
A. Al Cowlings
B. Kato Kaelin
C. Robert Kardashian
D. Mark Fuhrman
If you answered nine or all correctly, con-
gratulations, you’re a ’90s maven! If you
answered six to eight correctly, we’ll call it
passing. If you answered five or fewer cor-
rectly, it’s time to go back to school like Billy
Madison.
ANSWERS:
1) c, 2) b, 3) d, 4) a, 5) b,
6) d, 7) a, 8) c, 9) c, 10) a
BY DAVID JASPER
The Bulletin
David Jasper: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com