What is Portland Oregon like?

[Joe Bob]

Got a job interview.....don't know anything about the city...edumicate me, please....

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Beautiful city, awesome culture. Very pedestrian and fun. Reminds me an awful lot of Boston only with a better layout and better subway system (and more affordable). In the spring/summer it's got to be one of the nicest and most pleasant cities in the country.

HOWEVER

For the other 7-8 months out of the year it is gray, cold, miserable and rotten. It rains like you can't even comprehend. Day in, day out, day after day after day after day after day after day after day. With no letup. You literally will not see the sun for months at a time. But the upside of all that water is that it makes for some astonishingly beautiful things around. I loved a lot of things about Oregon, but the fall/winter is not for the timid.

The breweries there are great, the food is great, the culture is great. Powell's Bookstore alone is worth the trip. People up there actually respect and appreciate a good cup of coffee (which is something sorely lacking on the east coast). Even the chains like Coffee People are really really good. The art scene is good and it's not all wacky hippies either.

But Jeezus H. Underwater Christo, it will rain like you've never seen or imagined possible in your life. And you'll forget what the sun looks like.

My other comment (having lived there in 2002-2003) is that Portland (Oregon in general) is NOT a good place to be in a recession. Jobs are "meh, okay" in good times. In bad times, they're REALLY hard to come by up there. I'd be DAMN certain that I was absolutely indispensable with my company before considering a reloc. PM me if you want some of the gory details.

I'd love to get a summer home there. Well, near there. Probably not right in downtown. Oregon is a fantastic place to explore. In the summer.

[Embraer]

Two Words: Powell's Books

[island911]

Buy a Prius (or bicycle) slap it with too many Obama stickers, sport some Birkenstocks (w/ white socks) . . .dont 'harsh anyone's mellow' and you'll fit right in.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

To some extent. Eugene is far worse.

[Joe Bob]

FYI, the position is a Haz Mat Specialist for the Dept of Environmental Quality........

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

Got a job interview.....don't know anything about the city...edumicate me, please....

If you're not weird, you'll have trouble fitting in...

Edit: Heard on the radio this morn that the legislature may have to meet in order to trim another $500 million from the state budget. Seems their recent tax hike is not producing the projected income...too many high income folks leaving ther state...(and taking the jobs they produce with them)

Just saying this as a warning that the job may not be permanent...

[RWebb]

that's a good job to have

p o p's text is pretty close for much of the city - you can also live in the suburbs

and there will be lots of diverse people - same goes for Eugene

what sort of amenities are you looking for?

what sort of things do you want to avoid?

[Joe Bob]

Need horse property and lot's of storage.....and yes, I'm a half bubble off....

[RWebb]

then you will not be able to live in Amsterdam itself

where is the job? -- you can go East, West, South, even North into Vancouver

BTW - the Gamroth race/ Steve Weiner operation is in Tualatin

traffic sucks - Paul won't visit & I have cut way down on my own visits...

they have great light rail; not sure if that runs to where you can have a horse farm - property is very spendy AND is heavily taxed in Oregon (no sales tax tho)

schools generally good, but the state is in huge financial straits so expect to live in "the Mississippi of the West"

[RANDY P]

the rail system is good.

No taxes- great for shopping.

Pumping gas is NOT a DIY deal in OR.

rjp

[Paul K]

Pros:

Great Porsche crowd.

Neat country (scenic, plenty of hiking, etc.)

Close to the coast.

Brew pubs galore.

Cons:

Too many hippies.

Too much rain.

[on2wheels52]

"HOWEVER

For the other 7-8 months out of the year it is gray, cold, miserable and rotten. It rains like you can't even comprehend. Day in, day out, day after day after day after day after day after day after day. With no letup. You literally will not see the sun for months at a time."

He's overstating it a bit, it only rains from September to August. Plus it rains all day and it amounts to 1/10 inch.
Jim

[HarryD]

Best capsule description I use is like New England without the extreme weather.

If you want acreage for horses, go outside the urban growth boundary and accept the commute.

We moved here in 1990 and I will not live anywhere else (and yes I have been elsewhere in the USA).

While there is a weird vibe here, most find a place if they choose to stay. FWIW, I will not drive a Prius nor wear Birkenstocks.

[aigel]

I went there in Oct. for a week and it rained the entire week. You need the breweries to self medicate in that climate. If you are at all a car enthusiast (which I assume you must be hanging out on this board) you will not enjoy the constant wet vehicle / driving in the rain. The only upside was that it was fairly mild temperature wise.

I would not enjoy that much water coming down. How about riding a bike or going for a jog? Camping close by on the weekend? Driving a classic open top car? Sunroof car?

For me a job there would have to be a good career move, pay well and offer good vacation so I could fly the heck out of there 3 times a year to fill up on sun.

George

George

[herr_oberst]

Jobs are scarce, housing prices are still high, traffic can make you want to bite the steering wheel (but not as bad as Seattle). You WILL be sick of rain by late Spring.

Great people, coffee, food, music, entertainment and community events, microbrews, plenty of good driving roads; good, no GREAT cycling community, (naked bike ride drew 10,000!) Hunt! Fish! Ski! Golf! Skateboard! Hike! Mountain Bike!

And, a special note for Island, Birks are passe, you see a lot of people wearing Keens, though. Republicans are in the minority!!! Tea- party nutbags are practically nonexistent!!!!

Re

I'll think of more.

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Republicans are in the minority!!!

...which is precisely what is wrong with Portland...

[jyl]

It is PNW weather, meaning beautiful from June through September, rainy and gray from November through April, and May/October can go either way.

