Small Town America #3 Tillamook, Oregon 

I live in Tillamook and many people here don't want Tillamook to become a tourist town. That's why the town council has been making sure things like Walmart and such dont create more traffic than we already get.

Greetings from a Tillamook local. As much as I appreciate a video documenting my hometown I couldn't help but notice this video skipping over a number of notable attractions. The air museum, pioneer museum, our outdoor activities. You didn't really mention our restaurants in detail.

If the people of Tillamook really love living there, of course they are NOT interested in making the place more attractive to tourists ! There's more to life than profits !

I grew up with one of the dairy farmers who are part of the Tillamook Cheese Co-op. Great multigenerational family farms that care a lot about their product. If you can’t visit tillamook in person, at least try their cheese!

Unlike many coastal Oregon towns, Tillamook has pretty much resisted turning itself into a touristic theme park, ala Cannon Beach, Newport, or Lincoln City. It's essentially a county seat with reasonably good services for locals. Visitors are welcome of course but they are typically going to the Creamery or the beach. Houses in town are small/modest because they were built for worker families in the heyday 50s. My experience living in a place where tourists are common is that they often arrive with an odd sense of entitlement.

You forgot the Tillamook Air Museum It's a fantastic place heading south out of Tillamook. There's so much to see on Coast from Washington State to California. Thanks for all the great videos

Two negative things about Tillamook, it frequently floods and often smells of manure. Positive things, very friendly people and beautiful scenery all around.

To know Oregon coastal towns is to know they don't want you to be impressed. They don't want a "revival". They especially don't want Californians moving in and mucking up their town like they've mucked up so many other towns in Oregon. This video was pretty amusing.

The town used to be a thriving place, but when the lumber industry left and jobs left with it the town went down and never recovered. I was born there but didn't stay (Seattle for past 50+ years). Our family home was right across the street from the cheese factory. My mom owned a restaurant called The Tiki just on the edge of town, my brother was a commercial fisherman with a FV out of Garibaldi, and my dad was a foreman at Louisiana Pacific Sawmill in Tillamook (it's now the Air Museum).

Well..ya left out a few things...how about four rivers running through the town. the Tillamook ,the trask, the wilson and the kilchis rivers, best salmon and steel head fishing ever, not to mention swimming and camping spots. we have museums to visit. lots of pubs and breweries. visit one of the 80 dairy farms and see how its done. FOR FREE! No mention of the air museum and blimp base. North of town is a flood plane from Rosenberg builders supply to Fred Meyer. Thats why not much happening there. The main part up in town is so narrow because they use to run cows through the streets back in the early 1900's. massive hiking , forest roads, and water falls to visit. Sand lake dunes recreation spot...20 minutes away. Fresh sea food spots every where. I can go to the beach or the mountains in ten minutes. You may get stuck behind a poop wagon or feed truck loaded with corn with a welcome to Tillamook smell so be ready. Ya gotta love the smell of money. Thumbs down for your review. and yes...I'm a life time resident.

Nice video series. Tillamook Air Museum is actually pretty cool. Some great vintage aircraft including dirigibles. The old hangar was the largest free-standing wood building when it was built during WW2. There was an identical one that burned down, but they both served as the base for the US Navy blimp fleet.

Town isn't all that exciting, but the surrounding hinterlands are really picturesque. Try going in December. It's really nice because its not crowded at all.

You forgot the Tillamook Air Museum, it is inside a WW-2 airship hanger. Very good air Museum.

I kinda like that it's not living up to its potential, if that means fewer people! Thanks, Briggs.

AAAHHH! You missed the best part! A lovely drive along the river/bay takes you to the actual wide beach with tide pools --- Cape Meares. I mean it's been a few years since I was there, but it was beautiful.

I love Tillamook. They have one of the most interesting local museums of any small town I have ever visited. My GF. dragged me in under protest, but then she had to drag me out because it was so good. They have the WWII Blimp Hanger outside of town, the largest clear span wooden structure in the World at 15 stories high. When I first stating going to Tillamook there were two identical hangers, but one burned down in 1992. There is an Air Museum housed in the remaining hanger that you can tour for a small admission price. The Cheese Factory is quite popular. I first went there in the 1970s and it was a lot smaller and not as commercial as now, but it's still definitely worth a visit. I used to buy cheese curds from the factory store, but they have gotten outrageously expensive, I think about $12/pound last year. There is no admission charge to go in though. When I go in the summer there is always a wonderful fragrance of fresh clover in the air all over town. Parts of Downtown look like it's stuck in the 1950s, but not in a bad way. It's not as spectacular on the surface as many small towns, but there is something about the place that intrigues me. I always visit every time I go to the Oregon Coast, which is about once a year.

