<p>I was born in Portland and I love Oregon. You don’t have to be into sports and mountaineering to live here. However, I don’t think Portland matches the description of what you want.</p>
<p>It has MILD winters, but they aren’t WARM. They just don’t have blizzards.</p>
<p>“The percentage of Jews in Oregon is easy to find. The numbers are very low - less than 1% of the population. There are as many Wiccans and probably more Buddhists in the state.”</p>
<p>I’m willing to bet that there are more Wiccans and more Buddhists than there are practicing Jews in Oregon and probably even in each individual city. Easily.</p>
<p>There’s a great jazz scene in Portland, but yeah… it’s really a special culture there. I would recommend vacationing in the city for several weeks and really living local, trying to make friends (for example, there’s tons to do if you don’t like mountain sports but will you find friends who don’t like the outdoors?).</p>
<p>I don’t think there are that many hipsters in Seattle and Oregon. Maybe people dress in black and dress down a lot, but I think people are very down-to-earth.</p>
<p>It’s not that we’re really liberal. It’s that the rest of the country is incredibly conservative. ;~)</p>
<p>Thank you all - you’ve given me a lot to think about. I had already found my ideal place - Irvine, California - but unfortunately my husband was not happy about the housing or the COL. I was ready to move the next day! (That was two years ago - or was it three?)</p>
<p>I agree that that the weather might not be ideal in the Northwest but clearly some of our preferences will have to move down the priority list. I’ve been researching for years so if there was an ideal spot hopefully I would have discovered it. We thought there was a decent percentage of Jews - partly because there was a JCC and also from seeing statistics - but it sounds like that might not be the case? We also thought we could have an affordable lifestyle near the downtown and that does sound promising.</p>
<p>We’ll do what we’ve done before - track down a realtor, preferably through the JCC, and go out for a few days and really explore. We’ll go in the winter so at least we’ll know the worst! I’m sure there will be surprises - Atlanta was much more livable that I had expected but also much more terrain - many many neighborhoods were built on gorges so it was tricky to find a house where you didn’t have to climb a flight of stairs to get your groceries to the kitchen! And the traffic - oy! We had a great couple of realtors showing us around, though, and they found a house that was fantastic. If we wanted to move there, that is. After seeing this week’s weather - might as well stay in Chicagoland! At least they plow here…</p>
<p>But I’m ready to give Portland a look - before we investigate San Diego. ;)</p>
<p>Cities in the midwest and southeast have COL less than one. You can buy a nice house in many areas for under $200,000. Portland probably at least double to triple that. Housing is the biggest item. Gas costs more too. So does food. After that who cares?</p>
<p>“We’ll go in the winter so at least we’ll know the worst!”</p>
<p>No. The worst is when it’s July and you realize summer just… isn’t coming this year. No sun for you, my pale-faced pretties.</p>
<p>By the way, I agree that if you’re looking at Portland, Seattle isn’t that much colder and we have no income tax. The COL is higher, which I guess is important if you are a retiree and not working, but our high min. wage (IMO-I’ve done the live-in-Seattle-on-minimum-wage thing, it’s really not bad at all) makes up for it if you’re a student.</p>
<p>I would tell you about Irvine (used to live in Tustin as a child) but since your husband vetoed, never mind.</p>
<p>Marilyn, home prices are probably down pretty good in Irvine the last 3 years. Might be worth a new look. I think prices are still dropping too. I really like Portland, but the weather bugs me.</p>
<p>Though in places like irvine, where down prices are amazing to those already in the market, it’s still crazy for most. Oh joy, an ugly home in irvine is now $.7 rather than $1.2!!</p>
<p>Moving to Irvine is really like moving to a nice part of Orange County. It’s hardly its own city. But anyway…</p>
<p>Walla Walla Wine Wine Woman Woman. Could you be her? If so, you might love Walla Walla. It’s a long drive from the coast and impassable for some of the winter but I agree, it’s super nice. Plus… they have sun. (Below is a radio commercial–there isn’t supposed to be film.)</p>
<p>(If you watch all their commercials and think it looks strange, the northwest is not for you… but if you think, “That’s me!” you’ll probably love it.)</p>
<p>Confused East Coast Transplant:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Confused East Coast Transplant](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>The silent judging is particularly true. I could watch their commercials all day. Okay, this one is great and tells you about the weather:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - 50 Degrees Shirt’s Off Guy](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>They’re serious, you know. People really do sunbathe in 50-degree weather. Vitamin Deeeeee!</p>
<p>Wow! Great thread! I am about to launch my youngest, and hope he will consider the pacific NW, where he gets “merit money”, vs. N.Cal, where he was born and raised. H and I grew up in NYC, and have extende family ad a D in the NC research triangle. Not Jewish, but black… “same same”??! .?.. will follow this thread with interest.</p>
<p>MmeZeeZee, those commercials are a hoot! I am the ultimate Walla Walla Wine Wine Woman Woman. LOL!</p>
<p>Funny story… The other day my boss and I talked about random things, including favorite foods, and both agreed: we need a bigger Jewish community here in the PNW, so we can have easier access to real rye bread! :)</p>
<p>Marilyn- the price of housing everywhere has dropped a lot in the last few years. If you love Irvine I would take another look. Maybe you could make it work.</p>
<p>Anyway, among the things that Portland has going for it are Pink Martini, The Dandy Warhols, and the former members of Sleater-Kinney (including the incomparably wonderful Carrie Brownstein who is responsible, with Fred Armisen, for the show promoted above).</p>
<p>Does this mean you can’t get a decent bagel either? Or Passover supplies? That could be a deal breaker! No matter how good the coffee is…</p>
<p>We live in a highly desirable commuter suburb that was once the tear down capital of the country (or something) so housing prices got pretty inflated here - I don’t think they’ve dropped as far as other markets. That does make Irvine more approachable, but it was the kind of housing that my H didn’t like - he thought they were like townhouses (some were, some weren’t) and the lots were too small. I loved the green belt, the neighborhood groupings and pools, the lakes, the periphery shopping, proximity to UC Irvine, the JCC, the ocean a half hour away, the major malls within reach, etc. Not to mention the existence of a congregation called Surf City Synagogue. How could you not love that?! </p>
<p>So where in southern California can you get a small house on a lot big enough to mow and garden, that isn’t a family-type suburb? Santa Barbara is lovely but I suspect still out of our price range for what we want. That’s why we’re thinking Orange County on down to San Diego.</p>
<p>Marylin, decent bagels and Passover supplies are plentiful in this neck of the woods, it is just the right type of rye bread that is really hard to come by! </p>
<p>I’m sure you already looked at these websites since you researched Portland, but I will link them just in case:</p>
<p>Have you considered Napa/Sonoma area? The homes are not cookie-cutter types, and the lots are big enough to have a winery. San Francisco is not too far… Not sure if there is a large Jewish community in those cities.</p>
(Below is a radio commercial–there isn’t supposed to be film.)</p>