Portland / Oregon

Ghost said:
So my fiancé and I are thinking of making a move from LA to Portland once our lease is up next year and we’re trying to figure out what the good areas/suburbs to find good rentals are. Anybody have any recommendations. Also Pros & Cons of living in Portland? I’m attracted to the eco-conscious aspect of the city, the nature, the people and culture really draw me in as well. I moved to LA from Brooklyn a little over a year ago and it just feels irresponsible to live in LA, this place is just a massive drain on natural resources and living here feels more and more like a fashion as opposed to being an awesome place to live. How’s the live music scene there, do most artists make stops in Portland on tour? Sorry, lots of questions and I’m sure I’ll have more but we can start there :)
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Portland is in rapid decline. It was the darling of the NY Times and similar outlets 5 years ago, celebrated as a place for hipsters to move to, but that good press has completely dried up.

So many breweries closed last month that it was dubbed Black October, and more closures are coming. The population keeps increasing without a commensurate increase in infrastructure. You know those experiments about how rats act when it gets overcrowded? Yep. Traffic is crushingly bad and constantly worsening. We don't have enough police officers because no one wants to be a cop here. As the number of police per capita keeps decreasing, the cops get stretched even thinner during Protest Season (aka The Drier Months) because neighboring police agencies who used to help police the protests have all said "fuck this", so that means massive OT for city cops and even fewer patrols.

Homelessness is now overwhelming. A friend who moved from Portland to Montana came back for his for visit in a few years and though I had told him how bad homelessness had gotten, he was staggered by the volume he saw as he drove into the city proper. I live in inner SE and it is overwhelming. City officials keep increasing the amount of money spent on the homeless, which has had the perverse effect of drawing more homeless to Portland. You can see the out-of-state plates on the cars people are sleeping in as they wait to take advantage of our shelter space. Another factor is that possession of hard drugs (like heroin, meth, etc) for personal use has effectively been decriminalized, so junkies from across the country know they can come here and not be hassled for being hopeless addicts. Also, on a party-line vote in 2017, our state legislature wanted to avoid having to build a new women's prison so they voted to reduce most non-violent crimes (the crimes women commit tend to be non-violent) from felonies to misdemeanors, which means DAs don't bother prosecuting and police have neither the time nor desire to arrest people for something the'll be released for in an hour. It used to be that people accused of property crimes (ID theft, car theft, etc) would face a felony charge but DAs would use the possibility of a felony charge (serious prison time) to get people to accept drug addiction treatment in exchange for a misdemeanor. Now they don't have that tool to help junkies - who are exploding in population because we welcome junkies here. We are one of the top cities in the nation for car theft. And bike theft is an actual sport here. And if you leave something on your porch that isn't nailed down, it's gonna be gone.

To be fair, there are some expensive primarily white neighborhoods where homelessness is forbidden and crime is lower. Be prepared to pay, though.

Portland is the only city of its size to have a commission form of government rather than a strong mayor system, so city politics is an absolute clown show. There are five city commissioners (one of them is mayor and gets to assign the bureaus to whichever commissioner they want) who vote on almost everything, so most stupid stuff gets passed. Commissioners to vote to support what other commissioners want so they'll get the favor back when they want their own stupid stuff approved.

Eco-Friendly? The river the bisects the city is so polluted it's a SuperFund site (it's improving). Trash is everywhere. Businesses have pooled money downtown to have human feces cleaned up daily. You don't walk barefoot in public grass in this city for fear of stepping on used needles (heroin is a major, major issue here and the city gives junkies free needles). So much meth is made here that the state made it illegal to buy Sudafed over-the-counter here (it gets used to make meth). You have to drive to Washington state to buy it without a prescription.

