Looking for info
Hey beansbouf, I know you gave me the info on various areas of Portland before but I can't seem to locate it. Could you be ever so sweet, and give me the rundown again? Or noss, manicgiraffe, or anybody else out there in lj land that knows the area - any information I can get now would be greatly appreciated. With only a little over two months left until the move, I
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SE: Very Santa Cruz. Lots of vegans and food co-ops, hippie dyke dreadlocked types. Very pretty, laid-back, and cool, with neat shops and excellent restaurants.
NE: Has been described as "like SE, but less white". There is supposedly the most crime here, hence the cheaper digs, but it is also the most multicultural/multiethnic and probably most interesting part of the city. It also has some very posh areas like the Laurelhurst and Irvington districts and the Broadway/shopping district. Plus one of my super-cool coworkers lives there, as does my phenomenally awesome friend drjeff, and I trust their taste.
NW: The "art" district and most expensive part of town and full of really boring shops filled with things no one needs and dull galleries. Also home to cool things like the main Powell's location, the Roxy and other nifty restaurants and shops. Too pretentious to live in, for my taste, but fun to visit. :P
SW: Also very expensive, near the University and downtown area. Haven't spent much time in the residential part but it appears quite lovely. Lots of traffic and as close to "busy" and "crowded" as Portland ever gets.
Outskirts:
Beaverton: Very nice central "old town" small town center surrounded by sprawling suburbs. Home to Intel, Nike, etc. Much more affordable than CA but getting pricier. 20 min from Portland.
Hillsboro: Farther out than Beaverton, full of subdivisions and complexes, less charm. Overlaps with Beaverton to form the Aloha area, where we live.
We're looking to either stay in/near the Aloha area or move to the very outskirts of East Portland (like in the 100s - 200s, street number-wise). The latter has more older houses currently available, seems less expensive, and as the population of the city increases is poised to become gentrified and thus rise swiftly in value. Five-six years from now we should be able to refinance and move in closer. Assuming we haven't been shot by meth dealers. KIDDING. I used to live in San Francisco, and East Whitebread Portland ain't got nothing on that. I don't think it's a scary place, but I think lots of white people from small California towns think it's a scary place because they've never been panhandled before. *insert eye roll*
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I know when we go to buy a house, I want to live on the outskirts so we can have property. As far as the apartment thing goes, this is going to help oodly loodles.
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We may be doing a bit of rental apartment hunting while we're there, too, depending on how haunteddiner's interview goes. Eee!
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Do you have an interview as well? My brain is fuddled right now and I can't remember if you just gave the publishing company a call or if you're interviewing. Oh wait. She is out of town until the 5th of April right? Anyway that you and Matt could get interviews near the same date for one trip?
Are you going to be driving or flying?
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I wish I had an interview near his interview date. I was hoping for that, but no such luck. On the other hand, I will probably try to get together with the editor of one of the university lit mags up there, the Portland Review, and talk shop, even though she doesn't have any paid jobs I could do right now. I may very well end up volunteering to be a reader for them or something. I've sort of already signed up to possibly be a volunteer for Write Around Portland, an organization that does workshops for ordinary people who want to write, and then publishes an anthology of the best work.
If his interview goes well and he gets the job, I was thinking we may stay up there for a few more days and shop for rental apartments and/or houses. That would be one way we could maximize the usefulness of our trip up there. Just last night, I was worrying, though, about whether anyone will want to rent to us if only one of us has a job. I guess we all have things to worry about. ;)
In a way, though, I feel lucky, because we're free to move pretty much anywhere we want. I feel like it's much harder for the people who already have a house and are having to get rid of stuff (something we did before we went to China), and move the other stuff, and deal with finding houses and/or jobs all at the same time. It's a bigger jump. haunteddiner and I are already up in the air, and we have been for a while.
On the other hand, I am looking forward to landing. Having a space of our own place again will be nice after all this roaming around!
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