The worst part of the winter IMO is around February when it's been winter for three months, it is 40F and raining, and there are still three months to go. I become Vitamin D deficient in the winter. There is sometimes a day or three of slushy snow at low elevations, above 1000' snow will be somewhat more common.

The spring and fall, short as they are, are great. Cool, breezy, occasional showers then brilliant sunshine. The summer is a bit hot for my tastes, there always seems to be a few weeks of >90F and last year we hit 106F at my house. But most people don't have A/C.

If you go about 20 miles to the west, past Beaverton and Hilsboro, you'll get into countryside and can get all the land you want. That will have you coming into Portland on a highway that gets pretty backed up, but there is still a defined "rush hour" here so maybe you can work around it. Or park and ride at a light rail station in Beaverton.

Going north to Vancouver means you have to cross the Columbia to get to/from Portland, on the 5 or the 205, both are awful bottlenecks in rush hour. And there is no light rail to WA, though it may get to Vancouver in several years.

I don't know much about east or south. East is Gresham which looks like an armpit to me. South is a bunch of surburban and bedroom communities which are pretty but not my taste.

About Portland the city - basically it is a big little city. Anything city thing you want, you can find it here. You want a shooting range, a ballet company, an excellent French restaurant, a radio control hobby store, a modern art museum, a Japanese grocery, a great dim sum place, an aviation museum, anything, it is here. But there may only be one of it, not the five or ten you might find in a real big city, like the SF Bay Area or Los Angeles or New York City. However, if you want a brewpub, a stripper bar, a tattoo parlor, or a bookstore then you came to the right place, we got lots. You can drive from one side of the central city to the other on surface streets in under 20 minutes, parking is pretty easy most places, it is an easy and convenient place to live. If you're not trying to cross the I-5 bridge at 5 PM, or allergic to rain.

The Oregon coast is spectacular and about 90 minutes away. The mountains are nice and the same distance, opposite direction. Lots of good wineries. I am told there is great fishing and hiking and outdoors stuff, I've been working too much to try.

I think the stereotype of the hybrid-driving granola bicycling Portlander is overdone. There are plenty of those here. And it is a young city, in the sense that a lot of young people have been drawn to this place for its perceived forward-thinking and liberal ways. But at heart this is still a blue-collar town. The city was built on logging, shipping, and industrial work, and it still shows. There are lots of working mans' bars and titty clubs. People don't ostentatiously display wealth. The "inner city" neighborhoods of humble bungalows are desirable, they're not been abandoned for the suburbs nor torn down for condos. You might see 1 Porsche a day and a Ferrari every six months. I've never seen a Bentley here.

People are pretty darn nice. Compared to the urban parts of CA, the people you'll encounter during the day will seem more relaxed, less prone to nastiness, road rage, etc. I found that very odd. I kept thinking I was being mocked or scammed.

There isn't not a lot of crime. Yeah, there are some murders and rapes and methheads, bicycles get stolen a lot, and not many people know that Portland is a major distribution point for human trafficking. There are a few neighborhoods I'd avoid at night. But very few. My neighbors' kids leave their bicycles on the sidewalk, I leave my car unlocked on the street in front of my house - but that might be going a bit far, probably is neighborhood-specific.

Interestingly for me, it is a pretty white city. Black people all seem to be clustered up in North Portland. As you go toward Beaverton on the west or 82nd on the east there are more Asians. I'm not sure where the Hispanic neighborhoods are, I've never really found them. In most of central Portland, 95% of the people you will see are white. If you hire a tradesman - a plumber, painter, roofer, gardener - in all likelihood he will be white. I found that a little bizarre after living in California, but it doesn't bother me any more.

This may not be relevant if you live on the outskirts, but there is a decent mass transit system here. The light rail is convenient, clean and safe, except perhaps late at night out in the crap areas of Gresham. The buses are ditto. I usually drive or ride, but about 10 times a year I take the bus to/from work for no particular reason, and its perfectly fine. I routinely take the light rail out to the airport. Mass transit will get better here in the next 10 years, they are building it out quite actively.

It is a thin job market, not for bartenders, but for professional types. What I do, there are maybe 10 shops in the whole city. In SF there are probably 500, in Manhattan there are 1,000s.

Oh by the way there is no state or local sales tax. The income tax is high but won't seem high if you're coming from CA. Property taxes are average I guess. No, you cannot live in WA and take advantage of WA's no income tax while working in OR, they have closed that loophole. But you can live and work in WA, pay no income tax, and shop in OR, pay no sales tax. That's why there is Jantzen Beach, a large island on the OR side of the Columbia River, right where the I-5 crosses, that is jammed full of big-box retail.

[LWJ]

It is a funny kind of place. Summers are spectacular. Nowhere better. Winter? I think it has been said. Winter can last 7+ months. Yuck. This year EVERYONE was going bonkers with the rain.

There is a bumper sticker that says "Keep Portland Weird." Spot on. There are tons of hipsters and tattooed people. A fun urban environment. The burbs have your typical soccer moms and generic houses. West of Portland is Beaverton. Traffic HELL. No reason to go there except for cheap houses and Intel.

Oregon has the lowest church going rates in the country. The reason I have heard is that so many folks do outdoorsy things they skip church. Not sure. We also have a very high MS rate.

The Seasonal Affected Disorder is real. Just check the suicide numbers from the really dark and depressing places like on the Oregon / Washington coast.

Come check it out. It is still a relatively small town (for 1.2 million). You will run into the same folks repeatedly. The six degrees of separation in Oregon is only about 2 degrees. Truely. You might hate it. It is not for everyone. You might like it. PM me if you want to know more. I have lived here 44 years.

Larry

[pwd72s]

It's the only city in the country where a minor can enjoy a Sam Adams.