Thinking about moving to Portland from LA ....input welcome.

[UCLA Dem]

Hi OR Dems--

My husband and I are from Southern Ca and currently live in LA. We love Ca, as we are both from here of course, but as I am currently finishing graduate school we will be wanting to buy some property next year sometime.

I don't know how well versed all you are in Southern Ca real estate, but its madness right now. Everything is super expensive, even condos and town houses all through the region. For two young professionals just starting out in the world its very difficult to buy any kind of home when the minimum down payment we're looking at is $100,000. We have about $25,000 saved up at the moment, so we've got a start but not nearly enough. And paying crazy rents for the long term is not something we want to do.

Parental support (of that magnitude at least) isn't an option as my mom has become severly disabled from a stroke fairly recently and my husband's parents are crazy regilious wing-nut repuke sh** heads. I've also talked to my dad and he would seriously consider moving himself and my mom up there as well.

To get to the point--we have always liked Oregon when we visited, especially Portland. We've heard housing prices are better and its a great place to be in general. I will have a master's in public policy next May and am looking to end up in public or non-profit sector management and my husband is a graphic designer who has done work in entertainment, corporate and even wedding albums.

What do you think? Could you see two liberal Angelinos make new life in Portland?

[Thtwudbeme]

1. I am from NC, lived in Portland for almost three years

it seemed like 20. I hated it...and that is an understatement.

I left in 1997; so things may have changed...but, I remember Oregonians HATING Californians--to the point where people I met got their CA tags off their cars as fast as possible.

I am not going to finish my rant..but, if I were moving to OR, I would seriously consider Bend, Eugene....or Seattle.

PM me if you want details; I am not willing to get into too much more on the Oregon forum.

[Trajan]

2. Well ... You have received one cynical response ....

Now for a positive one ...

Your 'house money' will stretch WAY farther here .... So Cal has been beyond reach for 6 years now .... Oregon is getting higher all the time, but it is still less expensive ....

Portland is a joy for this former New Yorker/Californian ... If you love EXTREMELY rich foliage, the most beautiful coast in any state, soaring mountains, mild deserts, beautiful waterfalls, GREAT seafood and abundant (and inexpensive) vegatables .... Then you will be very pleased here ....

Has anyone mentioned that Portland has the MOST microbreweries of any city in the country ? .... Some truly great brewpubs are here, and a wonderful sense of community exists in many of the city's neighborhoods ...

I love it here, and intend to stay for a very long time ..... notwithstanding the supposedly rampant anti-californian hatred ..... NO ONE has said a word to this former LA citizen .... not a single, direct word ... only anecdotes about how much 'hatred' exists .....

Even if it DID exist, I wouldnt care ... this place is too amazing to worry about what 0.1% of the population feels about former californians .... I am staying .....

And loving it .....

[UCLA Dem]

3. Thanks so much. Thats very nice to hear.

[hraka]

4. Portland born, Oregon raised

I was born here in 1962 and have left 3 times (including to LA) but always come home. It's beautiful, scenic, has liveable wages, and, if you live in or near Portland or Eugene, liberal. I now live in Beaverton and never thought I'd be in the burbs but home prices - rental or buying - have gone up too much in Portland, not to mention an unfair tax base. The rural areas tend to be more Republican, the urban Democrat or Independent. I am active in the Washington County Democratic Party - there are many grassroots Dems groups to become involved in.

I'd check out homes outside of Multnomah County. We (Oregon) fund our public schools via property taxes (I say tongue in cheek since our schools are grossly underfunded and mismanaged, eps MultCO) and MultCo has the highest taxes.
The old Oregon, a nice place to visit but don't move here was from a former governor, Tom McCall who did tremendous things for Oregon but was against outside developers, esp Californians, buying up land for developing and resale. That was the 70's - get over it

If you decide to move here, let me the first to WELCOME you. And stop by a WashCo Central Committee meeting. We meet the 4th Wed of each month, usually in Aloha (the H is silent). Go to www.washcodems.org for meeting locations.

[UCLA Dem]

5. Thanks so much!

We are hoping to come up in the beginning of August and I am so excited!

Like I said, I've always loved visiting Portland and a new adventure sounds wonderful. I will be very happy to experience life outside Ca and the more I've read about Portland the move I love!

[nosmokes]

6. if ya don't mind the rain

portland's a great town, truly. i'm down outside of eugene, which is also a nice little haven. we came up from san diego and for what we sold a one br condo on the beach for we picked up a 3br2ba+office on 5acres w/river frontage plus a 2 stall barn and a garage w/a carport. the folks are friendly, we're involved in the watershed recovery partnership so we got to meet a bunch of people up and down the valley and no one gave us any real grief over being equity refugees from california. we definitely took a little ribbing at first but it was all good natured. g'luck on the move.

[UCLA Dem]

10. Sounds lovely.

I don't mind being teased. I have gone to both UCLA and USC--I pretty used to being harassed.:)

[unschooler]

7. You would be very welcome. MOST Portlanders are from elsewhere

these days. There are some anti-California jokes, but I've lived here for 20+ years, and I've never known a single person who is actually so stupid as to dislike someone because he/she is from California.

That being said, Portland is not that cheap, and it rains like crazy from November through April.

