Dude, I plan to move out there late June. Meetup? Also, would you be upset if I asked you advice on neighborhoods to move to? I've tried asking other people around the web and it almost seems like they become offended.
She broke up the band about a year ago and formed a new quartet. It's good though, we were very much breaking up in terms of musical interests. She actually just won the Downbeat Collegiate Vocalist award though, so that's working out for her.
Sure meet up. You have a job lined up? Where is it at? If you know where you are working it should have a significant impact on where you want to live. It's a good public transport city and biking is very viable. Living downtown and owning a car is a big hassle. Living too far from your work with out a car burns up a lot of transport time if you don't have a car. If you do have a car depending on the when and where of what you are up to where you live can be a big hassle. I really think east side or north Portland are the better neighborhoods. The city is laid out in four quarters with which side of the river you are on determining if you are in the West (downtown) or East side. There is also a "fifth" quadrant which is called north Portland which is on the east side of the river but the river takes a little jog down below it so it's above the west part of the city. The North/South divide is a street called Burnside. So when people talk about where they live they say NE, SE or North and it's really specific. The street numbers increase from the river out. Almost all the inner East side neighborhoods have some charm and things to do and places to shop and what not. My personal opinion is to not live further than 49th on the east side or in shallow North Portland. I live in pretty deep into North Portland because it's where I could afford a house, it's not bad but I'd have preferred to live a little closer in. So fill me in as to job and transportation and maybe I'll have a bit more to say.
Cool. I don't have anything specific lined up yet, but I've been sending my resume to a few places. Once my senior jazz project is over I'll have more time to send it to more places. My ideal would be to work for 1000 of Oregon. I sent them my application about 2 weeks ago and called once. We'll see.
Other options would be electronic repair since I've been doing that for 3.5 years. I don't own a car, but my fiance and friend we're planning to move with do. I'd like to work/live downtown in for quick access to music venues where as I intend to get in the scene as soon as I land. My friend will be going to the Portland Community College on the north side and we were thinking if downtown is too expensive, the Lloyd District could be a good comprise. He's been looking into places and has been saying that SE Portland is pretty inexpensive. I fear though that living that far away would make it difficult to listen to live stuff downtown. I like that you mentioned the charm of the area, that helps a lot. As mentioned, I'm interested in easy access to venues. It seem that Jimmy Mak's is the place, but I'd like to know about where the more obscure venues are located. If this is too cumbersome, would you want to talk on the phone sometime?
beezneez mentions Hawthorne, it's a fun neighborhood. Belmont is close to Hawthorne, it's fine. Lloyd center isn't really a neighborhood, it's a commercial district but anything north of Broadway (just north of Lloyd center) close in is fine. Mississippi neighborhood is great in my opinion. Mississippi is very close to PCC Cascade, which is the campus I'd choose to go to if I was to enroll in PCC. The other campuses are way out of town and have more young suburban kids who's parents are forcing them to go to community college. Cascade is diverse and the students are more motivated. I only go downtown for a reason, I'd never choose to live there. I know people who like it but it's not hard to get from the close in east side to downtown. I have a friend who does session work and knows some of the younger jazz guys and I'll ask him if he knows where they play. I am under the impression that Jimmy Mac's is the older jazz guys hangout but there is probably some kind of young innovative jazz scene going on somewhere in this town. I know I've waited on some of the younger jazz crowd at my bar and they were all super nice guys who I've head are excellent musicians. There is a publicly funded jazz radio station in town KMHD 89.1 you might want to check it out. One of the DJ's come into the bar I work at from time to time and we've always hit it off. If I see him I'll get his number because I'm sure he is the kind of guy that wouldn't mind chatting with or going to a show with someone who just got into town. I don't see him all that often maybe once a month or so.
Thank you for going above and beyond with fruitful information. When we move there, I'll repay the favor.
You'd be surprised at how much hostility and lack of help I've received on other forums.
Here is my theory on why you have met hostility. The neighborhood I just moved out of had about 5 businesses on it 14 years ago when I moved here (most the storefronts were boarded up). Now it has more than 40 or 50. They have a block party on that street. I worked the first block party on Mississippi about 8 year ago. You could swing a dead cat and hit no one at that block party, it was one block and was sparsely attended. Now they have the second biggest block party in the nation, you have to push your way through the crowd in a party that stretches 10 blocks or so. The neighborhood I work in was a bit gritty and shitty eight years ago. I could play Bad Brains in the bar and most the patrons were into it. Now there are more than 500 nice apartment units going in just the two blocks of the bar, and certainly a bit of charm has left the bar as the neighborhood got 'better'. Almost no one is from here but after they have put in 4 or 5 years they think they are a fucking pioneer. The neighborhoods they came to love are totally changing all the time and it's because the money and pressure of all the new arrivals. Never mind that this has probably been going on since WWII, most people don't have the perspective to realize that this shit has been in a constant state of change before they arrived. It's a hard to town to find work in, a lot of that is blamed at all the new people moving here and competing for work. I think you'll find people to be very friendly in general but don't be surprised if you run into someone who doesn't like you because you just moved here.
Yeah, that's the vibe I was getting. Believe me when I say that my reason for moving to Portland is not because of Portlandia. I had visited a few years ago and cannot begin to explain to you the difference in energy between here and there. The air is so much more alive in Portland. The people are so alive in Portland. Plus, I'll take mountains, oceans, and forests any day over a concrete jungle. Would you mind if I PM'd you about working and finding places to send a resume? I've sent it a few places, and google maps only goes so far.
I think my friend is looking at the Cascade campus, but I'll have him look southeast too.