Liberal / Funky Neighborhoods In Portland?

[siliconefreak]

I'm planning to go house-hunting in Portland sometime within the next few weeks. What areas of Portland would you say are the best for someone who enjoys being surrounded by liberals and "alternative types"?

[kaitykaity]

1. Hawthorne, definitely.

My neighbors own a piercing shop and they built a
driveway so that she could park her hearse off the
street.

[siliconefreak]

2. lol...

I love it. Thank you for the quick response!

[kaitykaity]

3. You're welcome.

I'm biased, though. I've lived in this neighborhood for
12 years, and I love it.

When you look, take a stroll down Hawthorne between
SE 34th or so and SE 39th on a Saturday. You'll get the
full feel for just how liberal/funky it is here.

Good luck with the house hunt. The only downside of Portland
is the housing prices are ridiculously high.

[VivaKerry]

8. Well, he should get a garage if he has a car,

or his car will get broken into monthly!

Other than that, it seems to be a cool neighborhood.

Try Woodstock/Reed College area as well.

[kaitykaity]

9. Can't do that here re: garage.

These houses were all built in the late 1800's early 1900s
and there weren't cars then.

There is space built for a carriage, and there are still
brass rings in the sidewalks where I think they used to
tie up the horses.

[jonolover]

39. Hawthorne and what?

n/t

[HuckleB]

40. The question regards neighborhoods.

[rucky]

4. I second Hawthorne...

and my neighborhood's pretty funky, too - just a bit more lowkey.

Check out Multnomah Village in Southwest Portland.

[siliconefreak]

5. thanks!

I really appreciate the responses.

And about the housing prices - they'll seem like a bargain to me - I live in California. I've been a renter all of my adult life and I'm looking forward to having a place of my own.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. I lived in Portland till August 2003

If you're into funky/alternative, Hawthorne is the place to be, but Belmont (the next through street north of Hawthorne) is coming into its own as well.

Sellwood is a little more "adult" and known for its antique shops. Irvington is north of Lloyd Center and full of big old houses. It's more of a "family" place.

Multnomah Village is great, too, although it has a more suburban feel to it.

[siliconefreak]

7. Great

Thanks, Lydia. With some of my interests, I should probably stay out of the "family areas". :P

[siliconefreak]

10. Hmmm...

In looking at the housing prices around Hawthorne, I wonder if it's "funky" days are numbered. :eyes:

[kaitykaity]

11. What do you mean?

That they're high? They've been high for years and years.
Owning is a problem, but the rents here can be okay if you
know what you're looking for.

[siliconefreak]

15. yeah

I just meant that as a neighborhood becomes more gentrified, it risks losing some of the character that made it appealing in the first place.

[kaitykaity]

16. Oh that lovely word -- gentrified.

Well, the money developers have moved on to other areas
to "gentrify" like Pearl and the Interstate area. They
pretty much maxed Hawthorne out a while ago.

The commercial guys tried to come in here and build a
McDonalds on Hawthorne, a drive through, and the neighborhood
told them to go eff themselves.

That lot is now a high-density housing complex, all modern and
glass, with stores on the street level.

Pretty cool.

[siliconefreak]

18. I like that

That IS cool. There are very few cities in this country where the people feel strongly enough to stop McDonald's, Wal-Mart, etc.

[HuckleB]

38. Yeah, it's funky days were the early to mid '90s.

It's living on reputation now, and that always costs more.

[Syncronaut Seven]

12. Oregon is bad! BAD I tell you!

Besides the world ends at Shasta Lake, no need to look any further than that. ;) ;)

Psst, I'm only kidding. I'm a naturalized Oregonian, had to marry a local girl for respectibility.

PDX is a nice place, getting more expensive, good public transportation and some funky cool neighborhoods, but change your plates before you buy here. some locals are quite resentfull of California money driving up housing prices.

[kaitykaity]

13. Ah, good old Governor McCall.

“Visit, but please don’t stay.”

[siliconefreak]

14. not to worry

I won't drive up the housing prices in Oregon any more than I would drive up the prices in California. Like I said, I own nothing right now. (I'll make sure that I say that to all of the neighbors.) ;)

[siliconefreak]

17. "gay" neighborhoods

I'm not crazy about labeling sexual orientation, but according to a book I have, the five "gayest" ZIP codes in Portland are 97212, 97211, 97210, 97232, and 97214.

The "lesbian ZIP codes" (lol) are 97211, 97215, 97212, 97213, and 97214.

You never know when you might need this essential information. :+

[kaitykaity]

19. Yeah, I'm in 214

and there is like a gay couple across the street and
a single down the block.

