Portland or LA? Help me decide....

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clarityat3am

I Serve Larry's Stick
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I want to move to my 4th and final state in 3 years. I've got it down to Portland, OR or LA, CA. I'm hoping everyone out there will be willing to help me out and give the the pros and cons of the city that they are familiar with. I'm looking for suggestions about nice parts of town/suburbs to live, cost of living etc (all that important stuff :)) as well as suggestions for good local uni's so I can continue my degree there. Give me all the details you can (or point me to some informative sites) and your opinion is most definitely wanted too! Thanks!
 
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I've lived in Orange County, CA for 31 years. I love it here. It's crowded, noisy, overdeveloped, and home prices are out of control.

It's also full of interesting, diverse people who really care about each other. The Southern California area is the location of dozens of world-class colleges and universities. (I'm partial to Long beach State Univ.) Coastal OC has a beautiful climate. I live 5 miles from the beach, two hours from the mountains, and 1/2 a day's drive from the Mojave Desert. In SoCal, you can hear any language spoken from anywhere in the world, and you can have food from anywhere in the world, cooked by people from that particular place.

We don't have tornadoes, unless you live near the Peninsula in Long Beach, and we never have snowstorms. We do have the occasional catastrophic earthquake, and we burn up periodcally, but if you live on cement, like I do, that's not a problem except when you breathe.

There you go.
 
Eek.
When you said LA, I almost wanted to blurt out "Cool! Move here!!" cuz itd be fun to have yet another U2 fan here. :)
But then i got to thinking what sheer utter total hell it is here,lol, and for your sake,uh, maybe Portland would be better. :slant:
I dunno though, i dont know anything about Portland, but if you do choose LA, avoid the san fernando valley like the plague. Although if you live near Ventura blvd it might not be so bad. My rels live in Studio city( which is in the valley) and its nice there.
Beware though: Many LA suburbs have beautiful sounding names but are really total s*itholes, basically just chop shops with a palmtree here and there. I'm not kidding!
Hawaiian gardens is NOT what it sounds like. Neither is Sun Valley or Sunland!!! :eek: Avoid them!!!
It is, as you know, incredibly expensive here. But the cities I'd like to recommend to you are all up there in price. Westwood, West Hollywood, Burbank, etc.
Well, if you need any other info about So Cal, feel free to ask. I'll try to give you an unbiased view,lol.
If possible, do try to visit before you move. I hate it here, but maybe thats mostly just cuz i live in the valley. I'm not sure...*sigh*
 
Yeah I'll definitely visit both places before I decide one way or another. I'm just looking for opinions from the people who live there already, so I can research the areas before I get there. :)
 
Yeah, parts of Long Beach and the area that Martha mentioned, can be very nice.
Um, do not EVER under ANY circumstances, go into the area known as the "east valley". The east valley encompases cities like north hollywood(it is NOT Hollywood!), van nuys, north hills, panorama city, pacoima, arleta, etc.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!! :ohmy:
Most of the rest of the valley sucks, too, as i said. However, some valley cities that might be ok are: Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana, Encino, Woodland Hills(ehh).

Are you looking for your own apt., or would you be renting a room?
I can give you some prices, name some colleges,etc. Also dont forget to check out online local newspapers. I think you could find the links easier than I could,lol, but one is http://www.latimes.com/classified/rentals/
Theres also the LA Daily news, which serves the valley. And the Orange County register, i think?
 
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LMAO
Yeah. Thats one of its downsides. Makes things difficult. Plus the government totally sucks. :mad:
If you want though, i could just give you a "yes" "no" or "unsure" answer to all of them! :tongue:
 
martha said:
I've lived in Orange County, CA for 31 years. I love it here.

Cool ! I went to California 6 years ago and I stayed at my mom's friend's place in Orange County. Lovely place. I also went to Big Sur, Yosemite Park, Carmel and Death Valley. I wish I could go back, it was one of the best travel experiences of my life !
 
Miss MacPhisto said:
Naya - did you visit Joshua Tree?! :heart:

Hey, thats an idea Clarity - move to Joshua Tree! :p :D

Jezebel lives there, but she hasn't posted since the change-over. Joshua Tree is lovely and hot.