They also have the Tillamook Smoker a little north of town that has jerky that meets the quality bar of Tillamook cheese. Yes, I’m a native Oregonian. 😀💙

i live in Oklahoma now. I'm from Oregon, and Tillamook is where i has some great fun. this fletcher taught me how to shoot a bow and make arrows. i used to live in Astoria, Cannon beach and seaside. i miss it all so much.

I haven't been there for 4 years but they used to have a WWII blimp hanger that housed the Tillamook Airplane Museum. I know they moved out some of the planes but the blimp hanger is impressive. It is built of huge pieces of lumber as the frame. It was built quickly during the war along with others to house blimps that patrolled the coast looking for Japanese ships or submarines ( I don't remember which). The other hangers were all taken down at various times after the war. The framework is exposed so you can see all of the wood and the techniques used for building it. My husband was able to ride in a WWII fighter plane while visiting there. There is also a museum in town which houses some interesting displays including a variety of stuffed salmon. Who knew they were that big? There was a different museum that housed a display of antique quilts. The Blue Heron French Cheese shop is a good stop for lunch and to purchase some cheese and knick knacks. The town is also known for the barn quilt display on many of the town businesses and on the houses and/or barns in the surrounding area. There is a map available to identify all of the painted quilt blocks on businesses and private homes. I also visited a plant nursery that was really nice. I think they served lunch there as well. I know that local women met there weekly to play Mah Jongg! Jane's Fabric Patch was a well stocked quilt store. I remember various food trucks. One had excellent hamburgers (Recess). Another had great Mexican food (I can't remember the name) and a third specialized in Hawaiian food (Nani Papas). It seems like they were at various spots off Hwy 101 but I could be mistaken. There was also a store that specialized in different types jerky on Hwy 101 in the northern part of town. Hopefully these places survived the COVID shutdown and are all still there! One of the more interesting sights and smells is when you are in the area on manure spreading days. The dairies recyle the cow manure from the dairy herds and broadcast spray it on the fields to ensure well fertilized healthy grass for the cows to eat!

The town is just fine, the creamery facility is quite impressive, the Dark Oregon Cherry ice cream is peerless

Tillamook products are excellent. Yes, we have them in Texas, Briggs. The town looks sleepy, a look I could get used to after watching my pleasant little Texas town get overrun with out-of-staters. Thanks for the small town vids! Not everyone wants to party, fight traffic just to grocery shop, and listen to sirens day and night.

I actually liked the Blue Heron creamery. A nice alternative if you've previously been to the Tillamook creamery and want to avoid the crowds.

Loved seeing Tillamook come up on this channel! My wife and I honeymooned in the area and we loved the serenity and natural beauty that's on a slightly-less traveled part of the country!

My grandparents were really into Newport, it was their farm, they were bought out by the consortium that saw the future of a big town there. By the way their last name was Wilson, the river and the road, yup!

on your NEXT trip to Tillamook, go see the Dirigible hangar. it's wood and ENORMOUS! they got some pretty neat displays of airplanes and stuff too.

I guess what it comes down too is if you're into the the things that Tillamook makes you'll realize that the quality of what they make is far superior than other companies that do the same thing.

There’s no potential cause 75% of the land is in a Flood zone! They can’t really do anything else. The only part they can really build reliable business on is around where you went to sunflower flats, that very small strip 🤷‍♀️ It’s charming and I LOVE it here. Just make sure you invest in flood insurance if you move here 😂

When I visited my sister in northern Idaho several years ago. I tried the Tillamook yogurt brand. Incredible the yogurt is probably the best I've ever had. So good!

I like Tillamook, but why does every town have to rely on tourism? 'Mook has a robust economy without tourism. Friends I've known from there thought it was a great place to grow up. Let's not always get caught up in the dependency of the tourist dollar. Otherwise, a nice representation of the town.

