Portland, OR : only for the tough and the wealthy
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2/2/2008
I used to love coming up to Portland when I lived in Eugene, OR. There were great bookstores, friendly people, foreign film, more live music, all the things we didn't have. After living here for 10 months, I am not only leaving PDX, I'm moving out of state.
The best:
Powell's bookstore - right downtown, five floors, open 'till 11pm, they love for you to come and read.
KBOO 90.7 FM - best communtiy radio station in the state. Excellent call-in shows on relevant topics like gentrification and racism, lots of jazz and world music, soul, really stellar listening if you want something new and different.
Good natural food stores
Friendly people- just don't expect to actually make friends
The bad:
The weather. Cold, damp and gray or white skies almost 9 months of the year.
If you love to run outside, hike outside, see the sky and the sunset on a regular basis, this place is impossible.
It's so white: Portland is the whitest city of it's size in the USZ. Only 7% African American, and 5% Latino (that may be too high).
Portland is small, provincial, and although there are people who've traveled or come from other places, this is a place where you can feel very cut off from the rest of the world.
Forget buying a used car here, unless you want to pay a high price for a poor or mediocre vehicle. Nobody follows Kelly Blue Book and it's like squeezing blood from a stone.
Apartments are hard to find, unless you don't mind living 100's of blocks from downtown.
People are friendly but closed and it's hard to make friends. This city can be deceiving becuase there are so many liberal, nice people. Just be prepared to be an island unto yourself.
There are smokers EVERYWHERE - I almost need s gas mask to walk in Portland.
Portland sounds a lot better on paper than it really is, so come and try it out before you buy a house here.
State tax is ridiculously high and there are few social services.
PSU is expensive and poor quality , like most of the universities in the state.
But if you love it , despite all of this, than good for you!
julia | Portland, OR