Our combined sewer/water bills are the most expensive in the nation, because the Water Bureau here has historically been used as a slush fund by city officials.

hatfieldpdx said:
That said, you might want to consider St. Johns (N. Portland).
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St. Johns is a dangerous area. Teens recently murdered a man there so they could take his car, which didn't surprise me at all. I used to drive a bus route up there (my seniority was low and veterans didn't want to drive that route) and my trainer - who used to drive the route - had someone shoot at the bus once. Not a safe neighborhood IMO.

The suburbs are bland and boring, but safer. The western suburb of Beaverton is home to (and run by) Nike, which is a company embroiled in controversy for abuse of women. Be careful driving there, as traffic citations are a revenue generator - you'll get a Driving While in Beaverton ticket for any minor infraction. Same goes for the southern suburb of Milwaukie. If you got to the eastern suburb of Gresham, it gets more crimey and dangerous. If you cross the Columbia river into our northern suburb of Vantucky (Vancouver, WA), it's really boring but you can still see an occasional mullet in the wild. If you live and work in Washington state, there's no income tax. Oregon has some of the highest state income tax in the country, but no sales tax. If you're a spender, Oregon is where you should live and work. If you're a saver, live and work in Washington.

Most massive bands don't play in Portland; they play in San Fran, then skip Portland to play in Seattle. Otherwise, lots of music venues exist in Portland and the music scene is pretty great, unless you're a musician. Then you can barely afford to live here. But seriously, if you like seeing live music, that's a major positive to Portland. I buy a lot of vinyl put out by Portland bands.

Tl;dr: Portland is rapidly becoming a shithole. Like any place, however, it is what you make of it and it depends what you can put up with. I moved here in 2002 when it was fantastic IMO, and it ain't that anymore, not even remotely. I'm entrenched here though due to family, and despite this somewhat epic post I don't dwell on the negative aspects. I look out for my neighborhood and neighbors, and that's all I can do. I make the best of it and focus on the positives. Just giving you a realistic idea of what to expect. Like anyone else here, I'm happy to chime in about any neighborhoods you may be looking at.
 
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High Rant District said:
Portland is in rapid decline. It was the darling of the NY Times and similar outlets 5 years ago, celebrated as a place for hipsters to move to, but that good press has completely dried up.

So many breweries closed last month that it was dubbed Black October, and more closures are coming. The population keeps increasing without a commensurate increase in infrastructure. You know those experiments about how rats act when it gets overcrowded? Yep. Traffic is crushingly bad and constantly worsening. We don't have enough police officers because no one wants to be a cop here. As the number of police per capita keeps decreasing, the cops get stretched even thinner during Protest Season (aka The Drier Months) because neighboring police agencies who used to help police the protests have all said "fuck this", so that means massive OT for city cops and even fewer patrols.

Homelessness is now overwhelming. A friend who moved from Portland to Montana came back for his for visit in a few years and though I had told him how bad homelessness had gotten, he was staggered by the volume he saw as he drove into the city proper. I live in inner SE and it is overwhelming. City officials keep increasing the amount of money spent on the homeless, which has had the perverse effect of drawing more homeless to Portland. You can see the out-of-state plates on the cars people are sleeping in as they wait to take advantage of our shelter space. Another factor is that possession of hard drugs (like heroin, meth, etc) for personal use has effectively been decriminalized, so junkies from across the country know they can come here and not be hassled for being hopeless addicts. Also, on a party-line vote in 2017, our state legislature wanted to avoid having to build a new women's prison so they voted to reduce most non-violent crimes (the crimes women commit tend to be non-violent) from felonies to misdemeanors, which means DAs don't bother prosecuting and police have neither the time nor desire to arrest people for something the'll be released for in an hour. It used to be that people accused of property crimes (ID theft, car theft, etc) would face a felony charge but DAs would use the possibility of a felony charge (serious prison time) to get people to accept drug addiction treatment in exchange for a misdemeanor. Now they don't have that tool to help junkies - who are exploding in population because we welcome junkies here. We are one of the top cities in the nation for car theft. And bike theft is an actual sport here. And if you leave something on your porch that isn't nailed down, it's gonna be gone.

