My girlfriend and I are both of the opinion that we need to get out of LA. We feel this way for several reasons. To me Los Angeles is home (born and raised then went to UCLA for college). I have lived other places briefly, but have always found my way back to LA after a little while. But the fact that it is home is starting to become a bit stifling. I feel myself falling into a rut, and as an artist (I work in theater) I need to give myself the push that moving to another city brings. My girlfriend just has a kind of wanderlust, she has never lived in the same city for more than 4 years, and now has been in LA for 5. It is time for us to move on.
We had been thinking about San Francisco, she has family there and we both love the city, but we think it would just be too expensive. So we had started to think about Portland (we want to stay in an urban area on the west coast). I know we have some dopers from the NW, so what should I know about Portland? I know it is supposed to have a burgeoning art scene, what is the theater scene like? What is the job market like generally? I have never planned a move to another city without having a reason to go to that city before, so I am not even totally sure what I should be considering. I like cool rainy weather, so that is a plus I suppose.
We plan to take a road trip up there over labor day to check the city out a bit, what should we take a look at as perspective future residents (cool neighborhoods etc)
Tell me about Portland.