Dear Fellow Travelers,

My father died a month ago and left my sister and me a house (in Laguna Niguel) that we are selling. For the first time I will be able to get my family out of Los Angeles and live in a more civilized place.
(ancestors from Oregon, in fact Oregon Trailblazers).

I am an actress and husband a stage technician. I also work in various schools (I created a theatre based "Bully Prevention" program.)

I'd love to hear others' experience moving from LA to Portland - of course all the real estate web sites give only one side.

And to those who had your D'ruthers of LA or Portland, I'd love to hear your vote and why. I have two children 4 and 5 yrs.

Thank you so much
Blair


I also posted on Washington

There a ton of stuff already posted here about Portland. Look for postings from a user named Scarlett - she and her husband moved here recently, from California(?) also I believe. Just do a search for "Portland."

By the way, all the United States posts go to the same place, regardless of what city/state you think you are posting them in...

Andrew

Portland is one of the most liveable cities in the country with great public transportation and a great lifestyle. The only plus to Los Angeles would be the weather, but you sacrifice a lot in terms of quality of life to get that. Go to Portland! You could buy a great, great house with what you will net from your property in Southern California.
Since you are an actress, you might also consider Ashland, the home of many people in the acting fields.

I love Portland. Lots of culture, creativity, and youthful energy, without the hassle of SoCal. I don't live in Portland, but it is on my very short list of places to consider if I ever move.

Ashland is the place for you. 11 live theatres.
Are you Equity?
http://www.ashlandchamber.com/Page.asp?NavID=287
http://www.orshakes.org/
+ we have palm trees, mountains, and sunshine.
And good eats.

Blair, my late DH's family goes way back history wise in Portland and I still have family living there including the younger generation.

I love Portland however I would suggest before you buy there you rent for awhile to see if the weather really suits you and your family if you are not family with Portland weather year round.

Just one other negative so to speak, I have family members in Portland that are school teachers, Pubic and Parachial. From everything I have heard over these past years there are big budget problems with the Portland schools. Now whether or not the budget problems are any worse than California has I do not know but since you have little ones you might want to check that out.

Also, from what I understand since Oregon does not charge a sales tax as California does, property taxes in Oregon how higher than in California. Something you might want to check out.

I personally would be very happy to live in Portland and the younger generation in Portland are staying there as they love it. Best wishes to you with this new venture.

And of course I meant familiar with Portland weather...

Also, my condolences to you Blair on losing your father. That is always so difficult. Best regards.

here you go

Hi Blair!
My condolences on the loss of your father. I know this is a sad time for you and your family.

My husband and I moved to Portland, this past Aug. We had lived in NYC , moved to Florida, that lasted about a year and a half, then we moved to Portland.
We are both very happy here. We live right in town, although we are starting to househunt now, I still want to be as close in as possible.
It is a very people friendly, small town sort of city, and there is something for everyone here.
As far as work, you can go anywhere from here (PDX) - they do a lot of commercials here, and of course, there is the music scene that is alive and well.
I lived in San Francisco and Hollywood many years ago, this is nothing like living in California.
I have friends here who have raised or are raising children and the schools seem to be quite adequate . I am happy to say that I live in the midst of 3 large Art Schools, so we are surrounded by quirky art students all the time , I love it
Guess the best advice is do what we did..
We flew out here last Sept.. stayed 10 days and tried to see as much of the city as we could, including a day at Cannon Beach and a day driving out to the Waterfalls.
Once our house sold in Fl, we flew back out in July for 10 days to find a new home.
Real estate agents here do not deal with rentals. You have to do that yourself. We did it, so it is not too hard
We decided to rent for a year to get a feel for the place before we bought..I suggest that for you too.
Hope this helps, Scarlett

Scarlett, i was thinking about you when I see the the reports on the rain there. How is that affecting you, or is it? I was thinking about that area for the future, but the "rain" is something to considered. We will be going out there in June and want to see what's what.....Seattle too.

Definitely do a Portland or even an Oregon search on here, there is a TON of information.

We live in a suburb, so I cannot comment with personal experience regarding the Portland Public Schools. There are some excellent schools in the area though, especially in the SW suburbs. I was born and raised here in OR, but my hsuband was career military so we have lived all over the country. When he retired, we returned. So with all this moving around our children have attended MANY schools, so I do have a lot to compare. The biggest thing I have noticed is that each school, even within a district, has its own pros and cons. Also check into parental involvement. Schools that have many parent volunteers consistently have better test results and a good sense of community.

My suggestion would be to come for several visits, during different seasons, to see if this really is an area you want to settle.

The fastest Growing place in Oregon is Deschutes County, home of Bend, Redmond, and Sun River.
Next is The Rogue Valley, from Cave Junction to Grants Pass to Ashland. The Connection is Sunshine!
Brookings to Gold Beach is called the Banana Belt for a reason.

mms (or anyone),

I live on East Coast and have not visited Portland. However (from what I've read) I thought Portland's biggest asset is that it isn't allowed to HAVE suburbs, thereby preserving its green space outside the city. Am I wrong?

B1, Senate bill 100:
http://www.oregon.gov/LCD/history.shtml
Results:
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2...ies/01life.htm

bardo1--bbqboy gave a great link to some of the history of development within Oregon. In short, yes, we definitely have suburbs! Lots of them, lol!

bbqboy--That second link was for an article about vineyards. Is there a different article you possibly meant?

Regardless, there has been enormous growth here over the years, and not all of it is good. I am very interested to see how Measure 37 will get played out.

Yes, I did mean that. That's the outcome of keeping Ag lands for growing. We wouldn't have an up and coming wine industry, I'm convinced, if we didn't preserve the fertile land from becoming Subdivisions.

bbqboy--Ok...that definitely makes sense. Just a little slow here today, lol! Very true though about saving the land. Whenever we drive around I point out to the kids what everything used to look like.

bardo1, Portland most definitely has suburbs! You'll find the same shiny new housing developments, strip malls, and chain restaurants here that you find anywhere else in America about ten miles in any direction from downtown Portland. The difference, they are indeed restricted from sprawling out too far by the Urban Growth Boundary. And what is built inside the boundary has density restrictions as well, in some csaes.

Also, one of Portland's suburbs - and one of the fastest-growing counties in America - is Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland and not affected by the UGB at all.

But it is cool that you can drive 15 miles from downtown and be out in the countryside here!

Andrew

One of the things I like best about living in Portland is that it is one of the few cities that I have been to that has houses IN the city. Not just in the suburbs but right in the city.
And there are some huge suburban towns right outside the city limits, like Beaverton..our first traffic jam was coming back from getting lost in Beaverton lol..That is the way the Yankee and I have discovered a few things here, we get lost a lot

Judy, hi!
The rain is not horrible. I am surprised at myself but I am not depressed, although I have to say, I am in an apt that has wonderful views of the city and the sky and the sky here is amazing to watch, it changes constantly and we watch the weather go by.
It is still easy to get around in the rain, the worst part is walking Pup. He just likes to take his time and we stand there with the umbrella and wait and wait and get wet lol.
I still say, I can walk in the rain and I can drive in the rain and no one has to shovel the rain and I don't have to worry about my skin in the rain

Scarlett,

"it is one of the few cities that I have been to that has houses IN the city. Not just in the suburbs but right in the city."

You must be kidding! New York, Chicago, SF all have private houses in the city. It is characteristic of American cities that they have a large inventory of private houses.