Briggs, do a video on Friday Harbor WA, or maybe even Eastsound WA in the San Juan Islands. It's a very unique place and should be very interesting for your viewers.

Odd review. Tillamook isn’t a tourist town. I think you missed that it’s a normal small town for locals. It’s got grocery stores, hardware stores etc. Many of the towns that are actually on the Oregon coast completely cater to tourists but don’t have normal stores and services needed for the people who actually live there.

A real gem is the nearby Cape Lookout State park where you can get a camp site and walk to the beach real close (reservations have become crowded. We had to reserve a yurt 6 months in advance but tent sites are easier). The creamery has greatly improved from the past. I remember going and getting the 38 flavor ice cream tour. Much less crowded back then and the viewing windows were busier so you could see more. Cheese samples were also fun grabbing toothpicks and getting cheese. It's much nicer now and more streamlined but I do miss the small feel to it.

I love the Tillamook Cheese Factory. There is also the Blue Heron Cheese place that is really good too. They make a really good lunch as well. The town isn't too impressive as you stated and they could really do things to bring in more tourists. The air museum is amazing and if you have a historical bone in your body you will love the rich history of the place. Great videos, keep them coming. I suggest you come to Long Beach WA and do a video. The summer is the best time to come.

My father and second wife moved out of Hillsboro to Netarts in early 80's, very close to where you were filming. When Dad passed in 2010, my brother took the double wide mobile home on land as his inheritance. He is still living there. Thank you for featuring the area and for the work you do.

The creamery is great. Been a few times. We were just there last week. Astoria is a great cith with some great food and bars. Inferno is a great place on the water.

I live in tillamook and I love it! It's such a beautiful, secluded place (surrounding mountains and such, not the town). The town is kind of run-down in some places but it has slowly been getting a face-lift. However, it's still a great place to live and grow up!

I've lived on the outskirts of Tillamook since '07, in a small fishing town called Garibaldi...I absolutely love it here!

One place that I have been to a number of times when I went to Tillamook that was not mentioned in this video was the Tillamook Air Museum which is on the south end of Tillamook. I have also been to the Tillamook Creamery on the north end of Tillamook.

It is a nice place. The creamery is pretty amazing. A big operation yet they keep the quality of all their products very high.

I grew up going to the Tillamook Creamery a few times as a kid. The visitors center was very small back then. Now it's really nice. I go there every year in August now. Best cheddar cheese in the country hands down!

I was raised in Rockaway. We did all the school shopping, doctors visits etc in Tillamook. Still have a lot of family in the Tillamook area. Beautiful area!

You are so funny, i came from a town [sonoma] that turned into a tourist town, Tillamook has it right serve the community not their tourist.

Got to love the winter rains that last for over 6 months a year. The grey skies detour potential residents from settling here.

I Love the scenery Briggs,this is breathtaking ,Thankyou for this!!!

I'm pretty sure they do have Tillamook ice cream in SoCal now, we have it in the San Joaquin Valley, (just bought some Malted Moo Shake today, lol) and I'm pretty sure I've seen in in Orange County the last time I was there

Hey, I grew up on Tillamook cheese in San Diego, which is about as Southern California as you can get. I was born in 1955, so it's been down there for awhile. You could only buy it in bulk back then, so maybe that's why it passed you by, if your family wasn't big into cheese--it came in big bricks covered in orange wax. But in my family, with the Native side Mexican and the White side Italian, buying big bricks of cheese made sense.

Resident of a small town just north of Tillamook: to be fair, it is hard to entice people to live in a town that smells like a dairy farm. I am all for Tillamook staying Tillamook, frankly. Tillamook has a creamery, yes--but it is ALL of the surrounding areas of Tillamook County that contribute to the draw. For the record, that creamery has people waiting in lines that wrap around the building and the products are sold nationally.

Tillamook is in every grocery store here in California now. They have wonderful cheese, of course, but the Merrion Berry Pie ice cream is the best thing since sliced cheese!!!

I also was born in tillamook. You skipped over the air and pioneer museum and the blimp base lots of history like Japanese invasion, the worst forest fire the jeerky factory.

