# Don't Move to Portland: A Rant **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898 "2014-05-21T04:59:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/21 "2014-05-21T16:35:46Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > “We’ve got plenty of Californians in Oregon, but I’ve got to recycle this!” So what’s the joke? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/22 "2014-05-21T16:54:27Z")
Recent Portland arrival checking in here. Compared to the weather I left behind in Chicago, this place is paradise. I’ll take 45 degrees and raining over waist-high snow any day and twice on Sunday. Bad food? That’s just a joke. The drivers are polite to the point of absurdity. I must say it’s still a bit startling to see people stop their cars without a sign just to let me cross the street. I live in Hollywood, so the transit system works fine by me. I can catch a bus on Broadway or Sandy Blvd that gets me to 80% of the places I want to go, and I can hop on the Max if I want to go downtown. Compared to getting anywhere in Chicago, it’s like falling off a log. The only occasional difficulty is finding a cab, but a city this small isn’t going to have a lot of cabs. And as for the people, their worst sin is a persistent flakiness — in Portland, the phrase “I’ll call you” means something like “I’ll talk to you next time we run into each other, whenever that is.” That said, my wife and I have met some very friendly people and are on our way toward building a nice social circle. So yeah, sorry you’re having a lousy time. Me, I dig the place. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/23 "2014-05-21T17:11:51Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Recent Portland arrival checking in here. > > Compared to the weather I left behind in Chicago, this place is paradise. I’ll take 45 degrees and raining over waist-high snow any day and twice on Sunday. > > Bad food? That’s just a joke. > > The drivers are polite to the point of absurdity. I must say it’s still a bit startling to see people stop their cars without a sign just to let me cross the street. > > I live in Hollywood, so the transit system works fine by me. I can catch a bus on Broadway or Sandy Blvd that gets me to 80% of the places I want to go, and I can hop on the Max if I want to go downtown. Compared to getting anywhere in Chicago, it’s like falling off a log. The only occasional difficulty is finding a cab, but a city this small isn’t going to have a lot of cabs. > > And as for the people, their worst sin is a persistent flakiness — in Portland, the phrase “I’ll call you” means something like “I’ll talk to you next time we run into each other, whenever that is.” That said, my wife and I have met some very friendly people and are on our way toward building a nice social circle. > > So yeah, sorry you’re having a lousy time. Me, I dig the place. Welcome to the PNW! We’ve been here for four years now and like it more now than we did back then. Easiest place to get a cab is at a hotel, even if you’re not a guest. You get used to the flakiness. . .sort of. People will listen to you politely and even agree with you, just to make you go away. That includes city officials, as we found out recently. I’ve got real issues with drivers here; I mentioned an accident that my wife saw, wherein a driver cut the corner on a turn and hit a stopped car head-on. I don’t want cars stopping when there is no stop sign, just like I don’t want them running a stop sign that’s plainly visible. It goes against the right-of-way laws and is disconcerting because you never know what the hell they’re going to do. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/24 "2014-05-21T17:23:35Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Recent Portland arrival checking in here. > > Compared to the weather I left behind in Chicago, this place is paradise. I’ll take 45 degrees and raining over waist-high snow any day and twice on Sunday. > > Bad food? That’s just a joke. > > The drivers are polite to the point of absurdity. I must say it’s still a bit startling to see people stop their cars without a sign just to let me cross the street. > > I live in Hollywood, so the transit system works fine by me. I can catch a bus on Broadway or Sandy Blvd that gets me to 80% of the places I want to go, and I can hop on the Max if I want to go downtown. Compared to getting anywhere in Chicago, it’s like falling off a log. The only occasional difficulty is finding a cab, but a city this small isn’t going to have a lot of cabs. > > And as for the people, their worst sin is a persistent flakiness — in Portland, the phrase “I’ll call you” means something like “I’ll talk to you next time we run into each other, whenever that is.” That said, my wife and I have met some very friendly people and are on our way toward building a nice social circle. > > So yeah, sorry you’re having a lousy time. Me, I dig the place. I loved this city when I first moved here too, but the flaws have grown on me. I’m not saying you’ll feel the same as me in 3 years, but you might. ---
**Author:** ![SUZ\_MAC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@SUZ\_MAC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SUZ_MAC)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/25 "2014-05-21T17:39:19Z")
Native Oregonian here. I’ve lived just 30 minutes or so south of Portland my entire life. One of the nicest things about living in the valley is you are just an hour one way to the beach and an hour the other way to rivers and mountains. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/26 "2014-05-21T18:30:00Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Recent Portland arrival checking in here. > > Compared to the weather I left behind in Chicago, this place is paradise. I’ll take 45 degrees and raining over waist-high snow any day and twice on Sunday. So you moved from the 10th circle of weather hell to the 5th. That doesn’t mean the weather is nice, it just nicer than the hell you came from. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/27 "2014-05-21T18:48:47Z")
ChefGuy: > [@](#): > > Welcome to the PNW! We’ve been here for four years now Didn’t you live in Alaska for, like, ever? Is that not counted as Pacific Northwest? I can’t imagine many places more Pacific, North or West than Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/28 "2014-05-21T19:05:31Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > The weather sucks. I enjoyed the weather in Montana way more when I lived there if that tells you anything. Do NOT listen to anyone who tells you Portland has a mild pleasant climate. 8-9 months of the year it’s either dark and cold or sunny and freezing cold, and the rest of the year it’s oppressively hot and nowhere seems to be air conditioned. > > While I’m certainly a fan of working to live as opposed to the other way around, the lack of opportunity here doesn’t give anyone a choice. You didn’t know about the weather beforehand? Really? Mediocre employment opportunities are well known too. Question. Why did you move to Portland to begin with and what’s it gonna take to leave? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/29 "2014-05-21T19:27:33Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I fully endorse this “pitting”. I don’t agree with most of it, but it’s getting a little crowded around here. Yes. And everything he mentioned - worse in Seattle. Don’t move here either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/30 "2014-05-21T19:42:04Z")
