kindof
bring a switchblade
Belated post.
Things to do :
Lots. Tons of trails in the city (Washington Park etc), very bike friendly city, 1hr to Mt.Hood for winter (and summer!) skiing etc, a little over an hour to the Coast. Downtown is walkable. Lots and lots of music venues and everyone comes here. See sig. I've done PDX --> The Gorge in WA in 4hrs flat but it normally takes a little longer. Clark County Amphitheater (cap. ~17k) is just North of PDX. Thanks Radiohead for playing there. Oh wait ............
Living / Housing :
I live in the West burbs and the housing market is crashing hard. You can get in newer houses for < $210k easily. Downtown is where I want to live but it's still out of reach plus PDX is in Multnomah County which has higher taxes iirc.
Traffic is woeful at times. Regardless of the public transport system, it's not practical for many people who aren't close to a bus / MAX stop.
Jobs :
Don't know enough about local conditions to comment.
That would be Voodoo Doughnut.
I discovered heaven on earth in Portland last weekend in the form of Ground Kontrol.
Voodoo is great, you can buy a bucket of day old donuts for super cheap...
Abby's Pizza is my favorite pizza spot in Oregon, I would go back just for that, as long as I could avoid having to see my mother or any of the other people that drove me from the state.
Is that like a local chain? I think I saw one in Bend.
Yeah, there are like 6 of them everywhere, the first one though was built in my home town, only pizza joint there (it was a small town). They had windows into the kitchen and a step stool for kids to stand and watch them toss the dough and make the pizzas. And OMG it was such good pizza, they had the Abby's special that was to die for. Whenever I find myself back home it is a requirement to eat there at least once. And Arctic Circle for the fry sauce and mushroom swiss burger.
but no great venues in the city.....I have yet to hear of a great venue Portland has. It looks like you have to drive to Seattle or The Gorge for the good ones.
WTF ??
The Crystal Ballroom is great. Easy going security (cameras, taping gear are ok), great beer and it's easy to get to. I've seen The Black Crowes, Madness, Rilo Kiley, Robert Randolph, MMJ and others there.
The Doug Fir is an intimate little venue (cap, 300) with good sound and a full bar. The restaurant upstairs stays open till 2.30am. I've seen Kasabian, CSS, The Wedding Present, Nada Surf and others there.
tsk, tsk.
Also (and this is a weird one) for those who own houses, Do people even need a sprinkler system for their lawns? I mean you guys get so much rain that I imagine it is kind of moot to have righ?
As mentioned above, Clark County amphitheater in Ridgefield, WA is just north of PDX and holds 17k or so. Seen The Police & ZZ Top there.
The Rose Garden is in PDX itself and U2, The Boss, Foo Fighters etc have played there. I have not been there for a show, just for a NBA game.
http://www.amphitheateratclarkcounty...le-maps/3.html
Clark County looks pretty cool.
Isn't the Rose Garden a arena?
Yeah growing up I think our water/garbage bill ran around $30/month or something silly like that.
money saved on water bills = more heroin = win/win!
LOL I was too young, I avoided the heroin, we just picked buds off our step dads pot plants and smoked em.
I prefer the fix, Team. But to each his/her own! I went through Portland as a young kid on my way to Seattle and remember it being really green. I like the Pacific NW, but don't know if I can deal with the dreary. I nearly get manic when it rains here in So. Cal and as that one song goes...it never rains in southern california...the brews from up there are nice though.
Those are the two I was going to mention, even though I haven't been to any shows there. (Love the Doug Fir restaurant though...Farmer Sandwich!) I've heard nothing but great things about them.
How is the Roseland Ballroom? I was looking at Pollstar, and it seemed like half the shows I might be interested in are at the Roseland.