Naya, you did hit the highlights of our lovely state. Death Valley is closer to the "real" Joshua Tree.
 
The South Bay in LA county is really nice. It goes from Manhattan Beach to Palos Verdes.

It is expensive to buy, and about 45 minutes from LA ( the city) in traffic, but rents are about the same as in the city.

you're free from the smog and a lot of the "LA types", unless you're into that sort of thing , of course!!

I've lived here for 4 years, and I'm from the midwest- I can't afford a house here, but I would never move back.

The people I've met are great, and the weather is the best anywhere in the country- unless you like 100% humidity in the summer and tornodoes in the summer, and snowstorms in the winter of course!!

good luck!
 
This is pretty helpful! Thanks everyone. Probably my big thing right now is finding a nice bunch of suburbs or parts of LA itself (is that possible? lol) to look into as far as jobs and housing. I doubt I'd ever buy so I'd be looking at renting by myself or getting a roommate(s). Like I said, I'm not planning on moving for 3 more years. So I'll be researching LA and Portland off and on til I get myself ready to go.
 
I am pro Portland. Granted, I am a North West girl, so my view is stilted, but still. It is a very different vibe from LA, basically it's like a big little town. There are some cute little resturants, it is very relaxed, you can go snowboarding thirty minutes away, the woods are right there, the people are friendly, the weather is that perfect inbetween all the time. And well, it just rocks. I like P town alot, and I would encourage you to move where the real world lives. Or you can always get a tan and move to LA LA land, but the North West be chillin the most. Just so you know...
 
You're just gonna hafta visit them both. But do it in the same season. December can be gorgeous down here, but in February it sometimes floods. Summers are nice where I live; in fact whilst the rest of the country boils and burns, my area has rarely cracked 85 degrees. Dunno 'bout Portland.


If you come to Cali, let all of us know. You're in Indiana, right? My husband's aunt was the mayor of Bloomington for about 20 years.
 
Yeah I'm from Indiana, not originally from here though. Bloomington...never been there, but that's cool about your husband's aunt! I'm determined to make this my last interstate move when I finally decide...so I need to really know what I'm getting into when I decide. :)
 
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my aunt live near Portland, OR. If you don't like all the hustle and bustle of major city life live in Portland. If you don't mind heavy smog, hot summers, rush hour traffic, and many rude ppl, then LA is for you. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to do in LA. Lots of shops, restaruants, clubs, sites and museums. There really is a lot to do here. Ask any Califonian, I'm sure they will say the same. I've lived here all my life and am still able to find something to do. Just ask yourself is you like the quiet or hype?
 
I live in downtown Long Beach, CA. Like martha said, it rarely gets hotter than 85 degrees during the summer. This has been one of the mildest summers (so far) that I can remember. I never use my central air conditioning during the summer, nor do I have to crank up the heater in the winter. I live a mile from the ocean - and a few miles from a servicable ocean - one that I can go to and just relax on the sand. There are plenty of things to do in L.A. - I've lived in Southern California all my life and I *still* haven't done everything. :D

So Cal is very diverse and is very BIG. If you were to move to LA, I'd suggest moving to a city that isn't "landlocked" - in other words, you have easy freeway/train access to get you where you need to go instead of having to drive several miles to get to a station or a freeway. I grew up in the suburb of Downey and let me tell you - talk about freeway accessible. It's surrounded by 4 freeways, one of which is a straight shot right to Los Angeles International Airport.

I don't know where you would need to commute to, but Downey, Cerritos, Lakewood and a few other cities in the local area are within driving distance to downtown LA, dowtown Long Beach, and Orange County.

I've been to Portland, Ore and have to say that it is a very beautiful city. I have relatives who live in Oregon - one lives in a posh suburb of Portland and my mom lives in southern Oregon - Grants Pass. She loves it there. Oregon gets very hot during the summer, but Mt. Hood in Portland has snow on it year round (well, when I was there in 1992, it had snow :D). My Portland relative loves the woodsy atmosphere of the area and it's a hop-skip-jump away from Seattle. I know that it does rain a lot more in Portland than it does here in So Cal - so you have to decide on what kind weather you'd most rather endure.

