Livingston, Montana

If you love  fishing, mountain access, hiking, camping, and rafting, you’ll love Livingston, Montana but you won’t find big city type entertainment.

I recall reading about one of Livingston, Montana’s most famous artist residents, the famed landscape artist contemporary American landscape artist and author Russel Chatham who spent most of his career living in Livingston, Montana. 

He had invested in the town at one point owning a popular bar and restaurant but then came the housing crisis of the 2008s when increased foreclosure rates in 2006–2007 among U.S. homeowners led to a crisis in August 2008 for the subprime, Alt-A, collateralized debt obligation (CDO), mortgage, credit, hedge fund, and foreign bank markets.

The ripple effect put a large dent into the art market and by 2011, Chatham packed it in and moved from Livingston back to Marshall, California.

Had he stuck around perhaps he would have enjoyed a rebirth of the area as it has experienced a crazy 30% increase in population growth according to the latest census data.

Livingston is the county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. It is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park. Its population was 7,044 at the 2010 census.

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Livingston, Montana is an old train town. The Northern Pacific Railway founded it in the early 1880s as a strategic midway point between its hubs in Minneapolis and Seattle. It was a place to service steam engines before sending them west over the treacherous Bozeman Pass.

Livingston is separated from booming Bozeman, Montana by the famous Bozeman Pass. On paper, the pass doesn’t look like much of a challenge but the highway is actually a winding mountain pass that is subject to high winds, white outs, snow, and ice. On a good summer day, the drive can be a quick 30 minutes but on a winter or even spring day, it could take hours. The pass is frequently shut down due to weather and has online cameras so you can check out the conditions before heading out. You’ll need to pack chains for your tires just in case you need them.

Because of the pass, Livingston has not considered a bedroom community to Bozeman. It is a town completely its own, with a unique history, vibrant community and independent businesses. You might visit Bozeman on a weekend but commuting back and forth is not viable.

Livingston is close to Paradise Valley where the Absaroka Mountains rise dramatically from the valley floor and the Yellowstone River winding its way through – think “A River Runs Through It”. This is where many celebrities own remote ranches to get away from the Hollywood scene and provided Russell Chatham with a lot of customers for his artwork and his steaks.

Dennis Quaid called this area home for more than 25 years, John Mayer has a place on the banks of the Yellowstone River, Jeff Bridges owns a ranch in the valley as did Tom Brokaw and James Cameron. 

One thing that keeps Livingston from being overdeveloped is the wind. Livingston has been named Montana’s Windiest City and is known for its relentless wind. Wind advisories are a weekly occurrence which can shut down the interstate that connects Livingston with the rest of the world.

What I love about Livingston is the quirky vibe it has, a mix of industrial from the railroading roots, plus some cowboy and simply the artists types who are willing to put up with the remoteness and the wind.

Livingston is full of cool old funky brick buildings, historic grain elevators, grand old train stations, and historic neon signs.

View and Purchase Prints of Livingston, Montana