No doubt about it.

edit: grammar

[siliconefreak]

20. although...

Portland is different from the other cities on the West Coast in that I don't think there is any neighborhood that could be called a "gay ghetto".

[kaitykaity]

21. That I wouldn't know.

All I know is Portland is a very "live and let live" kind of
place. You stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours.
Just keep the peace and be a good neighbor and you'll do
fine here. Nobody cares about the rest.

[siliconefreak]

22. no worries

I'm very quiet - just not a conformist at all. That's why I'd want to avoid anything close to "Bush/Cheney Territory".

[kaitykaity]

23. Well, Multomah County (Portland) did go for Kerry 72% to 28%

or something like that.

You just have to be careful once you get out into the
'burbs and the rural communities. That's very white,
very Bush country.

[siliconefreak]

24. great statistics, I know!

I noticed those nice numbers - a good increase for the Democrats from 2000. Multnomah County is beginning to approach San Francisco-like numbers in presidential elections.

[kaitykaity]

25. Keep us posted on your house hunt and

move.

I'll be committing heresy by welcoming a Californian,
but I was born in Modesto and came here the long way
(via Oklahoma and a stint in the Army in Germany).

But come on up and enjoy this lovely place. You'll
like it here, and as a nonconformist (joke, joke) you'll
fit right in.

[siliconefreak]

26. Thanks

If it makes you feel better, I grew up in Florida and also lived in Minnesota for 8 years. :grouphug:

Oh - and if you know any cool real estate agents, let me know. :D

[kaitykaity]

27. Ping me when you're getting ready

and we can do coffee or something like that. I'll show
you around, give you a tour of the place.

Real estate agents aren't my area. I rent, and although
my landlord is in real estate, he's a chinchy pain in the
ass and I wouldn't send him more money if my life depended
on it.

Florida and Minnesota eh? Talk about doing the four
corners. You didn't like the hot or the cold? Well,
it's really temperate here.

But I should warn you, it rains a lot here. And I mean a lot.
We can go 60, 70, 90 days without seeing the sun. I love
it, have webs in my feet, et cetera, but it's a problem
for some folks.

:)

[siliconefreak]

29. sounds good

I know the rain can get old, but I dealt with Florida's humid summers growing up, Minnesota's frigid winters for 8 years, San Francisco's year-round chilliness for 2.5 years, and now Palm Springs blazing summers for 2.5 years. Wherever you go, you can always find something to complain about. We just have to try to look at the bright side (and maybe take a vacation once in a while).

And after this year's election, I think we're all getting a lot of practice with "looking on the bright side".

[leftbend]

36. A good alternative realtor

www.Climbatree.com, Erica and Tony did a great job for us. They are located on Belmont street.

[Tom Kitten]

28. Well I've lived

in SE, NW, NE, and now SW Portland...I don't know your budget but to me the best place would be SE or inner NE like Irvington (I lived there for 5 years, expensive to buy there but it is great). In SE, check out the Woodstock area (my Mom lives there and I go there weekly) or Westmoreland and Sellwood (a little more suburban family type feel, or of course the Hawthorne/Belmont/Sunnyside area. And it's true, keep your car clear of valuables or it will be broken into...But these areas are high in demand, and with good reason. They're just nice places to live, generally...And Ladd's Addition between Hawthorne and Division might just be the nicest place to live, I've seen several houses for sale but it might be prohibitively expensive.
On the west side, harder for me to say. I lived in NW for awhile but had to move out because rents were increasing exponentially, it's a great place but very densely populated and they do have traffic congestion problems there. Right now I live in SW very near PSU, and there are several houses for sale but they want at least half a million...(they're big and old houses, it's kind of a weird mish mash here) I'm not really familiar with the Multnomah Village section but I do know it has a community feeling...A good place in SE to check out might be the Brooklyn neighborhood, near the Ross Island Bridge...And I'm sure there are a lot of other great neighborhoods in the main part of the city, but I don't want to say anything really bad about some parts of the city except that east of 82nd Ave. the dichotomy somewhat changes...

My friends got a really good deal on a house in St. Johns, and that is an area with a lot of potential, but they've been saying that for years...It's isolated from the rest of the city and is definitely blue collar but I like the neighborhood, it feels like a little city unto itself, and it is definitely funky, but I guess that would depend on your definition of the word "funky" I suppose...Plus how close you want to be to where things are happening, then it would be the hawthorne/Belmont area...

Anyways, good luck on your search!