To be fair, there are some expensive primarily white neighborhoods where homelessness is forbidden and crime is lower. Be prepared to pay, though.

Portland is the only city of its size to have a commission form of government rather than a strong mayor system, so city politics is an absolute clown show. There are five city commissioners (one of them is mayor and gets to assign the bureaus to whichever commissioner they want) who vote on almost everything, so most stupid stuff gets passed. Commissioners to vote to support what other commissioners want so they'll get the favor back when they want their own stupid stuff approved.

Eco-Friendly? The river the bisects the city is so polluted it's a SuperFund site (it's improving). Trash is everywhere. Businesses have pooled money downtown to have human feces cleaned up daily. You don't walk barefoot in public grass in this city for fear of stepping on used needles (heroin is a major, major issue here and the city gives junkies free needles). So much meth is made here that the state made it illegal to buy Sudafed over-the-counter here (it gets used to make meth). You have to drive to Washington state to buy it without a prescription.

Our combined sewer/water bills are the most expensive in the nation, because the Water Bureau here has historically been used as a slush fund by city officials.


St. Johns is a dangerous area. Teens recently murdered a man there so they could take his car, which didn't surprise me at all.I used to drive a bus route up there (my seniority was low and veterans didn't want to drive that route) and my trainer - who used to drive the route - had someone shoot at the bus once. Not a safe neighborhood IMO.

The suburbs are bland and boring, but safer. The western suburb of Beaverton is home to (and run by) Nike, which is a company embroiled in controversy for abuse of women. Be careful driving there, as traffic citations are a revenue generator - you'll get a Driving While in Beaverton ticket for any minor infraction. Same goes for the southern suburb of Milwaukie. If you got to the eastern suburb of Gresham, it gets more crimes and dangerous. If you cross the Columbia river into our northern suburb of Vantucky (Vancouver, WA), it's really boring but you can still see an occasional mullet in the wild. If you live and work in Washington state, there's no income tax. Oregon has some of the highest state income tax in the country, but no sales tax. If you're a spender, Oregon is where you should live and work. If you're a saver, live and work in Washington.

Most massive bands don't play in Portland; they play in San Fran, then skip Portland to play in Seattle. Otherwise, lots of music venues exist in Portland and the music scene is pretty great, unless you're a musician. Then you can barely afford to live here. But seriously, if you like seeing live music, that's a major positive to Portland. I buy a lot of vinyl put out by Portland bands.

Tl;dr: Portland is rapidly becoming a shithole. Like any place, however, it is what you make of it and it depends what you can put up with. I moved here in 2002 when it was fantastic IMO, and it ain't that anymore, not even remotely. I'm entrenched here though due to family, and despite this somewhat epic post I don't dwell on the negative aspects. I look out for my neighborhood and neighbors, and that's all I can do. I make the best of it and focus on the positives. Just giving you a realistic idea of what to expect. Like anyone else here, I'm happy to chime in about any neighborhoods you may be looking at.
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Different strokes for different folks. I have lived in Portland since '92 and have seen plenty of change - some good, some bad - but my recent experiences do not neatly line up with that of @High Rant District. We can certainly agree that quality of life has deteriorated significantly, but I think he is overstating the negative aspects - perhaps to make a point. Black October? Give me a break. The breweries closing are the older established ones who refused to adapt to changing times and tastes - no loss there, with plenty of innovative start-ups thriving. And while not interested in addressing all of his points, in regard to St. Johns...I have lived in N. Portland for the past 15 years, and have spent plenty of time in that neighborhood with my daughters (who are now 10 and 13), and have many friends who still live there. Yes, it can be a bit rough around the edges, but I have not once felt concened for my family's safety. In other words, let's not let a few select data points skew things beyond a reasonable extent. For a large city, violent crime is relatively rare here. And I maintain that Portland still compares favorably to many other urban locales one could choose to live in. Clearly, some may disagree.
 
