Dairy farmers, then.
There are two outstanding sushi places and a very good Vietnamese place just in my neighborhood. Then there is Pok Pok, which has been reviewed nationally (and appeared on Diners, Dives, etc.) as outstanding Asian fare. And then there is Boki Bowl and a host of other five-star places throughout the city.
My family is moving to the Pacific Northwest from Orange County, California. We like rain and are not at all concerned about the weather. My priorities are to find nice, down to earth people and a good junior high and high school for my kids. I’d like to hear some input concerning people and schools in the areas around Portland and Seattle.
People are pretty much the same everywhere, but in some places an effort is made to mask innate human hostility. Portland is one of them. People will go out of their way to be helpful, even if it’s just to make you go away more quickly. 
People will start up conversations with you on the bus or in a restaurant or wherever, and most people are more than happy to help a visitor or newcomer find what they are looking for. Businesses genuinely want your custom and work hard to get it. There’s a real neighborhood feel in many areas of Portland, with some like Sellwood (where I live) being like a small town within the larger city. People often greet each other on the street, whether they know each other or not.
On the other hand, city government can make you either homicidal or suicidal, as they tend to try to do every goddamn thing by consensus instead of somebody just making a decision. Or they provide lip service to a community issue and then just go limp. It can be maddening. On the one hand they’ll spend millions of tax dollars to create a bicycle lane for the bike Nazis, but when it comes to filling potholes, they decide that a new road tax is needed to pay for repairs, but without putting it before the voters.
I can’t speak to the schools, as we have no children in the system. As with most cities, some area schools are in sad repair and some have a very low graduation rate. A school bond was passed last year to provide millions for repairs and replacement for many of the facilities, however. I know that schools do a lot of field trips to places like the zoo and the museum, and local parks, and that they have visiting artists of all stripes come in to give talks or demonstrations.
I strongly suggest Susan Marthens’ website, Moving to Portland. She’s a real estate agent, but her website has tons of valuable information on the city.
It appears that Nonsuch chose Portland. I’m not sure why everyone was warning about the gray weather considering that Nonsuch was moving from Chicago which isn’t renowned for 365 days of sunshine.
I don’t really find Portlanders friendly at all and I live here.
Yeah, but aren’t you the guy who hates Portland and everything about it?
One of the things I learned when doing my pre-move research was that Portland’s annual rainfall is only a few inches more than Chicago’s. (Seattle’s is quite a bit higher.) The chief difference I notice is that Portland has few of the kind of torrential downpours that were fairly routine back in Chicago, the ones where the rain falls sideways. Portland has more grey days, but the actual rain is intermittent and fairly mild. I got a nice hooded Columbia rain jacket like everyone else and that’s all I’ve needed.
And I must say, reading my friends’ and family’s Facebook feeds during the last winter only confirmed I made the right decision. I’ve never read so much persistent despair. Here it snowed once, a couple of inches, and everybody lost their minds — schools closed, offices closed, cars piled up on the shoulders of the freeways and the local news urged people to stay off the roads unless it was absolutely necessary. That was good for a few chuckles.
Hi Nonsuch - Did you choose one? I’ve been in Chicago my whole life and HATE the winter, esp our last brutal miserable experience. Just back from Portland where everything about it was IMO amazing: the progressive non-judgy nature of the place - did not personally feel any of that 'must keep up with the Joneses" that I feel every single day here in the Chi suburbs, also never felt I had to ‘look over my shoulder’ and keep my guard up like every day here with all the crime we have, loved seeing Nature everywhere, the incredible food, amaaaazing coffee, tons of craft beers for the beer lovers, great funky shops, BIKE LANES, and the walkable nature of the whole area. I could go on…but ultimately anyplace that’s completely DARK for 9-10 months a year I know I couldn’t live in.
My friend who moved from Chicago to Portland and back made a great point: it may be snowy here and we have grey days too - but at least they’re not ALL grey ALL month ALL winter long - and the snow helps reflect whatever bit of sun we have upwards - which makes it seem brighter than it is. In OR it doesn’t really snow as we know snow maybe a 1/2 inch in a month or something which quickly melts. So imagine a town covered in muddy dead leaves with no sun - no reflection - no color - nothing. FOR NINE MONTHS. Seattle has the highest level of suicides of any town in America, btw, so at least Portland has better weather than Seattle. Anyway that’s the deal breaker for me.
I think Portland is utterly amazing and if they had any decent weather - everybody would live there! 
On that note, as of now (2014) they’re predicting a million people will move to PDX in the next 10 years. So the town will DOUBLE - keep that in mind if you like small funky towns…no saying what the huge influx will do to Portland in the future - hopefully it will still be ok but who knows?
And I agree that are indeed humans who do NOT get bothered by constant grey rainy days - I am married to one of them. She would move to Portland in a heartbeat b/c sun doesn’t affect her mood like it does mine but for now, we are still looking for a Chicago Replacement. I will always continue to visit and love beautiful Portland tho… <sigh!>
Hope that helps
I have lived in Portland, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Seattle. Seattle is like Atlanta with nature. IT has the freeway congestion of LA minus the 13 lanes. It has horribly rude drivers. Its downtown is full of aggressive bums who shit on the sidewalk. Downtown Seattle reminds me of the skid row area outside downtown LA at night and that is a horrible thing! The only redeeming thing about Seattle is the food and the natural beauty nearby. but Portland is not without its gorgeous nearby locations. We have the Columbia river gorge, the ocean beaches with both white sand beaches and cliffs to the sea. Amazing skiing on the longest ski season in the lower 48 on Mt Hood. Also Portland’s restaurant scene is every bit as good as Seattle’s but cheaper because it is not as big a city for one, and secondly there is not tax on the food so its just better in every way except for its immediate access to nature. Portland also has a world class wine country less than an hour from downtown. and homes in Portland are 20% cheaper than they are in Seattle. SO seriously, screw Seattle.
I lived in the greater Seattle area for ten years, and I’m back in Upstate NY now for elderly parents. I would go back to Seattle in a heartbeat. I loved the weather, the culture, which Upstate NY so sorely lacks. Though Upstate NY has some great beauty, Washington State beats it a million times over. I’d take overcast and 40 degrees over sunny and 0ºF with a windchill of -30º (which it is here right now). You can always use a light box and take extra vitamin D.
I think the self-righteousness quotient is higher in Portland, and that’s a bit of a turn-off. Seattle feels more down-to-earth.
“Gritty” is the word you were looking for.
Hopefully, the OP isn’t so indecisive it’s taken them 2 years to make a decision. Reported for being a zombie.
So which one is better:
[ul]
[li]Portland Zombies?[/li][li]Seattle Zombies?[/li][/ul]
That Seattle is a depressing, commuter hell in a beautiful environment if you get enough light to see it 9 months of the year.
Just reading all these comments is depressing without even living up there and the one or two people that the weather doesn’t bother make up 1% of the people posting messages :smack:
I won’t lie to you, I was really hoping to hear more positive experiences about the PNW but I appreciate everyone being honest. Sounds like a horrible place to live with microscopic breaks of awe. Is that a way to live?
Wow … the Thread that Would Not Die.
Anyway, as you can tell, I eventually chose Portland. So I guess we can close this now?
(And FWIW, I like Portland a lot, weirdly passive-aggressive people and all.)
Which part of the city did you end up in?
Hollywood, near 47th and Sandy.
Are you having a bit of a rueful laugh today over our unrelenting drizzle and gray?
(Disclaimer: I don’t live in Portland, but I am your neighbor to the south, outside of Eugene and up in the Coast Range. Damn glad I have A/C today. And yesterday. And the day before that. And so on.)