[siliconefreak]

30. Thanks!

I'm glad you mentioned St. Johns. I noticed that there are a lot of new "starter homes" in that area, and they're quite affordable. I'm guessing that they're part of an infill development plan, but that's great - I love the idea of having a new house in an old part of town. I also figured that it's blue-collar, just from what I do know about Portland, but that's fine with me. Again, as long as it's not Republican territory, I'll be happy. B-)

[Tom Kitten]

31. you're welcome

You know, now that you mention it, my friends are going to sell their house next spring (they are unfortunately getting divorced) but they have work to do on it and it's not on the market yet...It's a nice two story (3 bedrooms, 1and a half bathrooms) house with a basement and a separate garage and has a nice view of the St. John's Bridge...

I'm not really sure what you could do with this information but I'd thought I would share it...

(on edit) and oh yeah, before the election the whole neighborhood was full of nothing but Kerry/Edwards signs, except for one household, and they took their signs inside at night :)...

[siliconefreak]

32. thank you

It's a small world sometimes, isn't it?

I think, however, that I'm a little hooked on the idea of having a new house - especially if I do buy in St. Johns.

Your information about the various parts of the city is great. Thanks again.

[Buck Rabbit]

33. I'll add my $400,000.02 on the Pearl district.

That will be the price for a modest condo. I don't live there but have owned a business there for 20 years, when it was anything but a pearl. You would love it if you can afford it.

For affordable new housing to buy in SE, look between 45th and 72th east of Woodstock and Eastmoreland. Lots of new skinny homes.

Anything from 45th to the river will be at a premium to buy.

I sold my Hawthorne area house to buy an "Empty Nester" tucked into Reed College. Woodstock is the closest neighborhood to me and it is cool. (Big shout out to the raging liberals on Harold between 39th and 41st for their election efforts, you guys rocked).

A slight warning about St Johns. It is remote, almost like a small town independent from the rest of the city. If you are going to use public transportation or bike, you'll be quite aways from Hawthorne, Downtown and the other Portland attractions. Overlook is a closer in option on the North side.

[siliconefreak]

34. the skinny homes

Yep! I noticed some of those "skinny new homes" in the SE part of town. I wasn't sure if they would be full of children playing in the streets (not really something I'd care for) - but I think they might be alright.

Thanks for chiming in. :)

[iLoveKPOJ]

44. The skinny homes are...

making S.E like "Little San Fran"... I'm not keen on them, though I'll trade them any day instead of some apartment complex going up next door

[0rganism]

35. If the prices are pissing you off, don't rule out some of the burbs

Depending on how "alternative" you're planning to be, you can probably find something as far east as Cherry Hill or as far west as Beaverton for much less than equivalent property in the close-in Hawthorne or Belmont areas.

Don't rule out the area between 50th and 82nd in NE, either. You can find some decent places in the middle Killingsworth area, even though it used to be considered "gang turf". Gentrification has its benefits.

On the other hand, if price is no object, check out the Ladd's Addition neighborhood, which starts around SE 15th and Belmont. You've also been pointed to the Pearl district, which is pretty cool, although you could go for something in the West Hills for those prices, too.

Above all, you must swear a blood oath to throw a party for us Portland DUers once you move in! :toast:

[HuckleB]

37. Go NoPo for the hippest, most up-and-coming part of town.

I'm staying in my lovely Hollywood home, myself. And I love our part of town. It's got everything Hawthorne has -- without the poseur pretentiousness that took over that once lively neighborhood a few years back -- combined with a little, old-fashioned working class noir. Generally, the best buys in the most interesting, walkable, bikable, close-in, Portlandy home-style neighborhoods are going to be found in North and Northeast. Just my two cents. Sure, you can save some up-front cash by buying a house in the burbs, but you'll end up with a higher cost of living overall, when you consider travel time, travel expense, etc... And what's the point of living in Portland, if you live in a burb that looks and feels and is like every other burb in the US of A? Ah, yes, a few more cents for you.

Good luck.

[SuffragetteSal]

41. well considering I couldn't get anyone in Portland to give me the time of

day, I moved to Salem. Affordable, beautiful, stable economy, and I see lots of Kerry stickers still to this day. the home to our Democratic state government. I found Portland snobbish and I wish really wish I could say otherwise.

P.S. Perhaps I didn't take my license plates off prompt enough! I have lived in other states and I have never found this more of a problem than here; but don't let them get you down, it is our right in America to move about.

[HuckleB]

42. About half the people I know in this town are from other states.

Including myself. And your story simply doesn't match our experiences at all!

Portland is one of the friendliest, most open cities in the US.

[iLoveKPOJ]

43. Southeast

Clinton, definitely. I live around Reed College, which is beautiful, albeit not so "Funky"

[DesEtoiles]

45. This month's Portland Monthly Magazine has a good article

on about a dozen neighborhoods with housing prices, etc.