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hatfieldpdx said:
Black October? Give me a break. The breweries closing are the older established ones who refused to adapt to changing times and tastes - no loss there, with plenty of innovative start-ups thriving.
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Cider Riot racked up $10k/month in losses paying for rent on space that the city delayed giving them permits for, for around 6 months before the bleeding became too much. This is not a city that is friendly to small businesses.

hatfieldpdx said:
For a large city, violent crime is relatively rare here.
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I disagree that violent crime is rare here, but I'd agree that it is lower than in similarly-sized cities. Property crime is rampant though, and as @hatfieldpdx mentioned, quality of life has deteriorated significantly.
 
High Rant District said:
Portland is in rapid decline. It was the darling of the NY Times and similar outlets 5 years ago, celebrated as a place for hipsters to move to, but that good press has completely dried up.

So many breweries closed last month that it was dubbed Black October, and more closures are coming. The population keeps increasing without a commensurate increase in infrastructure. You know those experiments about how rats act when it gets overcrowded? Yep. Traffic is crushingly bad and constantly worsening. We don't have enough police officers because no one wants to be a cop here. As the number of police per capita keeps decreasing, the cops get stretched even thinner during Protest Season (aka The Drier Months) because neighboring police agencies who used to help police the protests have all said "fuck this", so that means massive OT for city cops and even fewer patrols.

Homelessness is now overwhelming. A friend who moved from Portland to Montana came back for his for visit in a few years and though I had told him how bad homelessness had gotten, he was staggered by the volume he saw as he drove into the city proper. I live in inner SE and it is overwhelming. City officials keep increasing the amount of money spent on the homeless, which has had the perverse effect of drawing more homeless to Portland. You can see the out-of-state plates on the cars people are sleeping in as they wait to take advantage of our shelter space. Another factor is that possession of hard drugs (like heroin, meth, etc) for personal use has effectively been decriminalized, so junkies from across the country know they can come here and not be hassled for being hopeless addicts. Also, on a party-line vote in 2017, our state legislature wanted to avoid having to build a new women's prison so they voted to reduce most non-violent crimes (the crimes women commit tend to be non-violent) from felonies to misdemeanors, which means DAs don't bother prosecuting and police have neither the time nor desire to arrest people for something the'll be released for in an hour. It used to be that people accused of property crimes (ID theft, car theft, etc) would face a felony charge but DAs would use the possibility of a felony charge (serious prison time) to get people to accept drug addiction treatment in exchange for a misdemeanor. Now they don't have that tool to help junkies - who are exploding in population because we welcome junkies here. We are one of the top cities in the nation for car theft. And bike theft is an actual sport here. And if you leave something on your porch that isn't nailed down, it's gonna be gone.

To be fair, there are some expensive primarily white neighborhoods where homelessness is forbidden and crime is lower. Be prepared to pay, though.

Portland is the only city of its size to have a commission form of government rather than a strong mayor system, so city politics is an absolute clown show. There are five city commissioners (one of them is mayor and gets to assign the bureaus to whichever commissioner they want) who vote on almost everything, so most stupid stuff gets passed. Commissioners to vote to support what other commissioners want so they'll get the favor back when they want their own stupid stuff approved.

Eco-Friendly? The river the bisects the city is so polluted it's a SuperFund site (it's improving). Trash is everywhere. Businesses have pooled money downtown to have human feces cleaned up daily. You don't walk barefoot in public grass in this city for fear of stepping on used needles (heroin is a major, major issue here and the city gives junkies free needles). So much meth is made here that the state made it illegal to buy Sudafed over-the-counter here (it gets used to make meth). You have to drive to Washington state to buy it without a prescription.

Our combined sewer/water bills are the most expensive in the nation, because the Water Bureau here has historically been used as a slush fund by city officials.