Obviously the Op has good taste… mentioning that he would like to live in Virginia… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/31 "2014-05-21T19:44:41Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > You didn’t know about the weather beforehand? Really? Mediocre employment opportunities are well known too. > > Question. Why did you move to Portland to begin with and what’s it gonna take to leave? Didn’t have much of a choice. My family moved to Oregon and then later my brother and I moved to the “city” here. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/32 "2014-05-21T19:57:33Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > ChefGuy: > > Didn’t you live in Alaska for, like, ever? Is that not counted as Pacific Northwest? I can’t imagine many places more Pacific, North or West than Alaska. It’s pretty much considered its own area and not really part of the PNW, although some might include it. According to [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest), it includes Washington, Oregon and British Columbia west of the Rocky Mountains. Southeast Alaska would certainly fall into the temperate rain forest classification, but that stops pretty abruptly not too far north of Juneau when one encounters the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains. While I was born in Juneau, we moved to Anchorage when I was ten; South Central Alaska doesn’t resemble the PNW in the least and the rest of the state may as well be on another planet. Side note: I left Alaska when I was 20 and didn’t return until I was 50, then left again after 11 years. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/33 "2014-05-21T20:09:09Z")
I grew up in Portland, went to school in Chicago for 2 years, then went back to Portland. I couldn’t wait to get out either. Finally made it out when I was 30, haven’t looked back. I used to think to myself that it was the biggest one-horse town in the world. All the disadvantages of a city (traffic, smog, too many people) and none of the cultural benefits. A weird mix of redneck and ultra-liberal, urban and provincial. And the weather, oh yeah, that’s what really drove me away. Can’t speak about the food since I’m sure everything has changed since I left, but nothing OP says surprises me as unlikely. Now that it’s trendy there are probably trendy and overpriced places to eat. In case you couldn’t tell, I am so not interested in going back ever. I go to visit my sister on the coast, that’s as close as I get. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/34 "2014-05-21T20:11:28Z")
If any of you were considering a move to Portland but this thread changed your mind, I just want you to know that Austin sucks even more. So, um, don’t move here either. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/35 "2014-05-21T20:44:27Z")
Nevada is no good either. Keep moving on… ---
**Author:** ![48Willys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/db5fbb/32.png) [@48Willys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/48Willys)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/36 "2014-05-21T20:47:52Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Didn’t have much of a choice. My family moved to Oregon and then later my brother and I moved to the “city” here. OK then, Make a choice and move! Unless you really just like to complain? This is America, it really is just as easy as walking away! It is also just as hard as walking away. Seriously, unless you have some major family obligations, just pack up and move. I did just that when I graduated from HS. I loaded the trunk of my car with my clothes and tools before the graduation ceremony and “spit the scene” after the last classmate had received his “sheepskin”. Well, OK, I did socialize for an hour afterward. I crossed the state line that night. It was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life! I literally took four years to learn who and what I am. I traveled around the entire west coast of the “lower 48”. I took part time and temporary jobs just so I could travel and not inconvenience my employers. I wanted to see my part of America so that I could decide where I wanted to live and how I wanted to live. My only regret is that I never gave the east coast much of a chance. I wish I had spent at least two more years seeing my country. You can also choose to go wherever you want to live. It is doable. I can offer some advice if you want to do this. Let me know if that would help you. I am familiar with the Portland of the 1970s and 1980s. The weather is wet all year long and in the summer it is hot and muggy. I visit friends and family in the Pacific Northwest fairly often. You need to get out of your comfort zone and explore that town. There is still great food to be had. Try to stay away from “trendy” places, you will often be disappointed in them. There is great Greek, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mexican food to be had there today! IHTH, 48. PS if you just want to complain, I can not help you as I decided long ago to only complain about something if I thought my complaint would change the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/37 "2014-05-21T20:51:13Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > …and don’t get me started on all the Wesen! (since we’re still in CS) 🙂 That’s the deal breaker for me. It seems like you can’t go out to buy a gallon of milk without getting eaten. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/38 "2014-05-21T21:03:01Z")
Maybe the OP is trying reverse psychology. Hoping to keep others from moving there in order to keep Portland [del]weird[/del] livable. People have air conditioning. I don’t remember the last time I was at someones place and they didn’t have it. (Turning it on is another matter.) Etc. ( **TroutMan** I would hardly call the area on SE 82nd a “new” Chinatown. There’s been top notch Chinese restaurants around 82nd and Division since the 50s, that I know of.) ---
**Author:** ![mumma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@mumma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mumma)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/39 "2014-05-21T21:13:33Z")
If you are considering a move to Hawaii, it sucks alot more than Portland. FYI, I hear good things about Calgary. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898/40 "2014-05-21T21:16:08Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > ( **TroutMan** I would hardly call the area on SE 82nd a “new” Chinatown. There’s been top notch Chinese restaurants around 82nd and Division since the 50s, that I know of.) True - I should have capitalized it as New Chinatown, which is its more-or-less official designation to distinguish it from the original one downtown. And it has probably been called that since the 1950s, for all I know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-move-to-portland-a-rant/688898.md?page=3)