Still not enough to get me to leave Brooklyn
And yet… here’s more evidence that supports my husband’s theory that an unusually large percentage of good stuff in the world comes from Portland, Oregon.
“Back to Gray” has been the soundtrack of the weekend.
Billy was born and raised here in NYC but moved to Portland for college and stayed ten years. The result? The boy’s got two home towns. I can’t tell you how many conversations we’ve had that have started with him saying, “You’d love Portland. It’s like Brooklyn.”
Yes, well, if Portland is like Brooklyn and I’m already IN Brooklyn…
I’ve been there. It’s nice, but it’s most decidedly NOT Brooklyn.
Anyway, you aren’t allowed to leave.
Posted by: jackie
Portland is cooler than Brooklyn – and cleaner and friendlier.
Posted by: Gina
Portland is too far away. And the fiber festivals cannot compare. Just sayin.
Posted by: claudia
I’ve been there. It’s nice, but it’s most decidedly NOT Brooklyn.
Anyway, you aren’t allowed to leave.
Posted by: jackie
Portland is cooler than Brooklyn – and cleaner and friendlier.
Posted by: Gina
Portland is too far away. And the fiber festivals cannot compare. Just sayin.
Posted by: claudia
Okay, I don’t know what bizarre alternate universe your boy is from, but Portland is most decidedly NOT like Brooklyn. Portland is like . . . Portland. It’s the only city I’ve ever lived in where there’s a thick section in the yellow pages for “Moss Removal”. Not even kidding. I love that city very dearly, but if you even consider living there you have to be willing to completely give up ever seeing the sun again. The only way you can be wetter is if you get a condo in Atlantis.
OTOH, the coffee fucking rocks.
Posted by: David
Dude, I am from Portland! Born and raised there. We are currently trying to move back there. I don’t know if it’s like Brooklyn. Is everyone friendly and talkative in Brooklyn? Well, you can always come visit …
Posted by: Mariko
I have to agree, I am from the Pac NW (Seattle is home, but Mama Mao is in Portland) and it is like Brooklyn- but with out that wind chapping your ass or snow, or humidity sticking you to yourself.
def ought to visit!
Posted by: stinkerbell
Actually, Oakland is like Brooklyn. I’m just sayin’.
Posted by: Em
The only experience I have with Brooklyn is a drunken Saturday walk from the subway stop to a friend’s house in Park Slope, at 4 a.m., and the subsequent “oh shit, I’m late for the convention I’m IN New York to be at” run back to the subway at 7:30 a.m., still drunk. That said, I have no idea if Portland is anything like Brooklyn, but Portland is fabulous. I’ve lived in Oregon my entire life, and while it IS wet here in the winter, the summer DOES see sun (and sometimes weird late winter/early spring does too, like RIGHT NOW and all last week & the week before). It doesn’t snow that often in the Willamette Valley (where Portland is…though last year, for my freakin’ WEDDING on Dec. 31, we had six inches and that was a big deal), but the Cascades are famous for their skiing (Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Hood, Timberline Lodge, Willamette Pass, etc.), the Pacific is beautiful (if a bit cold to go in without a wetsuit), the air is remarkably clean, and the housing costs are markedly lower than in Brooklyn (a couple I know bought, just last year, a 3-bedroom 50s-era home in really good shape in a decent neighborhood near one of the universities for $159K). There is no sales tax here, coffee is cheap & plentiful, the public transportation system (www.tri-met.org) in Portland – while no MTA – is reliable & fast & really cheap, there are 6 universities/colleges in town that I can think of, with more in the suburbs, and organic food is really easy to come by (there’s a farmer’s market near Portland State University a few times a week in the summer, in addition to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, etc.).
Posted by: jen
Okay, I don’t know what bizarre alternate universe your boy is from, but Portland is most decidedly NOT like Brooklyn. Portland is like . . . Portland. It’s the only city I’ve ever lived in where there’s a thick section in the yellow pages for “Moss Removal”. Not even kidding. I love that city very dearly, but if you even consider living there you have to be willing to completely give up ever seeing the sun again. The only way you can be wetter is if you get a condo in Atlantis.
OTOH, the coffee fucking rocks.
Posted by: David
Dude, I am from Portland! Born and raised there. We are currently trying to move back there. I don’t know if it’s like Brooklyn. Is everyone friendly and talkative in Brooklyn? Well, you can always come visit …
Posted by: Mariko
I have to agree, I am from the Pac NW (Seattle is home, but Mama Mao is in Portland) and it is like Brooklyn- but with out that wind chapping your ass or snow, or humidity sticking you to yourself.
def ought to visit!
Posted by: stinkerbell
Actually, Oakland is like Brooklyn. I’m just sayin’.
Posted by: Em
The only experience I have with Brooklyn is a drunken Saturday walk from the subway stop to a friend’s house in Park Slope, at 4 a.m., and the subsequent “oh shit, I’m late for the convention I’m IN New York to be at” run back to the subway at 7:30 a.m., still drunk. That said, I have no idea if Portland is anything like Brooklyn, but Portland is fabulous. I’ve lived in Oregon my entire life, and while it IS wet here in the winter, the summer DOES see sun (and sometimes weird late winter/early spring does too, like RIGHT NOW and all last week & the week before). It doesn’t snow that often in the Willamette Valley (where Portland is…though last year, for my freakin’ WEDDING on Dec. 31, we had six inches and that was a big deal), but the Cascades are famous for their skiing (Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Hood, Timberline Lodge, Willamette Pass, etc.), the Pacific is beautiful (if a bit cold to go in without a wetsuit), the air is remarkably clean, and the housing costs are markedly lower than in Brooklyn (a couple I know bought, just last year, a 3-bedroom 50s-era home in really good shape in a decent neighborhood near one of the universities for $159K). There is no sales tax here, coffee is cheap & plentiful, the public transportation system (www.tri-met.org) in Portland – while no MTA – is reliable & fast & really cheap, there are 6 universities/colleges in town that I can think of, with more in the suburbs, and organic food is really easy to come by (there’s a farmer’s market near Portland State University a few times a week in the summer, in addition to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, etc.).