St. Johns is a dangerous area. Teens recently murdered a man there so they could take his car, which didn't surprise me at all. I used to drive a bus route up there (my seniority was low and veterans didn't want to drive that route) and my trainer - who used to drive the route - had someone shoot at the bus once. Not a safe neighborhood IMO.

The suburbs are bland and boring, but safer. The western suburb of Beaverton is home to (and run by) Nike, which is a company embroiled in controversy for abuse of women. Be careful driving there, as traffic citations are a revenue generator - you'll get a Driving While in Beaverton ticket for any minor infraction. Same goes for the southern suburb of Milwaukie. If you got to the eastern suburb of Gresham, it gets more crimey and dangerous. If you cross the Columbia river into our northern suburb of Vantucky (Vancouver, WA), it's really boring but you can still see an occasional mullet in the wild. If you live and work in Washington state, there's no income tax. Oregon has some of the highest state income tax in the country, but no sales tax. If you're a spender, Oregon is where you should live and work. If you're a saver, live and work in Washington.

Most massive bands don't play in Portland; they play in San Fran, then skip Portland to play in Seattle. Otherwise, lots of music venues exist in Portland and the music scene is pretty great, unless you're a musician. Then you can barely afford to live here. But seriously, if you like seeing live music, that's a major positive to Portland. I buy a lot of vinyl put out by Portland bands.

Tl;dr: Portland is rapidly becoming a shithole. Like any place, however, it is what you make of it and it depends what you can put up with. I moved here in 2002 when it was fantastic IMO, and it ain't that anymore, not even remotely. I'm entrenched here though due to family, and despite this somewhat epic post I don't dwell on the negative aspects. I look out for my neighborhood and neighbors, and that's all I can do. I make the best of it and focus on the positives. Just giving you a realistic idea of what to expect. Like anyone else here, I'm happy to chime in about any neighborhoods you may be looking at.
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Oof. My wife and I are making our first trip to the city two weeks from today. This dulls my enthusiasm considerably.
 
JohnPeelIsMyCoPilot said:
Oof. My wife and I are making our first trip to the city two weeks from today. This dulls my enthusiasm considerably.
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You know, Portland can be pretty damn great. The homeless problem is brutal these days, and the City isn't making it any easier to get around. But there are a shit ton of great restaurants and breweries, and neighborhoods to stroll around in. And it's a beautiful city. If you have time, get out to the Gorge, up to Mt Hood, or down to the coast.

If you need recommendations, let us now. I can be the king of crapping on this city at times, but just because it's grown doesn't mean there aren't great things about it.
 
JohnPeelIsMyCoPilot said:
Oof. My wife and I are making our first trip to the city two weeks from today. This dulls my enthusiasm considerably.
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I would temper the dulling of your enthusiasm. It's not all sunshine and roses, to be sure, but Portland can still be a wonderful place to visit (and live). I second Matt's suggestions - the food and beverage scene is still pretty incredible, and there are plenty of outdoor experiences within an hour or two of the city. Also happy to offer up suggestions on either, along with live music recommendations.
 
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Matt M said:
You know, Portland can be pretty damn great. The homeless problem is brutal these days, and the City isn't making it any easier to get around. But there are a shit ton of great restaurants and breweries, and neighborhoods to stroll around in. And it's a beautiful city. If you have time, get out to the Gorge, up to Mt Hood, or down to the coast.

If you need recommendations, let us now. I can be the king of crapping on this city at times, but just because it's grown doesn't mean there aren't great things about it.
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hatfieldpdx said:
I would temper the waning of your enthusiasm. It's not all sunshine and roses, to be sure, but Portland can still be a wonderful place to visit (and live). I second Matt's suggestions - the food and beverage scene is still pretty incredible, and there are plenty of outdoor experiences within an hour or two of the city. Also happy to offer up suggestions on either, along with live music recommendations.
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Thanks for the offers! Brewery recommendations would be great, especially if there are spots that fall outside whatever Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc. cough up. Generally speaking, we love seeing things the locals value – the favorite places that wouldn't show up in a travel guide. I mean, we can do a search for the Top 10 Things to See in Portland, but that yields the stuff anyone can find. Some of our best trips have included those spots that we wouldn't otherwise have stumbled upon without some local assistance, so what are your favorite spots in and around the city?