I'd suggest looking at the markets on housing/rentals and decide what you can afford. The cost of living in Southern California is one of the top five in the country - I believe we're #3 (New York, San Francisco, and L.A.) and it truly is expensive here. My apartment rent was more than my mother's house payment when she lived in Colorado (and her house payment in Oregon) - and she had a 3 bedroom home. The cost of living is very high and the job rate is bad right now - I should know - I've been searching for a damn job for two months now and I haven't found one yet. I actually went on one interview out of 20+ resumes I sent out. It's not a very good situation right now, job-wise.

Anyway. I really do love it here. Yes, there are rude people (the drivers here are horrid) - but so they are in Colorado and even in Oregon. But, for every rude person you come across, there are nice people, too. I live in a concrete jungle, but only a few miles away lies the beach and the ocean and a respite from the daily grind. :D

Moonie :D
 
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Wow thanks for the long response moonie! I'm not planning on moving until about 2005. I'm sure I'll visit both places before I make my final decision.

Khan, you can come if I move to CA! I'm sure I'll need roommates! ;) Where are you now? *forgets*
 
I love California!
I live in Orange co. and I like it here, it's not right by wild LA but close enough for when I'm in the mood for it.
As others have said, we have beaches, mountains and deserts just about at our finger tips.
California people are friendly, we're such a diverse group and get along pretty well, don't believe the movies.:D
Whatever you choose, good luck!

ps: Moon, I used to live in Downey many moons:)happy: )ago, when it was a calmed city.:)
 
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clarityat3am said:
Khan, you can come if I move to CA! I'm sure I'll need roommates! ;) Where are you now? *forgets*
yay!! thanks!! :D
i live in stupid ass memphis right now. and you're not moving till 2005? awesome! that's when i am finally done with school for the rest of my life! i even looked up my graduation date since i just wanna get finished with it already :huh:
 
I'm staying long enough to finish out all the German courses I can take here...and going part time it'll take me 2-3 years. So that's what I'm basing my date on. And if I decide on Portland over LA, I imagine we could caravan out to LA and then I could drive up the coast to Portland...that I wouldn't mind ONE bit! :)
 
I just moved away from Portland and find myself wanting to move back more and more the longer I am away. Ahhh Portland. This city is a little gem that shines with its own unique light. The city itself is very well layed out and easy to get around (the only qualms I have is that the buses stop running at 1am). It's on a simple grid, and once you figure that out, you can get anywhere. It has the most amount or restaurants per capita outside of New York City, so one can find good food anywhere. Oh yeah, no other city eats as much ice cream as portland. Not to mention that Portland lacks an abundance of chain restuarants like most cities in the NW. For example, McDonalds wanted to set up shop on Hawthorne, a "hip" shopping street, and everyone raised such a ruckus about the man moving in that the plans failed. Actually, this is metaphorical for the general personality of the city. Portland doesn't try to be like a New York or San Francisco or (Hel)L. A. It has its own unique attitude (thankfully anticorporate and pretty damn liberal) that fosters a great music and art scene. There is the usual first Thursday type of crap at the galleries, but in Portland anyone can be an artist, and some of the best art shows are put on in houses. There are numerous concerts put on in houses and garages that make any of the produced, national, popular music sound like crap. Two great film directors live there, Todd Haynes and Gus Van Sant, not to mention the many kids who devote themselves to telling celluloid stories. The bars are cheap. Housing is cheap. I mean, it's not unreasonable to be able to rent a house there. The people are friendly. There are so many parks. The beach is nearby. THe mountains are nearby. There is a pink skyscraper (which I used to work in). You can get great fish and produce. THe air is breathable.....

But it wouldn't be fair unless I said some negative things about the damn place. The job market sucks, and I think both POrtland and Seattle have some of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Remember, Portland is small. Everyone knows somebody who will know you. THis means that gossip can spread quickly (though, in my experience, in LA the same is true and often times is much more vicious). And it rains. IN the winter the sun sets at 4:30pm, and for many days on end you won't see any sunlight due to the grey cloud cover. Fear not, just get a full spectrum light bulb ( they are pretty cheap now:) ) and you should be fine. Oh yeah POrtland is diverse, but it is VERY white.
 
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