Posted by: jen
Yeah!!!! Portland is AWESOME. I was raised in Seattle, came here for college and a zillion years later, here I still am. Never leaving. There’s awesome music, great restaurant (tons of variety) and simply EVERYTHING to do.
Posted by: LeAnne
Portland is the most livable city on earth. I know Brooklyn has a lot going for it, but I don’t know how livable it is. Pdx is cheap, friendly, all kinds of great art stuff going on (I was in the Urban Iditarod and an Art Walk this weekend), good knitting stuff.
Plus, you can pay your rent as an artist, and still eat!
You might get small town fever (I do)–but you can always take a weekend to Seattle or SF or LA.
Posted by: Heather
I love Em. Oakland *IS* just like Brooklyn. Lovin’ the new tunes, though.
Posted by: Rachael
Just found your blog..will be reading it from know on. I love your dogs. I have an IG as well. His name is Wicket and he is a rescue (dumped with a broken leg when he was 4 months old) and is nearly 6 now.
Love your knitting
Posted by: Hannah
PORTLAND ISN’T LIKE BROOKLYN. I live in Sheepshead Bay. I considered moving to Portland when I lived in Manhattan. Portland is weird! People say “Good Morning” to you at the bus shelter! And who needs that?? I thought it would be a city full of old hippies but instead it’s a place full of women who resemble Tipper Gore and they all have SUVs. Portland doesn’t resemble a city at all. It looks a lot like a combination of two suburbs from Long Island – Roslyn and Garden City. It has wide sidewalks, as though they were expecting more people to arrive at any moment, but Rush Hour is 5 people running! I like rain, but it doesn’t rain in Portland, it just drizzles, unfortunately. The three good things about Portland are the Max(?) (their idea of public transportation) – a trolly that becomes a subway further into its ride, the old water fountains that are always on – that can be found throughout the city, and Powells – a bookstore that’s *so Big* they actually give you a map so that you can find your way around the store. Also, the library is beautiful. I did see a Brooklyn sweatshirt in the window of Urban Outfitters in Portland, Or. which made me feel homesick! Portland was so different from New York that I found it difficult to acclimate to it.
Posted by: Lisa Z.
Yeah!!!! Portland is AWESOME. I was raised in Seattle, came here for college and a zillion years later, here I still am. Never leaving. There’s awesome music, great restaurant (tons of variety) and simply EVERYTHING to do.
Posted by: LeAnne
Portland is the most livable city on earth. I know Brooklyn has a lot going for it, but I don’t know how livable it is. Pdx is cheap, friendly, all kinds of great art stuff going on (I was in the Urban Iditarod and an Art Walk this weekend), good knitting stuff.
Plus, you can pay your rent as an artist, and still eat!
You might get small town fever (I do)–but you can always take a weekend to Seattle or SF or LA.
Posted by: Heather
I love Em. Oakland *IS* just like Brooklyn. Lovin’ the new tunes, though.
Posted by: Rachael
Just found your blog..will be reading it from know on. I love your dogs. I have an IG as well. His name is Wicket and he is a rescue (dumped with a broken leg when he was 4 months old) and is nearly 6 now.
Love your knitting
Posted by: Hannah
PORTLAND ISN’T LIKE BROOKLYN. I live in Sheepshead Bay. I considered moving to Portland when I lived in Manhattan. Portland is weird! People say “Good Morning” to you at the bus shelter! And who needs that?? I thought it would be a city full of old hippies but instead it’s a place full of women who resemble Tipper Gore and they all have SUVs. Portland doesn’t resemble a city at all. It looks a lot like a combination of two suburbs from Long Island – Roslyn and Garden City. It has wide sidewalks, as though they were expecting more people to arrive at any moment, but Rush Hour is 5 people running! I like rain, but it doesn’t rain in Portland, it just drizzles, unfortunately. The three good things about Portland are the Max(?) (their idea of public transportation) – a trolly that becomes a subway further into its ride, the old water fountains that are always on – that can be found throughout the city, and Powells – a bookstore that’s *so Big* they actually give you a map so that you can find your way around the store. Also, the library is beautiful. I did see a Brooklyn sweatshirt in the window of Urban Outfitters in Portland, Or. which made me feel homesick! Portland was so different from New York that I found it difficult to acclimate to it.
Posted by: Lisa Z.
I subscribe to the disproportionate amount of good stuff from Portland theory.
I have never been there, but my entire antipodean life has been enjoyably interrupted by things from Portland. I think it must be a little like every small, good place on earth, if you know what I mean.
Posted by: Jenn
I subscribe to the disproportionate amount of good stuff from Portland theory.
I have never been there, but my entire antipodean life has been enjoyably interrupted by things from Portland. I think it must be a little like every small, good place on earth, if you know what I mean.
Posted by: Jenn