Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. degen
Stay on the west side please There are enough hippies in hood river now. Can't even fish the klickitat without bumping in to obnoxious fly fishermen from Portland. I lived in Seattle for a few years in the mid oughts. I personally like bell town and west Seattle. Cap hill is too much for me. Although there are some really cool lofts in sodo that are appealing. I have a family now and I live like a king on the eastside of the state. Cultural wasteland yes, but lots of great wine and soooo much cheaper. Also if you are a engineer or union pipefitter or electrician there are many great paying jobs at Hanford.
If poker is a priority than Seattle is where you need to be. If strip clubs are important there is one on every corner of Portland.
If you're interested in low limit cash up to 2/5 or tournament poker, I wholeheartedly disagree. There's a thriving poker club community in Portland, and a pretty good home game community beyond that. You can play from 11:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. most days of the year.
My recent experience moving into Portland from the suburbs seems worth repeating here. In short: unless you want a roommate, you're looking at $1100 and above for
any decent sized one bedroom. I spent 3 months checking Craigslist every day before getting my current place, a 1 bedroom in an older Portland foursquare (
http://pdxclassichomes.com/classic-styles/foursquare/). I pay $1100 for about 750sf, plus basement storage, and that's a pretty good deal. The problem is not only finding something, but getting it. When I was looking, you pretty much had to call the listing agent the day it was posted on craigslist or you didn't have a chance, and you'd often have to be even quicker. The craziest time I called a woman about an apartment an hour after it posted on craigslist, and she already had four applications pending (online application), sight unseen. A lot of places only accept applications at open houses, and people line up an hour before and fill out applications the minute the step into the place. I got my apartment when I saw the listing post as I was waiting to look at another apartment; I called the management company and set up a time a half hour later. By that time, they had four other appointments scheduled.
From what I've heard, my experience is fairly common. However, it's worth keeping in mind I had specific requirements, mainly close in (not downtown, but close in) in a walkable neighborhood. If you're willing to move a little further out, say >50th ave (~50 blocks from the river/downtown) you're going to find better deals (but not that much better). Also, as an aside, I wasted some time looking at a couple of the new apartment complexes that are sprouting up all over Portland. They're new, modern, nice, with good locations, but HORRIBLE bang for your buck. I checked out a 450sf apartment in the same general area as my current apartment. The kitchen was literally in the hallway, and they wanted $1,350 for it.
Re: Seattle vs. Portland. I spent six years in Seattle on Capitol Hill and loved it. Thought I'd live there forever. When circumstances brought me to Portland, I still thought I'd want to end up back in Seattle. However, the last two times I've visited the city seems....different. Construction, mostly "modern" apartments and condos, is crazy in a lot of the areas that used to have a lot of character, and prices/cost of living seems to be getting crazy. That said, it's a beautiful, beautiful city, and probably my second choice after Portland.
Agree with Malice that Sizzle Pie is a sufficient slice at 2:00 a.m. after drinking. However, there are quite a few better pizza joints, although Apizza Scholls isn't really my thing.