We'll be there from 12/23-12/26, so if there are Christmasy things we should seek out, we'd love to hear that stuff, too.

And yeah, my very patient wife knows I want to hit some record stores. Google tells me I should check out Crossroads, Music Millennium, and Exiled. Is that accurate? Are there others? We'll have a rental car, so distance isn't a problem.
 
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JohnPeelIsMyCoPilot said:
Thanks for the offers! Brewery recommendations would be great, especially if there are spots that fall outside whatever Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc. cough up. Generally speaking, we love seeing things the locals value – the favorite places that wouldn't show up in a travel guide. I mean, we can do a search for the Top 10 Things to See in Portland, but that yields the stuff anyone can find. Some of our best trips have included those spots that we wouldn't otherwise have stumbled upon without some local assistance, so what are your favorite spots in and around the city?

We'll be there from 12/23-12/26, so if there are Christmasy things we should seek out, we'd love to hear that stuff, too.

And yeah, my very patient wife knows I want to hit some record stores. Google tells me I should check out Crossroads, Music Millennium, and Exiled. Is that accurate? Are there others? We'll have a rental car, so distance isn't a problem.
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For brewpubs, my favorite spots are Ruse, Great Notion and Breakside...but there are another dozen or so that are well worth your time. Loyal Legion is a great spot in inner NE that always has 99 Oregon beers on tap.You are more or less guaranteed to find something worthwhile there. Keep an eye out for beers from these Oregon brewpubs: Fort George (Astoria), Block 15 (Corvallis), pFriem (Hood River).

For record stores, if you happen to be in N. Portland check out Mississippi Records. If downtown, 2nd Avenue Records is my go-to spot. Otherwise, Music Millennium and Jackpot! are both solid.

Christmas-y stuff? Not really my specialty, but the Christmas ships are cool if you happen to be here on the right night.
 
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@JohnPeelIsMyCoPilot For a bar that will give you a feel for what Portland once was, go to the Yamhill Pub but do heed the advice here, assuming you like dive bars: Yamhill Pub Somehow Endures As Downtown’s Only True Dive

Best jukebox in town.

Music Millennium is the best traditional record store IMO - employees have generally been there for ages, know their stuff and are genuine folks.
 
Ghost said:
So my fiancé and I are thinking of making a move from LA to Portland once our lease is up next year and we’re trying to figure out what the good areas/suburbs to find good rentals are. Anybody have any recommendations. Also Pros & Cons of living in Portland? I’m attracted to the eco-conscious aspect of the city, the nature, the people and culture really draw me in as well. I moved to LA from Brooklyn a little over a year ago and it just feels irresponsible to live in LA, this place is just a massive drain on natural resources and living here feels more and more like a fashion as opposed to being an awesome place to live. How’s the live music scene there, do most artists make stops in Portland on tour? Sorry, lots of questions and I’m sure I’ll have more but we can start there :)
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You may also want to look elsewhere in Oregon. I live in Salem. We moved to Oregon after my wife and I graduated college and didn't have anything keeping us in Illinois. We had visited a friend who lived in Portland a few times in the years prior, but decided on Salem - since it is the state capitol and my wife was looking to get a job at Oregon State Hospital - where she still works 16/17 years later.

I'm sure that coming from Brooklyn and L.A. that a smaller city probably isn't what you want, tho. If I didn't live in Salem, I would pick Eugene over Portland.
 
I was up in Portland this past week and finally got to check out Great Notion Brewing for the first time. Was pretty impressed by most everything I tasted, but that Blueberry Muffin, my goodness... if any of y'all Portlanders ever wanna bring some a few hours down the road to Bend, let me know ;)
 
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