La Grande, OR Reviews

Clean, quiet, beautiful - 3/9/2023
When I moved to LaGrande in 2018, my son decided to go to college there. If you are curious about the EOU education, it's what a kid makes of it. He completed a degree in biochemistry and has been accepted to doctorate programs at Bozeman and Pullman (... you can't take the woods out of the boy). LaGrande has changed immensely over the past five years. There is a lot more for the college kids to do, and more places for them to hang out. If you like craft beer I highly recommend Side A right down town, and Terminal Gravity up the road at Enterprise. There is now a farmers' market, and some music downtown during the summer. There are a couple of health food stores, one with a deck on the roof to enjoy their hot and cold deli food. And some great bakeries for the not-so-health-conscious, as well as Hought's ice cream (seasonal), that is divine, at the west end of Adams Ave. I have eaten pretty much everywhere in the valley, and I can say that I only had two sub-par meals (one Read More

Stay away - 11/3/2022
Don’t be fooled by thinking that scenery equals a good place to live. The town is too isolated to be this small with an over abundance of small minded, ignorant people who’ve never lived anyplace else. People who find good jobs here turn away after realizing that they will be unable to find any housing. Airbnb’s are invading more spaces that used to be neighborhoods running over anyone who gets in their way and creating increasing conflict and Read More

La Grande Life is as 'Grande' as you make it - 2/13/2011
Growing up in a different small town and making the journey to La Grande for college (home of Eastern Oregon University), I found the migration to La Grande's community tough at first. This was mostly due to the lack of integration between the City of La Grande and Eastern Oregon University. EOU serves as a nearly full service community inside of itself and the student base has never really invested in the downtown and in turn the city has not invested in nurturing the student population to its downtown. This paradigm, however, is changing.

It has now been 12 year since I moved to La Grande and like most transplants I had bounced out of the Grande ronde valley to adventure in Portland, Seattle, and other places - but found myself drawn back to "The Valley of Peace." It was only after I had returned that I began to unlock the beauty, power, and possibility resonating in this valley.

Recent economic impacts (seen nationally) has indeed taken a tole on the Read More

Moving to La Grande? Think twice . . . - 12/31/2007
I lived in La Grande for the past nine years, and also for high school. It is a small, cliqueish town and unless one is in a particular social set, it is hard to feel comfortable there. Frankly, I experienced people as just being flat-out rude, despite every effort on my part to be friendly.

The climate is extremely dry; the winter wind is enough to suck the life out of you simply walking from one's front door to your car, the summers are just as dry and recent summers have had many days over 100. One evening in a small town just outside La Grande a few winters ago our thermometer registered 20 below zero. There are no words for that kind of cold! And the schools are, shall we say, less than adequate. A friend of mine had a child whose repeated struggles in school were chalked up to laziness, and the school outright refused to help her. Come to find out the child had a learning disability.

After moving to the midwest, I am shocked at how friendly Read More

Not a "local" - 6/4/2006
This a small town with a small town attitude - very slow lifestyle, few opportunities and remote from any large city. The scenery and climate are very nice, Read More

Moving here..... - 5/31/2006
I am moving to La Grande and would like as much info as Read More