Just south of Tillamook you've got the Tillamook Air Museum. It's worth the visit for the structure alone- a massive WWII era blimp hanger made of wood, very cool. Then there's Munson falls a couple miles down 101.

Me and my wife and parents went there I think last year. The cheese factory was my favorite part. They also had a fair going on where my wife tried blowing WAY too much money on a massage chair for me. It was like 7 thousand dollars. Thankfully I caught her before she sealed that deal. Then we went to a brewery.

Thank you for another tour video.

I lived in Tillamook for a few months, I thought I would have grown accustomed to the smell of the manure yet I never really did. You're certainly right about it it's not really being a coastal town, when I first moved there I thought I'd be going to the beach all the time, yet there wasn't anything super close by that didn't involve a park fee.

Whenever I visit family in Oregon, we always stop at the creamery. The cheese curds are worth the trip.

I'll be there either later this month or next month. I love Tillamook and the air museum and the cheese factory. And it is only 40 miles from my hometown of Forest Grove.

It’s a cool little, sleepy town. Thank you for the drive !!!

Nice little town.....extremely prone to flooding, back in the day when there were lots of cattle nearby was common to see them sanding in water.

Hi Briggs. Have a great week.

Love the information and places you inform us on. If you get a chance look into the areas around Savannah...ei Booklet, ga, another great small town area with others not far off. Keep doing your thing.

Here in NH I get the cheese and ice cream, was cool seeing where it comes from

There are a couple of really good restaurants there. In fact, the best burger I had was at the restaurant with the mill you showed walking down the sidewalk. Very nice people. I was there in March. Loved it. Stayed in Oceanside.

The Tillamook Cheesemakers. Grew up in Toledo OR, 2hrs south of here. Greatest cheese produced, and a fun golf course. #15 is Cardiac Hill will a cable to help you up the hill.

Loved our visit to Tillamook. And their cheese is the best. It's always my first pick.

I grew up in Tillamook! It was a great place.

I went on Wednesday, august 3rd. Missed you by a day, Briggs!!

I put the blimp hangars in the Guinness Book back in 1977. My dad worked there from 1956 to 1982 when hangar "A" was Tillamook Veneer and later Louisiana Pacific.

Tillamook makes The Best cheese, the ice cream is great, too! Looks like a nice place to live, but from thisvideo, not very diverse. Thank you for this one! ✌️❤️

Great video you should have went to the Flight Museum too that's really interesting I got a lot of cool stuff there have a great day thanks again

My grandmother moved to Tillamook in the mid 1920's as a young teenager and my grandfather both lived in Tillamook and served in the Navy at the Air Base when it was an active military base so I've got deep roots here. I am always surprised at how many people, even locals, I talk to that haven't visited the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum on second and Pacific. They re-new their main floor exhibits regularly and there are some hidden gems in the basement but the real treasure, at least for me, is on the second floor. I can't remember (showing my age, LoL) the name of the taxidermist but the entire second floor is full of his work and he was world renowned in the field. And from downtown Tillamook the Ocean is less than 10 minutes away if you take Bay Ocean Rd to the spit. I think Tillamook is less than 5 miles from the Pacific as the crow flies. I live in the City of Tillamook and many nights I can smell the salt air. Despite the many complaints I hear about the smell of manure in the air it is not that common throughout the town and typically isolated to certain areas downwind from certain farms.

We passed through Tillamook 5 years ago and thought we stopped by the creamery but it didn't look anything like you showed. Looked. It looked like a red single story metal barn with big white letters that said Tillamook on the side. It was right off highway 101.

I love these videos

Another great video. I think these small-town videos are great. I can't until you start talking to the locals and getting stories about the towns. Now to pick a little... Since you have done Tillamook, OR, and Tillamook Creamery, is it safe to say you will be doing a video on Brenham, TX, the home of Blue Bell Creameries? There is that great debate about who has the best ice cream in the country Tillamook or Blue Bell. I am a Texan and can only go with the state favorite, Blue Bell.😃

I can relate to your first statement. When I lived in the PNW I visited the creamery/cheese factory several times without stopping in the town. Not because I didn’t want to it’s because I was just passing trough. It’s a beautiful area with a lot of out outdoor activities. I would visit the Wilson river for great Salmon fishing and the coast to fish Salmon, halibut and crab. Correction on the Tillamook products not being a big deal in So Cal. Both their amazing cheeses and ice creams have their own section in So Cals largest grocery store chain. I still eat both to this day. Yummy!