[0rganism]

8. One bit of warning: get ready for rain, lots of rain

I moved to Portland from New Mexico to go to college, came up here in August of '87 just like you're thinking of doing now. Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, I saw from August through October could have prepared me for the 6-month rain festival that followed. If you're from the desert, you may be familiar with the occasional heavy rain, maybe you even got hit with a flash flood or two? Well, this is a different scene entirely. Brace yourselves, because it rains steadily for weeks at a time. Not so much monsoon-style downpours, but just a continuous rain a bit heavier than a drizzle, going on and on and on and on until you either adapt or go stark raving mad. Or both. No reason you can't do both.

In a way, it's a shame you're coming in August. IMHO, the best time to make an informed decision about whether one can stand the weather in Portland is mid-December. We have a high incidence of "Seasonal Affect Disorder" in the PNW (i.e., people get bummed out by the constant rain to the point of suicidal behavior.)

On the other hand, the rain didn't stop me. I've lived in the Portland area for 18 of the last 19 years or so, and I have no intention of leaving anytime soon. And, according to various shrinks, I even won my battle with depression.

Don't worry about the anti-California thing. Yeah, there may be some people who hold a grudge, but unless you're totally flamboyant about being from LA, few will even notice. After a year or so of living here, your tans will fade and you'll begin to attain the unhealthy pastiness so typical of Portlanders. You'll somehow lose most of your kick-ass beach clothes, your closet will fill with bland flannels, thermal underwear and oversized denim trousers, the sandals and sneakers will gradually give way to hiking boots and clogs. Within four years, your lives in southern California will seem like a distant dream from a different planet.

Also be prepared for some miserably irresponsible politics. Oregon has the dubious distinction of being the poorest and dumbest of the west coast states, including Alaska, British Colombia and probably Baja. Tactics that any bumblefuck in California or Washington would see through in a second find a wilcoming ear in rural Oregon. Multinational corporations and east-coast think tanks find that their political dollar goes a lot further here than it would in many other states -- just like your housing dollar -- so we become their willing dupes and labrats. For my part, I welcome any and all immigrants, and accept the inevitable gentrification as the price we pay for potential contributions to the local gene pool.

[UCLA Dem]

9. Rain I can cope with....flannels are what I'm not so sure about....

Seriously though, I appreciate your's and everyone else's honesty. The rain is something that I do have concerns over, being born and raised in basically a desert (though not as hot as New Mexico).

I do love the Southern California sunshine, but I hate the heat. I have always been miserable when its hot, which is about half the year here. My husband always says that I am made to sleep in the snow (as half my ancestry is Swedish), as even during the winters down here I can barely stand to sleep under heavy blankets!

As for the pastiness--its already there! I'm also half Irish and I'm not very LA when it comes to getting a tan--like I said, I hate being hot and I don't want to look like a leather boot when I'm 40. My husband, on the other hand has a nice tan due to the fact he is half Indonesian, so he would suffer the consequences of pastiness much more than I!


I enjoyed your post and honestly, I have no idea how I would react to the rain. I guess the only thing is to be prepared as possible with vitamin D supplements and a good shrink.

The depression (not clinical) I've had dealing with basically the loss of my mom to a horrific stroke and having to navigate through my first year of graduate school on top of it has been pretty much to worst thing I could ever imagine. I probably don't fully understand the impact of a climate change like that, but I guess since last July 20th, even all the shit I've been through in grad school has not seemed that bad--even working on disaster policy as I have been this summer. Which for me is quite amazing, because I am usually so sensitive that I have never even been able to watch scary movies, as they would give me nightmares for days.

I'm just not the same person. I'm tougher now and hopefully tough enough to deal with the rain so I will be able to enjoy a place I've heard so many great things about. I will, however, consider visiting in December.

Thanks so much.

[Quantess]

13. Yes, the rain, and the damp air.

Tons of Californians have been moving here the past couple of years. I would bet that many moved back after this year's winter and spring...yeah, it was bad. I get stuffy sinuses (it hurts in the back of my nose) during drizzly times.

My favorite part about the Pacific NW is that you can get almost everything to grow here. I'm heavily into gardening, and I really love that.

The people of Portland aren't as outgoing or friendly as Californians, in general, but in many ways are nicer. Portlanders tend to not be as flashy and have less attitude, from my observation. (I never lived in LA, but I lived in San Francisco for about 8 years, so I'm not just making this up.) About feeling depressed: I'm a happier person here than I was there.

[stubtoe]

12. Organism, your post is spot on re: the Oregon experience!

You summed it all up and made me laugh too. All soooo true!

I've advised others to visit a while - in winter, before committing to the move. Nobody ever takes my advice tho.

[MissB]

11. I think you'd love Portland.

A local realty search site is rmls.com . Zip codes are here: http://portlandor.areaconnect.com/zip2.htm?city=Portland&qs=OR&searchtype=bycity . That should give you a decent idea of housing prices.

We lived in SE Portland for years - I loved the area around Hawthorne. Reasonably hip, great walking district. Really expensive housing. We sold a house there a couple of years ago for $365k (purchased in the late 80s for $55k) and it sold again recently for $480k. Old house, wonderful old neighborhood with great neighbors. But it must be a nightmare for first time home buyers around here.

Even the parts of Portland that are up-and-coming like the Alberta area are getting really expensive.

If you don't have kids yet, then you don't have to worry about the school districts. Portland Public schools aren't exactly great (we use another public school in the same county, but different district), but I'm sure they aren't the worst either.

Portland is very livable.