I may be moving to Portland OR from phoenix, az. Any thoughts on living in Portland? I looked at homes while I was there recently. Unfortunately, the mid-century ones are not near enough to downtown for me. But I do think the older homes perched over the city could look great with mid-century furniture. Anyway, it seems like a terrific city. Any thoughts?
Ok, well...
I was going to wait for some of the locals to chime in and give the REAL take but since no one is...I'll give you the take of someone DYING to be a Portland Oregon, or Orgeon ANYWHERE resident. Qualifiers: I'm just a humble Midwestern boy who has traveled somewhat extensively from Portland up into BC and even Alberta. I've been to Seattle half a dozen times and my friend who lives out there even lived in Portland for a while so I have ONE good visit there. I too interviewed and had a good job prospect on that one visit to Portland, unfortunately, that was the DOTCOM days and the interview didn't pan out. I loved to call Portland Seattle "lite", all of the flavor at a portion of the price...at least at that time, I know now that it is not as "inexpensive" as it was then. I have never seen such a group of laid-back folks in all my life. I thought "are all these people STONED?!" Great restaurants, coffee...of course, and just a BREATH TAKING part of the country. Two hours from Seattle and just another couple to Vancouver. Now, Phoenix vs. Portland?...NO CONTEST for me anyway. It will be a geographical shock for you if you have grown up in Phoenix. I'm not a desert fan myself so the verdant green of Portland and the PNW wins hands down. Mountain Biking?...if you're into that sort of thing, have ridden in both AZ and PNW and, again, PNW hands down. There is a great site for MCM homes in Portland and look up "Rummer" if you haven't already.
Bottom line, GO FOR IT, you're living my dream anyway. Weather, yeah it rains a lot, but not like it does where I live. I think the rain there vs. other parts of the country and thus the perception turns up people noses. It depends on your temperament. We may still make it out there someday. My wife had a couple prospects in Seattle recently, but, alas, didn't happen. For now, we'll just keep visitin, trying to plan a trip to Whistler for the Fall. GOOD LUCK...from just a midwesterner who probably doesn't know anything about how it REALLY is.
I've seldom heard anything bad
about Portland, other than the wet weather.
Apparently, it's a progressive, fairly liberal and people-friendly city that's well maintained and interested in its own history.
Not too small or too big and reasonably close to San Francisco and Seattle.
What's not to like??
As far as finding a house for your mid-century modern, unless you have absolutely Catholic tastes about only putting mid-century stuff into a mid-century house, don't fret it.
There should scads of beautiful houses in the neighborhood you want to live in that is neutral enough inside that any good mid-century furniture will look beautiful in.
My house in Minneapolis was built in 1924 and remodeled in the 1980's and is very neutral inside so my MCM stuff looks beautiful and appropriate.
I did not want a vintage 1950's house with a flat roof because in the snow belt, such house have constant leaking issues.
You shouldn't have any problems once you sort out what you really want and can afford.
a good friend ...
of mine and former employee in our design office moved to Portland to do advanced research and design for Addidas. He seems to like it so much that there is no way we can drag him back, so, although I have never set foot over there I understand that it is a beautiful part of this continent. Good luck with the move...and do not worry about the mid century stuff. Nature is not very mid century either and yet...
I live in Oregon,
and I was in Portland yesterday, as I live in the Portland area and most of my friends live in NE/SE Portland or Lake Oswego. Obviously, many people who dislike cold, wetter weather would not want to live in Portland, but the majority of people who have chosen to live here seem pretty adamant about how much better it is than where they were living before (regardless of where that was). I would say that it is unusual for a city to have residents who are as enthused/loyal as Portland's are about living there. It was described above as "fairly liberal", but I think I would describe it as very liberal, with anything close to the metro area being extremely so. Western Oregon in general sometimes feels like the Holland of the U.S. (we do have legalized euthanasia afterall), and is a source of pride for many of us. Competition for MCM stuff seems pretty fierce. There are a number of specialty shops that make it hard to pick up good deals on Craigslist. Some of the shops have decent prices and good items though. I know there are a lot of mid-century neighborhoods in NE Portland, but do not know enough about NW Portland to know if there is anything over there closer to downtown. If you liked it during an initial Wintertime visit, I would say your chances of liking it long-term are very good.
I lived in
Kelso, WA, which is right over the border back in the 70's as a child when my Dad was working on the Trojan nuclear power plant. I remember the daily rain pour as just being a part of life and we pretty much disregarded it. The rain doesn't last all day and it's what keeps everything so green and lovely. I also agree with the previous poster, Oregon is uber-liberal, like Berkely (sp?) Calif. I remember when people came to visit us we always took them on the Olympia brewing company tour. Does that beer even exist anymore?
Our house was mid-century, but not in a good way! It was a typical ranch-style neighborhood not unlike Lucifersum's previous post of that pseudo-colonial nightmare.
thanks for the replies!
I love reading about all of your experiences/ connections with OR. I must say that I was surprised at the beauty of the area. I really like the homes in the grid?/ Washington Park area. I mtn bike quite a bit and so if the rain doesnt preclude riding, I imagine the hills are nice for that. I really liked the downtown. I was actually quite suprised at the diversity of restaurants/ galleries/ shops. WHen I was there, it drizzled a little, but was a mixture of sun and clouds throughout the day. It never seemed determined to rain all day. Is this normal? Coming from ultra-sunny phoenix, I wonder how this will be for me, although I imagine everyone adjusts and I hear the summers are lovely. Keep posting thoughts on Portland! It gives me a new perspective. Thanks.
Rain
It is very rare to experience anything like a true "downpour" in the Willamette Valley. Drizzle is the operative word. It is the typical PNW foggy, overcast environment. Actually, Winters in the northern Sacramento Valley in CA are not all that different, as I lived there for many years. It is just that it lasts a couple more months here in Oregon, and is about 10 degrees colder. It is sunny right now as I speak, although it has been off and on all day. Snow is rare in the Willamette Valley as well, although this year was the worst in many years, with a bad ice storm and snow in Portland that paralyzed things for a few days. Summers are relatively cloudless, but not as consistent as in California or the Southwest, for sure. Summers here are very nice, but I do wish they lasted a month or two longer then they do.
I live in Portland, and love...
I live in Portland, and love it. It was a conscious decision to return here from the Bay Area in Northern Cal, as PDX is still affordable compared to other west coast metropolitan areas. Having grown up here also made it a no-brainer for me. My wife is still making the adjustment (grew up in L.A.), mostly related to the weather, as it can be overcast for weeks at a time in the spring. So if you are serious about relocation, you need to check it out in March/April/May, and see things when it's grey. Because summer is beautiful, and if that's what your expecting, you can be in a world of hurt during the long winter. Kind of the opposite of PHX.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com