You have completely missed the point of small town living. We like the quiet and slow pace of life here. The first thing someone who moves here from California, or another large city area says, we need a Target store or a Wallmart Store or some other big business they miss. We like are little town because it's calm living, it's a close community. Everyone knows everyone and we all come together in an emergency or need. You start bringing in more tourists and our lives change. We already have problems with the tourist we get on our beaches now. They leave their trash everywhere and they treat the kids that work at the cheese factory horribly sometimes. Don't get me wrong they aren't all that way, but some are. When you wish for more exposure and more visitors you also have to be willing to take the bad that comes along with some of it. More exposure means more people wanting to move here and the next thing you know they're wanting to change our small town into what they left behind. Don't get me wrong, I have a couple of neighbors that moved here from California and I get along great with them. But they do quite often want Tillamook to get more commercialized, more big business. It is very hard to find a place to live here now, because so many of the houses have been purchased and turned into vacation rentals. So they are already changing our small community,

Just watched and commented on the Silverton video, then saw this. I grew up in Rowland Heights, California and met a local gal from Tillamook and married her!!! I go to Tillamook a couple weeks a year on vacation. Love it there! Best authentic Mexican food on the West Coast in Tillamook at Tacos LA Providencia. Salmon fishing rivaling Alaska.

Toured the creamery a few times, love the ice cream!!

You literally visited after the once flourishing community was horribly impacted by covid. And that girl at the flower shop was the owner lol

I absolutely remembered going to this town couple of times in between 2002-2004. I really love it and the whole State. Beautiful, relaxation and great people all over. Thanks for bringing back good memories!

The smokehouse across the cheese factory is amazing. They have the absolute best Halibut and chips.

LOL at your dog chasing the bird in the water.

You are right, as a downtown it does not have anything going for it. What you failed to mention is the yearly flooding that occurs along 101 north and at various other places, often so bad that the roads are closed to any traffic!

Ya should have gone to the museum! It is the best!

We recently started getting Tillamook dairy products in my area in Michigan. I tried some cheese. Haven't tried the ice cream.

There are so many places here in tillamook you didn’t bother to put in your video🤷‍♀️ As a fellow Tillamookian myself, I think this town is great, it has its perk, has its iffy times as well. If you know where to go and look then your in luck

Would love one on Astoria. Good series.

Whats wrong with a small town not bringing in tourists? XD This is my kinda town

The only thing I know about Tillamook is that they have awesome cheese! Thanks for the video! I found it very nice & interesting.

This Indonesian from Bogor, West Java is delighted with the tour you offered through Tillamook, a lovely place. Thank you very much! Wish I could offer you a tour of Bogor's world-famous Botanical Gardens! 🙏💖🙏👍👏🌴🇮🇩🌴🇮🇩🌴❣️

They used to have all the ice cream samples you could eat at the creamery. Their Cheddar Cheese has won international awards

I lived in Kent WA for a few years and let me tell you Tillamook cheese ice cream what ever I love it they started carrying the cheese here in WV and Im all for it

Ann Tillamook cheese or icecream is first class and can't be beat.

I love their ice cream!

The awesome fishing is the main reason the go there.

I was up there a few years ago and can’t remember if it was tilamook or wings and waves but found the best little Chinese place called David’s I hope to make it back again

Are you going to continue the videos with small town in each state? Really enjoyed the states you've already done. Though it really threw me when you picked Hanna as a good place in Wyoming.

The setting of the town "Arcadia Bay" in Life is strange is roughly based around Tillamook and other Oregon coast towns. You should review Grover or Pismo Beach on the california central coast even though both have around 10.000 people in it.

I forgot how beautiful it is around there but winter can be quite cruel. I remember going to see cheese being made when I was in grade school. So fun n learned plenty. What's with the hangups about profit margins? You need a year at an ashram. You don't seem to like hardly anywhere. Many blessings.

Tillamook has so very much that you missed this town is beautiful and has amazing places to eat and gather 😍 im sad your review missed all that

Would love to see your take on Astoria

They got a few brew pubs, and the cheese factory that's about it. I worked at the cheese plant and the smoker.